After the Straw Hat Pirates and the others left, the Marines worked hard to rescue the soldiers who had been struck by the poison gas.
The one leading them was Smoker, who had previously been beaten badly by Vergo.
"Vice Admiral Smoker, we've sent men in protective suits to the center of the island for rescue operations!"
"Yeah, I know."
Smoker smoked his cigar and nodded after hearing the report, but his expression was far from good.
He had not expected Doflamingo, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, to be this arrogant and lawless.
Not only had he planted such a high-ranking spy inside the Marines, he had also been secretly researching such terrifying biological poison-gas weapons. And that was not even mentioning the dangerous SAD artificial Devil Fruit experiments.
A Marine soldier walked over with a Den Den Mushi.
"Vice Admiral Smoker!"
"Give it to me."
Smoker took the Den Den Mushi, his gaze turning extremely grave.
There was no way he could avoid reporting this to Marine Headquarters. After all, this matter also involved Black Gun. That man had appeared on Punk Hazard and taken part in things as well.
"Ever since Black Gun Ozz was listed as a hostile target by the World Government, although they have never publicly mentioned revoking his Celestial Dragon status, his relationship with the World Government and the Marines has already reached a frozen deadlock."
"So I'll report it as it is..."
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a sharp rush of wind came from the sky.
Pink feathers drifted down.
A wild, blond figure appeared among the Marines in an instant.
"Do... Doflamingo!"
He lightly spread his arms.
Before countless Marine soldiers could even react, they were forcibly knocked unconscious.
"What?!"
Hearing the commotion, Smoker had no time to care about anything else and rushed over.
There, he met Doflamingo's cruel and furious grin.
"Marines? Why did you have to set foot on this island?"
Looking at Doflamingo's face, blood vessels appeared in Smoker's eyes.
"So this is a Warlord of the Sea? Doing this kind of dirty work in secret, you're already challenging the bottom line of the World Government and the Marines, aren't you?!"
"Bottom line?"
Hearing Smoker's words, Doflamingo seemed to have heard some kind of joke. He could not help holding his forehead and laughing wildly.
"Fuffuffuffuffu!"
"What even is a bottom line? Some special term used by justice?"
"As a Marine, you should understand exactly what I represent and how much weight the person standing behind me carries in this world!"
Smoke began to swirl around Smoker's hand, and his expression darkened.
"If you mean Black Gun, he has long since been placed on the World Government and Marine hostile list."
"You Warlords are nothing more than relics tolerated under the government's rules!"
"Fuffuffuffuffu, hahahahahaha!"
Doflamingo's arrogant laughter was no longer concealed.
The corners of his mouth curled upward, and a faint blood-red glint seemed to flash across his sinister red sunglasses.
"You really are naive. If things are really as you say and we've become enemies..."
"Then guess why the World Government still hasn't made a move?"
With that one sentence, Smoker froze.
A thin, nearly invisible thread appeared in that instant and tore open his chest.
Smoker had not even been Vergo's opponent. Against Doflamingo, he had no chance to fight back.
His smoke-transformed body was sliced apart layer by layer by threads carrying Armament Haki. Soon, he was heavily wounded, nearly dead, and collapsed on the ground.
Doflamingo casually sat on top of him and grabbed his blood-covered face.
"Law, Straw Hat, and all of you."
"I'll kill every last one of you!"
"No!"
The Marine soldiers held their heads and cried out.
Doflamingo's business had been ruined, and his foundation had been shaken. His killing intent toward these people had never once faded.
He was about to finish Smoker off.
"Ara-ra."
Just then, a voice suddenly sounded from behind him.
Doflamingo's hand instantly stopped.
Drops of cold sweat appeared on his face.
"Sorry about this, kid."
"Mind stepping aside?"
Countless Marine soldiers stared with wide eyes, unable to believe the tall man wearing a coat who had appeared there.
"That guy..."
"He's my friend."
Doflamingo turned around and looked at the tall figure behind him, his expression grave.
But then, as if he had thought of something, that grave look vanished at once. His face returned to its usual arrogance and composure, and his grin came back.
He immediately prepared to continue attacking Smoker.
Because he had confidence.
As far as he knew, Mr. Ozz was on this island right now.
So if Kuzan dared to attack him...
Crack, crack, crack!
In an instant, countless layers of ice spread rapidly from beneath Kuzan's feet, wrapping Doflamingo into an ice sculpture.
"Young Master!"
When the Marine soldiers saw this, hope instantly ignited in their hearts.
Doflamingo had been stopped by Kuzan.
Vice Admiral Smoker was saved.
Thank goodness!
Amid the snow and ice, Kuzan breathed out cold air. Frost covered his body as he stood behind the frozen Doflamingo.
At some point, the air became strangely quiet.
As if sensing something, Kuzan, who had been standing there, did not let the ice covering him disappear. Instead, it spread over him layer by layer.
A figure had appeared there at some unknown moment, like a ghost.
In Observation Haki, he seemed not to exist at all.
He simply appeared in a way no one could understand.
A calm voice sounded, casual and relaxed.
"Oh my, bullying Doffy like this isn't very nice."
Footsteps slowly rang out.
When the Marine soldiers heard that voice, they could not even move their eyes. Blood vessels simply spread through them.
But from the voice and tone alone, they could roughly guess which great figure it was.
"Long time no see, Kuzan."
"Sorry."
"That guy Doffy... is an old acquaintance of mine."
Wherever he passed, the snow and ice melted away.
A tall black figure stood behind Kuzan.
He merely stood there quietly, yet the pressure he gave off was terrifyingly intense. It was even more frightening than the former Admiral Aokiji, making people break out in cold sweat.
Crack, crack.
At that moment, the ice around Doflamingo slowly shattered.
He grinned at Kuzan behind him, his face full of calm confidence, as if he had nothing to fear.
Why don't you take another look behind you?
Buffalo and Baby 5, who had been captured, were nearly moved to tears.
Their eyes sparkled as they looked at the figure whose oppressive presence filled the entire field. Their faces flushed with excitement.
"It's... it's..."
"It's Lord Ozz!"
Kuzan turned around at that moment.
His glasses were covered with frost, hiding his eyes.
He looked straight ahead, meeting those slightly amused crimson eyes.
Two years after Kuzan left the Marines...
The two of them finally met again.
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The tides are shifting, and secrets linger in the dark... Step into the shadows early on P@treon, where the next chapter awaits before the world sees it.
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