"The lady over there is one of mine, so we really can't have anything happening to that pretty face of hers," Drake said with an easy smile.
"If I remember correctly, this is Dark Clan territory. What's the matter? Did rotting in Impel Down scramble your brains so badly that you can't even read a map anymore?"
"You—!!" The members of the Donquixote Family glared daggers at him, yet not a single one dared to make a reckless move.
Drake and Doflamingo locked eyes. The two were old acquaintances; during their last encounter, the battlefield had been scorching hot.
In this damp, underground corridor, both men silently stared at each other without uttering a single word, locked in a wordless standoff.
The earth-shattering shifts of the past few months were truly difficult to fathom.
Doflamingo had known all along that the Legendary Four Brothers were far from ordinary men, and that they were destined to lead the new era. What he had never imagined was that they wouldn't merely lead the era—
They were literally rewriting history!
The World Government, an unshakeable empire that had stood resolute for eight centuries, had been toppled virtually overnight. Had someone told him this a few months ago, he would have dismissed it as pure madness.
Yet now, the very man who had engineered this monumental epoch stood directly before him!
"Fuffuffuffuffu..." Doflamingo suddenly broke into his trademark low, manic laughter. Staring down at Drake, he said, "I truly never imagined that in such a short span of time, you would ascend to such heights."
"Oh?" Drake raised an eyebrow. "I'm not particularly surprised by that myself. What I really want to know is... what brought you people all the way out here?!"
The instant the words left his lips, a crimson glint flared within Drake's pupils as he fixed an unblinking, piercing gaze onto Doflamingo.
Meeting his stare, Doflamingo's smirk slowly faded. "What do you think?"
"Came to rob the treasury?" Drake asked flatly.
Doflamingo and his crew were visibly taken aback by how bluntly Drake put it. Caught off guard, the executives fell silent, instinctively dropping into combat stances.
Whatever else could be said about them, the officers of the Donquixote Family were undeniably hardened men who never lacked the courage to wage a desperate, bloody fight!
Just then, Doflamingo stepped forward, raising a hand slightly to signal his officers to stand down.
He could feel the suffocating, heavy pressure radiating from Drake—an overwhelming Conqueror's Haki exclusive to Emperors of the Sea.
Even he felt a cold dread gripping his chest, to say nothing of his subordinates.
If a fight truly broke out, their entire syndicate wouldn't stand a chance, and the aftermath would be nothing short of a massacre!
"Emperor of the Sea... Vale D. Drake... Truly remarkable. To claim the sovereign throne of an Emperor at such a young age." A flash of genuine astonishment flickered behind Doflamingo's tinted shades.
"Flattery will get you nowhere," Drake waved dismissively. "When it comes to young prodigies, my little brother Luffy takes the crown—he's a full year younger than me."
Speaking of Luffy, a proud grin tugged at Drake's lips; after all, Luffy was his beloved little brother.
Hearing Luffy's name, however, Doflamingo's face darkened instantly. Wasn't his imprisonment in Impel Down entirely Luffy's doing?
The Donquixote Family had suffered repeated, humiliating defeats at the hands of the two brothers, reducing them to their current pathetic state!
Suddenly, Doflamingo's brow smoothed out. Turning on his heel, he began striding directly toward the exit, his officers swiftly falling in behind him.
The sight left Bernice standing nearby completely bewildered. What is this supposed to mean?
"Hold it right there!" Drake called out.
"You think... you can just walk away like that?"
Drake nearly cursed aloud. Damn it all! Doflamingo truly was Doflamingo—the bastard had clearly come to loot his vault, yet now he was strutting away without even bowing his head to the Dark Clan's true master, acting as if nothing had happened!
What absolute shamelessness!
The man had dodged the question and beaten around the bush the entire time.
Doflamingo halted his steps, answering without looking back: "What does Lord Drake mean by this?"
Drake was practically ready to throw hands. The bastard actually had the nerve to ask him that?
Did he have zero self-awareness regarding his own situation?
"Mingo, you and I haven't seen each other in over two years. Stumbling into each other today like this... shouldn't we catch up on old times?" Drake said in a heavy, deliberate tone.
He placed an exaggerated emphasis on the word "stumbling."
Bernice's expression became even more colorful; her gorgeous eyes sparkled with amusement, nearly bursting into laughter at Drake's phrasing.
What "stumbling"?!
Hearing those words, as thick-skinned as the Donquixote Family officers were, even they felt a twinge of embarrassment. This Emperor Drake truly dared to say anything.
Was their presence here mere coincidence?!
And what on earth did he mean by "catching up on old times"...?
"I have no interest in fighting you right now," Doflamingo dropped the line and moved to take another step.
His swagger showed no intention of yielding whatsoever, striding forward with an aura that looked even more arrogant than Drake's earlier walk—a strut oozing pure disregard for the entire world, as if no one beneath the heavens could match him.
Even Drake felt slightly outdone by the sheer audacity of it.
As expected of my boy Mingo!
Even the System in his mindscape widened its eyes in disbelief—this guy was an even greater eccentric than Drake!
Suddenly, the surrounding space solidified. The flowing air ground to a dead halt, and the movements of the Donquixote Family were stretched into infinite slow motion.
Doflamingo's descending foot hovered in mid-air, inching downward at a snail's pace. A blurry afterimage flickered across the corridor, and Drake materialized directly before Doflamingo, casually resting a heavy palm on his shoulder.
VROOOM!
The entire spatial fabric vibrated violently!
The flow of time resumed, and the executives finally realized that Drake had closed the distance without a sound, instantly bracing for combat.
"Let go of Doffy!"
"Release the Young Master!" the officers roared in unison.
Drake offered them a gentle smile. "Don't be so tense, everyone. I just have a little business matter I'd like to discuss with Mingo."
"You bastard!" Pica's high-pitched screech tore through the air. Seeing the cold sweat beginning to pour down Doflamingo's forehead, he immediately bellowed, "Attack! Save the Young Master!"
Without a second's hesitation, every executive charged forward as one.
Seeing the assault, Bernice instinctively stepped forward to assist, but Drake raised a hand slightly to signal her to stay back.
Reaching out into the empty air, he made a gentle grasping motion.
The surrounding space warped. A volley of shattered stones tore free from the reinforced walls, hurtling like cannonballs toward the charging officers.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The fierce, charging vanguard of the Donquixote Family collapsed instantly to the floor. The only ones who managed to remain standing were Dellinger and Viola!
Both of them wore expressions of sheer, agonizing torment, struggling violently against the crushing invisible weight, crimson blood trickling from the corners of their mouths.
"H-How is this possible...!" Bernice's lips parted in pure astonishment, her eyes wide with disbelief.
She hadn't even been able to track how Drake had attacked. With a mere flick of his wrist, the formidable elite cadres of the Donquixote Family had been completely neutralized and pinned to the earth.
All three Supreme Officers had gone down instantly.
The only two left standing were teetering on the verge of total collapse.
Why had all three Supreme Officers fallen so quickly...?
Suddenly, Bernice's eyes caught sight of the jagged stones suspended in the air. Could those be... Sea-Prism Stone fragments?!
That explained everything! The two left standing were non-Devil Fruit users, which was why they hadn't succumbed immediately.
Meanwhile, the executives who relied on Devil Fruit powers had been completely incapacitated without the slightest chance to resist!
This...
Is far too terrifying!
In this moment, Drake was the absolute incarnation of the God of War—subduing and suppressing all beneath the heavens with a single, effortless gesture.