"Doflamingo, do you know these people?"
Buggy's flamboyant entrance drew Big Mom's attention squarely onto Doflamingo. She abandoned the white-suited agents she had been attacking, her aura locking onto Doflamingo with suffocating intensity.
The pressure now bore down entirely on Doflamingo's shoulders.
He had never felt this exasperated in his entire life. Everything had been going well — he had successfully redirected Big Mom's wrath toward the CP0 agents. Then Buggy, that absolute fool, exposed him before the plan even had a chance to unfold.
Every careful step undone by an idiot in a cape.
Big Mom stared at him, demanding a reasonable explanation. Doflamingo found himself engulfed by her shadow. At three meters tall, he now looked as fragile as a helpless chick about to be crushed underfoot.
There was nothing left to explain. Doflamingo struck first. He raised his right hand, and five invisible threads shot from between his fingers. The transparent lines went taut and sliced toward Big Mom, splitting the air itself with a high-pitched whine.
"Five Color Threads!"
Big Mom was no ordinary opponent. Such a technique was utterly beneath her. Napoleon swept forward, severing every thread in a single, clean motion. Then she raised her left hand toward the sky, and a column of fire descended from above.
"Die — Sky Fire!"
Prometheus unleashed his power. A savage pillar of flame rained down upon Doflamingo like divine punishment, the heat warping the very air.
Doflamingo's threads were powerless against fire. He leaped backward, the searing blast scorching the ground where he had stood.
At that moment, his family members sprang into action. Pica, one of the three top executives, pressed both palms against the earth. The ground seemed to come alive —
Rock surged upward and formed a towering wall before the group, more massive than a mountain itself.
Boom!
A deafening roar erupted. The stone wall began to melt under the onslaught of flame, molten rock dripping from its surface like candle wax.
"Terrifying!" Pica felt the full horror of Big Mom's power. Even sheltered behind the rock, scorching heat assailed them all.
His impossibly sturdy stone wall — one that had withstood the blows of powerful pirates — had been destroyed in a single exchange.
Fortunately, the brief reprieve allowed Doflamingo and his executives to scatter and begin engaging Big Mom's children. King should face king, general should face general — an enemy of Big Mom's caliber was not meant to be their direct target.
Under the raining fire, Doflamingo, Shanks, Buggy, and Enel each took position at one of Big Mom's four corners, surrounding her in a loose formation.
Perospero and the others wanted to support their mother, but they were facing enemies of their own. CP0 agents, members of the Buggy Pirates and Red Hair Pirates, executives of the Donquixote Family, plus Dracule Mihawk and Crocodile — two formidable newcomers.
And then there were the rampaging Ruin Defenders and Ruin Hunters pouring in from every direction.
Perospero was already stretched thin when the ground suddenly trembled beneath his feet. Outside the Tea Party venue, it sounded like tens of thousands of heavy dinosaurs stampeding wildly through the streets. In the sky, countless shadows darted back and forth, raining dense volleys of missiles down upon the island. The entire Whole Cake Island erupted in the roar of battle.
"What is happening —"
Boom — Perospero shouted, but before he could finish, a missile crashed toward him. He barely sidestepped the explosion, debris showering over his shoulders.
"Brother, outside —" A young family member scrambled over and yelled frantically. "The war machines Doflamingo sent — they have all gone berserk! They are heading this way now!"
"What? That treacherous bastard — he never had good intentions from the start!" Perospero wore an expression of vindication, as if he had seen through Doflamingo all along. Yet everyone overlooked the fact that this shipment had actually been transported directly from Inazuma by Yukiko.
"We have to stop those machines immediately, and the townspeople must be evacuated!" Perospero ordered. Whole Cake Island housed many ordinary residents. The Charlotte Family normally treated them reasonably, and in this crisis, Perospero had not forgotten them.
Ideally, they could use Brulee to transport the civilians into the Mirror World — but the Mirror-Mirror Fruit had fallen into Ren's hands years ago.
"You still have the presence of mind to worry about other things?" Mihawk's voice cut through the chaos. The swordsman, who also wished to join the fight against Big Mom, possessed enough self-awareness to know his Haki was not yet sufficient for that battlefield. So he turned his attention to the Charlotte Family's executives instead.
Yoru unleashed a colossal slash that carved a palm-wide fissure across the ground, hurtling toward Perospero with lethal speed.
"Candy Wall."
Perospero spun his candy cane several times. Viscous syrup instantly formed a wall before him. Once the syrup hardened, it became harder than steel. Reinforced with Haki, blocking Mihawk's strike posed no problem.
Mihawk intended to press his attack on Perospero, but a blue figure lunged toward him. The elegant saber "White Fish" split the air and clashed against "Yoru" with a piercing ring of metal.
"You are not allowed to hinder my brother!"
"A female swordsman?" Mihawk's tone was flat, almost amused. Compared to Perospero, this unusual-looking woman stirred his desire to fight far more intensely.
The one who had appeared was none other than Charlotte Amande, the long-necked swordswoman. She was known across the seas as the "Demon Lady," a ruthlessly cruel woman whose blade had tasted the blood of countless challengers.
The entire Whole Cake Island had descended into total turmoil.
Big Mom's nineteenth son, Mont-d'Or, sat atop a giant book flying through the sky, desperately using his ability to absorb the island's residents into the world inside his book. But the Ruin Hunters — roaring through the air like fighter jets — gave him tremendous pressure.
Their sleek metal bodies streaked past him, launching salvos of missiles.
Several units had locked onto him, pursuing from a distance and continuously firing missiles and energy beams to shoot him down.
"Damn it! Inazuma actually invented such troublesome machines!" Mont-d'Or resembled Perospero somewhat, and his already ungainly face twisted into an even uglier grimace.
On the ground, the Ruin Defenders were more manageable — the family had their own Ruin Guard and Ruin Heavy Machine Homies to intercept them. But the aerial Ruin Hunters had to be shot down one by one, and there were far too many of them.
After shaking off Mihawk, Perospero received a report from the port. Dozens of Marine warships had begun closing in along the coastline, their silhouettes darkening the horizon.
This was the final straw. Had this been the Big Mom Pirates of twenty years later — with over a hundred children and husbands combined — panic would have been unnecessary. But now, many family members had not yet matured.
Katakuri and Cracker were both injured and would arrive late. Not a single Sweet Commander-class fighter was present among those assembled to defend the island.
The thought of seeking help began to form in Perospero's mind. He needed allies — and he needed them fast.
[
Dear Readers,
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