Pollock Island, Hallsta City
Inside an open-air restaurant on the beach, an ear-piercing laugh rang out.
"Fufufu!"
With that signature burst of laughter, Donquixote Doflamingo pulled a chair from a nearby table and sat down casually in front of Sephiroth.
"You seem to be in a state of deep sorrow? Brigadier General 'The Punisher' Sephiroth... Care to share? Perhaps I can help you."
There's a saying: don't hit a person who's smiling. But as Sephiroth looked at Doflamingo's face, which desperately needed a punch, his hand felt itchy. Still, he didn't show it and said in a surprised tone, "The new Warlord, Donquixote Doflamingo. It feels like we don't have any relationship, do we?"
"We have a little. My subordinate, Vergo, received a great deal of 'attention' from you when he was still in the Marines."
"Oh." Sephiroth responded briefly, silently cursing in his heart: Do you mean I made him clean toilets, or did I order him to do the janitor's duties?
"I just happened to overhear your call, and it sounds like... you want to leave the Marines? But the Marines aren't on board."
Hearing this, Sephiroth's brows furrowed slightly. He said in a curious tone, "So what? And so what if they aren't?"
"Fufufu! If that's the case, maybe I can help you. I have some connections at the top of the World Government, after all..."
The corner of Sephiroth's lips twitched slightly. After thinking for a moment, he immediately refused. "Sorry! I appreciate your kindness, but I won't trouble you with my affairs."
After saying that, Sephiroth threw the knife and fork in his hands, stood up, went straight to the counter to pay, and left the restaurant.
Behind him, Vergo spoke in a slurred tone, a spoon stuck to his left cheek, "Brother Doflamingo is purely not looking for profit. He came voluntarily and offered to help. He must have a malicious intention. Perhaps he's digging a hole and waiting for that person to jump in."
"Doffy, do you have a plan to help him?"
Hearing that, Doflamingo burst into laughter, "Fufufu! I did have a vague intention. But since he doesn't want to cooperate with me, there's no point in saying more."
As if remembering something, his face suddenly became a little savage. "Right! Trebol, are there any traces of the Sabertooth Pirates yet? How dare that Chuck rob the Donquixote Family of a Devil Fruit... I will never forgive him!"
When he heard the question, Trebol first sucked the snot off his face, then he grinned cruelly. "The intelligence agents have found their traces an hour ago and are now verifying. Once they confirm the authenticity, they will report immediately."
New World, Aitwal Sea
On an island that was only a dozen square kilometers, inside a slightly dilapidated castle, more than three hundred members of the Sabertooth Pirates were holding a feast. Amidst the fast music, the pirates were constantly toasting, laughing, and cursing, making the party atmosphere extremely noisy.
On a long, crowded wooden table, a burly middle-aged man over three meters tall with messy blonde hair raised his wine glass and shouted loudly to his men, "Boys, when we take refuge under Kaido, we'll be able to walk swaggering all over the New World in the future!"
In the middle of the crowd, a young man suddenly asked, "Brother Chuck, we're going to take refuge under Kaido, but will he really accept us?"
This young man's worries were not unfounded. Their boss, Chuck, was just a pirate with a bounty of 210 million Berries. He might be considered strong in the first half of the Grand Line, but in the second half, he was just a minor character.
Hearing this, Chuck laughed, "Don't worry! We're so sincere, Kaido will definitely accept us. After all, we have this!"
As he spoke, Chuck casually opened a small wooden box that he had placed beside him. Inside, an ugly gray Devil Fruit with a spiral pattern was visible.
"I looked through the Devil Fruit Illustrated Book, and it's the Zou Zou no Mi, Model: Mammoth! This is an ancient species from the Zoan family, which ranks below the Mythical Zoan, and its existence is extremely rare. I contacted a member of the Beasts Pirates who is my friend and asked him to tell Kaido that as long as Kaido is willing to accept me as his subordinate, I will present this Devil Fruit with both hands." Chuck said with great confidence.
Of the three Yonko currently reigning in the New World, Edward Newgate, aka Whitebeard, liked to cherish his children; Charlotte Linlin, aka Big Mom, liked to look for men of rare races to be her husband; and the remaining Kaido liked to recruit strong men.
Given that Chuck had committed all kinds of crimes, from arson to murder to plunder, Whitebeard would certainly despise him, and so would Big Mom. Not to mention that Chuck wasn't of a rare race, regardless of whether Big Mom liked him or not, just thinking about Big Mom's figure and appearance at over fifty years old... Chuck felt he couldn't handle it!
Therefore, after much thought, he could only choose to take refuge under Kaido. To be honest, if there were any other options, he didn't really want to take refuge under Kaido, the "Strongest Creature in the World."
But he was cornered! The cause of all this was that Mammoth fruit.
Five days ago, Donquixote Doflamingo's Heavenly Gold robbery had caused an uproar and attracted the attention of the world. At that time, the pirates' first reaction was: The Donquixote Family is finished!
Robbing the Heavenly Gold was equivalent to robbing the money in the Celestial Dragons' wallets, which directly offended the Celestial Dragons to death! Almost all parties were watching how the Donquixote Family would be wiped out by the World Government or the Marines.
By chance, Chuck ran into a Donquixote Family ship at sea. With the idea of beating a drowning dog, he directly plundered the boat and got this Mammoth fruit!
However, he never expected that, instead of being wiped out by the World Government, Donquixote Doflamingo had been transformed into a Warlord!
Chuck knew the Donquixote Family had so many strong people that he was no match for them at all. So, since he didn't want to die yet, he had to find a patron!
"Ah! Wait, why is my body moving on its own!"
"Me too!"
"What are you doing! Don't get closer!"
