The thought had only just flashed through Doflamingo's mind when another colder, crueler answer bit into his nerves like a venomous snake.
He understood.
This was not fear.
Just as a person would step on a centipede crawling near their bed without hesitation, not because they feared it would kill them with one bite, but because its very existence was disgusting, unpredictable, and outside their control.
In the eyes of those old men seated at the peak of power, who called themselves gods, Zaraki was that centipede.
And he, Donquixote Doflamingo, the Heavenly Yaksha, king of Dressrosa... was the foot ordered to crush it, even though that same foot might be poisoned in return at any moment.
A disposable tool.
A chill crawled up from the base of his spine and spread through his limbs.
Right after it came rage and humiliation intense enough to burn away his reason.
...
Outside the Corrida Colosseum, the air carried a strange mix of dust and blood, like rusted iron being forced into the nose.
Zaraki walked at an unhurried pace, his military boots scraping softly over broken stone.
That steady rhythm made him look less like a man approaching a battlefield and more like someone taking a casual stroll through his own backyard.
Viola followed half a step behind him. The sound of her heels against the ground was far less steady.
Her heart was pounding wildly in her chest, filled with fear for the bloody storm about to arrive, yet also with an unfamiliar, dangerous emotion called hope rushing through her veins.
This man...
By himself, he had already thrown the iron-fisted kingdom Doflamingo had ruled for ten years into complete chaos.
Zaraki suddenly stopped.
His gaze swept over the corpse of a pirate he had casually cut down earlier.
A plain Den Den Mushi hanging from the man's waist was vibrating faintly with an untimely purupuru.
Zaraki bent down, picked it off the corpse without the slightest concern, and casually spun the dial a few times.
Viola recognized the number.
It was one she had told Zaraki earlier, a line that could connect directly to the palace interior.
The Den Den Mushi mimicked the caller's expression and took on a bored, uninterested look.
A few seconds later, its eyes suddenly flew open, its mouth stretching into an exaggerated O shape as a sharp, irritable voice exploded from it, full of gunpowder.
The voice sounded familiar.
Zaraki thought back to the chaotic scene Viola had described after looking into the palace with the Giro Giro no Mi.
The speaker was probably the punk-haired officer who played with explosions.
Gladius, if he remembered correctly.
"It's me."
Zaraki's tone was as calm as if he were asking a neighbor whether they had eaten.
"Tell your master to take the call."
The other end fell silent for a moment before erupting into an even louder roar.
"What the hell are you?! How dare you call the Young Master by—"
"Tell him if he doesn't personally crawl over here and take this call," Zaraki interrupted, his voice still calm, though the words themselves were like a poisoned blade, "I'll stand at the colosseum entrance and tell every person on this island the secret of how he uses Sugar's power to turn people into toys."
Gladius's roar stopped dead.
Only heavy breathing remained inside the Den Den Mushi, rough as a broken bellows, like a rooster whose throat had been seized mid-crow.
After several seconds of silence, a gloomy, hoarse voice filled with arrogant evil replaced the noise from before.
"Fufufufu... War Demon Zaraki. I have to admit, you've given me quite a few surprises."
It was Doflamingo.
His voice still sounded like he was laughing, but beneath that laughter was boiling magma, almost ready to burst through the receiver.
"The surprises are only getting started."
Zaraki's gaze passed over the two figures standing guard ahead.
One was an eerie young man with horns and high heels.
The other was the punk-haired man from the call.
Then his eyes shifted farther away, toward the towering King's Plateau, and his tone turned almost careless.
"But before you personally crawl over here, I'll have to clear away the trash blocking my path."
He spoke into the Den Den Mushi as if stating something utterly unimportant.
"These two subordinates of yours don't even qualify for me to draw my sword properly."
On the other end, Doflamingo's signature fufufu laugh was choked off for the first time, replaced by an uncontrollable, furious roar.
This was a naked insult even worse than killing his highest officers outright.
Zaraki tightened his fingers and crushed the Den Den Mushi in his hand, as if he were getting rid of an annoying fly.
Then he tossed the remains onto the ground.
He had no interest in wasting any more words.
...
King's Plateau, inside the palace.
Doflamingo gripped the disconnected receiver, veins at his temples throbbing like worms. His entire body trembled with fury.
'My subordinates don't qualify for him to draw his sword properly.'
'That bastard.'
'How dare he do this?'
Fear and fury tangled together, almost burning his sanity to ash.
He could not let Zaraki reveal that secret!
That was the foundation of his rule over Dressrosa. Once it was exposed, the entire country would rebel in an instant.
"Trebol!"
His voice had completely twisted as he roared.
"I-I'm here, Doffy!"
