The air in the council hall didn't just feel tense; it solidified. It was not a metaphor. From beneath the heavy, sealed castle doors, a thick, viscous shadow seeped in like ink bleeding into water. The pristine marble floor was instantly stained, and the darkness crept up the walls, making the very air feel heavy and suffocating.
"What is this…" Trebol's gooey body recoiled, the smile wiped clean from his face.
"Enemy attack!" Diamante roared, drawing the longsword from his waist and taking a defensive stance.
Pica, massive as a mountain, was more direct. His muffled voice echoed through the hall, "What is this thing?! How dare you act so insolently before the Young Master!"
Doflamingo remained at the head of the table, his expression so grim it looked like it could drip water. He knew exactly what this was. Gekko Moriah.
In seconds, the shadows covered the entire floor and began climbing the walls, seeking to swallow the room in complete darkness.
Just then, a flash of emerald green light tore through the hall without warning.
Boom—!
The impossibly thick main gate of the castle, along with its entire frame, was sliced clean in two. The cut was perfectly smooth, as if through glass. The two halves of the gate exploded inward, sending a shower of fragments and blinding light into the hall, which instantly dispelled some of the encroaching shadows.
The emerald slash, its momentum barely slowed, carried an unparalleled sharpness as it flew directly toward Doflamingo on his throne!
"Don't you dare!" Diamante bellowed. He shook his longsword, and his flowing cape instantly hardened like steel, forming a massive shield to intercept the attack. Pica was even faster, slamming his hands on the ground. A thick wall of stone erupted from the floor, reinforcing the cape-shield from behind.
Screech!
The green slash met the steel cape, producing a grating, teeth-rattling shriek. The hardened shield was torn open like paper. The slash pierced through, struck the stone wall, and cut through it with the same unstoppable force before finally carving a bottomless scar into the floor and dissipating.
Diamante and Pica both grunted in pain, thrown backward by the sheer force of the impact.
As the dust settled, three figures stood silhouetted in the shattered doorway, framed by the cold North Blue sunlight. One was a giant, his mouth stretched in a signature "Kishishishishi" laugh. One carried a black blade, his hawk-like eyes scanning the room with cold indifference. And leading them was a man with black hair and golden eyes, his hands in his pockets and a gentle smile on his face that sent a chill down the spine.
Kyle stepped forward, walking unhurriedly into Doflamingo's throne room.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The crisp sound of his footsteps echoed in the chaotic hall, each one landing like a hammer blow on the hearts of the Donquixote Family executives.
"Stop him!" Trebol shrieked, pointing his slime-covered cane at the intruder.
Diamante and Pica exchanged a look, swallowed their shock, and moved to flank Kyle from both sides. They were Doflamingo's most loyal officers, the shield and spear of the Family. They would never allow anyone to approach their king so easily.
Yet Kyle didn't even glance at them. He simply kept walking. An invisible, mountain-heavy pressure radiated from him. It wasn't a violent blast, but a more fundamental, absolute dominance that came from a higher level of being. The very air seemed to thicken into syrup.
Diamante and Pica's charge came to an abrupt halt, as if a pause button had been pressed on the world. Cold sweat beaded on their foreheads, their eyes wide with horror. Every muscle and cell in their bodies screamed a primal warning, and a pure, instinctual fear locked their limbs in place. The gooey Trebol simply collapsed into a trembling puddle on the floor.
The only sound in the entire hall was the soft tap of Kyle's footsteps.
With his hands still casually tucked in his pockets, Kyle walked between the two frozen executives as if they were nothing more than statues. He crossed the shadow-covered floor, passed through the destruction carved by Mihawk's slash, and stepped calmly toward the throne.
Doflamingo remained seated, his eyes hidden behind sunglasses, but the veins bulging on his temples were clearly visible. He gripped the armrests of his chair so tightly his knuckles turned white, digging deep grooves into the wood.
Finally, Kyle stopped directly in front of the throne. He stood there, looking down at the man in the chair. Kyle's shadow fell over Doflamingo, completely enveloping him. It wasn't dark and sinister like Moriah's, but it brought with it an unprecedented pressure.
"Donquixote Doflamingo?" Kyle spoke, his calm voice breaking the suffocating silence. "The Heavenly Yaksha. A pleasure to meet you."
A muscle in Doflamingo's jaw twitched. He fought down the rage and shock in his heart, forcing a stiff, wide grin. "Fufufu… The 'Wave Guiding King' himself, gracing my humble home. What an honor. I wonder if one of my subordinates has offended you? If so, I can hand him over for you to dispose of as you wish."
He was trying to take control, to frame the situation as a mere misunderstanding. Kyle smiled. It was a soft laugh, but it seemed to drop the temperature in the room by several degrees.
The grin on Doflamingo's face froze. "What is the meaning of this?" his voice deepened. He slowly rose to his feet, his nearly three-meter height and pink feather coat designed to create an intimidating presence. He was trying to regain control of the atmosphere.
"This is Spider Miles. This is my territory," Doflamingo said, taking a step forward. His gaze seemed to pierce through his sunglasses, locking onto Kyle. "Even if you are one of the strongest men on the sea, you should think about the consequences before acting recklessly here." He paused for effect, then said each word with deliberate weight. "Just a reminder, my surname is Donquixote!"
The name alone was enough to make a Marine Admiral hesitate. Donquixote. It was the name of one of the Twenty Kings who created the World Government—a Celestial Dragon. It was his greatest trump card, and his deepest source of pain.
"Oh?" Kyle raised an eyebrow, his smile widening. "Donquixote?" He let out a short, dismissive scoff, as if he'd just heard the world's worst joke. "So what?"
