Chapter 1295: Katakuri

A tall figure stood before Charlotte Cracker. The extent of this figure's height far exceeded that of Cracker or Doflamingo. Although both of them were around three meters tall, in front of this man, they were both short.

The man had a head of short red hair. A fur collar wrapped around his neck obscured the lower half of his face and a small portion of his upper body. Red tattoos climbed up his thick, muscular arms.

Just by standing there, he gave off a cold and fierce feeling.

"Cracker."

The man's voice was low. His gaze turned toward Charlotte Cracker, who was sprawled on the ground. Upon seeing the exposed brain tissue, the man's brow furrowed. Combined with his lowered eyelids, it gave one a feeling of hair standing on end.

"Cracker!"

The man let out a low roar. Charlotte Cracker, sprawled on the ground, twitched, intending to stand up. Unfortunately, his brain had suffered a severe concussion, and the exposed tissue was covered in sand and dirt. Even if he received immediate medical attention, whether he could survive was unknown.

The man seemed to have noticed this. His hands, clad in black gloves, clenched, making a cracking sound.

This man, nearly 5 meters tall but with a well-proportioned build, was none other than Charlotte Katakuri, the strongest person in the Big Mom Pirates besides Big Mom herself.

Or rather, Charlotte Katakuri was a powerhouse second only to the Four Emperors. This guy's Observation Haki was truly monstrous.

Although the Big Mom Pirates' Four Sweet Commanders had no explicit ranking, there was still a distinction in strength. Katakuri was undoubtedly the strongest among them; this was beyond doubt.

Do not think that Cracker and Katakuri's strength were similar. Although both were Sweet Commanders, their strength was simply not on the same level.

If Su Xiao fought Cracker head-on, he would have roughly a 40% to 50% chance of winning. If he activated Hunter's Moment, Cracker would die 90% of the time.

But if he fought Katakuri head-on—no, Su Xiao would never put himself in that situation. If Hunter's Moment happened to be on cooldown, he would have a 90% chance of dying at Katakuri's hands. Predicting the future was simply too unsolvable, not to mention Katakuri's own strength was off the charts.

And now, Katakuri stood before his younger brother Cracker, blocking that lethal bullet for him.

Katakuri stood on the beach, his gaze sweeping the surroundings. Red light flickered in his eyes. A moment later, he shifted his gaze toward the central area of Dressrosa.

Su Xiao was also observing Katakuri through the scope. When the other's gaze shifted, he immediately felt that the other was looking in his direction.

Su Xiao's finger, resting on the trigger, paused. He had already found an angle to blow Cracker's skull apart with one shot, but Katakuri, standing in front of Cracker, would very likely block the bullet again.

Katakuri had just arrived, and Doflamingo, who had been fighting him earlier, also arrived. Doflamingo stood in mid-air, or rather, he was standing on several invisible threads.

Doflamingo was also a genius at developing his Devil Fruit ability. He wound the threads formed by his fruit ability onto the clouds in the sky, and combined with the special metal-tipped shoes he wore, he could step on those threads, thereby achieving a hovering effect.

A dozen seconds ago, Doflamingo had still been fighting Katakuri at Landing Point 6. For some reason, Katakuri suddenly pulled away and rushed to the nearby Landing Point 7.

Doflamingo, standing in mid-air, looked down at the beach and immediately noticed Cracker, whose occipital bone was shattered, sprawled on the ground and twitching.

After a moment of surprise, a smile appeared on Doflamingo's face. He immediately thought it was Pica who had wounded Cracker, but he soon discovered this was not the case. Pica was currently entangled by dozens of Biscuit Soldiers, and Landing Point 7 could be breached at any moment.

After Cracker was nearly headshot, the Biscuit Soldiers at Landing Point 7 clearly did not retreat or advance with the same discipline as before. Some Biscuit Soldiers were even standing in place, twitching, looking very much like they were doing an awkward dance.

Just as Doflamingo was bewildered, Su Xiao on the fourth floor of the villa activated the lock-on function. The target locked was... Doflamingo.

That's right, Su Xiao used the Duke of Death to lock onto Doflamingo. He wasn't looking to switch sides, but rather wanted Doflamingo to notice his existence.

The moment he was locked onto by the Duke of Death, Doflamingo immediately shifted his gaze toward the central area of Dressrosa.

"King's Plateau?"

Doflamingo was even more puzzled, and the next moment, that sense of crisis that made his hair stand on end vanished.

Swoosh~

A bullet flew over. Katakuri's right arm on the beach rapidly dissolved, turning into a mass of white, viscous substance. This was mochi, Katakuri's Devil Fruit ability.

This mochi formed a five-meter-high wall, blocking Katakuri and Cracker behind it. If it were just pure mochi, it would never block the Duke of Death's bullet.

The mochi wall turned pitch black; it was coated with Armament Haki. The mochi wall now had a hardness far exceeding most metals.

Boom!

Yellow sand splashed. The Duke of Death's bullet pierced through the black wall, flew past Katakuri's cheek, and finally shot into the seawater behind.

It seemed Katakuri couldn't block the Duke of Death's bullet, but in reality, that was not the case. Compared to blocking the full impact of the bullet, changing its trajectory was the wisest choice.

One shot missed, meaning 1,000 Paradise Coins were wasted. Su Xiao, inside the fourth floor of the villa, felt no heartache; he was transmitting information to Doflamingo.

Doflamingo glanced in the direction of the King's Plateau, then turned to look at the two brothers, Katakuri and Cracker. He had already guessed what was going on in his heart.

"Woof."

Hearing this slightly familiar bark, Doflamingo turned his head and happened to see Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang squatting on a giant rock. On the rock beneath Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang, a line of text was written.

'Drag Katakuri down.'

This time, Doflamingo understood the situation perfectly. He even guessed that the sniper in the distance was Su Xiao.

"Ptooey."

Doflamingo spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva and pressed a hand to his chest. He had been severely injured while fighting Katakuri earlier and was now using his String-String Fruit to stitch up his internal organ damage.

Doflamingo leaned his body forward, exerted force with his feet, broke through a layer of air waves, and charged straight at Katakuri.

With a roar, Doflamingo and Katakuri clashed into a melee.

Inside the fourth floor of the villa, Su Xiao inserted five bullets into the Duke of Death's chamber, pulled the bolt, and aimed the crosshairs at Cracker.

Cracker's constitution was astonishing; he braced his arms and was about to stand up.

Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang ran toward Cracker with light steps. It leaped up, like a gymnast, and stepped on Cracker's back with all four paws. Cracker, already very weak, was forced back onto the ground.

Katakuri, who was fighting Doflamingo, suddenly shifted his gaze and stared straight at Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang. Noticing Katakuri's gaze, the fur on Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang's back stood up. It slowly backed away, not daring to mess around anymore. ===== CHAPTER 1296 =====