"Whoosh!"
Sengoku was sent flying, coughing up a mouthful of blood. The golden Buddha face flickered with a flash of shock and fury.
"Doflamingo... you've gotten stronger again."
That massive palm strike just now carried an overwhelming, earth-shattering force.
Even with the protection of the Mythical Zoan's crystalized golden body, it was difficult to endure.
Not even Kaido, after awakening, had delivered such a thunderous blow.
"You're holding up pretty well, Sengoku-san! Let's see how long that lasts!"
Doflamingo grinned, withdrawing his uninjured left hand.
It was that very hand that had just slapped Sengoku across the face.
This form—where size equals strength—wasn't just for show.
At his current kilometer-tall size, even someone like Kaido could be suppressed, if only temporarily.
Bit by bit, his severed right arm began to regenerate.
With legs like stone pillars, he surged forward through the crashing waves.
Like a sea god from myth, he charged straight toward where Sengoku was falling.
Strike while the enemy's down—take his life.
"Sengoku-sama?!"
Tokikake cried out in disbelief at the scene before him.
A single strike, and the mighty Sengoku had fallen?!
Even Sakazuki paused, the attack he was preparing momentarily interrupted.
"Oi oi oi! You bastards forget about me or what?!"
Bullet's furious voice roared out as he raised his left arm, now coated in hardened Armament Haki, and brought it crashing down.
In that instant, Sakazuki and the others were overshadowed by that monstrous, mountain-like arm.
"Ultimate Cannon!!!"
BOOM!
At that moment, a thunderous explosion echoed from beneath the sea.
The already boiling surface erupted as a pillar of magma shot skyward.
It was Sakazuki—he had just triggered an undersea volcano.
The magma pillar surged into his body.
Cracks split open along his limbs from the overwhelming pressure of the molten force, but with masterful control, he forced it back down, locking it within himself.
His body turned visibly red-hot.
"Die, pirate scum!!!"
With veins bulging and steam hissing off his skin, Sakazuki looked like a volcano on the verge of eruption.
His arms transformed into massive magma fists, each the size of a house, and blasted upward.
One attack descended from the heavens—Doflamingo's massive Haki-infused iron fists.
The other erupted from the earth—Sakazuki's volcanic might.
They collided midair.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
With an earth-shattering roar, a shockwave exploded out from the point of impact, clearly visible to the naked eye.
Molten magma splattered into the distant ocean, boiling the sea and sending sky-high waves surging out.
Feeling the raw power transmitted through the clash, Sakazuki's expression darkened.
Still not strong enough!
Crack! Crack!
The massive stone fists began to splinter under the heat—only to heal a second later beneath the glow of violet Awakening light.
Bullet grinned, exhilarated. "Not bad, Marine. That power of yours... I like it!"
If not for Doflamingo's earlier strike forcing him to refine his Awakening control, his fists might've shattered during that exchange.
Logia users really were worthy opponents.
Boom!
Bullet's free right arm swung down like a hurricane, crashing toward the elemental user.
Sakazuki, with no room to dodge, didn't even flinch.
Then—
VMMM!
Light. Blinding, endless light exploded in all directions.
It was as if a second sun had ignited between heaven and earth.
In that instant, all the Marines lost their vision—and so did Bullet.
Within the radiance, a figure moved at light speed, appearing behind the giant's neck in a blink.
Borsalino's beam condensed into a blazing-hot laser, slicing sideways in a gleaming arc.
Zzzzzzz!
The light faded.
A gut-churning slicing sound echoed.
A colossal head—comparable in size to a Marine base—plummeted from the sky.
Bullet's falling fist, suddenly lacking a target, smashed into the open sea, punching a massive hole that sent hundred-meter waves crashing outward.
"Is it... over?" Tokikake froze mid-attack.
It looked terrifying... but was that it?
Yet neither Sakazuki nor Borsalino let their guards down.
Streams of searing magma and laser blasts continued to pound the unmoving shell of Bullet's giant body.
BOOM!!
The stone head crashed into the boiling sea.
Steam exploded into the sky as the ocean vaporized from the impact.
It looked like a signal.
And then Bullet laughed.
"HAHAHAHA! Of course... it's still not enough!!!"
His killing intent and Conqueror's Haki burst forth like a landslide, like a dam breaking—all from within the headless giant's body.
This was Bullet's monstrous fusion of Armament and Conqueror's Haki.
The surrounding sea was forced back, creating a temporary vacuum around him.
Both magma and laser blasts were halted completely.
"He's still alive?!"
Tokikake leapt forward, his Rankyaku slash—stronger than any typical swordsman's—cut through the air, slamming into the giant's chest and carving deep grooves.
Awakening light glowed again across the blackened giant—but this time, it wasn't flowing outward.
It was flowing inward.
"If it's still not hard enough—then I'll just keep condensing it!!"
Despite the insane Haki drain, Bullet's eyes gleamed with madness.
He abandoned his towering mecha cockpit form entirely.
Stones from the surroundings swirled around his body, layering tighter and tighter.
Not just that—he began controlling even the tiniest particles he could sense, forcing them to compress inward.
"If Armament Haki can fuse with my body... then it can fuse with my titan form too!!"
Crack crack crack!
Grinding like a giant millstone, the headless black giant visibly condensed, shrinking tighter and denser.
"Keep attacking! His Haki isn't infinite!"
Sakazuki growled, summoning magma from deep beneath the crust.
His fists transformed into hellhounds of molten rock, snapping at Bullet.
He didn't know what Bullet was doing—but whatever it was, they had to interrupt it.
Borsalino was even faster. Photon bullets rained down on Bullet in an endless barrage.
But all of it—all of it—was blocked by the monstrous, inhumanly dense Armament Haki.
...
Elsewhere.
Far off on the sea.
Watching the approaching giant, the golden Buddha's eyes dropped low.
A storm of rage burned beneath his lids.
Golden palms clenched tight, and crimson lightning gathered across the waves of golden shockwaves.
"Great Buddha Wrath!!!!!!!"
A dark golden blast exploded forth, crossing hundreds of meters in an instant, aimed directly at Doflamingo.
With his current power, Sengoku couldn't afford to let him get any closer.
"Fufufufu! Mere Conqueror's infusion? If that's all you've got, Sengoku-san, you'll die here today!"
Doflamingo's voice thundered across the sea, reaching even the distant warships.
His colossal arms—hundreds of meters long—clasped together with a sudden slam.
Threads erupted, weaving the two arms into one titanic mass.
The fused fist looked like a divine hammer in the hand of a god.
All of his Armament and Conqueror's Haki surged toward the tip of that fist—
And then it came crashing down.
-----------
Fanfic is finished 527 chapters in total on p@treon/tambeerg