Bam!
A straightforward punch landed squarely on Doflamingo's face.
Crack!
The sound of a breaking bone clearly echoed from beneath the fist.
Doflamingo's body flew backward like a kite with its string cut.
"Whew, seems I used too much force."
Raleigh rubbed his chin, watching as Doflamingo crashed into the crowd.
"Doffy!"
Doflamingo shot through the air like a cannonball.
Trebol didn't dare to delay, quickly using his ability to catch him.
"Sticky Chains!"
A thick, brown, slippery chain formed in his hands.
He swiftly hurled it at the airborne Doflamingo, wrapping him in a cocoon.
Thud.
After a dull sound, Doflamingo burst through the spherical cage made of mucus.
"Thanks, Trebol."
Doflamingo shook off the mucus, his face covered in blood.
Even his ever-present sunglasses now bore spiderweb-like cracks.
"Hey its fine right, as long as you're not dead."
Raleigh patted his chest, relieved to see Doflamingo still standing.
He had genuinely worried about killing him just now.
The bloodline of the Celestial Dragons—even if stripped of status—couldn't easily die at the hands of the Marines.
Throughout the years in the world of One Piece, aside from Rocks who might have killed a Celestial Dragon, no one dared to kill one.
(Luffy only knocked one away back then, not killed them. If he had, the Sabaody Archipelago would have been wiped out by a Buster Call.)
Wiping the blood from his face, Doflamingo showed a wary expression.
That punch had truly made him feel the threat of death.
Even more vividly than during that incident in his childhood.
Because his senses were much sharper now than back then and Doflamingo knew Raleigh hadn't gone all out.
That punch hadn't been aimed at killing him from the start.
Yet a casual strike had left him severely injured.
Without Trebol's protection, Doflamingo would already be unable to stand.
"I say, Doffy, let's fight together." Trebol spoke, his gaze filled with concern as he looked at Doflamingo, whose face was covered in blood.
This was the king they had chosen—he absolutely could not die in such a trivial place.
If death was inevitable...
Trebol glanced at the surrounding members of the Donquixote Family.
Silently, he exchanged looks with Diamante and Vergo.
They didn't care about these newly recruited members at all.
As long as Doflamingo and they themselves survived, that was all that mattered.
"Trebol, we're not at that point yet."
A sinister and manic expression appeared on Doflamingo's young face.
Only he himself knew the flicker of fear deep within his heart.
He had once sworn to make the world feel his terror.
But now, those words had become empty.
After so many years, fear had once again taken hold of his soul.
"FUFUFUFUFUFUFUFUFUFU!" Doflamingo laughed maniacally.
His body began to change as well—translucent threads drifted out from him.
Streaks of red and black lightning flickered and vanished in the air.
"Doffy, calm down."
Trebol and the other executives resisted the Conqueror's Haki emanating from Doflamingo.
Meanwhile, the weaker family members around them had long since fallen unconscious.
Even the Marine soldiers, who had already set up an encirclement, fainted under this overwhelming pressure.
Raleigh wiped the mocking expression off his face.
He watched Doflamingo's explosive transformation with great interest.
Conqueror's Haki!
This was a remarkable ability.
Almost all the famous pirates in the New World possessed Conqueror's Haki.
All the Four Emperors of the Great Pirate Era had mastered all three types of Haki.
Among them, Red-Haired Shanks' Conqueror's Haki was the most powerful.
However, Raleigh had never fully understood the principles behind Conqueror's Haki.
It was said to be untrainable—one could only awaken it through their own will.
But Raleigh always felt that this ability required what Roger had called the "power of freedom."
In other words, it couldn't be suppressed by others.
Many of the Supernovas had once possessed Conqueror's Haki.
But after failing to challenge the Four Emperors and losing their fighting spirit, they lost their Conqueror's Haki.
Including Fire Fist Ace, among others.
'Conqueror's Haki is worth studying.'
Raleigh wasn't interested in training Conqueror's Haki himself—he had his system and didn't need to work that hard.
But if he could figure out how it worked, he could teach it to Momonga and Miles later.
He didn't expect them to reach the level of Advanced Conqueror's Haki Infusion.
They only needed to be able to clear out pirate fodder during battles.
After all, in the Great Pirate Era, there were only a handful of truly formidable opponents.
Most were just fodder like Krieg.
The problem with fodder was that there were too many of them, making it impossible to deal with them all efficiently.
If they could achieve what Luffy did on Fish-Man Island—taking out 50,000 fodder in one go—that would be enough.
"Come on, Doflamingo. Let me see how strong your spirit truly is."
Raleigh ignored the intimidation of the Conqueror's Haki and took a relaxed step forward.
"Damn you! How dare you provoke me like this!" Doflamingo completely lost his rationality.
Right now.
All he wanted was to kill this lazy Marine soldier before him.
He no longer cared about the consequences.
"String-String Fruit—Super Strong Steel Wire!"
A metallic-glowing thread appeared in Doflamingo's hand.
This was a new technique he had recently comprehended.
Its toughness and sharpness surpassed ordinary threads by dozens of times.
Beneath Doflamingo's cold, stern young face lay overwhelming killing intent.
"Tsk tsk tsk, this move is quite impressive."
Raleigh could sense the sharpness emanating from this thread.
To some extent, its sharpness might even exceed Gion's slashes.
However, sensing it didn't mean he felt threatened.
Raleigh's Observation Haki wasn't just for show.
His figure flickered like a phantom.
Under Doflamingo's incredulous gaze, he shifted unpredictably.
Every time the thread sliced through the air with a sound, Raleigh's figure would vanish the next second.
The surroundings were already utterly destroyed.
The already dilapidated buildings were further carved into irregular chunks.
"Are you only going to be a coward who runs away?" Doflamingo roared in fury.
He couldn't understand why such a strong individual would toy with him.
"Now now, don't you think cat and mouse game is quite amusing?"
"Watching the prey flee for its life while casually but never losing track of the target."
"Besides, why are you angry? Don't you enjoy this game too? What, can't accept it when the same fate befalls you?"
Raleigh moved with ease under Doflamingo's attacks.
While dodging, he kept spouting sarcastic remarks.
"Damn it, you're treating me like a mouse, aren't you!"
Doflamingo had to close in on Raleigh to get a chance to attack him.