After receiving Hancock's message, Rosinante glanced up at the towering Douglas Bullet, then stepped onto Geppo without hesitation, rushing into the sky.
And then—he saw the four Logia users unleashing a focused barrage on a single point.
"Stella! Everyone fall back!" Rosinante said bluntly. "Hold the mainland of Wano first, deal with the others, and finish this big guy last!"
"You're serious?"
With the exoskeleton formed by the stored-energy clouds, Stella launched another massive area-covering fist-shock…
But the combined robot—almost blasted through by her strike—immediately shifted other materials into the damaged area, restoring itself in an instant.
"Click… what a stubborn bastard." Stella looked at her hand, gritting her teeth. "Looks like this is the only way."
"It really is… frustrating."
Crocodile brushed back her blue hair identical to Vivi's; the cross-shaped scar across her mature face looked especially gloomy.
"Frustrating or not, we stop here for now." Smoker lit another cigar and bit down. "Don't you realize Bullet isn't even acknowledging us anymore?"
"For a person, ignoring insects is normal." Enel crackled with lightning all over his body. "But once you become the insect… it's extremely unpleasant."
"We'll leave it at that for now. If we're useless here, then let's do something meaningful."
As commander, Rosinante made the decision.
But this retreat was forced…
They had considered Bullet's Clank-Clank Fruit—but none of them expected the awakened More-More Fruit to increase something already massive one hundredfold…
Each of these awakened Paramecia fruits alone was already insane.
And now they could… stack?
The effect wasn't one plus one—more like an exponential explosion.
Forget them; even the three monsters stationed at Marine Headquarters probably had no good method to deal with Bullet right now.
"Sigh."
Rosinante exhaled and said:
"On my signal…"
"Smoker—take Hawk Eyes with you."
"Retreat!"
..."Come on! Who's next?" Yamato sat atop Queen's unconscious body, boldly looking at the rest of the Beasts Pirates. "I think you all need to put in a little more effort!"
Seeing bodies lying scattered across the deck, even King felt cold sweat inside the mask.
Right now, Yamato—whether in physical strength, Devil Fruit power, or all three forms of Haki—was completely surrounded by Kaido's overwhelming legacy…
She still had potential to grow, but surpassing Kaido completely was nearly impossible.
And now, as an enemy facing her, King realized he could no longer treat this lightly…
Yamato was being compared to Kaido.
But in another sense, what they were facing was not Yamato at all…
Mythical Zoan, kanabo, all three Haki, Raimei Hakke…
She was practically a mini-Kaido.
King let out a long breath and raised his massive nodachi.
"Everyone—
"All at once!"
Upon hearing this, fiery flames erupted in Yamato's eyes.
She untied the gourd at her waist—the one marked with the character "米"…
Lifted it—and drained it in one go.
As Kaido's daughter, Yamato not only inherited his physicality and Haki…
She mastered Shuron Hakke as well—growing stronger when drunk, but emotionally unstable.
"Hic…"
"Hehehe, hahaha!"
"Let's play…"
King had seen this posture on Kaido many times—
Drunken Dragon Mode.
It looked carefree and playful, but…
At any moment, she could explode into violence.
..."Doffy finally decided to shake off the reins that bind Michael."
"I can't afford to disappoint him!"
Dashing between the buildings of the Flower Capital, Diamante, one of the four top executives and commander of the Combat Division—enthusiastically searched for his target.
Walking beside him was a man in Marine officer uniform—
"Demon Bamboo" Vergo.
After the World Military Draft, he officially joined the Marines.
With his formidable Armament Haki, he rose smoothly to the rank of Rear Admiral.
This alone showed how determined Doflamingo was…
He was even risking exposure of an embedded Marine mole for a decisive strike!
"Diamante, keep a low profile. Don't forget our mission isn't to cause chaos—it's to use the front-line battles as cover and quietly seize Kozuki Oden's family."
"Yeah yeah, I know that, Vergo." Diamante snorted. "I didn't even use my ability. I just flew straight to Kozuki Oden's shogunate. I'm already being careful."
As the Flag-Flag Fruit user, he could turn any simple object into cloth-like softness.
But only the form changed—the material did not.
With Doflamingo's Fruit strings guiding them, the two entered Wano from the sky.
"The Shogun's residence is ahead!"
They exchanged a glance and nodded.
As Doflamingo's earliest companions, their teamwork was perfect.
In the back alley of the residence, Diamante pressed a hand to the wall, turning it soft like silk.
They stepped through.
The residence wasn't large. With Observation Haki, they quickly located the rear garden.
Kozuki Toki, Kozuki Momonosuke, and Kozuki Hiyori sat there, worry written on their faces.
"Dear Lady Toki, take your children and come with us. Our king, Doflamingo of Dressrosa, will see you now."
Seeing no guards around, Vergo and Diamante appeared openly.
Momonosuke and Hiyori jolted upright—
Then backed far away.
"Trying to run now is far too late."
Diamante moved to grab them—but Kozuki Toki rose gracefully…
Revealing Oto and Kogarashi at her waist.
"They're not running. They're keeping distance so they don't get caught in what comes next."
Kozuki Toki sighed.
"You two…
"Did you not stop to wonder why there are no guards within the residence?"
"Under my father's training, I have, at the very least, trained my body seriously."
With that, she drew Oto and Kogarashi.
Her light-green hair fluttered in the wind.
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Fanfic is finished. 583 chapters in total on p@treon/tambeerg