"You think switching opponents will save you? How naive!" Pica's eyes glared from within his stone shell, looking down at Drake from a height of several dozen meters.
Drake didn't waste breath on words. The town of Moka City had already been ravaged by Pica's rampage, and the Dark Clan had suffered heavy losses.
Clang!
With a sharp ring of steel, the Canhong Sword appeared in his hand. Drake coated the blade in Armament Haki and unleashed a horizontal slash.
Swish!
In the same instant Pica's stone giant was severed, Drake appeared directly above him.
"What!?" Pica cried out in shock.
Drake's speed was blinding—so fast that no one could track his silhouette, let alone see when he had drawn his blade.
Slash! Slash!
Knowing Pica's weakness, Drake's sword moved like a phantom. In a few heartbeats, he unleashed dozens of slashes, and the colossal stone giant instantly crumbled into a pile of rubble.
The scene was staggering. No one expected Drake to "dismember" that seemingly invincible behemoth so effortlessly.
Doflamingo, who was still trading blows with Locke, furrowed his brow. Their plan had relied on Pica attacking from the rear to deal a devastating blow to the Dark Clan, but Drake's intervention had been far too swift and ferocious.
Doflamingo coated his right leg in Armament Haki and kicked out at Locke.
Boom!
The kick met the steel staff, and Locke's expression darkened as he felt a significant surge in Doflamingo's power. The Warlord was finally getting serious.
"I know who you are, Drake!" Pica's shrill voice erupted as he emerged from a heap of broken stone in the air. "Let me see if the strength of the Legendary Four Brothers is real, or just overblown rumors!"
Pica dived down from the sky, but Drake wouldn't let him have his way. If the man managed to merge back into the ground, he would become a major nuisance.
"Spatial... Cage!" Drake channeled spatial energy with both hands and slammed them together.
A cubic, invisible room of space instantly manifested, sealing Pica inside.
"What is this? What's happening!?" Trapped so suddenly, Pica panicked.
"Compress!"
Expressionless, Drake clenched his fist. Pica was immediately crushed by overwhelming pressure converging from all directions within the sky-bound prison.
Vrumm!
Feeling the crushing force, Pica dared not hold back; he coated his entire body in Armament Haki, resisting the pressure with every ounce of his strength.
"DAAGH...!"
As Pica's strained roar echoed, the onlookers were paralyzed with awe. How strong was Drake if he could render a Top Executive so helpless in a single encounter?
The Donquixote Family was even more shaken than the Dark Clan. They knew Pica's strength better than anyone, making this one-sided suppression all the more terrifying.
"Dellinger!" Doflamingo's forehead throbbed with veins as he glanced at Dellinger and the others who had landed on the island. However, they were locked in a stalemate with Kenshin and Bernice and couldn't break away.
Bang! Doflamingo pushed his speed to the limit, sending Locke flying with a single, brutal strike.
"Drake! That is my subordinate!"
The roar echoed across the battlefield, accompanied by a violent surge of pressure. With Doflamingo at the center, an invisible shockwave rippled outward.
Fodder soldiers collapsed one after another. Doflamingo strode forward like an unstoppable force of nature, people falling unconscious in his wake.
"Conqueror's Haki!" Bernice whispered in terror.
Dellinger and Lao G looked on with pride; to them, Doflamingo was an invincible existence.
"Hmm?" Drake turned slowly. Watching the Warlord approach, he grinned. "Like I give a damn!"
Vibration energy began to gather in his fist. Though Drake was confident in his raw power, he knew he had a glaring weakness: combat experience. He hadn't fought enough to fully utilize the vast power within his body.
"Release him, and we will withdraw," Doflamingo said. Saying this meant he was willing to back down from this conflict. He couldn't bring himself to abandon an executive who had followed him for so many years.
"Oh?" A sharp glint flashed in Drake's eyes as he suddenly punched toward Pica with his vibration-loaded fist.
Rumble!
The punch shattered the surrounding space. Pica, still trapped in the spatial cage, took the full brunt of the vibration. He coughed up blood, his eyes rolled back, and as the cage dissolved, he plummeted from the sky.
Boom!
He crashed heavily into the dirt. Doflamingo hadn't expected Drake to completely ignore his offer and brutally finish Pica right in front of him.
"Pica!" Dellinger and the others froze, then glared at Drake with murderous intent.
"Doflamingo!" Locke charged at the Warlord again, but Drake stepped in front of him.
"Locke, leave him to me," Drake said. Locke looked at the two of them, nodded, and headed toward Kenshin and Bernice.
Vrumm... Drake pulled back his right hand. Doflamingo slowly raised his leg.
The battlefield fell into a ghostly silence. Thanks to the Conqueror's Haki, the small fry were gone. Even the remaining executives stopped fighting, their focus shifting entirely to the two leaders. The outcome of this fight would decide everything.
Boom! Drake threw a punch.
Before the strike even reached the Warlord, the sea behind Doflamingo began to churn violently from the vibration.
"What is this!?" Doflamingo felt a chill at the sight of the spatial fractures webbed around the fist. Whitebeard's power?
With no time to think, he kicked out with an Armament-coated leg.
Rumble!
Following a massive explosion of force, Doflamingo was sent hurtling out of the dust cloud. Drake used teleportation to give chase immediately.
"Young Master!" the Donquixote executives screamed in disbelief.
"Mingo! Take another one!"
Drake swung again, another fist loaded with vibration. Doflamingo's face was a mask of cold fury, but inside, he was cursing. How did Whitebeard's power end up in this kid's hands? Did Whitebeard's disappearance have something to do with Drake?
Countless questions flashed through his mind, but right now, he had to figure out how to survive Drake's onslaught—if he took too many of these hits, he was finished.