September 27, 1503, Age of the Sea Circle
Doflamingo saw the gigantic tree suddenly appear in the distance and immediately left Dressrosa Castle to investigate it personally. Before departing, however, he warned Trebol and Monet to protect Sugar, as he did not want the enemies to attack her, thus risking the undoing of the transformation on the toys that were slowly beginning to populate the streets of the capital city.
While Doflamingo was moving at full speed toward the great tree, it began to shine with intense brilliance, expelling an incredible number of orbs of light that descended from the heights of the sky like a magical snowfall.
The warlord felt a bad premonition about it and hastened his pace, finally arriving at Flower Hill. However, just as he set foot in the area, a mist suddenly appeared, covering the surroundings entirely.
The pirate's forehead bulged with swollen veins, as he was completely enraged by the events unfolding before him. Once again, he seemed to be losing control of the situation, dancing in the palm of someone else's hand.
Was it possible that it was mere coincidence that, the moment he set foot on Flower Hill, the Mysterious Fog appeared to block his perception?
Obviously, that was impossible. His enemies were conspiring against him, and that was something the pirate could not tolerate. Despite knowing that he was probably walking straight into a trap, he had no intention of retreating, as his pride would not allow it.
He had already clashed twice with Orion and knew that he was stronger than his enemy. There was no reason to fear someone weaker than himself, no matter how many traps they tried to place in his path. It was time to show this annoying fly what true terror really meant.
Wearing a macabre smile, Doflamingo advanced through the mist, guided by his Observation Haki and the faint lights visible in the distance. Although the Mysterious Fog could cause an ordinary person to lose their way and be forced to walk in circles, the situation was far more manageable for someone with Haki as powerful as Doflamingo's.
…
Meanwhile, Giolla was moving deeper into the castle, accompanied by the toy soldier. Their objective was to eliminate Sugar by taking advantage of the chaos unfolding in the capital, although Orion had instructed her not to put her own life at risk in doing so.
They knew that Doflamingo would likely not leave Sugar without protection, so if the attempt to eliminate the girl failed, Giolla was to escape immediately and, if possible, focus on eliminating another member of the warlord's crew.
Using her Observation Haki in a rudimentary manner, Giolla kept watch over her surroundings as she advanced toward the position indicated by the Tontatta, eventually reaching the room where Sugar was located. However, just as they had anticipated, she was being guarded by Trebol and Monet.
These two individuals were among the strongest members of Doflamingo's crew, yet even so, Giolla had no intention of retreating without attempting to complete her mission.
"Stay alert. If you find an opening, eliminate Sugar," Giolla whispered to the toy soldier at her side.
Ideally, she would have liked to have the support of someone more powerful, but at present the fighters were limited. Orion and Viola were carrying out the main plan, leaving only the toy soldier here to assist her.
"What is this?" Sugar's voice suddenly rang out from inside the room.
The small girl noticed one of the orbs of light descending from the sky and, filled with curiosity, stretched her hand out the window to touch it. However, before she could do so, her sister Monet grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her away from the orb's path.
"Sugar, be careful. Don't touch anything suspicious. We don't know whether these spheres of light are an attack from our enemy," Monet said with a smile.
In this world, aside from the young master Doflamingo, there was no one she loved more than her little sister Sugar, and she was always trying to protect her, even though the young girl often bristled and told her not to treat her like a child.
Although Monet stopped her sister Sugar from touching the orb of light, she did not mind in the slightest when Trebol did so. The unpleasant man, who spent his life with mucus hanging from his nose, was stubborn by nature, and so when he saw that Monet had prevented Sugar from touching the orb, he decided that he would touch it himself, simply to show Sugar his freedom.
However, the moment his hand made contact with the orb of light, Trebol let out a scream of pain as the viscous substance coating his body began to lose its shape, threatening to collapse to the ground beyond his control.
By touching the sphere of light that had been released into the skies of Dressrosa by Oharu, Trebol suffered an immediate mental attack, like a migraine but ten times more powerful. Fortunately for the pirate, the effect of Oharu's attack was very brief, preventing him from completely losing control of the viscous liquid covering his body.
Otherwise, he would have found himself at the mercy of Giolla, who was watching from nearby and waiting for the right moment to strike.
"Aaah! What is this? Ahh, these lights are something baaadd!" Trebol said in a somewhat stupid voice, as he generated viscous liquid at the tips of his fingers and hurled it at high speed toward the spheres of light falling nearby.
The projectiles launched by Trebol pierced straight through the spheres of light without producing any effect at all, since, after all, they were nothing more than light and had no physical body that could be struck.
"What are you doing?" Monet said, looking at Trebol with a smile that never reached her eyes, while her sister Sugar openly displayed an expression of disgust and annoyance toward one of the highest executives of the Donquixote pirate family.
