"One-Sword Style." Lynch exhaled, his breath turning to icy mist.
"Three Thousand Frozen Prisons!"
A cyan slash cut through Jack's ship in an instant, splitting it in two.
A chilling air spread across the deck. Raindrops falling from the sky turned into ice shards, stabbing into the pirates' faces. Even the sea itself began to freeze.
"Ahhhh!"
The ship shattered, and the pirates plunged into the sea like scattered dumplings.
The moment they touched the water, they froze into solid ice and sank.
Jack roared in defiance as he fell, but the cold overtook him. Why? After all these years, the gap hadn't closed, it had widened.
Last time, he had at least resisted a strike. This time, he was defeated before he could even fight.
As soon as he hit the sea, his body weakened, covered in frost. He was sinking.
Then—
"Shave."
Lynch appeared before him in a blur. "If you manage to survive, tell Kaido if he doesn't accept this, he can come find me in the West Blue."
As he spoke, Lynch cut off one of Jack's ivory tusks, worth 900 million.
Not bad. The quality this time was better than before.
With the pair from last time, he now had four enough to craft something remarkable.
Jack, completely frozen, sank into the sea, his wide eyes locked in silent disbelief.
Lynch glanced up at the gloomy sky as cold rain dripped down his body.
"Annoying weather. I don't like it."
He raised his sword toward the heavens and spoke softly.
"Hakoku."
Boom!
A shockwave burst into the sky, tearing through the thick cumulonimbus clouds. The impact spread like an explosion, scattering the storm.
In mere moments, the dark clouds vanished, the heavy rain ceased, and the sky turned clear.
"Lynch-sama, you are truly a god!"
The Dressrosa soldiers on the ship, witnessing the scene, bowed their heads in awe.
With one strike, Lynch had cut down Jack. With another, he had wiped out the storm.
No matter how they looked at it, today was a story they would brag about for a lifetime.
"So strong! Kaido can't change the weather like that, right?"
"Before I met Lynch-sama, someone told me he could split the sky with a single slash. I didn't believe it."
"But today I believe it! That was insane!"
"Hey, hey, aren't you all forgetting about Jack? They say Kaido's three disasters were all strong enough to defeat Doflamingo, but Lynch-sama wiped him out like nothing. He sank along with his ship and crew!"
"Tch. Of course! We're not even surprised Lynch-sama is invincible!"
"Yes! Lynch-sama is invincible!"
"Long live Lynch-sama! Long live Lynch-sama!"
The soldiers on the ship raised their arms and cheered, eyes burning with admiration.
It had been less than a day since they set sail, yet these elite Dressrosa warriors had all turned into Lynch's devoted followers.
If King Riku found out, he might cry his own soldiers had never praised him like this…
Within days, news of Doflamingo's defeat at Lynch's hands spread across the seas, shaking the world.
This kind of news couldn't be hidden.
And soon, the newspapers were flooded with it.
[Shichibukai Doflamingo suffers a crushing defeat! The Emperor of the West Blue rises!]
[Doflamingo missing? A shocking twist distortion of human nature or loss of morality?]
[The whole world laughs! Doflamingo dared to challenge the Emperor of the West Blue… and was destroyed!]
Alongside these headlines, some newspapers took a different angle, stirring curiosity about Kuina and Tashigi.
"Exposed! The untold story of the sisters and Poseidon!"
"Pfft—!"
In East Blue, at Isshin Dojo, Koshiro nearly spat out his tea when he saw the newspaper.
Not because of the ridiculous headlines anyone who believed such gossip had to be a fool.
What truly shocked him was the girl in the photo, one who looked almost exactly like Kuina.
"Is this why Kuina wrote to me last time, asking if I had an illegitimate daughter…?"
Koshiro fell into deep thought.
Seeing his daughter's face in the newspaper, Koshiro sighed. She had truly grown up.
But with that pride came an inevitable worry. Around Lynch, fame and danger went hand in hand. Once a name became known, a bounty would surely follow.
"Kuina, become a great swordswoman… and prove your old, stubborn father wrong." Koshiro set down his teacup.
In the end, the path she walked was her own. As her father, all he could do was trust her.
His thoughts drifted to recent events involving Dragon, stirring emotions he hadn't confronted before. Only now did he realize how narrow-minded he had once been.
And his fears were justified.
Like a cat catching the scent of prey, the World Government wasted no time. That very afternoon, the bounty posters were issued.
[Evil Twins – Celestial Star Kuina]
[Bounty: 350 million berries]
The image on her poster captured the exact moment she pressed her hands together, unleashing Chibaku Tensei to seal Doflamingo.
The bounty photographers—mysterious as always—had managed to capture the perfect shot. There was no image they couldn't obtain.
[Evil Twins – Earth Star Tashigi]
[Bounty: 180 million berries]
The bounty poster showed Tashigi mid-air, getting punched away by Pica.
"Why is Kuina's picture so cool while mine is so embarrassing?!" The adorable yet discriminating, so she Tashigi protested.
"This is discrimination! The World Government is definitely biased!"
"Evil Twins…" Kuina muttered, watching the newspaper slip from her fingers and drift away in the wind.
"That title doesn't sound good at all."
Lynch chuckled. "Come on, it's a name given by the World Government. No matter how nice you want it to be, they weren't about to call you Twins of Light or something."
"But Gion-san gets the Sword Princess, and Big Brother gets the Emperor!" Tashigi stomped her foot, puffing her cheeks in frustration.
Lynch touched his face, smirking. "Probably because I'm handsome."
Kuina: "..."
Tashigi: "Bah~ Sir, you're so shameless!"
—
Wano, Onigashima
"Woahhh! Poor Doffy~!"
Kaido clutched his massive wine gourd, sobbing like a child. Tears, the size of bowls, splashed all over those unlucky enough to be nearby.
King walked out silently.
"Brother Quinn, is Boss Kaido okay?" A few worried pirates asked.
Quinn exhaled a puff of smoke, lighting a cigar. "You're new here, huh? You'll get used to it. Boss Kaido is just… a very direct person."
But deep down, Quinn knew this was bad.
The Zoan Devil Fruits were Kaido's lifeblood.
With Doflamingo and Caesar gone, the production of artificial Zoan fruits had come to a stop.
Kaido's dream of building a Zoan army was crumbling before his eyes.
Honestly, if Boss Kaido decided to storm the West Blue right now, no one would be surprised.
And Jack? Still missing, whereabouts unknown.
"Woahhh! Doffy~!" Kaido gulped down more wine, tears streaming down his face.
"Doflamingo, don't worry! I will avenge you!"
.
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TO BE CONTINUED
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