'Gulp.'
The commander of the Conqueror Legion stared at the small figure who had just descended from the sky, now standing in the middle of the battlefield.
He stared at the Sea Beast mask covering the figure's face, a mask that had already become a legendary symbol throughout the seas.
The Iron Kingdom's commander swallowed nervously, even though, as an Iron Human, he technically couldn't produce saliva.
"Th-That mask...?"
Gaz's voice suddenly boomed through the loudspeakers, thick with excitement.
"That Sea Beast mask! There's no mistake! I'm sure everyone has heard the recent rumors. An island in Paradise vanished without a trace, and nearby ships reported seeing a colossal figure reaching all the way into the clouds!"
"Though he's much smaller than the giant described in those stories, there's no doubt about it... He must be the newest member of the Twelve Zodiacs… 'Shinko'!"
"He wasn't even on the island when the tournament started. How did he get here? Oh! Ohhhhh! What's that in the sky?!"
Gaz instinctively looked up toward the clouds directly above where Shinko had landed.
He cried out in sheer shock.
"The Birdcage... The Birdcage! It's been..."
It was true.
The Birdcage Doflamingo created with his Devil Fruit had originally stretched unbroken across the entirety of Dressrosa.
But now, high above the island, at the exact point where Shinko had dropped through, a section of the threads had been completely shredded.
The strings were rapidly regenerating, but the massive opening was impossible to hide.
Shinko had smashed straight through the Birdcage to land in Dressrosa.
"..."
Doflamingo, sitting high above in the arena, grew serious. He knew better than anyone just how indestructible his Birdcage was supposed to be.
Then, after a moment...
"Fufufufufufu... He really is an impressive guy." He grinned. "Even better."
Meanwhile, back on the battlefield...
"Hey, Shinko... right?"
The commander of the Conqueror Legion glanced at his subordinates, who were now nothing more than piles of blood and crushed flesh, before cautiously addressing the newcomer.
"You're after Caesar too? If you're planning to use the Fifth Gate, we'll move to a different one right away. We have no intention of fighting you..."
He was clearly trying to back down.
That was only natural. Even the savage Conqueror Legion had heard of the Twelve Zodiacs. They were the terrifying organization that had brought down the Yonko BIG MOM. And while the Iron Kingdom claimed to be one of the world's greatest military powers, it was no Elbaf.
Against the Twelve Zodiacs, retreating was the only smart choice.
Unfortunately, he never got to finish his sentence.
'Whoosh!'
A blinding golden light suddenly erupted from Shinko's eyes.
'Zzt!'
The golden laser fired at the speed of light, striking the commander instantly. In the next breath, his armor, his steel body, and the warhorse beneath him were all reduced to ash.
"Filthy trash," Shinko muttered, golden flames flickering behind his mask. "You think you're worthy of speaking to me?"
"..."
Every single knight in the Conqueror Legion froze in total silence.
The heavy armor their commander wore, along with the steel bodies they took such pride in, bodies that had made them nearly invincible in countless wars, hadn't even survived a single glance from Shinko.
"This... this guy..."
"Retreat! He's a monster!"
"The commander and the deputies are dead! Fall back! Retreat to the Fourth Gate!"
The Conqueror Legion panicked, wheeling their horses around to flee. The brutality and ferocity they had displayed earlier vanished in an instant.
Cruelty always cowers before greater force.
"Who said you could run?" Shinko's voice echoed behind them. "I told you, unless every last one of you dies, I won't be satisfied!"
The moment the words left his mouth, a golden glare exploded outward.
'Whoosh!'
Shinko didn't even raise the Golden Cudgel. But behind his monkey mask, his eyes burned as brightly as molten suns.
'Whoosh!'
Two fiercely concentrated golden beams shot from his eyes, far larger and more destructive than the first strike.
Death swept across the field.
The golden beams followed his gaze, slicing right past the innocent civilians of Dressrosa. But the Conqueror Legion knights, their screaming horses, and the stray criminals looting the city weren't so lucky.
'BOOM!'
A chain of violent explosions tore through the streets. The ground struck by the beams instantly turned to scorched earth, while the surrounding rock melted into rivers of glowing red magma. Every knight and criminal caught in the blast vanished into the golden light in a heartbeat.
The entire massacre was captured in high definition by the broadcast screens overhead.
And Dressrosa fell dead silent.
In truth, the battlefield had already frozen the moment Shinko fell from the sky. Anyone currently in Dressrosa had heard of the Twelve Zodiacs, but hearing rumors was one thing, witnessing power like this with their own eyes was something else entirely.
The mighty Conqueror Legion, the pride of the Iron Kingdom... had been obliterated by a single glance.
"What's wrong with his eyes?"
"Is that his Devil Fruit ability?"
"Wait, according to our intel, his ability is supposed to turn him into a giant..."
Amid the hushed, terrified hushes...
Shinko said nothing.
In truth, no one could see what was happening beneath the mask. His pupils were no longer human eyes; they had transformed into mechanical weapon structures.
''[Germa Technology - Laser Weapon]''
Shinko's Weapon-Weapon Fruit allowed him to transform his body into all kinds of armaments, but he first needed to understand the underlying mechanics behind them. After the battle with Germa 66, Tiger had successfully recovered most of their technical schematics. With the Memo-Memo Fruit and the Brain-Brain Fruit working together, copying that technological data directly into Shinko's mind was simple.
That knowledge had birthed his latest technique:
''[Weapon Transformation - Fiery Eyes and Golden Vision]''
Shinko didn't bother looking at the battlefield he had just cleared. He simply tilted his head and turned toward the young girl standing nearby.
She was still frozen in shock. When had a civilian ever witnessed devastation like this? As Shinko's gaze fell on her, she trembled violently out of pure instinct.
Shinko merely raised his hand.
