Doflamingo stared at Gern with deathly intensity. His hands, pressed against the ice-cold ground, were clenched so tightly from extreme humiliation and fury that his fingernails were nearly digging into his palms.
Humiliation?
Of course it was humiliation!When had Donquixote Doflamingo ever suffered such disgrace?! Forced to his knees by sheer Haki, made to look up at another like a worm crawling in the dirt!
But so what?
He had long since ceased to be that naïve, foolish Celestial Dragon brat living atop Mary Geoise.
The rules of this sea—survival of the fittest, the victor crowned king, the loser crushed beneathfoot—no one understood them more deeply than he did!
Before an absolute gap in power,—dignity and pride—were fragile things, easily shattered.
Right now, there was only one thing he could do.
Only one thing he could rely on.
Gamble.
Gamble that his status as a former Celestial Dragon was still a protective talisman.Gamble that the World Government's secret intent to "recruit" him would make this lawless Marine Admiral hesitate—make him unwilling to truly go for the kill.
With that thought, Doflamingo forcibly suppressed the surging blood and murderous intent inside him. He raised his head slightly; bulging veins on his forehead betrayed the immense pressure he was enduring.
Yet he still managed to wrench a twisted smile onto his face and spoke in a tone as flat as he could force it to be:
"Fufufufu… I never imaginedthat a 'small fry' like me, with a bounty that hasn't even passed three hundred million Berries,would be worth the trouble of the famous Admiral 'Heaven-Shaker' personally coming all the way from the New World to a place like the North Blue just to 'look after' me. I'm… truly honored."
It sounded like self-mockery.
In reality, it was probing. A reminder.
Am I really worth you going this far? Or is there something else you're wary of?
Yet Gern's response completely shattered his expectations.
Gern didn't refute him.Didn't explain.Didn't even change his expression.
Instead, with a tone that sounded utterly natural—almost puzzled, as if to say Is there a problem with that?—he replied directly:
"Is that not allowed?"
Doflamingo: "???"
His brain froze for a split second.
He almost choked to death on that completely unreasonable answer.
What do you mean, "not allowed"?!
You're a Marine Admiral! One of the "Five Extremes" ruling the New World! Coming down to the Four Blues to target a "small pirate" is already absurd enough!
Damn it—this was never a question of allowed or not!
Just as Doflamingo was internally losing his mind over this insane logic, unsure how to respond—
Gern suddenly looked as if he'd remembered something. He raised a hand and lightly tapped his forehead, wearing an exaggerated oh right, how could I forget expression.
"Oh! Right! I almost forgot…"Gern bent down, leaning closer to Doflamingo. His voice rose slightly, deliberately loud enough for everyone around to hear, his tone laced with theatrical annoyance.
"You're an 'important figure with a hidden identity' right now, aren't you? Without a direct order from those old fossils up top, I suppose… I really can't just kill you whenever I want."
Hearing this, the tightly wound string in Doflamingo's chest loosened—just a little.
So he does have some scruples toward the World Government after all…
But before he could fully exhale—
Gern leaned in even closer.
This time, he used vibration to transmit his voice, speaking in a whisper so soft it was almost inaudible—yet so cold it pierced straight through the bones—so that only Doflamingo could hear it.
Slowly. Clearly. One word at a time.
"But if I did kill you…"
"So what?"
"!!!"
Doflamingo's pupils shrank violently into pinpoints of pure terror!
In that instant, every drop of blood in his body seemed to freeze solid.
Those light, casual words struck like the most vicious curse, instantly obliterating every last shred of wishful thinking he had clung to.
Yes… with this man's past—slaughtering Celestial Dragons, hunting Roger, openly clashing with the World Government—
If he truly decided to kill him…
The World Government's rules?The Five Elders' intentions?
Could those things really restrain a being with absolute power—a walking catastrophe who acted without the slightest restraint?
Kill him, and that would be that.