Although Doflamingo's crew was very close-knit, that did not mean everyone got along well, as Trebol was particularly despised by the women of the crew, given that he had the habit of sexually harassing them whenever he had the opportunity.
"That sphere gave me a headache," Trebol said as the mucus hanging from his nose dripped down until it almost touched the floor, creating a truly repulsive sight.
Monet looked at the great snowfall of orbs of light descending over Dressrosa and, considering the events of the past few days, came to the conclusion that this was an enemy attack. She immediately touched her sister's cheek and said,
"Sugar, those orbs must be an attack from the enemy. No matter what happens, don't touch them."
Sugar nodded with a certain lack of interest at her sister's words and simply began eating grapes from a large basket she had with her.
At that very moment, Giolla emerged from her hiding place.
"Art Bullet!"
Giolla launched several projectiles using the powers of her Ato Ato no Mi, intending to catch her enemies off guard and turn them into amorphous beings with her painting, just as she had done during her last confrontation with Doflamingo's crew.
However, this time things would not be so easy, as one of the strongest executives of the pirate crew was present.
Before the bullets could strike Sugar's body, Trebol produced a large amount of viscous liquid and protected her by forming a barrier that the Art Bullets were unable to penetrate.
The wall of mucus began to be altered by Giolla's artistic power, transforming into a gigantic wolf's mouth filled with sharp teeth. Then, completely escaping Trebol's control, the wolf lunged toward Sugar with the intention of eliminating her on the spot.
A large dome of snow appeared, covering Sugar's body, and the wolf's bite was completely blocked, unable to break through the multiple layers of snow shields that Monet had erected to defend her sister.
"Tch, it seems it'll be even more difficult than I expected," Giolla said with some irritation, as she raised her brush above her head and unleashed a brilliant, multicolored ray toward her enemies.
…
Once Viola had fulfilled her mission of transmitting memories and information to the inhabitants of Dressrosa through the powers of the Tree of Knowledge, Oharu, she left Flower Hill with Nibble's help to go and attack the remaining members of Doflamingo's crew.
If she was lucky, she might be able to eliminate one of the pirates, further reducing the warlord's power and generating greater hope for a total victory in the future.
Riding on Nibble's back as they traveled underground, Viola activated the powers of her Devil Fruit and observed everything that was happening throughout the kingdom. Just as they had planned, all the people of the kingdom who touched the orbs of light produced by Oharu immediately gained all the information Viola wished to transmit to them, thus clearing King Riku's name and exposing the true nature of the cruel pirate Doflamingo.
Even so, Viola had sent a message through the orbs to all her future subjects: remain calm, and do not oppose Doflamingo yet.
The reason they had decided to use the orbs to transmit the true information about everything that had happened to the people of the kingdom was simply to clear the royal family's name and prepare the populace for a future revolution against Doflamingo and his men.
However, that revolution could not take place now, as they simply did not have enough power to oppose the mighty warlord. Furthermore, Orion only had about two hours left before the time limit, so there was no way for him to take part in the decisive battle for the liberation of Dressrosa.
Orion had called upon the Revolutionary Army to support the people of Dressrosa and the royal family in their struggle against Doflamingo, but that struggle was not something that would happen immediately. Perhaps months or even years would pass before everything was ready to rise up in arms against the tyrant pirate.
For now, the only thing Viola wanted was for the people of Dressrosa to know the truth—taking advantage of Orion's abilities to make it a reality—and there would be time later for them to express their true emotions. In the meantime, they had no choice but to tolerate the current situation and wait.
The people of Dressrosa were very united, and the respect they held for their royal family ran very deep—even if that respect had been shattered by Doflamingo's manipulation—which was why this kind of plan was possible. In another nation that was not so closely bonded, this kind of mass dissemination of information and request for the people's cooperation might have led to an almost immediate tragic outcome.
All across Dressrosa, people were touching the orbs of light that fell from the sky. They did so with smiles on their faces, as the "snowfall" of lights was truly beautiful. However, those smiles vanished completely the moment the memories and the message sent by Viola entered their minds.
The smiles were replaced by expressions of sadness, rage, or despair, yet Viola did not believe this was a bad thing, because at this moment what they needed was an awakened populace, ready to move when the decisive moment arrived.
On the other hand, if one of the enemies touched the orbs of light, what they experienced were not the visions sent by Viola, but rather Oharu's mental attack, which prevented the enemies from accessing the confidential information.
Oharu could extend its influence across the entire island by means of its roots, although the farther an area was from its main body, the less power it could imbue into its mental attacks. Even so, the intensity was strong enough to dissuade Doflamingo's men from touching the orbs of light, just as had happened with Trebol moments earlier.
