Chapter 539

The five pirates' inner fears were amplified infinitely.

"Shouldn't Doflamingo win? He's been a great pirate whose name echoed across this sea for many years!"

"But the one across from him, the Navy's strongest genius, the Demon Fist Lu En, is at most just a five-year-old brat."

"Though his strength is also extremely powerful—he once captured Bai Huzi II—but comparing the two, I personally lean toward Doflamingo winning."

They whispered in hushed tones.

But…

When their gazes turned to Lu En and saw the grotesque demon back on his body, their conviction wavered again, showing hesitation.

Lu En, with his demon back exposed, imposed an overwhelming pressure upon them.

They dared not judge which of the two monsters was stronger.

In the battlefield.

Doflamingo's eyes narrowed, fixing on Lu En's muscular upper body; his eyes beneath the sunglasses carried a degree of solemnity.

"This brat…"

"Is truly a terrifying monster!"

The pressure emanating from Lu En moved even Doflamingo deeply.

No wonder he's the one who captured Bai Huzi II!

Terrifyingly strong!

"But I am no waste like Bai Huzi II!"

"Brat…"

"Dare you come to my casino and cause trouble? You'd better weigh whether you have the ability."

Doflamingo took a deep breath and suppressed all his emotions.

He lifted his head,

coldly staring at Lu En.

With a glance to the side, he saw the threads he had spread across every direction of space, like a spiderweb.

The threads were extremely fine…

Invisible to the naked eye.

Each thread carried immense killing power and destructive force, and was remarkably resilient, hard to snap.

Even under tremendous force, these threads would not easily break.

This, of course, was because Doflamingo had developed and mastered the Thread-Thread Fruit to its utmost extreme.

Otherwise,

if anyone else possessed the Thread-Thread Fruit, they could never achieve Doflamingo's level of combat power, nor make every thread so unbreakable.

Amid the stifling atmosphere,

suddenly!

The battle erupted.

Doflamingo launched the first attack.

"Thread Shot!"

A low command.

He flicked his index finger, and an invisible thread shot forward at Lu En with terrifying speed.

Like a bullet accelerating at full velocity…

Extremely fast!

Shhh!

Accompanied by a piercing sound of tearing air.

It seemed as if even space was shattered and destroyed by this thread.

"Here it comes!"

Lu En's eyes narrowed slightly.

If judged purely by the naked eye,

then

his vision could barely catch a blurred afterimage of the approaching thread.

He could not see it clearly at all!

Therefore,

to fight Doflamingo, he could no longer rely solely on his naked eyes.

Under these circumstances,

Haki became an unavoidable combat method.

"Observation Haki, activate!"

In an instant, Lu En activated Observation Haki.

Hum!

Hum!

An invisible aura rapidly expanded outward from his body, engulfing a five-hundred-meter radius.

Instantly,

his Observation Haki had covered a five-hundred-meter radius.

Within this zone, every whisper, every movement, every breath could not escape his perception.

Moreover,

it would be magnified billions upon billions of times, presented with perfect clarity within his mind's consciousness.

Every single movement of Doflamingo—even the subtlest motion—would be clearly seen through by Lu En.

Thus,

his figure tilted slightly to one side.

That line, shooting forward like a bullet, brushed past him, leaving only a sharp current of air that stirred his hair.

In the end—

Boom!

Accompanied by a tremendous roar.

Some ten-plus meters behind Lu En, a wall was instantly pierced through by the line, a thumb-sized hole punched straight through the entire wall like a bullet.

It had been completely shot through.

Through that single hole, one could even see the scene outside from within the casino.

Grisly,

terrifying.

Dust drifted down from within, gathering along the edges of the wall's base.

From this, one could see.

Doflamingo's bullet line possessed an extraordinarily powerful offensive force.

If it had struck a human body…

Without the reinforcement of an Armament Haki armor for defense, a human body would likely be pierced through in an instant—even the hard bones within would not be spared, smashed through as well.

"Did you dodge it?"

Doflamingo's face was expressionless.

This was merely a probing exchange.

He hadn't gotten serious yet!

That Lu En could dodge so easily was, in fact, within his expectations.

If the Fist Demon Lu En—hailed as the greatest genius in Marine history—couldn't even block this casual strike of his, then the man wouldn't deserve his reputation as the most terrifying monster of the sea!

Obviously.

The Fist Demon Lu En, who had captured Whitebeard II Weibull, was by no means such a simple opponent.

Next,

as Doflamingo probed him again and again.

Lu En, too, began to get serious.