Would the World Government really tear itself apart over a fallen former Celestial Dragon?Over a man who wasn't even officially a Shichibukai yet?
An oceanic wave of fear swallowed Doflamingo whole.
For the first time in his life, he felt death standing so close it was breathing down his neck.
No hesitation. None whatsoever.
The instant he sensed that real, unrestrained killing intent hidden within Gern's casual words, every last illusion shattered!
The instinct to survive—and the ferocity carved into his bones—crushed everything else!
Sit and wait for death?
Never.
"Parasite Line!!"
Doflamingo let out a near-maddened roar as the body forced to its knees erupted with terrifying strength!
Almost simultaneously, his left hand curled into a claw, snapping upward before slashing down with lightning speed!
"Shua!"
As his arm swung, five nearly transparent—yet incomparably sharp—thin threads shot forth from the tips of his fingers!
The five threads instantly formed a rake-like, five-pronged structure in midair—
Carrying venomous killing intent capable of piercing anything, they descended straight down from above Gern's head like five invisible bolts of lightning, aiming to skewer him completely!
This strike was fast. Ruthless. Lethal.
It was launched almost at the exact moment Gern finished speaking—an ambush taken to its absolute extreme!
At the same time, Doflamingo slammed his other hand against the ground!
"White String Wave!"
The ground beneath and around Gern surged violently!
Countless white threads burst from the earth like living things, transforming into massive white serpents that lunged from every direction, wrapping, crushing, and tearing toward Gern—seeking to engulf him completely!
Doflamingo's tactic was brutally clear:
Use Parasite Line to disrupt or force Gern back for an instant—then unleash the Line-Line Fruit's indiscriminate, wide-area strangulation with the White Wave!
He wasn't hoping to seriously injure Gern.
He only needed to restrain him for even a fraction of a second—just enough to create an opening to break free or counterattack!
Everything happened in a flash.
From sudden eruption to the release of twin killing moves, Doflamingo displayed the ruthlessness and decisiveness that matched his fearsome reputation.
Yet in the face of this sudden onslaught—an attack powerful enough to annihilate an entire army—
There wasn't even a hint of surprise on Gern's face.
He didn't even look up at the deadly threads descending toward his skull.
He simply let out a soft sigh—almost regretful.
"…Sigh."
The moment his voice fell—
The space above Gern's head split open on its own.
The five razor-sharp Parasite Lines—threads capable of piercing steel—stopped less than a centimeter from his scalp, as if they had slammed into an invisible, indestructible, high-frequency vibrating wall!
"Crack! Crack! Crack!"
A rapid series of faint yet unmistakable shattering sounds rang out!
As for the roaring white wave surging up from the ground and closing in from all sides—
Gern made a single, unbelievably simple motion.
He raised his right foot.
Then gently stepped down.
"Wooooom—!!"
There was no thunderous explosion.No violent shockwave.
Only an incomparably deep vibration—so heavy it seemed to pierce the soul and shatter all things—
Spreading outward from beneath his foot like ripples across water, instantly enveloping the attacking White Strings and the surrounding ground!
"Crack… crack-crack—!!!"
The surging, incredibly resilient white tide—
The instant it touched that invisible vibrational wave—
Seemed to lose all structure, all vitality.
It shattered with a teeth-grinding sound!
Then, like a sandcastle left beneath the blazing sun, it crumbled inch by inch, breaking down into countless strands of the most primitive, lifeless white threads that scattered uselessly through the air!
Along with them, the ground beneath Doflamingo and everything within dozens of meters—
Was silently reduced to the finest powder, as if its internal structure had been completely annihilated.
The twin killing blows Doflamingo had unleashed with absolute confidence—
Didn't even earn Gern a blink—
Before being crushed to dust by that casual step.
The madness and ferocity on Doflamingo's face froze solid.
What replaced it was utter despair—and horror.
The gap…
Was too great.
And the gaze with which Gern looked down at him remained calm—
Yet cold enough to resemble the eyes of someone looking at…
A corpse.