Strong men love a finale. Two ultimates collide, smoke clears, someone stays down.
Ozz prefers previews.
"Not bad, Doffy. Even with my Seagull King running the latest meta with a Mythical Zoan, you still kept it even. Cute."
Scarlet flickered in his eyes. He had already watched the end before it happened. Threads would perforate raptor. Beak would punch through belly. Both sides would blackout, crash, and call it a draw.
Why waste time.
He set his juice down, reached into the space between wind and string, and lightly clenched his fist.
The world froze.
The steel-feathered gale armor around the Seagull King unraveled to dust. The eight roaring waves of thread behind Doflamingo thinned to lint. Both combatants hung there like murals.
Inside the stillness Doflamingo's heart roared.
Impossible. A full power finisher, and he could not move a finger. He knew there was a gap between himself and Ozz. He had worked for years to close it. Yet here he was, discovering the gap was actually a cliff.
The difference between a god and an ant.
Time flowed again. Storm and string fell apart. Body control returned. The first thing Doflamingo did was gasp. He never wanted someone else holding his life that tightly again.
"Good work, Doffy."
Ozz was generous with praise when it taught the right lesson. The flamingo looked wrung out and a little hollowed, which was perfect. The whole point of handing the Seagull King a cheat-code fruit midfight was to make this proud upstart eat a little humble pie.
He had not expected Doflamingo to push his Ito Ito no Mi to the edge of Awakening in a disadvantage, then claw back to parity. Born king indeed.
They lounged by a section of palace pool that had somehow survived. Ozz tapped Doflamingo's shoulder.
"Call it a draw. You grew. Spirit was good. You get half the reward. The Hobby-Hobby tab is closed."
Consolation prize granted. The smile returned to the habitual corner of Doflamingo's mouth.
"As long as you enjoyed yourself."
The real winner was the Seagull King. It could barely keep from strutting. In its mind it was now Bird Emperor of Earth. Morgans who.
It puffed. It preened. But when Ozz spoke, it listened.
Full beast form spread a wingspan the size of a plaza. Ozz sat perfectly on its crown, like he had been born to ride thunderheads. Then he did what a tourist emperor does. He ate.
He mobilized the entire country to hunt down the little joint that once served Sabo his favorite seafood rice. He wanted the Rose Squid Ink Pasta. It looked delicious in the papers.
When Ozz gives an order, people find the shop in minutes.
Meanwhile, in the underworld, the swell that had started to rise around a possible Joker downfall flattened out.
"You hear Ozz is done with him? Time to carve up that market."
"Even a scrap would feed us for years."
"Idiots. That was last week's rumor. Ozz vacationed in Dressrosa and left very pleased."
"Ah? Lucky Joker."
Fair weather, open sea.
A whale-shaped behemoth of a ship plowed forward. Tension sat on the deck like an extra anchor. Two giants of will faced each other over a table.
"That really is the Golden Lion Shiki, the one who used to run neck and neck with Pops and the Pirate King."
"Just looking at him leaks Conqueror's Haki."
The Whitebeard Pirates' cabin boys whispered.
Shiki toyed with a cigar and smiled across at Whitebeard.
"The sea is lively again."
"With Roger gone the wall is down, and yet the age belongs to some brat. You getting old, Newgate?"
He rattled a newspaper, hot off a recent press, splashed with Ozz vs Whitebeard headlines.
Whitebeard's forehead twitched. After that fight, the world decided he was a step behind the Black Emperor, and every two-bit thug started poking his borders. He had spent days reminding the oceans that the name Whitebeard is not something you test.
"Shiki, if you sailed here just to flap your gums, I can sink you now."
"Kyahahahaha. You are still infuriating. Good. I can relax."
Shiki leaned back.
"I plan to disappear a while. Let this era see a little something."
Keeee.
A knife-clear cry cut the sun. The sky darkened under a living shadow. Every face turned up into a falling night.
Then came the voice that all of them knew far too well.
"Broke out of Impel Down, did you."
"Long time no see, Golden Lion Shiki."
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