"Contact Pica! Tell him to use every rock at his disposal and surround the area where Sugar and the SMILE factory are located, no matter the cost! Build a fortress no one can break into! Do it now, immediately!"
"Yes!"
After giving the order, Doflamingo wasted no more time.
His pink feather coat whipped up a violent gust behind him as he shot out through the shattered window like a cannonball.
His fingers spread, and several invisible strings had already latched onto distant clouds and buildings.
He was going to reach that suicidal madman himself as quickly as possible.
...
Holy Land Mary Geoise.
Inside the deep Hall of Authority, the Elder known as Saturn set down the black-and-gold encrypted Den Den Mushi in his hand.
There was no expression on his face.
"He's gone," he said calmly to another Elder standing beside him, the one holding the First Generation Kitetsu.
"As expected. Donquixote's arrogance is his greatest weakness, and also an extremely useful bridle."
Nusjuro slowly wiped the sheath of his blade.
"How long can he hold him?"
"Half an hour," Saturn answered. "Given the strength Zaraki has displayed so far, along with Doflamingo's Devil Fruit ability, resilience, and the hostages built into Dressrosa itself, half an hour is already the limit."
"That is enough," Nusjuro said. "A Marine special envoy suddenly attacking Dressrosa, cutting off his artificial Devil Fruit supply, and forcing a Warlord into a corner... that will be enough to buy time."
"That madman will come."
"Mm."
Saturn nodded faintly, and a cold smile appeared on his aged face.
"Trading a troublesome former Celestial Dragon for an unpredictable major variable. This is a worthwhile deal. As long as the incident can be framed as a rogue Marine invading a Warlord's kingdom and being caught in Kaido's retaliation, the World Government can deny direct involvement."
...
In front of the colosseum, the tension was so thick it nearly solidified.
Dellinger and Gladius stared hard at the man slowly walking toward them, cold sweat already soaking the backs of their clothes.
They had heard enough from the Den Den Mushi in Zaraki's hand to understand the worst part.
That man not only knew the family's core secret, but he was also looking at them as if they were insects.
"Viola! You traitor!"
After seeing the figure behind Zaraki, Gladius finally found an outlet for his fear and anger.
He roared at her.
"You told him our secret!"
Viola's face was pale, but she still gathered her courage and stepped forward, blocking Zaraki.
"I'll handle them! I'll hold them off for you!"
"You?"
Dellinger let out a sharp laugh.
He raised one high-heeled foot and kicked hard against the ground, carving a clear groove across the stone road with the force of his leg.
"The Young Master only gave us a one-minute mission! Dealing with a traitor like you won't even take ten seconds!"
"That's right! Once the Young Master arrives, all of you are dead!"
Gladius roared as the veins in his arms bulged like roots twisting across dried earth.
The muscles in his shoulders began swelling unnaturally, clearly from activating his Devil Fruit ability.
They were terrified, but the name of the Heavenly Yaksha still propped up their courage.
Zaraki seemed not to hear their shouting at all.
He simply reached out two fingers and precisely caught Viola's hand just as she raised it to form the eye-circle gesture for her Giro Giro no Mi ability.
"Don't move."
His voice was not loud, but it carried a command that allowed no refusal.
Viola trembled and instinctively lowered her hand, stepping aside.
Only then did Zaraki look back at the two officers.
A faint, almost imperceptible curve appeared at the corner of his mouth.
He bent down and casually picked up half of a shattered wine bottle from the debris scattered across the battlefield.
The jagged glass reflected a cold, blinding light beneath Dressrosa's sun.
Dellinger and Gladius stiffened.
The broken bottle in Zaraki's hand was absurdly crude, but the moment his fingers closed around it, the air around them grew heavy enough to make breathing difficult.
Zaraki weighed the temporary weapon for a second, then gave a bored snort and tossed it aside.
"No. Even that is too much attention for you."
His hand settled on Nozarashi's hilt.
He did not draw the blade fully.
His thumb only pushed it out of the scabbard by a finger's width, and a thin line of dark-gold Reiatsu leaked from the exposed edge.
The confidence and fury twisting Dellinger and Gladius's faces froze in an instant, replaced by pure horror.
'He knew.'
'He even knew about Pica.'
The thought stabbed into their hearts like an icicle from the far north, freezing even their blood.
Zaraki said nothing more.
There was no named technique, no roar, and no dramatic motion.
The thin line of pressure simply stretched forward from the barely exposed blade, aimed through Dellinger and Gladius toward the mass of stone behind them.
Dellinger's pupils shrank violently.
Every hair on his body stood on end.
Before his mind could understand what was happening, his survival instinct overwhelmed all thought and forced a tearing scream from his throat.
Danger was here.
"Gladius! Dodge!"
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