Though called a small stretch of land, it was actually nothing more than a large boulder.
Even so, the power behind it was terrifying beyond imagination!
At least from Doflamingo's perspective at that moment, it looked as if an entire landmass was surging straight toward him!
With just this single move, Issho had already neutralized Doflamingo, who until then had held the advantage of terrain.
Having the ground itself rush at him naturally threw Doflamingo's entire attack rhythm completely off balance.
In an instant, the tables had turned entirely between attacker and defender!
At first, Doflamingo had thought that blind man—armed only with a short sword—posed no real threat to him whatsoever.
But now, the situation had changed completely.
Though Issho, as a swordsman, seemed to carry little inherent danger, he could charge forward freely using the power of his Devil Fruit!
"Ugh!"
Doflamingo yanked himself sideways with his threads, barely managing to dodge Issho's upward thrusting charge.
"What?!"
Even he was startled.
He had underestimated this blind swordsman.
Lord El was right, after all!
This man was far from ordinary!
---
"You—just what exactly is your background?!"
Doflamingo maneuvered himself through the air using his threads.
In the past, this had always been his greatest advantage.
No matter how strong a fighter was, true flight or flight-like abilities were incredibly rare.
Even among Devil Fruit powers, few granted the ability to fly.
But Doflamingo's own Fruit let him maintain a hovering state similar to flight.
Until today, none of his opponents had ever matched him in the air.
Yet here stood Issho—a Gravity Fruit user—whose power let him move through the sky with complete freedom.
That was real flight!
In this world, such an ability was extremely hard to come by, and it gave its user an overwhelming edge.
For years, that advantage had belonged to Doflamingo.
But now, facing someone who could fly more easily and naturally than he could, his advantage had turned into a disadvantage.
His so-called flight was nothing more than a makeshift imitation.
It was worlds apart from Issho's mastery of gravity—able to shift, dart, and stop anywhere in the air at will.
Without tall buildings or massive trees to anchor his threads, Doflamingo could barely stay airborne at all.
Issho faced no such problem. His Gravity Fruit let him move, pause, and even launch attacks wherever he pleased in the sky.
Just then, Issho raised his sword-cane level with his brow.
In the same instant, the sky churned and darkened.
Through sheer gravitational pull, he dragged an unimaginably huge, blazing meteorite crashing down from the heavens—straight toward the spot where he and Doflamingo fought!
"D—Damn it!"
Doflamingo's eyes went wide in shock as he watched the meteor plummet.
As far as he knew, only someone like Lord El himself, or perhaps one of the Navy's three Admirals, could pull off something like this.
Who the hell was this blind man?!
"Net!"
Doflamingo flung both hands wide, weaving a dense web of threads high above his head.
BOOM!
The meteor slammed into the web.
The impact could not snap the threads formed by his Devil Fruit. Instead, it shattered against them as if striking an unbreakable wall.
As for the debris flying toward Issho—he handled it effortlessly. He simply canceled the gravitational pull on the fragments; to him, those burning boulders posed less threat than a balloon.
"Do you intend to flatten this whole area, you bastard?!"
Doflamingo was truly panicking now.
He had come here confident in Lord El's eyes, only to find his opponent far stronger than he had imagined.
If their battle spread downward and affected Lord El himself…
The crime would be unforgivable!
In hindsight, Lord El truly had far more experience—and real foresight.
Even before either of them had laid eyes on Issho, he had already known this man would be no easy opponent.
Though Doflamingo found himself stuck in a tight spot, it also reminded him of El's earlier warning.
Could it be that his Lord's Observation Haki had grown so refined it could actually see the future?
He had heard rumors of rare individuals gifted enough to awaken strange powers through their mastery of Observation Haki—and precognition was one of them.
Even while facing such a formidable foe, Doflamingo's mind drifted briefly. Not out of carelessness, but because Lord El stood behind him.
Though El had made it clear he would not intervene unless absolutely necessary, his presence meant he was watching every second of the fight.
Doflamingo knew: even if he disappointed his Lord, El would not abandon him easily—or rather, would never discard any asset that belonged to him.
With such a powerful backing, Doflamingo did not completely lose his nerve, even knowing he might not be strong enough to defeat Issho.
"Strange power indeed…"
Issho spoke softly.
"Are you the mastermind behind this auction house?"
Doflamingo welcomed the brief pause to catch his breath.
"That I am!"
He would never drag Lord El into the open.
This time, El had ordered him to lead the fight precisely to keep his own identity hidden for now.
Doflamingo dared not ruin his Lord's plans.
"Do you have any idea what kind of heinous acts this place commits?!"
Issho's tone turned sharp and stern.
Doflamingo scowled.
Here was a man clearly stronger than himself, yet choosing to stop and spout such useless questions at the critical moment.
To Doflamingo, it was nothing but empty nonsense.
Of course he knew what illegal, underground business the auction ran—much of it ordered directly by him.
But so what?
This was the Great Pirate Era!
Name any major pirate in the New World, and not one of them was clean of such dealings.
Would you like me to also format this into a clean, chaptered version ready for reading?
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