Bellamy's surprise attack, launched without any warning, had struck Doflamingo's weak point.
The strength of the String-String Fruit had never been in this kind of fist-to-fist, close-quarters brawling. Sneak attacks from the shadows, fine manipulation, and piercing a single point to break an entire surface—that was where the fruit truly excelled. The colorless, transparent puppet strings; the incomparably sharp cutting threads; the suture threads that could stitch wounds. And the strangest of all, the string clone that represented the pinnacle of the fruit's manipulative abilities.
None of these abilities were particularly suited for a direct, head-on confrontation. Playing dirty was the String-String Fruit user's specialty.
Faced with Bellamy's wild, chaotic assault, Doflamingo found himself completely powerless to fight back. If he were given even a moment to breathe, a chance to gather his focus and use his abilities to their fullest, the tide of this battle might have changed dramatically.
But Bellamy would absolutely not give him that chance.
"You want to turn this around? Then you'll have to risk your life to do it!"
Face it, Doflamingo!
Bellamy laughed wildly as he continued to bombard the great wave of strings below. The sheer speed of his punches caused the surrounding air to distort violently. Under his iron fists, the tide-like white shield of strings was disappearing at a visible rate.
Beneath the shield, Doflamingo gritted his teeth, propping himself up. His two middle fingers were already twisted to their limit. The power of his Awakening was extremely draining. After being pinned down and hammered by Bellamy for so long, a giant crater had been gouged out of the earth. Doflamingo's stamina was severely depleted.
And yet, the state of the battle was not something he could stop just because he wanted to. Under such a ferocious offensive, the rate at which he could convert matter into strings was already failing to keep up with the rate they were being destroyed. If he dared to let his focus slip, Bellamy's fists would instantly punch through the shield and slam into his body.
How many years had it been? Doflamingo had almost forgotten the last time he had been in such a pathetic state.
"You bastard, STOP IT!"
In his extreme fury, Doflamingo's Conqueror's Haki instinctively erupted. A wave of spiritual pressure filled with a king's majesty swept across the void, and countless dark-gold bolts of lightning crackled wildly within the sea of strings.
This was the second time. At such a close range, Bellamy's spirit was indeed suppressed to a certain degree. But doing this, far from causing his assault to pause for even a moment, only served to make his own anger burn even hotter.
"Doflamingo!"
The essence of Conqueror's Haki was to use one's own spirit to intimidate and suppress the enemy. For someone with Doflamingo's spirit to try and intimidate a man like Bellamy was a fool's dream. Even if it were Kaido, it wasn't certain that Bellamy would be cowed by his Conqueror's Haki.
A failure who had submitted to Kaido wanted to intimidate him?
On what grounds?! On his bloodline as a Celestial Dragon?
What a joke. When had Bellamy ever been afraid of a Celestial Dragon?
Bellamy slammed his hands together, the muscles in his arms bulging rapidly.
"GET DOWN!"
A violent, artless hammer blow smashed down viciously on Doflamingo's string shield. In an instant, the constantly surging Shield White String was blasted open, exposing Doflamingo below. The moment the wave of strings was breached, the residual force struck Doflamingo, sending his ridiculous sunglasses flying off his face.
"Urgh!"
Doflamingo cried out in pain and stumbled back several steps, nearly losing his footing.
In the brief moment it took for him to take those few steps, Bellamy had already passed through the Ocean White Wave, a flying kick aimed right at him.
For Doflamingo, this kick was a blow that would decide life and death. If it landed, given Bellamy's personality, he would absolutely not be given any chance to fight back.
At this incredibly critical juncture, Doflamingo suddenly grabbed one of his own arms and viciously tore it off.
Thread Sacrifice: Great White Wave!
The moment the arm separated from his body, countless strings erupted from the wound like a volcano. In an instant, these strings flooded every empty space in the area, swallowing the incoming Bellamy whole.
Only now did Doflamingo finally have a moment to breathe.
"Hah... hah..."
He stood in place, panting heavily. Looking at the constantly churning white wave before him, he couldn't help but let out a cold sneer.
"Finally caught you, Bellamy."
Doflamingo had thought that with Bellamy entangled in his awakened strings, the battle was over. But before he could finish his sentence, the heaving Ocean White Wave suddenly exploded from within.
"Jio-Ken Ultimate Secret Art: Battle Preservation Fist!"
A muscular giant, over four meters tall and crimson from head to toe, tore through the great wave of white strings and strode out.
Bellamy stepped heavily upon Doflamingo's sea of threads. Countless strings frantically sliced at his body, leaving faint bloody marks on his muscles. But before the strings could cut any deeper, all the wounds had healed in the blink of an eye.
The speed at which the strings were cutting wasn't even as fast as the speed of his regeneration.
Seeing this, Doflamingo couldn't stop himself from cursing, "You monster!"
His awakened strings were imbued with Armament Haki, and even they couldn't trap Bellamy. What other move could possibly restrain this bastard? Doflamingo even began to doubt whether his Birdcage could actually hold this man.
The moment his will to fight wavered, Bellamy immediately sensed it.
"You're not using the Birdcage with such a perfect opportunity. Has your confidence been shaken?"
Normally, with such a golden opportunity, he would definitely have used the Birdcage to try and turn the tables. That was why Bellamy had unhesitatingly activated his ultimate burst mode.
But Doflamingo's performance was truly disappointing.
From him, Bellamy couldn't see the power of a Warlord of the Sea at all. If all the Warlords were of this caliber, he would be sorely disappointed.
Bellamy seemed to have forgotten that his own strength was already at the Warlord level. The Five Elders were even planning whether they should clear a spot among the Seven Warlords for him.
"If this is all you have, then go and die, Doflamingo."
Bellamy had now fully experienced the power of the awakened String-String Fruit. It was strong, but it was far from exceeding his limits. The transparent strings coated in Armament Haki were indeed formidable for sneak attacks and dirty tricks. But against someone like him, with his ridiculously high defense and self-healing ability, the strings showed a clear weakness.
He could stand there and let you cut him, and you still couldn't do any real damage. The wounds you inflicted healed faster than you could make them. How was Doflamingo supposed to fight that?