Seemingly to test Toki's guess, Doflamingo simply held Toki in his arms and made a small jump.
The incoming slash was easily avoided, and Doflamingo immediately swept out a Lightning Whip Kick. His speed was so fast that Ushimaru did not even have time to react.
Forced to take Doflamingo's strike head-on, Ushimaru's entire body went numb from the electricity, his limbs completely losing strength.
In the very next second, Doflamingo directly unfolded his Haoshoku (Conqueror's Haki) Domain. Under that pressure, Gyukimaru was forced back into his original form: a small white fox-cat.
Doflamingo had no intention of showing mercy to small animals. An enemy, especially an unknown one, only had one road in front of them: death.
He unleashed a single Black Kirin, not caring whether Gyukimaru lived or died, then looked over at Ushimaru and casually swung a fist. A gigantic fist of lightning smashed out and sent Ushimaru flying.
Watching Doflamingo rampage, Toki's eyes turned into hearts. She was very familiar with this power. Over eight hundred years ago, she could only watch it from afar.
Now that she was actually within the vicinity of this power, Toki could finally feel how terrifying it was. No wonder, back then, the Twenty Kingdoms had to join forces to destroy the person who wielded it.
Doflamingo had deliberately shielded her, yet even so, she could feel an invisible pressure, as if her own blood could barely flow.
After only a short while, Toki's face had gone pale, and she felt like she was about to faint.
Doflamingo seemed to notice the change in Toki as well and immediately withdrew the Haoshoku (Conqueror's Haki) Domain. Just as he was about to deliver the killing blow to Ushimaru and Gyukimaru, Toki spoke up.
"Husband, why don't we spare them? They haven't actually harmed us. There's no need to kill them."
"Oh? You're sure you want me to spare them?"
Doflamingo looked down at Toki from above, displeased. Ushimaru had clearly attacked just now with the intent to kill both of them. How could Toki not see that?
Now that he was the one with overwhelming strength, she wanted to grow a saintly conscience and choose to let them go?
Doflamingo's gaze turned cold. He grabbed Toki by the neck instead and said,
"I'll ask one more time. You want me to spare someone who tried to kill me?"
Toki had not expected Doflamingo to be so serious. This was somewhat different from what she had imagined. Wasn't it natural that the weak should be given a way to live?
But when she saw Doflamingo's expression growing darker and darker, no matter how soft-hearted she was, when it came to her own life and Doflamingo's, she could only choose to yield.
"N… no. What I mean is that we should at least ask who they are. I never intended to put you in danger, Husband."
"I hope so. If there's a next time, even if you are my wife, I'll kill you as well."
Doflamingo's tone was calm, but his words were enough to send a chill straight into Toki's bones.
She did not like this domineering, cold-blooded side of Doflamingo at all. Yet when she remembered that Doflamingo was the man destined for her by fate, she could only comfort herself in her heart.
Doflamingo was doing this for her sake. She also had to learn to change herself, so as not to disappoint her husband.
Doflamingo, of course, did not know what Toki was thinking. Even if he did, it did not matter.
The Toki Toki no Mi (Time-Time Fruit) was not something he absolutely had to have. If he could get it, then great. If not, then he could just ensure it disappeared from the world forever.
Because he had withdrawn the Haoshoku (Conqueror's Haki) Domain, Gyukimaru reverted to his human form again, though he did not wake up and was still lying there unconscious.
Doflamingo drew the sword at his own waist, flashed to Gyukimaru's side, stepped on Gyukimaru's back, and without the slightest hesitation, swung down with a single stroke.
A fine head rolled across the ground, tumbling a few times before changing back into the head of the fox.
Doflamingo did not stop. One step at a time, he walked toward Ushimaru.
Toki could hardly bear to watch.
She very much wanted to call out to Doflamingo and persuade him to spare this samurai's life. Yet in the end, the "arrangement of fate" weighed heavier in her heart than her own pity. She turned her head away and refused to look at the cruel scene.
Sensing Toki's subtle change, Doflamingo's lips curled upward as he walked.
If Toki had dared to open her mouth and plead just now, he would have cut her down without hesitation along with Ushimaru. He had no use for "saintly" types at his side.
Fortunately, Toki's choice had not disappointed him.
He looked at the purple-haired samurai and felt a faint sense of familiarity, as if he had seen that face somewhere before, but he could not recall where.
It did not matter. Death was his only ending.
With another clean stroke, Ushimaru's head flew off his shoulders.
Even in death, Ushimaru did not understand why things had escalated like this.
Weren't battles between samurai supposed to start with testing blows, then both sides bringing out their full strength, fighting with everything they had, and only then getting to know each other, maybe even becoming friends afterward? Why did Doflamingo refuse to "play by the rules" of bushido at all?
If Doflamingo had known what Ushimaru was thinking, he would only have looked down on him in utter contempt.
Did he really think the "samurai spirit of Wano" was so noble? In Doflamingo's eyes, it was trash. Anyone who tried to kill him was an enemy, and enemies had only one ending: death.
After dealing with Ushimaru and Gyukimaru, Doflamingo took Toki and flew toward the Flower Capital. On the way, in a corner of the northern cemetery region, he suddenly saw something interesting.
A burly man with a huge head and mouth, bald on top, with a face so square it was frightening,
his right side tied up in a topknot, purple hair spreading mostly along both sides of his head and the back of his skull, a mustache that curled upward, and two extremely prominent upper canines,
was curled up in a corner, trembling.
He was not shaking from cold, nor from hunger, but from sheer fear.
As for who was scaring him, it was none other than the samurai who served the Shimotsuki family.
The reason they were bullying this big, ugly man was simple. The samurai of the Shimotsuki family looked down on an ugly servant who could not even lift a sword, let alone that this ugly man was a mere house servant.
If they were not bullying him, who else would they bully?
Among the group of samurai surrounding the ugly man, one who wore three blades at his waist viciously kicked him and said,
"Orochi, your Kurozumi line once went against the will of Wano.
Now that the head of the Shimotsuki family has deigned to take you in as a mere servant, that is already a great mercy. And yet you actually dare steal the master's money? I'll make sure to properly punish a house thief like you in the master's name."
"No, no, Sakikimaru-dono, I've been very honest. I really didn't steal anything from the master." Orochi denied frantically.
He did not dare admit anything. If he denied it, at worst he would suffer a beating and that would be it. Once he confessed, what awaited him would be far more than just a beating.
"Hmph, you really think I don't dare kill you, Orochi?"
Sakikimaru despised Orochi. Not only was he utterly useless, he spent every day clinging and flattering the head of the Shimotsuki family.
By currying favor, he had managed to win the master's affection, to the point that the master would even speak up on his behalf and shield him. That was precisely what Sakikimaru hated most.
Now that he had such a good opportunity, Sakikimaru had no intention of letting it slip away.
What Sakikimaru did not notice, however, was the trace of coldness and contempt that flashed through Orochi's eyes, as if he held Sakikimaru in complete disdain.
(End of Chapter)
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