Viola continued to observe everything that was happening throughout the kingdom, and she saw that Giolla was locked in a fierce battle against Trebol and Monet. However, it was worrying that Giolla was being overwhelmed, and it was very likely that she would not be able to eliminate Sugar.
It was unfortunate not to be able to remove one of the most important pieces of Doflamingo's crew, but they had already been prepared for that possibility. After all, their current forces were far too limited to achieve a decisive success. In Viola's opinion, the current situation was already the best they could hope for, even with all their limitations.
Orion had lured Doflamingo to Flower Hill and deployed the Mysterious Fog to prevent the warlord from easily leaving the area. Right now, Orion was fighting the pirate, trying to buy as much time as possible so that Giolla and Viola could attack the rest of the crew.
Viola glanced briefly at Orion's fight with Doflamingo, and although she could not help but worry about him, she forced herself to focus on her own tasks. She quickly detected the presence of one of Doflamingo's crew members not far from her current position and signaled Nibble to head in that direction.
She was determined to do her utmost for her nation, and right now, the only thing she could do was join the Tontatta and try to eliminate Doflamingo's subordinates.
…
Bang Bang Bang!
Amid the mist, on Flower Hill, Orion was fully engaged in battle with Doflamingo. Unlike the two previous times he had faced him during this Time Dungeon, now he could focus entirely on the fight without thinking about anything else.
After all, during his first encounter with Doflamingo, he had been mainly concerned with rescuing his father-in-law, King Riku, from the pirate's clutches, while on the second occasion he had been exhausted, and his primary objective had once again been to rescue the young Rebecca.
This time, however, Orion only needed to keep the pirate occupied for as long as possible, while Giolla, Viola, and the Tontatta attempted to eliminate the members of the warlord's crew scattered throughout the kingdom, allowing him to fight with greater freedom.
Using Soru, Orion moved at tremendous speed, launching attacks from deceptive angles that the pirate blocked without too much trouble. Both were using Armament Haki and fighting at close range, almost as if they had tacitly decided not to use their special abilities, as a way of proving who was more physically formidable.
Under this premise, Orion was the one with the advantage, due to the innate power of his body, which was many times stronger than that of a normal human. In addition, he had the buff granted by his "Protector" title while fighting within Foggy's Mysterious Fog, which the system considered part of his territory.
Little by little, the irritation on Doflamingo's face became more evident, as the hand-to-hand battle progressed and he began to lose ground, being gradually cornered by Orion.
At last, the prideful pirate couldn't endure it any longer, and with a completely enraged expression, he attacked using the abilities of his Devil Fruit.
"Overheat!"
Orion observed the trajectory of the attack with his Prism Eyes, dodging the flaming string as he rose into the air using Geppo. Then, drawing his cutlass from his inventory, he spun in midair and unleashed his newest technique.
"Thirty-Six Styles, Dimensional Slash!"
"Tch."
Doflamingo clicked his tongue as he used a massive amount of strings coated in Armament Haki to block Orion's powerful attack. Even so, Orion's dimensional slash cut through several layers of threads before vanishing without a trace.
"Un Fleur!"
"Electro!"
Orion appeared using his Space Door right behind Doflamingo, and by creating a hand, struck with an Electro directly at the pirate's face while simultaneously attacking with his sword.
"Kamusari!"
Doflamingo was forced to use his threads to stop the violent strike of Orion's cutlass, unable to prevent the Electro created by the extra hand from slamming squarely into his face.
Crack.
The explosion of electricity mercilessly burned the pirate's face, destroying his dark glasses in the process and leaving wounds that, while not very deep, looked quite horrific.
"Fuck!!!"
Doflamingo howled in rage as countless flaming strings erupted from his body, using several Overheats simultaneously.
It was the first time Orion had seen such an attack from the warlord, forcing him to move at full speed to evade the violent assault that was destroying everything around them. Even so, what surprised Orion the most was something else entirely: the eyes that had been revealed when the dark glasses shattered.
"Those eyes… I've seen them before," Orion murmured, recalling that terrifying entity he had encountered a few times in the past, and which he considered his greatest enemy in this world.
Even so, he could not afford to be distracted right now, as he had to do everything possible to keep Doflamingo occupied within the Mysterious Fog, preventing him from aiding his crew under attack.
Taking a deep breath, Orion focused on the current fight without thinking about anything else, while simultaneously considering his plan of attack. He could not use his most powerful attacks recklessly, because otherwise he would exhaust himself quickly and fail to accomplish his true objective.
Looking at the timer that marked the Time Dungeon's limit, Orion saw that only sixty-five minutes remained.
"At least twenty more minutes," Orion muttered under his breath, as he pulled two pistols from his inventory, which he had previously loaded with two Dyna Stone projectiles.