His voice wasn't loud, but it echoed in the silent hall. "Do you really think that pathetic bunch in the Holy Land would lift a finger to help a stray dog like you?"
Stray. Dog.
The words struck Doflamingo like a red-hot brand, searing into his very soul. The agonizing memories of his childhood—being strung up and tortured by commoners, the humiliation of his father leading them away from Mariejois—all the trauma he had desperately tried to bury was brutally ripped open and exposed.
The expression on Doflamingo's face froze, then twisted into a grotesque mask of fury. Veins bulged on his forehead, pulsing violently beneath his skin.
"Fufufu… Fu…" His signature laugh became a dry, strange rasp before vanishing completely.
"What… do you know?!" A roar, suppressed to its absolute limit, erupted from his throat.
Boom!
An invisible shockwave of power exploded from him, sweeping in all directions. Black and red lightning crackled around his body, instantly spreading like a spiderweb across the walls and ceiling of the hall. The marble floor groaned and splintered under the immense pressure of his Conqueror's Haki.
Under this overwhelming aura, Diamante and Trebol turned pale, their bodies shaking uncontrollably. This was the king they served. But they had never, ever seen him so enraged.
"Young Master!" Pica cried out, but the force of the Haki threw him back.
Doflamingo ignored them all. He spread his hands, his fingers curled like claws. Hundreds of near-invisible white threads shot from his fingertips, striking the walls, ceiling, and floor at blinding speed. In the blink of an eye, they wove together into a giant, dome-shaped net covering the entire hall.
"Birdcage!"
With Doflamingo's low growl, the net of razor-sharp strings began to slowly contract. Each thread could slice through steel, and they hissed as they cut through the air.
But he wasn't done.
"Overheat!"
Doflamingo swung his arm, and a bundle of strings twisted into a thick, white-hot whip. Coated in dense Armament Haki, it tore through the air and lashed directly at Kyle's head. At the same time, his other hand flicked.
"Five Color String!"
Five threads of different colors shot from his fingertips like invisible blades, aiming for Kyle's neck, heart, and limbs from five different angles. It was Doflamingo's ultimate killing combo: Conqueror's Haki to stun the mind, Birdcage to seal off escape, Overheat for a direct assault, and Five Color String for the hidden kill.
At the entrance, Moriah grinned excitedly, his shadow writhing behind him. Mihawk placed a hand on the hilt of his sword, his hawk-like eyes narrowing slightly.
Kyle, however, still had his hands in his pockets. He hadn't moved an inch. The playful smile never left his face as the whip tore through space and the deadly threads closed in. Above him, the Birdcage contracted, its threads gleaming with a cold light. This was Doflamingo's absolute killing field, and a cruel, confident sneer twisted his face. He refused to believe anyone could escape this trap.
Just a split second before the threads reached Kyle, something changed.
An invisible power surged from Kyle. It wasn't a violent, raging storm like Doflamingo's Haki. It was a bottomless, tranquil sea, utterly calm, yet possessing an absolute weight that could devour everything.
Om—
A low hum resonated through the space. The black and red lightning of Doflamingo's Haki flickered like a candle in the wind, then quietly went out. His domineering aura crashed against an unseen wall and was instantly crushed, smoothed into nothing. The violent pressure vanished, replaced by an absolute power that made one's very soul tremble.
"What…?" Doflamingo's expression froze. He could feel his connection to his own strings being forcibly severed by a higher power.
The next second, the Overheat whip, capable of splitting mountains, went completely limp in mid-air and fell to the ground as a soft bundle of ordinary white thread. The five sharp blades of the Five Color String lost all their power and drooped harmlessly. Most terrifying of all, the contracting Birdcage above their heads groaned, its deadly gleam fading as the entire structure threatened to collapse.
Kyle finally spoke, his voice tinged with a bored laziness. "In the face of true Haki, these are just parlor tricks." He lifted his foot and took a single step forward.
Doflamingo's pupils constricted. He instinctively tried to retreat, but his body felt as if it were filled with lead.
Kyle walked up to him, casually reached out, and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Gah—!"
An involuntary groan of pain escaped Doflamingo's lips. Before this power, his formidable physique was as fragile as rotten wood. His bones creaked under the strain, and his organs felt as if they were being crushed by an invisible hand.
Thud!
The arrogant Heavenly Yaksha, the underground king of the North Blue, felt his legs give out. He could no longer support his own weight and collapsed heavily onto one knee. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, and a thin crack appeared on the lens of his sunglasses.
The hall was deathly silent.
The executives had just recovered from Kyle's initial wave of Haki, only to witness a sight that made their blood run cold. Their king, the Young Master they believed to be invincible, was on his knees, spitting blood, held down by a single hand.
"Young Master!" Pica's shrill voice pierced the silence as he prepared to charge.
"Kishishishishi!" Moriah's laugh rang out. He stepped forward, and the massive shadow behind him writhed to life, its crimson eyes locking onto Pica.
On the other side, Mihawk didn't even draw his sword. He simply rested his hand on its hilt and glanced indifferently at Diamante and Trebol. That one look was enough to extinguish any courage they had left.
In front of the throne, Kyle didn't spare a look behind him. He just stared down at the kneeling Doflamingo with a critical eye.
"Remove the trash," he commanded.
At his word, Moriah chuckled and advanced on Pica. Mihawk stepped forward, walking calmly toward Diamante and Trebol. Faced with their king's defeat, the top executives of the Donquixote Family couldn't even think of resisting. They were effortlessly "escorted" out of the council hall.
Boom.
Mihawk casually pushed the heavy castle doors shut. Silence returned to the hall. Only two men remained: Kyle, and at his feet, Doflamingo.
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