Doflamingo was thrilled when he heard Mork say the turret could change shape.
It instantly reminded him of the fortress's massive main gun transforming earlier.
Peach Rabbit and Marco, who had just arrived, also thought of that fusion cannon the moment they heard Mork's explanation.
Both of them stiffened, becoming more focused and cautious.
They wanted to see whether this turret could match the fortress's main cannon in power.
Doflamingo had the same expectations.
Excited, he placed his hand on the turret and began charging it with his stamina.
Marco and Peach Rabbit were both confused.
"What is he doing?" Marco frowned. "Why isn't he loading cannonballs? What's with placing his hand on it?"
He had no idea what Doflamingo was trying.
Peach Rabbit also didn't understand.
Neither she nor Marco had ever traded with Mork before, so they'd never observed one of Mork's turrets up close.
And Mork hadn't explained the details earlier.
Seeing their confusion, Trebol burst into laughter.
"A bunch of country bumpkins!"
Beside him, Sugar licked her lollipop and added softly,
"His Excellency's turrets don't need ammunition.
As long as the user pours their stamina into it, they can fire…"
Recently, since Doflamingo had been preoccupied with negotiations with Mork, he had stopped managing Dressrosa closely.
So Sugar had been allowed out—normally, the officers protected her strictly since Dressrosa would fall into chaos if her ability wore off.
She had actually been scared to tears by Mork's giant cannon earlier.
Although she didn't faint, the fear left her with genuine respect for Mork.
Upon hearing Sugar's explanation, Marco and Peach Rabbit's eyes widened.
"You've got to be kidding…" Marco muttered.
"No ammunition, just stamina?"
"That's… way too fantastical."
Even ignoring how stamina was poured in—how could stamina deal damage?
At least cannonballs contained explosive material.
But stamina was an abstract thing… How did it explode?
Peach Rabbit shared the same doubts.
"If Vegapunk heard this, he'd say it's impossible…" her adjutant muttered, then asked,
"Vice Admiral Peach Rabbit, this doesn't sound reliable at all…"
Even Peach Rabbit felt it was dubious.
But remembering what Sengoku had told her earlier—that Doflamingo had used one of Mork's turrets to seriously injure a bounty-over-100-million pirate—she forced herself to remain open-minded.
And this was an upgraded model.
Logically, it should be even stronger.
She exhaled slowly.
"Let's just watch."
Meanwhile, Doflamingo was pouring more stamina into the turret.
To his delight, he discovered its capacity was much greater than before—it was very hard to fill.
And as he continued, he found the turret… was growing larger.
From a normal-sized turret…
to twice that size…
and still expanding.
The pirate ship beneath him began to shake violently under the increasing weight.
By the time the turret was completely charged, it had become absurdly huge—nearly as large as the entire ship.
The deck groaned as if it would collapse.
Trebol, Sugar, and the other officers were shocked speechless.
"That's way too big…"
"It's almost as big as the fortress's initial main cannon."
"I can't believe there's a weapon that can grow like this…"
"Stop admiring it—the ship is going to sink!"
The ship rocked so violently that officers stumbled and crashed into each other, terrified of falling into the sea.
Almost all of them were Devil Fruit users—falling into the water meant death.
Only Doflamingo was ecstatic.
"Wonderful! Wonderful!"
"Hahahahaha—!!"
The small turret had already been impressive.
Now that this one was enormous, what kind of power would it unleash?
He couldn't wait.
And he didn't care if the ship sank—he used his String-String Fruit to lift the turret into the air, relieving the ship's burden.
Nearby, Marco and Peach Rabbit drew sharp breaths at the sight of the towering cannon.
It almost felt unreal.
"If I didn't know this was technology," Marco muttered, "I'd think this turret was made by some Devil Fruit ability…"
"And its size matches the fortress's main cannon," Peach Rabbit added.
"The power shouldn't be far off either…"
Impatient as always, she yelled,
"Doflamingo! Hurry up—test the turret!"
Doflamingo, admiring the massive weapon, grinned wickedly when he heard her.
His sunglasses gleamed as he looked at Peach Rabbit and Marco.
"Well, since you two are so eager… Why don't you test it yourselves?"
He intended to use them as test targets—one Marine admiral-candidate and one Yonko commander.
A perfect benchmark.
Marco and Peach Rabbit exchanged a brief look—no words needed.
Marco smiled lightly.
"I'll go first."
He was confident in his strength.
But when Peach Rabbit heard it, she immediately interpreted it as condescension.
She snorted.
"I blocked His Excellency's fortress main cannon earlier.
This one is nothing!"
Both wanted to test the weapon.
Doflamingo was more than happy.
"Since you agree—here it comes!!"
The moment the words left his mouth—
BOOM!!!
The massive turret fired.
The recoil was so enormous that several of Doflamingo's reinforced strings snapped instantly.
The giant turret almost crashed into the pirate ship, but he reacted quickly, reinforcing it with more strings.
Below, his officers finally breathed again.
They had narrowly avoided death.
And they were all utterly stunned.
This giant cannon's power… was terrifying.
—------------------------------
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