After Doflamingo twisted the strings into a ball, he attacked Kuina's slash. The two attacks made contact, and the sound of the Armament Haki clashing spread throughout the entire city.
Hera's City of Devouring Time expanded, absorbing the aftershocks of the collision and protecting the fragile streets.
Doflamingo was already flying in mid-air and laughed confidently, "Fuffuffuffuffu, now your slash will consume its power as it flies into the air. I win."
Kuina revealed a slight smile. To gain an aerial advantage, Doflamingo had taken several of her slashes head-on, consuming a lot of Armament Haki, and now he was getting arrogant again.
"Is that so? That's not necessarily the case."
In the air where the slash had just passed, several purple traces emerged as the Spiritual Power attached to the slash condensed.
"The sky is no dead end, for the traces serve as a ladder, 'Heavenly Ladder: Purple Swallow Return'."
Kuina's figure accelerated forward along the cracks in the air. In an instant, she shuttled behind Doflamingo, the double-edged sword in her hand emitting a bright light.
'Shimotsuki Style - Iron Shatter: Crashing Wheel.' Armament Haki coated Kuina's blade, and the purple-black glow made the wado ichimonji in her hand feel extremely oppressive.
Doflamingo's Observation Haki could only capture the moment Kuina struck. He hurriedly concentrated his Armament Haki on his back to take Kuina's strike head-on.
Doflamingo spat out a mouthful of blood. Kuina's Armament Haki and Spiritual Power drilled into his body, following the path of his destroyed Armament Haki.
Having trained on Amazon Lily, Kuina had already initially mastered the application of advanced Armament Haki. This move was a strike she delivered using 'Ryuo'.
Suspended in mid-air, Doflamingo was directly slammed back to the ground by this heavy blow, moving as fast as a meteor and smashing a large hole in the ground.
Behind Hera, the silver-white ability flashed by, stabilizing the space slightly to prevent the aftershocks from spreading.
"This is all money! Kuina, hit him toward the harbor. That place is going to be demolished and rebuilt anyway."
Hera hurriedly said to Kuina, wanting her to fight in the area she had selected for the demolition and reconstruction of the New Navy Marine Base. This way, she could save on demolition costs.
Black-red lightning suddenly erupted from the dust, and Doflamingo's figure was revealed. Under the influence of his devil fruit, the surrounding buildings and ground gradually turned into strings.
The threads spread out with him as the center, and Doflamingo unleashed his fruit awakening.
Ain and Perona were a bit surprised and asked, "What is this? Why has everything around turned into strings?"
Hera explained to them, "This is the awakened form of a Paramecia devil fruit; it assimilates the surrounding environment."
Then, she recalled the battle with Golden Lion. Golden Lion's Float-Float Fruit could act upon everything around him. At that time, he must have already displayed his Paramecia fruit awakening.
Ain also thought of this and looked at Hera in surprise. Only then did she notice that several years ago, Hera was already able to defeat enemies with awakened Devil Fruits.
Doflamingo's hands grabbed the ground, controlling the fine strings on it, "Fuffuffuffu, my strings are inexhaustible, 'Break White'!"
Tens of thousands of transparent white strings were combined under Doflamingo's control, gradually converging into a giant wave like a tsunami that closed in on Kuina in the air, attempting to strangle her.
Kuina tapped her feet lightly in the air, trying to avoid Doflamingo's strangulation.
Doflamingo's hands continued to control the fine strings, letting the giant wave of white strings continue to pursue Kuina.
Kuina concentrated her Observation Haki on the giant wave. Her Observation Haki, which could perceive the flaws in all things, allowed her to see the weakness of this move.
'Shimotsuki Style: Cross Slash.'
Kuina swung out two purple slashes, striking the giant wave's weakness and cutting through tens of thousands of white strings.
Seeing that these white strings without Armament Haki posed no threat to Kuina, Doflamingo changed his attack method.
"Since ordinary strings won't work, can you take this move? 'Thousand Arrows Piercing the Heart: Feather Strike Strings'!" Thousands of strings wrapped in Armament Haki surrounded Kuina in the shape of Flamingo wings.
Just as Kuina was about to be pierced by the thousand arrows, the golden throne she had summoned flew up from the ground and blocked her, taking the blow.
Doflamingo looked at the throne that shattered after taking the hit. Feeling that he had already suppressed Kuina, he let out a cruel laugh:
"Fuffuffuffu, do you understand the gap between us now? Are you satisfied?"
Then, he looked at Hera, "You're next, 'Thousand Arrows Piercing the Heart: Feather Strike Strings'!"
Several strings coated in Armament Haki shot toward Hera. She seemed not to react and did not resist.
A flash of sword light blocked Doflamingo's attack.
"Our battle isn't over yet. Where do you think you're going?"
On the originally shattered golden throne, the fragments combined onto the blade of Kuina's 'wado ichimonji·Sandalphon', and the already heavy double-edged sword became even more massive.
'wado ichimonji·Sandalphon·Final Sword' emerged in Kuina's hand. The blade, as long as 10 meters, made one feel a stinging pain just by looking at it.
As she swung the Final Sword, the space itself seemed unable to withstand its sharpness, shattering into purple cracks.
Doflamingo watched as his strings, coated in Armament Haki, were easily sliced down the middle by Kuina. His pupils, hidden behind his sunglasses, contracted slightly.
Several giant waves of strings pounced toward Kuina. In this state, Kuina made him sense a dangerous aura.
He unleashed 'Billow White', sending a giant wave composed of tens of thousands of white strings toward Kuina.
Beneath Kuina's feet, several white strings also extended from the string-composed ground, trying to drag her down.
Sensing Doflamingo's trick, Kuina casually swung her sword a few times, cutting the giant wave in half and rushing toward him.
Doflamingo's strings trying to control Kuina simply couldn't keep up with her speed. He could only retreat while using 'Shield White'.
He raised shield after shield made of strings, trying to slow Kuina's pace.
How could these white strings without Armament Haki block Kuina's sharpness? Without even needing to swing the Final Sword, Kuina's own indomitable momentum broke through Doflamingo's 'Shield White'.
But this also gave Doflamingo an opportunity to use his ultimate move. Sixteen strands of Billow White, wrapped in high-density Armament Haki, rose from beneath Doflamingo's feet.
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