Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!!!
Countless threads lashed out like a storm, chasing after Zephyr's every move.
Boom boom boom boom boom!!!
The earth was torn apart, waves erupted sky-high, and even the clouds above scattered into tatters.
Pirates caught in the onslaught were strung up like gourds, one after another.
At this moment, Zephyr looked every bit like a dancer performing on the edge of a blade.
Using the bare minimum of energy...
He slipped through the gaps, weaving his way across the chaotic battlefield.
Soru, Geppo, Kami-e, and Seimei Kikan — his mastery of these techniques was on full display.
This was Zephyr's strategy: dance around the storm, never stop moving.
At first, he thought Doflamingo was just a lucky upstart — the brat who happened to kill a half-crippled Golden Lion.
But now, watching this monstrous barrage of complex, large-scale attacks, Zephyr knew better.
Still... a style like that had to burn through stamina at a terrifying rate.
All he needed to do was keep dodging, keep dragging this out. Bleed the enemy dry of strength.
Once Sengoku took down Whitebeard, or when Kuzan and Sakazuki found Kaido's corpse...
They'd come back and finish off Doflamingo together.
But Doflamingo? He wasn't worried at all.
Did these wide-range attacks burn stamina?
Of course they did.
But his stamina? It was endless!
He'd trade his limitless energy against this wheezing old asthmatic any day.
No matter how you looked at it, it was a bargain.
And when Zephyr finally ran out of steam... that would be the moment he died!!!
...
Meanwhile, elsewhere on the island...
The battlefield where Charlotte Linlin and Garp clashed had shifted deeper inland.
Boom!
Linlin, her life-force-boosting rage state finally fading, was knocked back by Garp's punch.
The pain coursing through every inch of her body only fueled her fury.
Her increasingly unhinged mind boiled with anger, teetering on the edge of madness.
The rings of fury swirling in her eyes were almost solid now.
"Ma ma ma ma!!!"
Roaring with laughter, Charlotte Linlin hefted her sword, Napoleon, and swung it at Garp!
The soul fragments stored within her surged, burning away as fuel.
But this time, it wasn't just another energy blast.
At the tip of Napoleon, the gathered power began to morph, shaped by Linlin's will...
It formed a massive energy clone — an incarnation of BIG MOM herself.
Now, Garp was facing two-on-one.
"Tch... another one of these weird energy creatures. What a pain."
Garp's usual carefree grin had vanished, his eyes now sharp and serious.
His fists alone couldn't shatter BIG MOM's defenses outright.
And while his Armament Haki was powerful, he was still flesh and blood — even a regular axe could cut him if it landed right.
Besides, these summoned energy forms... they were even trickier than Logia users. Haki couldn't hit them properly.
"Should've let Tsuru come and wash her filthy soul clean..."
The thought flickered through Garp's mind, but there was no time to dwell on it.
Because BIG MOM's attack was already incoming.
Wrapping his body in a thick coat of Haki, Garp lunged straight at Linlin herself.
Boom!
The two titans clashed once again, shaking the battlefield.
...
Not far away, Queen and Borsalino's fight had turned into an odd dance of roles reversed.
"Hey, where'd that scary form of yours go, huh?"
With his usual lazy smirk, Borsalino taunted while gliding like a fighter jet, firing photon bombs one after another.
"Damn Navy bastard! Just wait till Kaido-sama comes out — he'll kill all of you!!!"
Queen, in his bulky Allosaurus form, scrambled on all fours, desperately dodging the relentless blasts.
His entire body, except for his hips and head, was covered in scorch marks and burns.
Did he not want to pop another secret drug and power up?
Did he not want to pin this smug bastard down and smash him?
Of course he did! He'd even modified the drugs specially for his unique body.
But if he kept gulping them down like candy... his lifespan would take a serious hit!!!
He was only 35, dammit — still had plenty of brothel nights ahead!
Boom!
Just then, King — still in beast form — came crashing down in front of him, his legs frozen in ice.
Queen's small eyes lit up.
With a grunt, he shifted forms, transforming into his hybrid beast-man state.
Pumping his legs, he sprinted toward King.
King barely had time to melt the ice off his feet before his vision spun — Queen had grabbed him and hoisted him high overhead.
"You idiot! Put me down right now!!!"
Seeing the approaching Kuzan, trailing frost, and the closing-in Borsalino, King roared in fury.
Were they seriously using him as a meat shield now?!
"Heeheehee, King! I'll handle the moving — you handle the blocking! Power up, Queen!!!"
Queen ignored King's cursing, pretending not to hear.
Electricity crackled over his body, boosting his speed further as he charged toward yet another battlefield.
That kid Doflamingo brought with him... the one with Kaido's same powers.
Surely he could tank more hits than either of them.
In King's view, a light blast and an ice phoenix shot toward them from opposite sides.
He had no choice but to stop yelling at Queen and react.
The flames at the back of his head flared, coating his sword, Ame-no-Habakiri, in fire as he swung it in a wide arc and shouted—
"Go left!!!"
Boom boom boom!
The explosions blanketed the battlefield in thick steam.
The heat melted the ice around his legs, and with a fiery claw, King stomped down on Queen's head and kicked off, breaking away.
"King!!!"
Queen bellowed, still clutching a massive hunk of seared meat.
Whoosh! A strange sound split the air.
Thud!
A small dragon-man — Vergo — came crashing straight down onto Queen.
"Arghhh, that hurts!!!"
The blow struck Queen square in the gut, making his eyes bulge.
He nearly vomited up the two buckets of red bean soup he'd eaten during the last break — nearly, but not quite. He'd already digested it.
The two of them tumbled into a heap.
Thankfully for Vergo, Queen's thick belly absorbed most of the impact.
Shaking his head to clear it, Vergo gripped his dragon-tooth club and charged again toward the pursuing Sakazuki.
Physically and in terms of Devil Fruit power, he had the advantage.
But when it came to Haki... he was outclassed.
He wasn't strong enough yet to shoulder more of Doflamingo's burdens.
...
Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!!!
Seizing the moment, Borsalino unleashed another barrage of photon bombs, blanketing Queen in light.
In the smoke and chaos, the last few tufts of Queen's hair were incinerated completely.
His scalp was a mess of burns, with patches of blackened skull showing through.
"That's it! You pissed me off now, you damn Navy bastards!!!"
Queen roared, biting down hard on a hidden pill stored between his teeth.
At least... at least this would only shave two years off his life!!!
...
The battle raged on, reaching a fever pitch.
But no one noticed what was brewing inside the massive crater Whitebeard had left behind.
The magma left by Sakazuki glowed hotter and brighter by the second.
Like water about to hit its boiling point — seething, bubbling, ready to erupt.
Time ticked by.
RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE!!!
A colossal pillar of fire shot up from deep underground...
Piercing through the island and lancing straight into the sky!