"Captain! This is impossible! Our cannonballs can't even hit them!"
"And their firepower is far superior to ours!"
"Damn it! Once I control the Underground Black Market, I'll arm my pirate ship to the teeth and build a whole fleet!"
"What do we do now?"
"Charge them! Engage in boarding combat!"
"That's right! We outnumber them! The Donquixote Family is trapped on the mountain, leaving only a handful of defenders. If we rush them, victory is ours!"
The captains deliberately avoided mentioning the potential disaster unfolding on the mountain, instead shouting to boost morale.
There was no turning back now.
They had to press forward!
They also harbored a sliver of hope, believing that even if unexpected trouble arose, the combined might of their three pirate crews would be enough to secure a safe retreat.
Thus, the three pirate ships immediately accelerated, charging headlong into the barrage of cannon fire.
"Behehehe, I say, I say, do these fools think we're pushovers? They're practically lining up to die!" Trebol cackled sinisterly, a long string of snot dangling from his nose.
Diamante, standing beside him, cracked his knuckles. "All the better. We can finish this quickly."
"True enough. Let them close in, then crush them swiftly. Dof should be returning with reinforcements soon."
At Trebol's command, the Flamingo's firepower abruptly dwindled by more than half, creating the illusion of dwindling ammunition.
The approaching pirate crews, none the wiser, erupted in cheers and surged forward at full speed, closing the distance in the blink of an eye.
"Men, charge with me! Slaughter every last Donquixote Family bastard!"
"Longneck Pirates, charge! Charge! Charge!"
"Don't let anyone beat us to it! The Hedgehog Pirates will show no mercy!"
"Hehehehe, hey, hey, have any of you ever been hit on the head by a ship?"
"Sticky Chains!"
Trebol suddenly shot a thick, tea-colored, slippery mucus from his body, forming a spherical grid of sticky chains that ensnared the Longneck Pirates' ship.
Then, before the horrified eyes of countless onlookers, he used the momentum from swinging the chains to hurl the ensnared pirate ship like a meteor toward the Hedgehog Pirates' vessel on the opposite side!
Sticky Meteor!
Boom!
The two pirate ships, roughly equal in size, collided violently, instantly disintegrating into scattered wreckage on the sea.
Countless pirates plunged into the ocean, swallowed by the whirlpools created by the sinking ships!
"Dof will be back soon. It seems I'll have to show a bit of my true skill."
Diamante's expression turned serious for the first time as he raised his longsword.
Crescent Moon...
Funeral!
With a swift, powerful swing, Diamante unleashed a massive wave of sword Aura that effortlessly sliced the remaining pirate ship in half, as easily as cutting through tofu!
This strike was pure swordsmanship, relying entirely on skill without any Devil Fruit abilities!
While Abel's Flying Slash relied solely on skill effects, Diamante was a true Swordmaster.
Yet he would likely never reach the level of Great Sword Master, lacking the necessary purity.
Even so, in this situation, it was a complete mismatch—a dimensional strike!
The three Pirate Crews were annihilated almost instantly.
Only the pirates who had charged onto the Flamingo in the first wave survived.
This included the three Captains.
But their faces were now grim.
They had underestimated the Donquixote Family.
To think that just two Executives could nearly wipe them out!
"If I said this was all a misunderstanding, would you let us go?"
"What do you think?" Diamante sneered.
The man forced a bitter smile. "Then there's no turning back. Let's fight to the death, Captains!"
The other two exchanged glances, realizing this situation couldn't end peacefully. They immediately unleashed a desperate, all-or-nothing aura.
After all, they were the Captains of their respective Pirate Crews.
Even knowing they were outmatched, they possessed the courage to fight to the bitter end!
Sometimes, courage alone isn't enough to change the outcome.
A few minutes later, when Doflamingo returned with his men, the three captains lay dead in pools of blood. All the invading pirates were either dead or had jumped overboard.
If not for the need to keep these "living witnesses" alive to spread news of the battle and proclaim the Donquixote Family's might, even those who jumped into the sea would have met their end.
"Fufufufufu, is this your trump card?" Doflamingo roared with unrestrained laughter, his voice echoing across the battlefield.
Captain Mephitis's face turned ashen. "It seems this farce has reached its conclusion. What a disappointment."
Suddenly, Mephitis's eyes widened, and he let out a whimper, as if begging for mercy. But in the next instant, a razor-thin string sliced through his neck, leaving him dead with his eyes wide open.
"Dof, these guys clearly planned this in advance. They stashed their stolen goods and supplies on the nearby island, then set a trap here to wipe us out. Ha! A bunch of fools!" Diamante said, having interrogated the pirates before killing them to learn the location of the previously hijacked smuggling ship.
Doflamingo chuckled in response. "The fools deliberately lured us to the mansion on the mountain, then planted explosives inside to blow us all to kingdom come. Luckily, Pica discovered the plot in time. He followed the secret passages inside and caught the guy trying to detonate the explosives remotely."
Though Doflamingo claimed it was "just luck," the overwhelming confidence radiating from him made it clear to everyone: against such overwhelming power, any schemes or tricks were nothing more than a futile death wish.
At this moment, before his encounter with Kaido, Doflamingo was truly at the height of his arrogance.
"Have the men retrieve all the explosives from the mountain. We'll check out that small island nearby."
Explosives were a highly sought-after commodity in the Underground Black Market, easily fetching a good price. Wasting them was out of the question.
With that, Doflamingo's group boarded their ship and set sail for the nearby island.
Abel's heart stirred. He sensed that this Wish Order might earn him a particularly good review.
Immediately after the battle at the manor concluded, sensing the opportune moment for independent action, he used his free search attempt.
The result was this Order:
[Order Description: Odd Jobs Gin urgently needs a large sum of money to repay debts.]
[Order Content: A substantial amount of cash or gold and silver jewelry.]
[Base Reward: Wooden Sword Lake Toya, 100 Transaction Points.]
[Remaining Time: 23 hours, 59 minutes, 59 seconds.]
Back then, with plenty of time on his hands, he hadn't been in any rush.
But now, he clearly had his sights set on the treasures left behind by the pirate crews.