Cross rolled his left shoulder. Sensing no major damage, he firmly gripped the hilt of Kagehide and pulled it from the ground.
A moment later, a figure shot out of the dusty underbrush like a streaking missile, then swooped downward like a giant pink bird, diving straight toward him.
Cross's expression turned grim. His eyes sharpened. With heavy steps, he charged forward like a tiger descending a mountain. His overwhelming presence seemed to press down on the air itself, turning invisible force into something almost tangible.
The clash came instantly, like a meteor slamming into the earth. As soon as they collided, the battle reignited with full intensity.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A barrage of steel crashing against steel filled the air, interspersed with deafening thunderclaps that shook the very ground. Shockwaves tore through the landscape, kicking up clouds of dust. The fight escalated rapidly into a white-hot melee.
Within moments, the battlefield was torn apart, scarred by devastating slashes and crisscrossed with countless razor-thin threads slicing the earth to pieces.
"Army Bandera!!"
Suddenly, the ground rippled like fabric in the wind, transforming into a fluttering, weightless sheet. Both Doflamingo and Cross stumbled, struggling to keep their balance. They immediately halted their forward momentum.
"This power… Diamante!"
Doflamingo looked down at the undulating terrain, then turned toward another direction.
Cross followed his gaze and saw a man dressed like a bizarre blend of rockstar and tribal warrior.
"Doffy! Gladius just reported, he intercepted a call from a Marine Den Den Mushi! Tsuru's warship is en route to the Lvneel Kingdom!" Diamante shouted breathlessly. "And the Lvneel royal army's already mobilized and marching this way!"
Doflamingo's face darkened. "Tsuru, huh… What a troublesome old hag. Then there's no time to waste, we'll take this brat out together!"
"W-Wait, Doffy!" Diamante waved his hands nervously. "I don't know about this... You're the one with real strength here!"
"No, if we work together, we can win." Doflamingo said earnestly.
"Come on, you're giving me too much credit!" Diamante looked flustered, waving his hand dismissively with a bashful grin.
"No," Doflamingo insisted, his voice firm. "Only the two of us together can crush this brat quickly. I need your help."
"Jeez, listen to you... I'm really not that great, you know!" Diamante turned slightly, still feigning reluctance.
Doflamingo sighed and pulled his hand back. "Fine. If you insist—"
SCHING!
"I'll team up with you, Doffy! That little bastard won't know what hit him!" Diamante suddenly drew the longsword at his hip with a flourish, his voice rising in excitement as he glared venomously at Cross.
"Fufufufufu~ That's the spirit!" Doflamingo grinned wide, nodding with satisfaction.
Meanwhile, Cross stared at the two of them in stunned disbelief, completely at a loss for words. The melodramatic display playing out in front of him… it was like something straight out of an anime.
He'd only ever seen this kind of mutual ego-stroking in the show itself, and now he was witnessing it live.
This ridiculous, over-the-top commercial of mutual praise…
It was so blindingly stupid it practically seared his 24K gold eyes.
"Fufufufufu~"
Doflamingo turned his attention back to Cross, eyes narrowing into a menacing grin. "Brat… your time is up."
"Sword Art: Vipera Glaive!!"
Without another word, Diamante lunged forward, attacking first. The rigid blade in his hand suddenly went limp and silky, fluttering in the air like cloth.
He swung the sword outward. The blade twisted like a snake, slithering through the air in an arc, stretching and curving, then shot past Cross's flank to strike from behind, like a venomous serpent lunging from the brush.
"Don't come at me with weak tricks like that."
Without even turning his head, Cross whipped Kagehide behind him in a smooth, practiced sweep—CLANG!—deflecting the attack mid-air and sending sparks flying.
"Bullet String!!"
At the same time, Doflamingo shot forward, raising his hand and firing a needle-thin line from his fingertip like a bullet. The white string screamed through the air at supersonic speed.
"Guess it's my turn!"
Cross twisted his body lightning-fast, dodging the projectile by a hair's breadth. The string slammed into a tall palm tree behind him, and with a heavy THUMP, the thick trunk snapped in half. The top half, still dangling with green coconuts, crashed to the ground.
Cross surged forward, blade raised, aiming to bring it down on Doflamingo. But just as he stepped in...
His foot hit air.
His balance slipped, and he nearly collapsed as the shifting terrain betrayed him.
"Goshikito!!"
Hovering mid-air, Doflamingo seized the moment, lashing out with five razor-sharp threads aimed straight at Cross.
"Damn it!"
Cross cursed under his breath, face grim. The ground beneath him was still fluttering like cloth, unstable, unpredictable. He brought Kagehide up just in time to block.
CLANG!
The blades clashed in a burst of sparks. Cross was sent flying and landed hard several meters away, skidding across the dirt.
Diamante laughed triumphantly. "Uhahaha! You've never fought on terrain like this before, have you?! I'm the Flag Human, I ate the Flutter-Flutter Fruit! I can make anything I touch as light and fluttery as a flag!"
"Bastards… and have you ever been swallowed by the living earth?!"
Cross sprang to his feet, slammed one palm onto the ground, and roared:
"Enliven: Inorganic Reincarnation!!"
A wave of unseen energy rippled across the terrain. In an instant, the fluttering, fabric-like ground solidified, alive, severing Diamante's control over it.
"Nani?!"
Diamante staggered back, stunned. The terrain was stabilizing, but why had his power stopped working?
RUMBLE…
The earth quaked violently. For a hundred meters in every direction, soil churned and cracked. Jagged stones erupted like fangs, transforming into towering, spear-like pillars. These massive stone tentacles reared into the air and came crashing down toward Doflamingo and Diamante.
"Damn brat!"
Snarling, Doflamingo shot upward, yanking himself into the sky with his threads. Dozens of razor-fine strings burst from his fingertips, weaving into a massive web-like trap in front of him.
As the stone tentacles surged toward him, the web snapped taut.
SHRAAAK!
The giant stone spears were instantly shredded, crumbling into debris and raining earth and gravel across the battlefield.
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