Pica's heart filled with dread when he noticed Cavendish systematically dismantling the stone giant he had fused with from below.
"Just wait there, you squeaky-voiced coward!" Cavendish roared with righteous fury. "You actually tried to attack innocent civilians in front of me—don't you realize they're all my adoring fans?! Now let's see where you can hide!"
What he was referencing was a disturbing scene that had unfolded during their prolonged battle.
Because Pica's body became enormously massive after merging with surrounding rock formations, he resembled a towering giant over one hundred meters tall, standing imposingly between heaven and earth.
This tremendous size meant that every movement he made caused earthquake-like tremors, bringing devastating impacts to all surrounding areas.
Therefore, when the two fighters had first begun their duel, Pica's wild attacks had caused nearby houses to collapse one after another, injuring countless innocent bystanders who couldn't escape quickly enough.
Witnessing this unnecessary destruction, Cavendish had immediately shouted loudly, warning civilians to evacuate the dangerous area as rapidly as possible.
However, Pica had observed his protective behavior and mistakenly believed he had discovered a critical weakness to exploit.
As a result, Pica had become increasingly reckless, even deliberately hurling broken stone projectiles during his attacks in attempts to divide Cavendish's attention between combat and civilian protection.
Pica's underhanded tactics had initially proven effective.
As the stone giant had expected, Cavendish had risked his own safety to intercept falling debris in order to save innocent people who were about to be crushed.
But Pica had only guessed the beginning of this strategy while failing to anticipate its ultimate conclusion.
Cavendish, as a Logia-type user of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, possessed not only exceptionally fast movement speed and devastating ranged attacks, but his elemental body also made it completely impossible for Pica to inflict any damage while hiding within rock formations.
This fundamental advantage had led to the scene where Pica had later revealed his true human form and attempted to use Armament Haki against his opponent, only to be wounded instead.
Although Cavendish had been briefly constrained while coordinating civilian evacuations, this period had also ignited endless anger within his heart.
Therefore, after ensuring all innocents had reached safety, Cavendish had taken decisive action to completely confine Pica to a small area of devastated terrain, making it impossible for him to threaten anyone beyond the immediate ruins.
Cavendish had maintained his lightning-fast repeated movement and sword-drawing techniques, combined with electrical bombardment attacks, reducing Pica's massive rock construct to nothing more than a head before it crashed toward the ground.
This had been exactly the tactical inspiration that had occurred to him during his earlier flash of understanding.
Taking advantage of Pica's characteristic need to constantly absorb and fuse with rock material, Cavendish had sought the perfect opportunity to launch a coordinated assault. He controlled the giant's aerial position while rapidly destroying its mass, ultimately forcing out Pica's vulnerable human form.
Staring at the falling stone head with cold satisfaction, Cavendish's mouth curved into a menacing smile. "Come out, you cowardly fool!"
His entire left arm transformed into crackling lightning, and as he swung it with tremendous force, a dazzling unicorn-shaped electrical beast rushed forward.
"Thunder Unicorn!"
Seeing that his enemy's attack was about to connect and realizing he had nowhere left to hide, Pica's real body quickly emerged from within the rocky skull.
Then he shouted in his characteristic shrill voice, "As long as I can destroy this attack, you pretty boy still won't be able to do anything to me!"
Just as Pica—with his entire body coated in dense Armament Haki—prepared to swing his sword at the approaching Thunder Unicorn, he was startled by a piercing chill rising from behind him. Cavendish's calm voice suddenly echoed from his blind spot.
Pica immediately spun around and leaped upward, swinging his blade in a desperate defensive arc, hoping to wound Cavendish and force him to retreat.
Facing Pica's all-out sword assault, Cavendish seemed to have anticipated this exact response. His body converted to pure lightning as he suddenly accelerated, arriving directly above Pica's head within a single instant.
"What?!" Pica's sword cut through empty air, accomplishing nothing.
The Armament Haki coating on Cavendish's blade flashed with violent electrical arcs as he positioned himself for the finishing blow.
"Beautiful Sword: Starlight Cutter!"
Lightning trailed behind the descending weapon in a brilliant arc, creating an extremely dazzling and powerful slash that struck downward with devastating force.
