"Hehehehehe~ Fufufufufu~"
Donquixote Doflamingo lowered his head, his body trembling with laughter. At first it was a low, menacing chuckle, but soon he tilted his head back and burst into maniacal, uncontrollable laughter.
"Doffy…"
Diamante watched him anxiously, muttering under his breath, "No way… Doffy is the one true king. A born ruler!"
"Well, well…"
"Not bad at all…"
"But today, you're dead. Not even the Celestial Dragons can save you!"
Suddenly, Doflamingo jerked his head up. His voice turned cold, like a blade of wind slicing through winter air, and the final shout rang out like thunder.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap…
Footsteps echoed through the smoke-filled air. A figure slowly emerged.
Cross walked forward through the haze, expressionless, long blade in hand, its tip dragging lightly along the ground. He stopped only when he was about twenty meters from Doflamingo.
"Hard to believe a shut-in like me could strike such a regal pose," Cross said with a smirk. "Feels like a damn joke."
"But enough of your endless monologuing, are you some kind of nagging housewife?"
As he spoke, he slowly raised his sword, then suddenly brought it crashing down.
BOOM—
A shockwave of wind pressure burst forth. The ground beneath his feet cratered with a thunderous crack, a deep fracture tearing through the earth.
"Fufufufu… Overheat!"
Doflamingo laughed, half in amusement, half in rage. With a wave of his hand, dozens of shimmering strings laced together into a blazing hot whip that lashed out straight toward Cross.
CRACK—
Cross dodged with a sidestep as the fiery whip extended dozens of meters, striking the earth just before a grove of palm trees and carving a deep scar into the grassy terrain.
Without pause, Doflamingo swung his arm again from a distance, sending the blazing whip sweeping sideways toward Cross's waist.
Cross leapt into the air. The whip sliced cleanly beneath his feet and continued on, effortlessly shearing a massive sandstone boulder in half. The strings glided through it like a hot knife through butter.
As Cross landed and steadied himself, Doflamingo soared at him again, toes pointed forward, eight nearly invisible strings glinting on the tips, slashing horizontally like blades.
"Athlete!"
"Enliven: Inorganic Reincarnation!"
Rather than block head-on, Cross dropped low to the ground, avoiding the kick. He pressed a hand to the earth, activating his Devil Fruit power.
RUMBLE—
The ground trembled. Grass and soil surged and churned, rising up into four sharp stone pillars that erupted upward, all aimed directly at Doflamingo.
BOOM!
Doflamingo veered away just in time, floating lightly into the air. He perched atop one of his near-invisible silk strings as the four stone spikes clashed together beneath him, shattering into a shower of mud, grass, and rock.
"Fascinating… What's your ability?" Doflamingo asked, glasses flashing as he spread his fingers. Delicate threads shimmered between them like strands of diamond silk, gleaming with a deadly allure.
"I'm a Live Human," Cross answered calmly, meeting Doflamingo's gaze. "I ate the Live-Live Fruit (Ikiru Ikiru no Mi). My ability lets me give life to inanimate objects, and control them."
It was true. The Devil Fruit he'd taken from the Yonok Pirates' ship was a Paramecia-type, the Live-Live Fruit. It granted him the power to imbue lifeless matter with life and manipulate it at will.
He hadn't had the fruit long, and his mastery was still developing. But so far, he had two foundational abilities.
The first allowed him to grant higher levels of vitality, enough to bestow limited consciousness, basic intelligence, and rudimentary emotion.
These objects could follow orders and carry out simple tasks, like the Haritch XIX, the warship of the Tobias Kingdom, or the cannons, cannonballs, and powder-filled barrels he had previously animated.
The second was more limited: bestowing raw life energy without independent thought.
These creations acted solely under the user's will.
For example, the grassy, earthy terrain he manipulated just now had been temporarily vitalized and moved by his command. The technique resembled the "Sage Art: Inorganic Reincarnation" from the Naruto universe, so Cross had named it the same way.
"Quite the ability…" Doflamingo murmured with a predatory grin. Behind his sunglasses, his eyes gleamed with unmistakable greed. "What a shame. You're going to die here today."
Now that he understood the power, his mind had already begun devising countless potential applications. If he could harness the help of this fruit's wielder, he could raise a fearless army, unliving soldiers that felt no pain, no fear, perfect tools for the schemes still forming in his mind.
But, of course, he knew: Cross was not a man who would join him. Which left only one path, kill him here, and wait for the fruit to reincarnate somewhere else in the world.
"Like I said," Cross sneered, beckoning with a crooked finger, "If you think you can kill me, go ahead and try."
Reputation, fear, Cross had once genuinely feared Doflamingo. He didn't believe he could win. He'd challenged the Warlord not out of arrogance, but because he refused to kneel, refused to become just another pirate under Doflamingo's heel.
But now that they'd traded blows, Cross realized something: Doflamingo wasn't as invincible as he'd imagined. That heavy anxiety he'd carried had vanished, replaced by confidence.
Of course!
Doflamingo at this point in time was still in his twenties. There was a real chance he hadn't even developed his Birdcage technique yet, let alone awakened his Devil Fruit. He was far from his future prime.
Which meant that while Cross was only fifteen, his raw talent might be enough to rival the Warlord in his current state.
The main gaps were in Devil Fruit mastery and his lack of Armament Haki.
But he did have innate Observation Haki, he just lacked the combat experience and finesse in using it effectively.
No matter. Doflamingo would serve as the perfect whetstone to measure how far he'd come.
Resolved, Cross launched into the offensive.
RUMBLE—
The earth around him surged once more, sharp stone pillars forming from the soil, grass, and shattered debris. They lashed out like living tendrils toward the airborne Doflamingo.
"Enliven: Inorganic Reincarnation!"
"Five-Color Strings!"
Doflamingo's eyes darkened as he rose higher into the air, dancing upward along the nearly invisible threads. With a claw-shaped gesture, he slashed downward, unleashing five razor-thin strings.
BOOM—
Seven or eight stone pillars were sheared apart instantly. The strings cut through them like piano wire through flesh, reducing the attack to a storm of rubble and dust.
But even as the stones fell, Cross surged upward.
The earth beneath his feet had formed a rising column, propelling him high into the sky, closing the distance to Doflamingo.
"Hmph. You? Fighting me in the sky? Don't make me laugh. Overheat Plus!"
With a snort, Doflamingo drew his hand back as if charging up a finishing move.
In the next moment, dozens of nearly invisible threads exploded from his palm, twisting tightly together into a thick cable, like a massive hair-thin whip. He extended it behind him as far as possible, then snapped it downward with lethal force.
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