"But..." Doflamingo shifted gears with predatory calculation, rising from the crater with fluid menace radiating from his broken form. "I don't need to awaken my ability to kill you!"
Blood streamed from multiple wounds while his pink feathered coat hung in tatters around his frame, yet his characteristic grin never wavered. With a sharp movement, the Heavenly Demon launched another whip-like attack, his strings cutting through the air with lethal precision.
Facing this seemingly desperate counterattack, Oboro remained motionless, his analytical mind dissecting the tactical situation with surgical clarity.
The battle with Doflamingo had indeed become a complex game of combat psychology and strategic maneuvering. The Warlord's insight and battlefield analysis, including his ability to read the flow of combat in real-time, proved disturbingly sharp for someone who had just endured systematic punishment.
First, Doflamingo had correctly assessed that Oboro's Haki reserves weren't infinite. Prolonged engagement would inevitably become a contest of physical endurance and raw stamina. While the Heavenly Demon appeared to be losing badly, his Devil Fruit abilities granted him significant regenerative advantages, he could repair wounds by stitching them closed with his strings, creating an artificial healing factor that Oboro couldn't match.
Setting aside technique and martial arts prowess, Doflamingo's baseline physical conditioning remained slightly superior, built through decades of life-and-death battles in the Grand Line's unforgiving waters.
More critically, the figure Oboro had been fighting wasn't the real Doflamingo at all.
The Warlord had used the dust cloud from his crater impact to conceal a crucial substitution. While his enemy had been focused on the continuing battle, the true Doflamingo had been catching his breath and reassessing the tactical situation. His "body double" technique created a perfect replica made entirely of strings, indistinguishable from the genuine article to anyone lacking supernatural perception.
These were all calculated gambits conceived in the split seconds after Doflamingo had gauged both combatants' capabilities. He'd realized that quickly overwhelming Oboro would prove impossible, forcing him to resort to more elaborate strategies.
Because he'd discovered that easily killing the God Slayer was highly unlikely.
Oboro's gaze shifted toward a section of apparently empty ground several meters away.
He instantly dodged the puppet's assault and pivoted his waist to unleash a devastating Magic Fist technique.
As the concentrated airflow rushed forward, it manifested as a ten-meter-tall phantom fist trailing behind his strike. The fake Doflamingo, recognizing both the technique's direction and Oboro's targeting decision through their shared consciousness, immediately paled with alarm.
Almost simultaneously with the Magic Fist's deployment, the surrounding terrain began transforming dramatically. Soil and vegetation were consumed by an inexorable force, converting into strings that surged like ocean waves across an ever-expanding radius. Doflamingo's real body emerged from the ground where he'd been hiding, the billowing threads forming towering defensive walls that hardened into barriers capable of blocking the terrifying attack.
Standing behind his white rampart, Doflamingo adjusted his red-tinted sunglasses with one finger while his grin widened with predatory satisfaction.
"Very observant..." he acknowledged with grudging respect. "You actually detected my deception!"
"Such underhanded methods hardly befit your status as a Shichibukai," Oboro observed with mock disappointment, though his tone carried genuine appreciation for the tactical sophistication.
His calm exterior masked growing alertness as Doflamingo's awakened abilities created pressure that transcended their previous exchanges.
"Ever White!"
Without warning, silver threads erupted like a tsunami across the landscape, transforming the battlefield into something from a nightmare. The visual impact resembled a lone human standing on the shore as a massive tidal wave prepared to crash down upon them.
Oboro's enhanced perception could no longer distinguish individual objects, only endless white strings stretching in every direction. Even the sky above had been consumed by the writhing mass of transformed matter.
Every qi vortex throughout his body spun simultaneously as he deployed his atmospheric manipulation techniques to their current limits. The method allowed him to control airflow within a radius of several miles, representing the absolute boundary of his current capabilities.
With deliberate precision, he raised his palm and clenched his fist, freezing the towering white waves in mid-air through compressed atmospheric pressure.
"Break White!"
"Billow White!"
But Doflamingo's assault was far from over. Multiple terrifying constructs rose from the ground in coordinated waves, each one crossing and reinforcing the others in patterns designed to overwhelm any defense through sheer volume and complexity.
"Fufufufufu..."
The Heavenly Demon's arrogant laughter echoed across the transformed battlefield as his awakened power demonstrated the qualitative leap that separated ordinary Devil Fruit users from those who had achieved true mastery.
