"Hmm? Doflamingo and Crocodile? Hah! You washed-up Shichibukai dare to wade into this mess? Don't know your place, do you? You've got a death wish!"
Golden Axe curled his lips into a mocking grin.
With a casual swing of his golden battle-axe, he unleashed several golden slashes dozens of meters long, effortlessly shattering Crocodile's sand blades and reducing Doffy's feather-thread strikes to dust.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Two figures landed before Golden Axe, one after the other.
On the left stood Dofflamingo, clad in a pink coat, red sunglasses perched on his nose, his chest bare, wearing cropped beach pants and a pair of pointed leather shoes.
On the right was Crocodile, draped in a cyan cloak, a thick cigar dangling from his lips.
His left hand bore a sturdy golden hook, while his right palm faced upward, cradling a miniature sand tornado that spun endlessly in his grasp.
"Fufufufu, Golden Axe, the strongest of the first-tier fighters in your crew, right? You were also part of the Rocks Pirates back in the day, weren't you? A subordinate of Caesar? Why come here and stir up trouble? Isn't living a good thing? At your age, shouldn't you know better than to mess with those you can't afford to provoke?"
Doffy wore his trademark arrogant smirk as usual, rubbing his thumb and forefinger together in a familiar gesture toward Crocodile beside him.
Crocodile's face darkened as he pulled out a cigar from his coat and tossed it over.
"This is the royal cigar of Alabasta. I don't have many left, so this one'll cost you a million Berries."
"Fufufufu, that's quite the price. Seeing how you're puffing away all day, you must be burning through hundreds of millions daily?"
Doflamingo didn't even bother catching it with his hand—a thin string coiled around the cigar and delivered it straight to his mouth.
Snap!
He rubbed his thumb and forefinger forcefully, producing a spark to light his cigar.
Taking a deep drag, he exhaled a puff of smoke toward Golden Axe's direction.
Golden Axe's face twitched as he watched these two pompous figures before him, an inexplicable fury rising in his heart.
"Two mere Shichibukai daring to put on airs before me? Even if Caesar himself came, I—"
Crocodile curled his lips in a mocking sneer.
"If Caesar were here, you wouldn't even get a chance to speak. Old man, times have changed. Ever heard of the Pirate Council?"
Golden Axe's eyes flashed with menace as he snorted.
"What nonsense Pirate Council? Just an empty shell Caesar cooked up. Do you really think those lawless pirates would willingly acknowledge him as their leader? Even Rocks couldn't achieve such a feat back then—he's got no chance either!"
Crocodile and Doflamingo exchanged glances before shaking their heads in unison, nearly speaking simultaneously:
"Taking you down will make me the Vice-Chairman of the Pirate Council!"
"Rampaging White Threads!"
"Corrosion Cycle!"
Doflamingo and Crocodile pressed their right hands against the ground simultaneously.
Instantly, the earth within a hundred-meter radius churned violently, transforming into a surging sea-like surface.
Countless gleaming silver threads shot out like serpents, coiling around Golden Axe's legs and body!
Meanwhile, from Crocodile's palm erupted a strange corrosive force that rapidly decayed the earth, draining all moisture from everything it touched, withering all life into desolation.
"Good, very good! Doflamingo, you were once a Celestial Dragon, ruling a kingdom from your lofty throne. Yet now you willingly become another's lapdog? How far you've fallen! Let me sever your heads and see if you can still act so arrogant!"
"Golden Storm!!"
Golden Axe roared in fury, his Conqueror's Haki surging outward.
Thick Armament Haki repelled Doflamingo's threads as his axe cleaved through a hundred meters of empty air, filling Doflamingo and Crocodile's vision with golden axe-light.
"The old man's fierce. Crocodile, let's team up!" Doflamingo's body suddenly exploded into countless threads, merging with the earth.
Crocodile curled his lip arrogantly. "Fine, I'll join forces with you just this once."
As he spoke, his entire form collapsed into countless grains of sand, scattering into the howling wind.
...
Meanwhile, Gin grinned savagely, licking the blood from his hammer's surface as he stared at World's gloomy face, letting out a maddened laugh.
"Hahaha! Don't be shy—come play with me!"
In the distance, World's expression darkened, blood streaming down his forehead, across his cheeks, and dripping steadily to the ground.
Earlier, the Ice Demon's freezing power had slowed him down.
Just as he unleashed his More-More Hundredfold Fist, his old strength faded before new power could emerge.
Mid-air, Gin had descended like a meteor, hammering his skull and nearly crushing it outright.
Though he'd survived, the damage was severe—a concussion was unavoidable.
Fortunately, World noticed that when neither he nor Golden Axe provoked the Ice Demon, the freak with Ice-Ice Fruit abilities reverted to his statue-like state.
The ice-blue dragon transformed back into human form, striding purposefully toward the ruined manor to the south.
"Thank goodness that weird ice guy left. Otherwise, if he'd joined the fight, things would've gotten really bad."
World couldn't help but glance at Golden Axe nearby, growing increasingly anxious.
The battle had started with their targets already defeated, seemingly an easy mission completion.
Yet against all expectations, what they thought were just two Homies gatekeepers turned out to be two legendary killing gods!
To make matters worse, that stupid ass Silver Axe had to go provoke them on his own, and now he was missing—knocked who-knows-where by a single punch.
If it were just these two opponents, they might still manage.
As long as that fool Otto could hold out long enough, World and Golden Axe could finish off the Ice Demon and reunite as a trio to wrap things up.
But World never imagined Otto's formidable physique would fail so quickly against Redfield's assault.
No sooner had one wave settled than another rose—before they could finish here, several more capable fighters arrived, suddenly reversing their advantage.
"? You're not another senile old fool, are you? How boring!"
Gin's grin vanished when he saw World standing motionless.
He raised his massive hammer, unleashing a towering shockwave!
"Eighty!"
The attack snapped World from his thoughts.
Glaring coldly at Gin, he spat, "Brat, why are you in such a hurry to die? More-More Hundredfold Speed! Shave!"
His body blurred at extreme velocity, evading Gin's shockwave and reappearing midair.
His right leg rose, slashing downward like a blade!
"More-More Hundredfold Slash! Tempest Kick!"
A blinding white slash wave hundreds of meters long instantly engulfed Gin!