Just as the party was in full swing, chaos suddenly broke out in the castle. The members of the Sabertooth Pirates suddenly picked up their guns and swords, and then attacked each other.
Seeing that, Chuck's eyes widened instantly. He shouted, "Not good! Doflamingo is here! Hold back those who are being manipulated and don't let them mess up."
As his words fell, the wooden castle gate was shattered into pieces with a "Boom" sound. In the smoke and dust, eleven figures slowly walked in. The leader was... Doflamingo!
"Fufufu! Chuck. To dare to seize my Devil Fruit. How brave!"
With his right hand on his forehead, Doflamingo's face was filled with a savage smile. He looked at Chuck as if he were looking at a dead man.
"Damn it! So many Doflamingos!" After Chuck saw the visitors, an expression of fear appeared on his face. However, he instinctively performed a human-beast transformation, making his figure rise to more than five meters and become a saber-toothed tiger man.
"It seems you still want to fight!? Good, I'll use you to try out my new ability!"
Doflamingo crouched slightly and pressed his right hand to the ground.
...
"Sixteen Holy Spears: God-slaying!"
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!...
Sixteen lines of dark Armament Haki, like tentacles, turned into life-threatening spiked blades and shot toward Chuck.
Chuck instinctively chose to defend by covering his body with a layer of dark Armament Haki. However, he didn't notice that four black threads had suddenly tangled his limbs, making him unable to move!
Boom! Boom! Boom!...
Twelve black spiked blades, one after another, bombarded his body, penetrating his Armament Haki defense the moment the first blade hit him, piercing a blood hole in his body. In just two or three seconds, hundreds of blood holes appeared on Chuck's body. He himself instantly reverted to his human form, completely dead.
"Trash! How dare you resist me?" With his hands in his pockets, Doflamingo looked contemptuous, his tone full of disdain.
After solving the perpetrator, the Donquixote Family had no intention of letting the remaining three hundred people escape. They all used their own methods and skills to carry out a massacre of the remaining Sabertooth Pirates!
Just at this moment.
Boom!
At the main entrance of the castle, a dark shadow fell from the sky and slammed into the ground, creating a deep human-shaped pit. The huge impact made the entire island tremble, and waves of seawater even rolled onto the shore.
The Donquixote Family executives, who were in the middle of their mass murder, were startled by this sudden change. They went to the castle gate, ready to find out.
From the deep pit, a large muscular hand grabbed the edge of the pit. Immediately, a middle-aged man over seven meters tall, with two horns on his head, covering his forehead with his left hand, and covered in muscle, rose from the pit. He mumbled to himself, "A little dizzy."
"...Kaido!"
Doflamingo's eyes widened and he stood at the castle gate, calling out the visitor's name. He never expected that he would just come to take revenge on someone, but he would run into this famous Yonko!
"Hmm!?... I recognize you, you're the new Warlord who was in the newspaper today, that chicken... brother what's his face?"
Kaido shook his slightly dizzy head. He glanced inside the castle with his big eyes, then lowered his head to look at Doflamingo, who was more than half a head shorter than him.
"You little chicken, how dare you attack my brother who just took me in!?...!"
Boom!
A fierce and powerful burst of Haoshoku Haki exploded from Kaido's body in an instant and swept across the entire island, blowing the trees to a bend and the sea waves to turn around. The terrifying pressure made everyone present barely able to breathe!
Boom!
The Haoshoku Haki in Doflamingo's mind seemed to be provoked, and a much weaker momentum burst out from him, clashing with Kaido's dominating Haoshoku Haki.
Two flashes of crimson lightning continuously collided and intertwined in the void, making the surrounding mountains, rocks, grass, and trees tremble.
"You also have Haoshoku Haki?" Seeing this scene, Kaido immediately grinned. He took out the club tucked at his waist, and weighed it in his hand.
The next moment.
"Everyone, gather!"
Before Kaido could take action, the young and energetic Doflamingo shouted. He was forced to launch an attack first against the enemy in front of him. In order to take revenge on Chuck, he and fourteen of the Donquixote Family executives, excluding Sugar, Monet, Baby 5, and Dellinger who stayed on the ship, all ten executives with strong combat abilities participated!
There was only one person on Kaido's side. How could they possibly lose?
Sixteen Holy Spears: God-slaying!
Under Doflamingo's control, sixteen huge black wire blades that towered from the ground immediately split into four and bound Kaido's limbs.
Boom-boom-boom.
After that, twelve black wire blades coated with Armament Haki attacked Kaido one after another like a violent storm. The other Donquixote Family executives, seeing their young master launching an attack, quickly prepared their attacks and were ready to deliver the final blow. After all, Kaido was a great pirate with a bounty of 4.6 billion Berries, and he would certainly not be as easy to defeat as Chuck. They were all ready for an all-out fight!
After Doflamingo continuously bombarded Kaido with his God-slaying attack for three minutes, he subconsciously stopped the attack. The intensity of that attack was very dependent on his Armament Haki. Under this insane attack, his Haki had been consumed by half. Due to the high friction, he was ready to pause for a moment and rest to restore his Haki.
However, Doflamingo was very confident that no matter how strong Kaido was, he must have suffered significant injuries under his continuous attack!
But.
In Doflamingo's eyes, which were filled with surprise and shock, Kaido just pulled his limbs hard, and the black thread blades wrapped around his body were instantly ripped apart!
"A Warlord? Is that all there is to it?"
Kaido raised his left hand and patted the dust off his body, showing a puzzled expression. The World Government actually thinks that with this level, they can stand up to Kaido, Whitebeard, and Big Mom?
The next second.
From extreme stillness to extreme motion, Kaido's figure moved as fast as lightning. The club in his hand was raised high.
"Thunder Bagua!"