"Strange... there isn't a single ship in sight. Could those bastards have already fled?" Diamante frowned slightly.
Beside him, a towering figure clad in golden armor and a helmet with a cross-shaped visor spoke up: "They think they can offend the Donquixote Family and just run away?"
In stark contrast to his massive, imposing physique, his voice was surprisingly high-pitched and shrill, creating a jarring contrast.
*Pfft...*
Buffalo quickly covered his mouth, but Pica's deathly glare still sent a cold sweat down his back.
Pica hated nothing more than being mocked for his voice. Buffalo had nearly been beaten to death once for committing this taboo.
But the voice was just so damn funny!
Abel pinched his thigh hard, trying to use the pain to resist the sonic assault and keep from laughing out loud.
"Something's off," Doflamingo suddenly said, looking around. "Everyone's cleared out of the area. And they haven't even set up an ambush? Hmm?"
Just then, Doflamingo looked up and saw several signal flares launched from a distant mountain peak, as if daring to expose their position.
Veins bulged at Doflamingo's temples. This blatant contempt infuriated him; he felt utterly disregarded.
"Excellent. It seems our 'friends' have already chosen their graves and are inviting us to the viewing."
"Young Master, be careful—this could be a trap."
Doflamingo calmed slightly, turning to his subordinate.
"Trebol, Diamante, you two stay here and guard the ship. I want to see what kind of tricks these bastards are planning."
"Heh heh heh, leave it to us, Dof."
With two of his Top Executives guarding the ship, Doflamingo felt completely at ease.
He immediately led his men toward the location where the signal flare had been fired.
They encountered no resistance along the way, which only fueled Doflamingo's fury.
"When we storm in there, leave no survivors! Kill them all!"
"Yes, Young Master."
"Then let's begin."
The moment they stepped into the manor, they were greeted with a fiery welcome.
Countless gun barrels poked out from behind every window, unleashing a furious barrage of bullets.
Pica immediately merged with the surrounding walls, using his Stone-Stone Fruit Ability to assimilate them into his body. He then formed two massive stone arms to shield Doflamingo and his group.
Meanwhile, Señor, clad in his signature black suit and radiating unrestrained swagger, dove headfirst into the ground, tunneling beneath the enemy lines.
Machvise instantly reduced his weight to zero, levitating into the air as he prepared to unleash a devastating aerial palm strike.
"Go! Attack freely!"
Finally receiving their orders, Baby-5 and Buffalo refused to be outdone. They unleashed a coordinated aerial assault, soaring into the sky and unleashing a ferocious counterattack.
Abel held back, biding his time. It wasn't his turn yet, and he had no interest in becoming a bullet sponge.
"Thump-Thump! Destructive Thousand-Ton Vice!"
Machvise, now hovering above the mansion's roof, positioned his specially reinforced shield beneath his abdomen. With a sudden surge of power, he increased his weight to a thousand tons and plummeted earthward in a freefall!
What kind of devastation would a thousand-ton object falling from the sky unleash?
The pirates hiding inside thought the building was collapsing when Machvise smashed straight through it with his Destructive Thousand-Ton Vice!
Countless unfortunate souls were caught in the blast, their screams echoing through the wreckage.
Señor arrived just then, leaping back to the ground with a cigarette dangling from his lips and a gun in his hand. He immediately began spraying bullets into the chaotic crowd.
Meanwhile, Baby-5, who had secured air superiority, relentlessly bombarded the interior with cannon fire, silencing the Skunk Pirates' once-dense network of firepower.
Seeing this, Doflamingo gestured to Gladius beside him.
Understanding the signal, Gladius stepped out from behind Sica's protection and swiftly approached the door, pressing his right hand against it.
"Explode!"
Boom!
The door, piled high with debris, shattered into splinters.
Gladius was a Pop-Pop Fruit user, capable of inflating his own body to detonate or causing inorganic matter he touched to expand and explode.
It's no exaggeration to say that, aside from later additions Abel and Law, nearly every member of the Donquixote Family was a Devil Fruit user—an utterly absurd situation!
In the North Blue, a Devil Fruit user of even moderate strength could easily establish a large pirate crew.
This was the difference!
If the Captain of the Skunk Pirates had known this intelligence beforehand, he wouldn't have dared to join forces with others to provoke the Donquixote Family, even if you lent him a hundred lives.
But the problem was they didn't know. Doflamingo, who controlled the North Blue's Underground Black Market, would never allow any information about the Donquixote Family's true strength to leak out.
This led to the outside world having no clear understanding of the Donquixote Family's power.
They knew the Donquixote Family was not to be trifled with and possessed immense strength.
But exactly how immense was that strength?
A farmer who had never left his village would only imagine the emperor tilling the fields with a golden hoe every day.
The idea that an entire crew could consist of Devil Fruit users was simply beyond some people's comprehension!
"Pica, check the interior. Lao G, guard the entrance and kill anyone who tries to escape. As for the rest, let our new family members have some practice. Fufufufufu~"
Abel said nothing this time, nodding before entering.
He knew this was another trial—to see if he could adapt to this life of constantly walking on a knife's edge, where it was kill or be killed.
Doflamingo only valued potential recruits who possessed not just strength, but also ruthlessness and ferocity.
So, the moment Abel entered, he drew his gun without hesitation and fired.
A pirate hiding near the doorway, attempting to ambush him, had his head blown apart instantly.
"A kid?"
"How dare he underestimate us like that? Kill him!"
The surrounding pirates, sensing an easy target, immediately perked up, displaying the classic bully mentality of preying on the weak and cowering before the strong.
But this was exactly the reaction Abel wanted.
A real battle without any pressure would be no better than target practice in the training grounds.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Using his agility, Abel dodged attacks while returning fire.
As the old saying goes: "Beyond ten steps, the gun is fast; within ten steps, it's both accurate and fast!"
Against these grunts, Abel found the gun incredibly effective, taking them down with single shots.
However, the gun's limitations soon became apparent: he ran out of bullets.
Moreover, as a novice, his accuracy while moving was still lacking.
To make matters worse, amidst the chaotic battlefield, he had already been hit by several stray bullets.