Oboro raised his other hand, compressed air masses forming at his fingertips like luminous projectiles. The concentrated atmospheric bullets shot forward in rapid succession, punching massive gaps through the 'white waves' and tearing apart the string constructs with explosive force.
But the damage proved temporary, new threads immediately filled every breach, regenerating the offensive formations as if they possessed infinite reserves. The awakened Devil Fruit seemed capable of maintaining and repairing its constructs indefinitely, turning the environment itself into an inexhaustible weapon.
Moreover, these enhanced strings displayed qualitative improvements in both durability and controllability that made them nearly impossible to destroy through conventional means. Getting close enough to strike Doflamingo directly would require breaking through layers of defense that regenerated faster than they could be eliminated.
Across the deserted island, white waves boiled and surged while Oboro maintained constant evasive movement. The battlefield had become Doflamingo's absolute domain, no matter where he moved, only endless silver threads remained visible. Attempts to fly toward the Warlord's position met with impenetrable defensive screens, while Doflamingo's enhanced Observation Haki tracked every movement with supernatural precision.
For several tense minutes, Oboro found no opening for meaningful counter-attack.
Eventually, the tide of strings broke through his atmospheric barriers entirely. His body was swept up by the overwhelming assault, tumbling through the air like a figure caught in an avalanche before striking the ground with earth-shaking impact.
Doflamingo seized the opportunity immediately, manipulating his awakened power to maximum effect. Countless "white waves" erupted around Oboro's landing point, each one crashing down with devastating force in coordinated sequence.
The thunderous impacts continued for what felt like an eternity, echoing across the entire island as the systematic bombardment reduced the surrounding landscape to rubble.
When the string formations finally receded like an ebbing tide, Doflamingo stood panting heavily, sweat streaming down his face while dried blood marked his accumulated injuries.
His Observation Haki confirmed that Oboro's life signature had grown extremely weak, though the God Slayer hadn't been completely eliminated yet. The resilience was genuinely frustrating.
He cursed internally while releasing hoarse laughter, taking measured steps toward his fallen opponent.
"Troublesome to the very end..." Doflamingo continued speaking as he approached, his voice carrying the satisfaction of someone who had finally gained decisive advantage. "I should have let the Marine Admirals handle this from the beginning, would have saved considerable effort. After all, I have no real obligation to clean up their messes. It's just... it's been far too long since anyone managed to annoy me quite this thoroughly..."
The Heavenly Demon observed Oboro's motionless form sprawled across the devastated ground.
He understood that his opponent remained conscious and could hear every word.
But before Doflamingo could close the remaining distance, he suddenly halted, every muscle in his body tensing with alarm.
"What?"
Oboro, his expensive suit torn and bloodstains covering his exposed skin, began rising from the ground in the most unnatural manner possible.
Rather than pushing himself up with his arms like any normal person, he stood directly upright like a compressed spring suddenly released.
Doflamingo's pupils contracted with shock.
His limbs were completely immobilized by my strings!
How can he still move?!
Oboro's head had been lowered during his ascent, but now gradually lifted to meet Doflamingo's gaze.
In that moment, a chill stimulated every hair on the Warlord's body.
The God Slayer's eyes were emitting brilliant light, his pupils completely invisible, resembling nothing that belonged to any normal living creature.
"Excellent..." Oboro spoke with blank expression and cold voice, staring at Doflamingo with predatory intensity. "I haven't experienced this sensation in quite some time. The last occasion I felt this battered was during my hunter days... You truly are formidable, Doflamingo."
As he continued speaking, Oboro's expression began shifting toward something approaching manic excitement. "This feeling of mortal danger makes me feel genuinely alive... Hahahahaha!"
"Hahahaha, magnificent!"
"You are absolutely magnificent!!"
Doflamingo fell silent, studying the God Slayer's unhinged display with growing unease.
A suspicion that had been lurking in the back of his mind crystallized into certainty.
Something was fundamentally wrong with the individual standing before him.
This transcended mere eccentricity.
"Now then..."
"Let me experience this sensation of being truly 'alive' once more."
Oboro assumed a martial arts stance, his voice carrying undertones that made the air itself feel heavier. "The Celestial Dragons claim to be gods of this world, but... have you ever witnessed a real god?"
"No... perhaps I should ask: do you comprehend what it means to face an immortal?"
"Fufufufufu..."
Doflamingo regained his composure and released sinister laughter.
White threads began surging across the ground around his position once again.
"You really are the most arrogant brat I've ever encountered!"
Without warning, Oboro's eyes focused with laser intensity as he uttered several crucial words:
"Zhou Tian Breathing Method."
