"You little brat! I'll rip your teeth out and hang you from the mast, you'll learn there's a price to pay for running your mouth!"
"What's wrong, feather-brain? Did I strike a nerve? If you think you can do it, then come at me!"
"You're dead meat! Five-Color Strings!!!"
Doflamingo surged with fury, flipping up from the ground as his fingers clawed through the air. With a vicious swipe, he brought his hand crashing down toward Cross's head.
Unfazed, Cross raised his blade, Kagehide, in a blur of cold light. With a sharp clang, the edge clashed against five barely-visible strings jutting from Doflamingo's fingertips.
The sound of metal striking metal echoed through the air, and incredibly, even visible sparks flew from the impact.
These five threads, which shimmered faintly only under direct sunlight, were clearly tougher than steel wire.
Taking advantage of his superior height and reach, Doflamingo launched into a relentless assault, his razor-sharp threads lashing out to shred Cross into pieces.
But Cross's expression remained icy. Kagehide danced in his hands like an extension of his body, slashing out streaks of blade-light that collided again and again with the crystalline threads.
Each impact rang out in rapid succession—clang clang clang—sending bursts of compressed air rippling through the space between them.
"Fall back! Everyone, get back!"
"Don't block the way, move it!"
The nearby soldiers and pirates paled at the sight, retreating instinctively, not just to clear room for the duel, but for fear of getting caught in the crossfire.
In the flurry of blows, Cross suddenly spotted an opening in Doflamingo's guard and lunged without hesitation, thrusting his blade straight toward the warlord's abdomen.
Clang!
The razor-sharp tip slammed into skin as hard and dark as metal, ringing out like it had struck solid iron.
"Damn it!"
Cross's expression darkened. He didn't hesitate, he leapt back immediately.
But Doflamingo's arm was already coming down like a guillotine.
Clang!
Another explosive metallic clash.
Cross braced himself, gripping Kagehide with both hands in a defensive stance. Still, the sheer force of the blow sent him sliding backward several meters, his boots carving deep furrows into the sandstone beneath his feet.
"Bullet String!"
Doflamingo didn't pause. Extending his right arm, he aimed his index finger at Cross, unleashing a barrage of white threads that fired like bullets.
Fwhoosh! Fwhoosh! Fwhoosh!
The air whistled as nearly invisible projectiles shot out at high speed.
Clang, clang, clang…!
Cross hadn't even fully regained his balance when he was forced to fend off the attacks, his blade slicing through the air with fierce precision. But even so, he was clearly being pushed to the limit.
Then, a misstep. A thread grazed his cheek and zipped past, slamming into the stone ground behind him with a boom, blowing a bowl-sized crater into the sandstone.
"Looks like your Observation Haki still needs some work!"
"Athlete!"
Doflamingo's eyes gleamed coldly. In a blur, he closed the distance and launched a high roundhouse kick, whipping up a howling gust. From his toe extended eight nearly invisible strings, shimmering like deadly filaments.
Boom!
Cross barely managed to raise his sword to block, but before he could reinforce his stance, Doflamingo's kick slammed into the blade, sending him, sword and all, flying into a nearby grove of palm trees.
A split second later, a shockwave radiated out in all directions, kicking up a dense cloud of dust as it rippled through the clearing.
"Cross-sama!"
"Count Cross!!"
"Sir Cross!"
The people of the Tobias Kingdom cried out in alarm.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Suddenly, cannon fire erupted. Round after round whistled through the air, their angry snarling faces etched into the cannonballs themselves as they hurtled toward Doflamingo's position.
"Cannons?!"
Doflamingo's eyes narrowed. Realizing he couldn't block them in time, he quickly manipulated several nearly invisible threads to hoist himself skyward, drifting out of harm's way.
An instant later, eight cannonballs slammed into the battlefield with resounding impacts, tearing open the sandstone terrain, leaving jagged craters and splintered cracks in their wake.
"So, you all want to die too?!"
Doflamingo snarled and stopped holding back. Dozens of razor-thin threads burst from his hands like a spider's web, slashing toward the cluster of cannons near the red-brick warehouse.
These threads were tougher than steel, metal was no match for them, let alone mere iron-forged cannons.
"Hey~ What do you think you're doing to my little darlings—?"
"One-Sword Style: Flying Edge!!"
Before the threads could land, a blue-white slash streaked from the grove of palm trees, blindingly fast, a flash of light across the air. It sheared straight through the web, scattering the threads like dust.
"You brat!!"
Doflamingo turned, teeth gritted, rage etched across his face. The veins on his forehead bulged visibly.
VMMM—
A terrifying aura exploded from his body, vibrating the very air. A violent gust swept out like a storm, turning the sky ominous and casting the entire battlefield into a strange, shadowed realm.
Immediately, soldiers and pirates alike were caught in the unseen wave. Eyes rolling back, they dropped like stalks of grain beneath a scythe, one after another, unconscious before they even hit the ground.
Even the living cannonballs, animated shells, and powder-laden barrels collapsed to the floor, white-eyed and unconscious.
"W-What is this…?"
General Humil knelt on one knee, face pale, struggling to remain conscious. His eyes were wide with disbelief.
To bring this kind of devastation with sheer presence alone… this wasn't human. This was a monster.
"You bastard, you think you can intimidate me with just your Haki? Don't flatter yourself!!!"
From within the grove came Cross's furious roar. His young-sounding voice now carried a weight of authority. An instant later, a storm of raw power erupted outward from his body, colliding head-on with Doflamingo's monstrous will.
BOOOOM—!
It was like thunder had detonated above the battlefield. Red and black lightning crackled across the sky, tearing the air apart. The already chaotic winds surged into a full-blown tempest.
The ground itself trembled. Massive cracks split across the battlefield. Tall coconut trees were torn from their roots, hurled into the sky like leaves in a hurricane.
"Ugh… Guh…"
General Humil couldn't endure it any longer. His eyes rolled back, and he collapsed with a heavy thud.
Now, not a single person remained standing.
No one conscious.
"Nani?!"
Hidden in the nearby brush, Diamante's face twisted in shock. He cried out in disbelief:
"That brat… He has Conqueror's Haki too?! Are you kidding me?!"
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