The ship docked.
But not at the port, instead near the shore by a pile of building ruins. At this moment, a group of people appeared on the ruins not far away.
The leader was a tall and straight young man with spiky blond hair, wearing a dark red suit and wine-red sunglasses.
Flanking him were six men and women in various poses.
Jumping down from the ship, Merlin held his head high and looked calmly at the leading young man.
Donquixote Doflamingo.
His face was cold and hard, looking at Merlin without saying a word. The two stared at each other like this. A few seconds later, his arms spread out to the sides. Immediately after, an invisible airflow erupted from his body.
In an instant, Merlin felt as if he was carrying an unknown heavy weight on his body.
As if trying to make him kneel on the ground.
At the same time, a violent mental deterrence acted on Merlin's consciousness, feeling as if his mind had suffered a heavy blow. However, at this moment in Merlin's sea of consciousness, a ferocious beast resembling both a cat and a tiger roared at the sky.
At this moment, Merlin's pupils constricted sharply, and pitch-black flames rose instantly in his pair of eyes.
Staring at him fearlessly.
Nearly three hundred days of self-torture and breaking through limits had allowed Merlin to develop a powerful mental resistance, not to mention the visualization resistance in his sea of consciousness.
Thump, thump, thump...
Several sounds of heavy objects falling to the ground appeared from behind. Without turning back, Merlin knew who had fallen to the ground at this moment.
A few seconds later, the corners of Doflamingo's mouth grinned, and he chuckled lightly: "No wonder you could get the approval of my family members. Daring to bring an ordinary woman here to seek cooperation with me, you have some skills!
"However, just this is not enough!
"Ten minutes. If you can survive under my hands for ten minutes without dying, I will acknowledge you and agree to your cooperation!"
And in the next moment, Doflamingo's figure appeared in mid-air in front of Merlin in the blink of an eye. A left leg carrying a strong wind whipped sideways fiercely towards Merlin's head.
At this moment, a wisp of red light flashed in the black flames in Merlin's eyes. His right arm raised to block in front of his head. Bang! With a sound, Merlin was kicked flying to one side by this kick.
Whoosh!
Whistling through the air.
In mid-air, Merlin looked at Monet, Law, and the others who had fallen to the ground among Gladius and his group. At the same time, he breathed a sigh of relief secretly in his heart. As expected, his current physical strength wouldn't be crushed by Doflamingo.
At this time, a figure appeared above his body. Doflamingo stepped on the atmosphere with one foot, then kicked again with another foot. And across his toes and calf lay a steel-wire-like thread.
"Athlete Thread (Ashinara)!"
Clang!
Right hand climbing onto the hilt, in this instant, Merlin drew his sword and slashed. A spark flashed between the thread and the blade.
The two wrestled in the air for an instant. Merlin was kicked towards the ground. Boom! Twisting his body in mid-air, his feet landed steadily on a ruin.
Doflamingo stood in mid-air. Under Merlin's unique vision now boosted by the Peacock Mantis Shrimp, he saw incomparably clearly that transparent thin threads were woven around his body.
"Hehe, you have some skills!"
The corner of Doflamingo's mouth hooked into a hideous smile. Since he injured Lao G, he had an obligation to regain face for his family member.
Snap, snap, snap!
The sound of bowstrings being pulled and accumulating power came. The five fingers of Doflamingo's hands formed claws.
Snap! A sound rang out.
His figure was like an arrow leaving the string, shooting over abruptly. In the blink of an eye, he arrived in front of Merlin. His right hand, pulled back and full of accumulated power, swung out fiercely. Five thin thread slashes suddenly sprayed out from between his five fingers, cutting towards Merlin's head in a flash.
"Five Color Strings (Goshikito)!"
Eyes condensing instantly, Night Earl in hand swung forward. A cold light suddenly flashed out. Clang!! Amidst this crisp sound of metal and iron, accompanied by a shock, both retreated backwards together.
But just after Merlin retreated a few steps, suddenly, he felt his body being bound by threads one by one. Doflamingo grinned and chuckled. At this moment, the index fingers and ring fingers of his hands were curled up, while his middle fingers, thumbs, and pinky fingers were raised and began to hook and move.
"Hehe, under the control of my Parasite Thread, is this all you've got?"
Doflamingo stood three meters away from Merlin, a trace of mockery emerging in his eyes: "If it's just this, then you are not qualified to cooperate with me."
At this moment, Merlin's gaze remained calm, but his right arm was involuntarily controlled by him, moving the horizontal blade towards his own neck.
Eyelids drooping slightly, at this moment, Merlin took a deep breath. A pair of upward-curved pitch-black oni horns suddenly grew from both sides of his forehead.
Even stronger power surged out from his body instantly. However, at this moment, he still couldn't break free from the control of the threads. And Doflamingo's pupils shrank at this moment. Thinking of the intelligence about Merlin's black flame ability reported by Gladius, and seeing the generation of the pair of horns on his forehead at this moment, a sentence squeezed out from his throat: "Zoan? Mythical Zoan?"
As if cooperating with his words, Merlin's eyes opened abruptly. At this moment, buzzing sounds rang out on his body surface, and blue-white electric arcs jumped between the pair of horns on his head.
Boom-crack!!!
