Chapter 60: The Price of a Word
The grand lobby of Marine Headquarters was packed with the gathered might of the Marines—heroes, veterans, and rising stars. All eyes were fixed on the center of the storm: Admiral Levi, the "Black Crow," and the unconscious Pirate Empress slung over his shoulder like the world's most controversial hunting trophy.
The reactions were a spectrum of awe, jealousy, and deep curiosity. Faces Levi recognized from reports—Coby, Smoker, Tashigi, Vice Admiral Tsuru—stared openly. The giant Vice Admiral, a beautiful woman of colossal stature, loomed over the crowd, forcing even Levi to tilt his head back to meet her gaze. The Warlords, drawn by the commotion, watched from the periphery with expressions ranging from amusement (Doflamingo) to deep suspicion (Moria).
Fleet Admiral Sengoku pushed through the crowd, his bandaged arm a stark white against his uniform. He took in the scene—the unconscious Hancock, Levi's impassive face—and sighed, a mix of exasperation and fondness. "You call this a 'forced summons'?" he asked, his voice low.
"The objective was her presence at Marineford," Levi replied, his tone matter-of-fact. "Objective achieved. Methodology is secondary." His gaze then dropped to Sengoku's injured arm. His expression, previously neutral, hardened.
A sudden, profound coldness swept through the lobby. It wasn't a drop in temperature, but a spiritual chill that made even seasoned fighters shiver. The ambient noise died.
"The red hair did this?" Levi's voice was quiet, but it carried in the new silence.
Sengoku waved his good hand dismissively. "It's nothing. A scratch. He'll recover before the execution." He downplayed it, but the truth was the lingering Conqueror's Haki in the wound made healing slow. He didn't want Levi, with his volatile power and newfound… loyalty, to do something rash. The situation with Shanks was delicate, tied to powers even above Fleet Admiral.
"The Red Hair Pirates appear to be a target requiring elimination," Levi stated, a flicker of black energy—a mere ripple of his agitation—escaping his control. It wasn't an attack; it was a leak.
The effect was instant. Every person in the room felt a weight settle on their shoulders, as if gravity had multiplied. The Warlords stiffened. So the rumors are true, Mihawk thought, his interest piqued. Substantial, weighted Haki. Not just intimidation.
"There's no need for anger," Sengoku said gently, touched by the concern but wary of the consequence. "Injury is part of a Marine's life."
It was then that a voice, laced with sly mockery, cut through the tension from among the Warlords. "Fufufu… So this is the fourth Admiral. Quite the… assertive Haki."
Doflamingo stood with his signature grin, basking in the attention, believing himself insulated by his former Celestial Dragon status and his web of secrets. He saw Levi's anger at Shanks and couldn't resist prodding, confident that no Marine, not even an Admiral, would dare physically assault a Warlord over a verbal jab.
He was wrong.
Levi's head snapped toward him. The cold fury he felt for Shanks, the frustration at Sengoku's injury, found a convenient, irritating outlet. "Silence." The word was a whip-crack. "You have no voice here."
Before anyone could blink, a thick pillar of visible, black Reiatsu materialized directly above Doflamingo and slammed down.
BOOM!
The floor shattered. Doflamingo's smirk vanished into a rictus of shock. He actually attacked?! Here?! His body reacted on instinct, coating itself in deep black Armament Haki. A surge of his own vicious, wire-like Conqueror's Haki erupted upward to meet the descending force.
For a second, the two energies clashed. Then, with a sound like shattering glass, Doflamingo's Haki was obliterated. The black pillar, relentless and dense as a neutron star fragment, crushed through his Armament, shredded his flamboyant coat, and shattered his pink sunglasses.
CRUNCH.
Doflamingo's knees hit the pulverized marble with a sickening crack. Blood instantly pooled around him, seeping into the white dust. The impact drove the air from his lungs.
The lobby was frozen in a tableau of shock. Sengoku's mouth was open, his intervention too slow. The other Marines and Warlords stared, utterly stunned by the sudden, brutal violence.
"You… you BASTARD!" Doflamingo snarled, his face a mask of pure, undiluted hatred and pain. Humiliation, a feeling he hadn't known since his childhood fall from grace, burned hotter than the agony in his legs. "How DARE you—!"
Levi was already moving. In a blur, he stood before the kneeling Warlord. He didn't speak. He simply raised a foot and brought it down, not on Doflamingo's body, but on the back of his head, slamming his face into the bloody, broken floor.
Levi looked down, his eyes devoid of the earlier cold anger, replaced by something far more terrifying: absolute, dismissive annihilation. A killing intent so dense it felt tangible pressed down on Doflamingo, a spiritual weight that promised not just death, but erasure.
"You…" Doflamingo choked, the words dying in his throat. The murderous intent wasn't a threat; it was a certainty. In that moment, he wasn't a former Celestial Dragon, a Warlord, a king of the underworld. He was an insect under the heel of a being who saw him as nothing. The fear was primal, shocking him into silence. It was the look he'd seen in the eyes of the truly, cosmically powerful—like Kaido in a rage, but colder, more precise.
Levi held his foot there, his gaze a silent promise. One more word. Give me a reason.
The grand lobby of Marine Headquarters was utterly silent, save for the ragged, pained breathing of Donquixote Doflamingo and the faint drip of blood onto shattered stone. The message was sent, not just to the Warlord, but to every powerful figure in the room: The Black Crow's authority was not political. It was elemental. And his temper, once sparked, recognized no rank, no title, only targets.
(End of Chapter)
✨If you're enjoying this story, consider supporting me on Patreon —
Patreon.com/TofuChan
💕Patreon members get early access to chapters, bonus content, and voting power on future ideas.💕
Every bit of support helps me write more and faster. Thank you so much for reading! 🥰
Bonus Chapter For Every 100 Power Stones
Lets hit the goal of 200 Patreon Members now for 5 Extra Chapters 💕