"Heal," he murmured softly.
A soft beam of light washed over the girl's broken leg.
"Huh?!"
She gasped as she felt the bones in her leg shift, reconnecting and mending themselves in seconds.
''[Homies - Bone Healing]''
Only then did the girl seem to snap back to reality. Her mind spun as she stared in absolute disbelief at the monkey-masked figure before her.
"Th-Thank you..."
"Keep running," Shinko said plainly.
"Huh?"
Before she could process it, Shinko raised a finger and pointed behind her.
She turned to look.
The Birdcage, which had originally begun closing in from out at sea, was now completely clear of the waterline. It was drawing steadily closer to Dressrosa.
"It... it isn't stopping?"
It wasn't. Judging by the distant dust clouds and the terrifying screech of metal and stone being shredded, the girl could tell the Birdcage had no intention of slowing down. It was grinding forward at a steady, relentless pace, slicing apart everything in its path.
She immediately understood what Shinko meant.
"Thank you!" She scrambled to her feet and took off toward the central arena.
With the Birdcage continuing to shrink and carve up the entire country, the arena at the center of the island was the only safe place left.
After running a few yards, however, she hesitated and stopped.
"Mr. Shinko!" She turned back.
She had heard Gaz's announcement and now knew the identity of the man who had saved her. Yet, despite standing before one of the most infamous members of the sea's most feared organization, there was no terror in her eyes.
Quite the opposite. To her, his small frame looked immensely towering. Her eyes shone with desperate hope and admiration.
"C-Can you defeat Doflamingo?"
She was far from stupid. By now, she had realized the horrifying truth behind today's "tournament." If she wanted to live, and if the people of this country were going to survive, Doflamingo had to fall today.
"Defeat him?"
Beneath the mask, Shinko seemed to chuckle, the monkey face bearing its teeth.
"I've never had much patience for filthy games like this. I'm going to cave his damn head in with one swing."
He looked down at her. "If you want to see it happen, little girl, then stay alive."
The spark of awe in her eyes burned brighter.
"Okay!" She nodded fiercely, then turned and bolted into the distance without looking back.
Watching her disappear, Roy's expression beneath the mask turned thoughtful.
'What exactly is Doflamingo trying to pull?'
Things weren't lining up with his expectations.
When he first saw the shocking news about Dressrosa in the papers, Roy knew something was wrong. He had pieced together quite a bit of intelligence over the past few days.
For instance, Caesar Clown, who was supposed to be under World Government transport, had been kidnapped by an unknown faction. Roy immediately figured Doflamingo was responsible. The former Celestial Dragon was practically the only broker with both the motive and the high-level clearance to pull off a heist like that.
Then there was the report from Baroque Works: Kaido and JOKER had been spending an unusual amount of time together lately, seemingly negotiating a major partnership.
That didn't surprise Roy either. In the original storyline, Doflamingo and Kaido were business partners in the Artificial Devil Fruit trade.
The real anomaly was this:
'Doflamingo clearly tore up his agreement with Kaido. The reaction from the Three Calamities proves that much.'
'And he intentionally triggered this betrayal the moment the Calamities arrived in Dressrosa.'
It made no sense. Doflamingo was nowhere near Kaido's level. Cross a Yonko like the King of the Beasts, and you were as good as dead. Yet Doflamingo had done it openly, without a second thought.
That meant he had a trump card, something powerful enough to give him the confidence to defy a Yonko.
'Did he forge an alliance with the World Government to wipe out Kaido?'
Roy frowned, but quickly dismissed the thought. If Doflamingo had simply teamed up with the World Government to kill Kaido, there would be no need for a spectacle like this. Catching the Three Calamities off guard and ambushing them quietly would have been far more effective.
Instead, Doflamingo had publicly exposed the existence of Artificial Devil Fruits, hosted a massive tournament to draw crowds to Dressrosa, and trapped everyone under the Birdcage right from the start.
He was clearly planning to massacre everyone on the island, including his own citizens.
Even as a ploy to kill Kaido, none of it added up. It was the work of an absolute lunatic.
But Roy knew Doflamingo wasn't insane. He was a ruthless powerhouse and one of the sharpest manipulators on the high seas.
If there was a calculated reason behind his actions, the conclusion was obvious.
'He isn't just targeting Kaido. He has an even bigger goal.'
'He already knew the Twelve Zodiacs would show up for this tournament. This isn't just a trap for Kaido, he's coming after me, too.'
The realization settled in.
'If that's true, he likely knows why we're here. Which means... that tree root holding Caesar's secret might already be in his hands.'
Roy's brow furrowed as suspicion took root.
Still, none of that mattered anymore.
If Roy had only just acquired the Slice-Slice Fruit, he might have considered pulling back upon realizing Doflamingo was setting a trap.
But now?
'The Twelve Zodiacs don't run from an enemy's parlor tricks.'
Doflamingo had his schemes. Roy had his strength.
More importantly, no matter what cards Doflamingo was hiding up his sleeve, Roy was certain of one fundamental truth.
He was vastly stronger.
'Crack. Crack.'
Shinko raised his arms and stretched lazily, his joints popping. He tilted his head, turning the monkey mask toward the distant arena. His gaze seemed to cut straight through the surrounding structures, fixing directly on Doflamingo seated upon his high throne.
His enemy had sent an invitation. And he was going to honor it.
But first...
"The trash around here needs to be swept up."
Reaching up, Shinko plucked a small clump of hair from the back of his head.
'Whoosh.'
He blew gently across his palm.
The fine hairs drifted into the air, shimmering with a bright golden light as they scattered in the wind.
Shinko lifted the Golden Cudgel, resting it lightly across his shoulders. With his hands draped over either end of the staff, he began strolling casually toward the arena.
(End of Chapter)
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