In that critical moment, Pica's eyes became bloodshot with desperate panic, but he could no longer avoid the thunderous assault. He could only grit his teeth and summon every ounce of Armament Haki within his body, hoping to defend against this potentially fatal strike.
However, Cavendish's lightning-enhanced blade tore through Pica's Haki defenses like a hot knife cutting through butter, slashing through his body with unstoppable electrical power.
A tremendous amount of blood erupted from Pica's wounds as he fell helplessly toward the ground below, unable to even cry out in pain.
After confirming with both his eyes and Observation Haki that his opponent was indeed unconscious, Cavendish said to himself with satisfaction, "Finally got rid of that annoying pest."
Having delivered this assessment, he turned his head toward the second-level platform where Deuce and the others were positioned, discovering that everyone's attention was focused directly on him.
He immediately began patting his clothes to straighten his appearance, pulled out a beautiful rose from his pocket, and struck various dramatic poses in his characteristic self-indulgent manner.
On the other side of the battlefield, after Jerry had chatted casually with Kizaru for several minutes, he noticed that the Admiral seemed genuinely interested in avoiding conflict but wasn't making any aggressive moves. This caused Jerry to roll his eyes with obvious exasperation.
"Don't try to be clever with me, Kizaru," Doflamingo declared with obvious arrogance. "Just play around here slowly while I excuse myself from this situation. Fufufufu!"
Looking at Kizaru standing in a relaxed yet combat-ready posture, and observing Doflamingo attempting to retreat while still making provocative gestures, Jerry responded with a cold sneer.
"Doflamingo, you don't seriously think you'll be safe just because Kizaru showed up, do you?" Jerry said with calm confidence. "Maybe he's actually here to help me."
His gaze passed over the Admiral and focused directly on the Heavenly Yaksha.
After these words were spoken, Kizaru remained standing in place, staring at Jerry with obvious confusion about this unexpected claim.
Doflamingo's steps toward the palace suddenly halted, and a mocking expression appeared on his bloodied features. "Fufufufu, what kind of nonsense are you spouting now?"
Unexpectedly, Jerry's smile became as brilliant as sunlight itself. "I think you'll understand exactly what I mean very soon."
"What?" Doflamingo narrowed his eyes slightly and racked his brain, but still couldn't decipher the deeper implications behind Jerry's confident words.
Seeing this confusion, Jerry's smile grew even brighter. He raised both arms with obvious excitement and declared triumphantly, "It just so happens that all the necessary players are now in position. Let's start the show!"
As soon as these words finished echoing across the battlefield, a devastating wave of Conqueror's Haki suddenly erupted from Jerry's body, instantly covering all the space within and surrounding the palace above the fourth level.
This majestic and overwhelming aura—as deep and vast as an ocean abyss—made Doflamingo feel as though the very air had become stagnant around him, leaving him unable to move properly.
Suddenly, the Heavenly Yaksha seemed to realize something terrible. His eyes widened dramatically and became completely bloodshot with panic.
"You! Stop this immediately!"
Doflamingo roared hysterically while waving his hands with desperate violence, launching merciless attacks toward Jerry in hopes of interrupting the spreading Conqueror's Haki, even though he understood such efforts were completely futile.
Just as Jerry's overwhelming presence was sweeping outward in all directions, in a room on the first floor of the palace not far from their battle...
Leo and Kabu felt only a powerful gust of wind passing by them before the people surrounding them suddenly stopped moving entirely.
Then all the guards positioned in front of them—including the small girl wearing a monocle over her left eye, a spotted dress, and a red bear-shaped cloak—rolled their eyes back and collapsed unconscious to the floor.
At the same moment, both Leo and Kabu transformed from their miniature toy forms back into their natural appearances as Tontatta people.
The slovenly man with a hideous grin and the tribal warrior in the red cape also staggered weakly. They looked around in shock while struggling to suppress feelings of trembling and dizziness.
"Oh no! Sugar can't be allowed to faint!" Suddenly, both men reacted almost simultaneously, turning toward the unconscious girl with the monocle and shouting in obvious horror.
When they confirmed that Sugar had indeed fallen into unconsciousness, they looked at each other with expressions of absolute terror written across their faces.
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