In this instant, a blinding blue-white electric light erupted from Merlin's body surface. The speed of the current enveloped Doflamingo instantly.
However, in the blink of an eye, Doflamingo broke away from the electric field of five meters in diameter. His clothes were charred black, and the blond hair on his head stood up one by one.
Ten meters away, panting heavily, stinging pain interwoven with numbness came from all over his body. A dark light flashed in Doflamingo's eyes, and at the same time, he felt somewhat lucky.
The Armament Haki lingering on his body surface dissipated, and his body gradually regained feeling, but what followed was even more intense pain.
Doflamingo looked warily in the direction of Merlin where the current was dissipating at this moment.
At this time, the current dissipated. Merlin's whole body was charred black, and the inch-long hair that had just grown out on top of his head turned into ashes.
Merlin exhaled a puff of black smoke from his mouth and nose at this moment. Then black flames rose on his body surface, absorbing the calamities existing in his body. And under this concentrated outbreak of high-voltage current, those threads pierced into his body to control him had clearly been eliminated by the high temperature.
Staring at Doflamingo, Bang! With a sound, feet stomping the ground, Merlin's figure turned into a residual shadow. In the blink of an eye, gripping Night Earl wrapped in black flames, he rushed in front of him. A black flame light flashed by.
Doflamingo's pupils shrank. He extended his right hand and swiped past, growling low in his mouth: "Overheat
Merlin's pupils constricted suddenly and sharply, keenly perceiving five sharp threads piercing down abruptly from above his head.
At this moment, his feet stomped the ground fiercely to dodge to the side. Puff, puff, puff... A series of five penetrating muffled sounds connected into one appeared on the ruins where he stood before.
At this moment, Merlin looked at him two meters away. With a wave of his right hand, a slash wrapped in black flames shot out instantly.
Doflamingo's eyes condensed. He suddenly lifted his right leg and whipped forward. Bang! With a roar, he kicked the slash into explosion.
However, at this time, wisps of black flame stained his body. Merlin's gaze condensed. Within his perception range, he controlled the black flames to spread up his body instantly.
"Calamity: Electric Paralysis."
In an instant, Doflamingo's body became charred and flesh split open, accompanied by severe paralyzing pain. His whole consciousness went blank for an instant. At this moment, Merlin's figure suddenly appeared in front of him.
Holding Night Earl, he slashed upward fiercely from the right side of his body. A pitch-black cold light appeared instantly.
Clang!!!
But right at this moment, veins bulged on the forehead of the conscious-recovered Doflamingo. Dense spiderweb threads spewed out from his chest. With a ferocious face, Doflamingo let out a roar at this moment: "Get lost!"
A silent roar exploded in Merlin's consciousness. The deterrence of Conqueror's Haki caused Merlin's mind to twitch, and his movements inevitably paused. At this moment, Doflamingo's body surface suddenly spewed out an excessive amount of Armament Haki.
Wisps of pitch-black electric arcs appeared from his body surface.
The deterrence of Conqueror's Haki only affected Merlin for an instant. Merlin's gaze was cold and condensed at this moment. Holding Night Earl with both hands raised high, black flame light constrained on the blade body, muscles of his right arm tightened, whole body strength erupted. A lightning-like thunderbolt fell in a flash.
Swish! Under the full-force outbreak, the muscles of both arms tore apart instantly. But at the same time, under this slash, the spiderweb armor on Doflamingo's chest was split in two in a flash.
The blade rubbed violently against the atmosphere, also becoming high-temperature crimson.
At this time, Merlin looked at Doflamingo, who had a narrow and long cut on his chest and appeared more than ten meters away wrapped in pitch-black electric arcs.
The charring and open flesh on his body had disappeared at this moment, and fine white threads were stitching up the cut on his chest.
At this moment, the two stared at each other, both feeling the difficulty of the other.
However, compared to him, Merlin was even more surprised in his heart at this moment. He didn't expect that Doflamingo already had such powerful Armament Haki now, and could even dispel his Calamity effects through external release of Armament Haki.
Regarding his own Calamity ability effects, Merlin knew clearly. Although the Calamity effect was released onto the opponent, it took a certain amount of time for this Calamity effect to take root and fully fuse with the target.
And once this time passed without being expelled, the Calamity would become permanent.
And once the Calamity became permanent, Merlin didn't believe he could still use Haki to expel it.
And at this moment, not far away, Doflamingo's face was cold and condensed, his chest heaving slightly. Looking at Merlin at this moment, he said coldly: "I have to say, you indeed have some skills. However, can you still be stronger now?"
Saying this, the ruins under his feet began to become different. White luster spread up. Immediately after, the ruins dyed white turned into waves of threads rising and falling around him.
The corners of Doflamingo's mouth raised slightly, quite proud of his masterpiece. However, the smile on the corner of his mouth froze suddenly.
Looking at him with a calm face, at this moment, starting from Merlin's shoulders on both sides, pitch-black flame cloud ribbons rose behind him.
Black flames rose from his head like hair.
Black flames lingered in a pair of eyes. At the same time, blue-white electric arcs jumped between the pair of horns covered with mysterious spiral patterns. Merlin spoke calmly at this time: "My strength should be qualified to cooperate with you, right?
"If we continue, only one of us can walk out of here alive today.
"Still want to continue?"