The moment those syllables left his lips, an wave of invisible force rippled outward from their position, affecting the very fabric of reality surrounding both combatants.
Oboro extended a single finger toward Doflamingo's position.
When that targeting gesture registered in the Warlord's enhanced perception, every alarm in his experienced mind began screaming warnings. Without conscious thought, operating on pure survival instinct, he immediately deployed his ultimate technique.
"Jūroku-patsu no Seinaru Kyōdan: God Thread!"
Sixteen massive constructs of reinforced string erupted from the ground around Oboro's position, each one thick as a tree trunk and gleaming with the dark coating of advanced Armament Haki. The technique represented Doflamingo's absolute pinnacle, his strongest awakened ability enhanced with his most refined spiritual energy.
He called them his "Sixteen Holy Assassin's Bullets", a name that carried personal significance from the trauma of his childhood, when he'd witnessed a Celestial Dragon execute a commoner's child with exactly sixteen gunshots.
The massive string projectiles converged on their target with enough concentrated force to demolish mountains, their Haki-enhanced tips promising complete annihilation for anything they struck.
But as they closed the final distance to their target, something impossible occurred.
A barrier of crystallized air materialized around Oboro's position, not the invisible atmospheric manipulation he'd displayed before, but something that resembled solid crystal gleaming with internal light. The sixteen devastating attacks struck this protection and simply... stopped.
Not deflected or redirected, frozen completely in place as if time itself had halted their forward momentum.
Oboro's finger remained extended toward Doflamingo, and from its tip, a single point of light began gathering with intensity that made the surrounding air shimmer with heat distortion.
"This is Zhou Tian Breathing elevated to its true potential," Oboro's voice carried across the battlefield with perfect clarity despite the cosmic forces building around them. "The circulation of internal energy synchronized with the movement of heaven and earth itself."
The light at his fingertip condensed further, becoming so concentrated that it began affecting local gravity and atmospheric pressure. Wind currents reversed direction, flowing toward the gathering power like rivers being drawn into an oceanic whirlpool.
"When qi refining reaches sufficient mastery, the distinction between internal cultivation and external manipulation ceases to exist. The practitioner becomes a focal point where universal forces converge and can be redirected according to will alone."
Doflamingo felt genuine terror for the first time in years as he recognized the scope of power being assembled before him.
This was beyond Devil Fruit abilities or Haki enhancement, this was something that operated according to principles his world had never encountered, drawn from martial traditions that viewed human potential as boundless given sufficient understanding and dedication.
The concentrated light at Oboro's fingertip had become visible to the naked eye, pulsing with energies that made the very air around it crack and fracture like broken glass.
"Immortal Arts..." Oboro smiled with predatory satisfaction as the technique reached completion. "Heaven-Piercing Finger!"
The attack that followed transcended everything both combatants had previously experienced.
Pure light erupted from Oboro's extended digit, not traveling toward its target but seeming to exist everywhere simultaneously. The beam connected his position to Doflamingo's location instantly, creating a column of radiance that extended from earth to sky like a pillar supporting the heavens themselves.
When the technique finally dissipated, the battlefield had been fundamentally altered.
A perfectly straight trench had been carved through the island's bedrock, extending from Oboro's position to the ocean beyond. The walls of this channel were fused into crystalline glass from the tremendous heat, while steam rose from superheated groundwater that had been exposed to the surface.
At the far end of this devastation, Doflamingo's battered form lay crumpled against a shattered cliff face, his awakened string defenses reduced to scattered fragments that slowly dissolved in the falling rain.
The Heavenly Demon's eyes struggled to focus as consciousness flickered like a dying flame. Blood flowed from wounds that his string-stitching techniques couldn't hope to repair, injuries that had penetrated to the very core of his being.
But even facing apparent defeat, his lips still curved into that characteristic grin.
"Monster..." he whispered with something approaching admiration. "What kind of monster are you really?"
Oboro walked slowly through the devastation his technique had created, his elegant black suit somehow restored to perfect condition despite the cosmic forces he'd just manipulated. Each step carried the unhurried confidence of someone whose victory had never been in doubt.
"I am exactly what I claimed to be from the beginning," he replied with cold satisfaction, looking down at the broken form of one of the world's most feared pirates. "I am the one who kills gods."
The battle between the God Slayer and the Heavenly Demon had reached its inevitable conclusion, and the reverberations would be felt throughout the world as news of this encounter spread across the seas.
Another legend had fallen, and Oboro's own myth continued to grow with each impossible victory he claimed.