In a small alley.
Two utterly weakened men lay on the ground. Outside, the streets were filled with rioting citizens. Flames and screams rose one after another.
Yet Ace and Sabo could do nothing.
They lay head to head, facing the sky.
"Hey, Sabo. What did that young Uncle Ozz say to you?"
Ace, having given up struggling, simply asked about what had happened in the colosseum. Before Azure Ozz vanished, he seemed to have said something to Sabo and handed him something.
"That..."
Sabo forced himself to raise his arm and took out the photo collection from his coat. There were quite a few pictures inside.
"It's this. He told me to make copies and hand them to Uncle Ozz. The Uncle Ozz we know."
Ace took it with difficulty.
The first photo showed a man with Haki covering his fist, brawling with another man holding a sword.
The man punched in the face looked extremely similar to Ace.
"This is..."
Of course he recognized them. They were his father and grandfather, Roger and Garp. He just had not expected them to look so young.
Not only that.
There was also a powerful blond man with a crescent-shaped mustache, someone Ace knew all too well.
Only, at that moment, he seemed to be running away, with his Grandpa Garp still chasing behind him.
A red-haired baby with a bump on his head, unconscious.
A burly man with a foolish look, as if chewing something.
A beautiful pink-haired woman being punched in the face.
"What even are these...?"
Meanwhile, Sabo held a photo of a young man who looked somewhat similar to Luffy. The man was carrying a baby while charging out of a chaotic battlefield.
"Could this be... Mr. Dragon?"
The background seemed to be a war, but every photo was taken in an oddly amusing way.
"If it's Uncle Ozz, he'll definitely be interested in these photos."
Sabo put the photos away, planning to hand them to a news bird when he had the chance so Morgans' channels could deliver them to Ozz.
Just then, a group of people barged into the alley, all armed with blades and guns. They clearly had bad intentions.
"We're finished..."
Ace and Sabo's eyes widened at once.
Right now, neither of them had any strength to resist.
The leader of that group seemed extremely excited.
"Found them! Fire Fist Ace and Revolutionary Army Sabo, both badly injured!"
They walked toward the two.
But at that moment, a sharp sound tore through the sky in the distance, accompanied by a desperate shout.
"Go!"
"What?!"
A projectile landed precisely in the alley. After it burst open, tiny droplets of water scattered out and splashed toward the ground.
The Donquixote Family soldiers were just about to celebrate surviving the scare when they saw two figures stand up.
"Um... this..."
"Fire Fist!"
Boom!
A violent burst of flame erupted from the alley.
Immediately after, a stone carrying the two of them flew toward the royal palace highland.
Flames propelled the floating stone forward. The two figures wore smiles.
"Let's go, Sabo!"
"I know!"
They wanted to reach the palace and help Luffy, then take down Doflamingo directly to settle everything.
But opponents were automatically matched to them.
At some point, the high platform near the royal palace, the place where Usopp had fired his projectile, was already covered in a dense forest.
A man wearing sunglasses and a Marine coat of justice was waiting for them there.
"Honestly..."
"I relaxed for just a moment, and you already caused me this much trouble..."
He looked at Usopp, who was bound by trees, his face pale.
"Green Bull!"
Ace's gaze sharpened.
He immediately jumped down from the high platform and charged toward him.
"I can't just stand by and watch someone who helped us, someone who's also Luffy's crewmate, get killed here!"
"Fire Fist!"
Flame met forest.
The fire instantly ignited a massive amount of trees.
Green Bull had no choice but to elementalize and escape the sea of fire. His expression darkened as he stared at Ace.
"Of all things, fire? Tch..."
Logically speaking, even after Ace's strengthening, his strength had not yet reached the level of an Emperor or Admiral. He was more like a higher-end Emperor commander, around Marco's level.
But against another Logia, especially the Woods-Woods Fruit that fire naturally countered, he could fight on even footing.
Sabo did not have it much better.
Before he could fly far, several white-clad figures using Moonwalk surrounded him.
His eyes instantly turned vigilant, and he spoke their identity.
"CP0?!"
Guernica, the strongest CP0 agent who had once been in charge of investigating Sadgeo, now led the CP agents to intercept Sabo.
"Flying Finger Pistol!"
Bang!
Using Moonwalk, they clashed fiercely in midair.
As for Sabo, although he had eaten the Float-Float Fruit, he had never seen Golden Lion use it. In his haste, he could only rely on battle instinct to use the ability.
Countless stones flew into the sky and smashed toward the CP0 agents using Moonwalk, only to be shattered by their Haki.
At that moment, Doflamingo, who was in the central battlefield, also realized something was wrong.
Green Bull and CP0 had actually been held back!
As for Doffy, although he had learned the advanced Armament Haki technique known as Ryuo because of Ozz, Luffy had also been "spurred on" and could now use Ryuo as well.
Although Doflamingo held the advantage early on, he was still beaten down in the later phase.
"What kind of joke is this..."
"The world I've lived through is completely different from yours!"
This tyrant, who had experienced despair in his youth and walked out from blood and hatred, had relied on his own power, the national treasure that could threaten the Celestial Dragons, and the backing of Ozz's name to reach his current position step by step.
He should not lose!
But as his glasses shattered, everything ended.
In the end, he failed to withstand that Great Ape King Gun wrapped in flowing Ryuo.
Dressrosa was liberated.
Straw Hat Luffy became a hero.
Had Ozz truly abandoned him?
Not exactly.
Ozz was still somewhat lenient toward his own people, even when they became inflated with arrogance and forgot their roots.
Later on, he had prepared a layer of insurance for every capable subordinate.
It was just not mandatory.
At this moment.
At the edge where the Birdcage vanished, a red-cloaked figure stepped onto land from the coast.
A Marine officer tried to step forward and stop him, but several droplets of water shot out and sent him flying instantly.
"Although Mr. Ozz gave me authority and made me responsible for managing the internal chaos, so logically, I shouldn't hand you over to the Marines."
"But you're different, Doflamingo..."
"Because of your bloodline!"
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