"Careful with the hair, birdie. Trebol's snot ruins the look."
Ozz crooked a finger. The Seagull King rolled twice through the air, steadied, then sprang up, just clearing the glistening blob Trebol hurled across the courtyard.
"Ew."
The reaction was mutual. Even Ozz's eyes showed a flicker of disgust. Getting hit would not hurt much, but getting glued would ground the bird. And the psychological damage was real.
Outside of Doflamingo himself, the rest of these oddball fruit users were glass cannons in Ozz's book. Cute tricks. No one could even earn the right to touch the Seagull King.
Ozz twitched a knuckle.
The Seagull King harried Doflamingo in the sky, striking as it drifted back. Cadres dropped one by one with hard Armament strikes to the vitals. The few still standing could not touch air control.
"Fufufufu. I admit I underestimated you. Of course Ozz-sama's pet would be terrifying."
Doffy's smile rose, veins with it. He had been sure of the win a minute ago. Somehow the board had flipped.
"Super Sticky Whip."
Threads braided into a cable, Armament Haki flooding it black. Doflamingo snapped it at the Seagull King. The bird juked, feathers flicking.
Screech.
A whole corner of the castle sheared off and slid away in a roar of rubble.
The pace jumped a tier. Doflamingo was paying attention now, and the Seagull King felt it.
Ozz's style carried through his proxy. Razor footwork. Cold timing. The bird clashed and cut away, but each exchange cost a feather. Stats mattered.
It was not Ozz's piloting. Even with his Observation cranked to the limit, the Seagull King's base was the limiter. In straight Armament collisions, its blackened guard kept fraying. Thin red lines opened on its wings.
"Five Color Strings."
No mercy. Doflamingo pressed in, fury tight in his jaw. Those threads, honed and hardened, could slice a ridge. Conqueror's Haki rolled off him in a wave.
The Seagull King did not flinch. Doffy's will was not heavy enough to make it stutter.
Both talons went ink-black. The bird met the strings head-on, kicking through the web.
Crack crack crack crack.
They ground against each other, strength for strength. Born a king, Doflamingo edged it. The Seagull King had not worn Haki long enough to brute force this for long.
Five gashes burst across its chest. Blood fanned backward. The bird lost height, eyes narrowing as it dropped, beak slick with red.
So this is my ceiling.
Damn it.
It shut its eyes and braced for the ground.
It never hit.
A soft lift. The world steadied. Ozz's face filled its vision.
"No need to push past breaking. You did great."
The Seagull King stared, stunned. The praise hurt worse than the cuts. Tears leaked anyway.
If it could speak, it would have screamed while it cried. I will not lose again. You got a problem with that, master.
Ozz felt the fight still burning in it. He sighed.
"Stubborn, huh. Fine. You want a shot at being stronger, I will indulge you."
He reached into his coat and palmed a fruit traced with curling patterns. The bird blinked. Across the field, Doflamingo stiffened. A bad feeling crawled up his spine.
No way there is a second round.
Sweat pricked under the pink feathers of his coat. He knew that silhouette. He had moved a lot of Devil Fruits in the underworld.
"Zoan-type, Mythical. Tori Tori no Mi, Model: Gale Bird… right?"
Ozz set it before the Seagull King with a lazy smile.
"Well? Hungry?"
This was one of the Mythical Zoans he had bartered from the Five Elders with Pure Gold. Tori Tori no Mi, Model: Gale Bird.
"Not like you were swimming before."
The Seagull King did not hesitate. Beak open. Gulp. No one could explain how that narrow neck managed it.
"Urk."
A dry heave… then change.
The head sharpened, a raptor's war crest rippling down the neck. Wings broadened like drawn blades. The body swelled, tail-feathers lengthened into spears of plumage.
On looks alone it matched the phoenix for majesty, and it wore a meaner face.
"Fits you."
The cry that split the air was new. A keen built for storms.
Wingtips flicked. The air thickened into wind. Doflamingo's feathered coat snapped and whipped. His brain went cold.
Lose the first half and eat a Mythical Zoan at halftime?
He did not dare complain. He could only watch that war-bird fix him in its golden eye and quietly grind thread between his fingers.
Ozz clocked the sour look and almost laughed. People want freebies. Ozz offers stakes.
You want the privilege I grant. Earn it with blood.
"If you can still fly, then"
"we are not done."
The gale-bird shrieked.
Wind detonated around it. The thing became a storm-front with talons, ripping across the gap toward Doflamingo.
"What."
He gritted his teeth, bracing with threads, Armament crawling up his lines. The gale-bird's hardened beak met the blackened whip.
Not a crush this time.
A shock drove through Doflamingo's core. He spat blood, eyes wide.
"Damn."
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