Chapter 180

"What's the matter? Doflamingo, is that all you've got?!"

"Without those underhanded tricks, is this the only level of strength you have?!"

Zephyr, radiating an overwhelming aura and killing intent, stared coldly at the rubble-buried ground ahead and said in a low voice.

"Fuffuffuffuffuff!"

From within the rubble came Doflamingo's dark, wild laughter—fury turned to mirth: "Sea Prism Stone weapons specifically designed to deal with ability users, huh? They really are far more effective than Haki!"

"But hey, Zephyr, you're no longer the Black Arm Admiral at your peak from over a decade ago, and I'm not the me from back then either. Relying on that thing… do you really think you can kill me?!"

As Doflamingo's words fell, the pile of rubble, the ground, and the cliff face behind him all transformed into white threads, still spreading outward. Doflamingo, clad in a pink feather coat, blood streaming from his forehead and the corner of his mouth, his body covered in wounds, stood among them like a king commanding this world of white threads.

Zephyr narrowed his eyes: "The awakening of a Devil Fruit, huh… So this is your greatest confidence."

"Fuffuffuff." Doflamingo raised his gaze toward him, laughing wildly: "Come and fight to the death, Zephyr. Today, either you die, or I perish…"

Zephyr grinned: "That suits me just fine!"

Whoosh!

Almost simultaneously, the two figures vanished on the spot.

"Giant Wave White Threads!"

"Crushing Fist!"

Zephyr's massive crusher hardened with Armament Haki collided with Doflamingo's technique, which resembled a black ocean wave after being hardened with Armament Haki.

Sizzle sizzle sizzle!

Accompanied by a violent shockwave, the ground around the two was torn open, howling winds sent houses in the distance flying, and every piece of glass within a radius of dozens of miles was shattered.

The earth shook and the mountains trembled!

158, The Brutally Beaten Doflamingo

Under the gale brought by that shockwave, Rebecca had no choice but to grip Kyros's arm tightly just to keep her body from being blown away.

The sea of flowers on the flower field was entirely blown away, petals dancing through the air, and some plants were even uprooted entirely.

Just as the shockwave and gale were about to dissipate, another thunderous roar came from below, causing the earth and the hill to tremble.

Whoosh!

Another fierce, violent gale howled and blew over.

Rebecca, already lying flat on the ground, gripped Kyros's arm tightly, eyes shut, and couldn't help shouting: "What on earth is happening?!"

"It seems like…"

Kyros lay on the ground, looking toward the area below the flower field, a hint of shock in his voice: "Doflamingo is fighting someone…"

"F-fighting?!"

Just as Rebecca's heart was shaken, a young boy's voice rang out to the side of her and Kyros.

"This place isn't bad—it's a perfect viewing platform."

Kyros and Rebecca snapped their heads around to look, and saw a blind boy with a black sword at his waist standing there, his half-long black hair dancing wildly in the gale.

"When did…"

Kyros stared at him, somewhat alarmed.

He hadn't sensed him at all.

A beautiful woman with sea-blue curly hair, draped in a black cloak and holding a sword in her hand, walked up from behind him to his side, glanced at Kyros and Rebecca, then quickly looked away and gazed downward.

A large swath of ground below had almost entirely transformed into white threads, like ocean waves, with Zephyr and Doflamingo locked in fierce combat within them.

"So this is the… awakening of a Devil Fruit?"

Ain murmured.

Luo En nodded: "Right, awakening. When a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit user's ability reaches the 'awakened' state, it can affect things beyond the user's own body."

"Then… can Teacher Zephyr win?"

"In my view, there's no problem. Doflamingo probably only just stepped into this realm not long ago—his ability's influence on surrounding things is limited. Although his strength has improved significantly, it still can't instantly pull him up to the same level as Old Man Zephyr."

Luo En 'observed' the battle below with his Observation Haki, his tone calm and casual.

After these past few years, although Old Man Zephyr's physique had aged somewhat, what had declined was only his stamina—his Haki and vigor had not weakened.

Although he's lost an arm, this giant crusher made of Sea Prism Stone, developed by the Navy's Science Research Institute, is a true bane of ability users. Combined with Zephyr's strength and Haki, it's simply adding wings to a tiger.

Compared to back then, its lethality against ability users is actually even greater.

On the other hand, looking at Doflamingo—he was never a match for Zephyr in those days. Severing Zephyr's arm was achieved entirely by exploiting the various conditions of Zephyr being injured, enraged, poisoned, and restrained by the new Navy recruits.

Compared to many years ago, his strength has certainly grown considerably, but it's still clearly insufficient to face Zephyr head-on…

Listening to the conversation between the black-haired blind boy and the sea-blue curly-haired woman, both Kyros and Rebecca were deeply shaken.

"Zephyr… is that powerful man called Zephyr fighting Doflamingo?!"

Rebecca, a 14-year-old girl this year, couldn't help but ask the two strangers.

Ain nodded at her.

"Zephyr… I feel like I've heard that name somewhere."

Kyros wore a thoughtful expression.

Suddenly a name surfaced in his mind, his pupils contracted sharply, and he looked at the two with extreme shock:

"Could this Zephyr be that Navy Admiral, Black Arm Zephyr?!"

"N-Navy Admiral?!"

Rebecca's mouth fell open, her expression blank.

Ain nodded at Kyros: "Teacher Zephyr resigned from his position as Navy Admiral seven years ago. It would be more accurate to call him a former Navy Admiral now."

"Former… Navy Admiral…"

Kyros and Rebecca, hearing her words, felt a storm surge within their hearts.

Rebecca came back to her senses, her expression stirred with excitement as she looked at the two of them: "Are you two perhaps together with that Admiral Zephyr?! Are you here to defeat Doflamingo and the Donquixote Family?!"

"Pretty much, yeah."

Ain nodded to her.

A flash of excitement passed through Rebecca's eyes.

"Then just now, when you were fighting Secca, that black slash that split the sky open—was that also Admiral Zephyr...?"

"No, that's not it."

Ain said, unable to help glancing at Luo En beside her.

The two followed her gaze, and looking at that blind youth with black hair drifting in the wind and a black blade hung at his waist, their hearts shook violently.

Could it be...

Below the flower-covered hill.

"Haaah!"

Accompanying Zephyr's furious roar, the giant crusher on his right arm directly smashed through the defensive move Shield White Line that Doflamingo had unleashed under his awakened Devil Fruit powers—hardness breaking softness—and under Doflamingo's drastically changed expression, slammed heavily into his face, caving his entire face in.

Boom!

Doflamingo transformed into a streak of pink light and slammed straight down into the ground!

Fortunately the ground had already turned into a sea of soft white lines, which helped absorb a great deal of the force—otherwise that single blow alone would have been enough to rob him of the ability to move.

"That punch just now was for the student of mine who died at your hands!"

Zephyr, radiating a fierce and murderous aura all over his body, performed Moon Step; the instant his foot stamped down, the air exploded with a roar!

His figure shot straight down toward Doflamingo below like a cannonball.

Doflamingo, whose entire face had been caved in and whose nose was gushing blood, caught sight of Zephyr plummeting toward him from the sky, and an involuntary flash of terror crossed his eyes.

He plunged both hands into the sea of white lines beneath him,

"Thousand Arrows Pierce Heart · Feather Strike · Line!"

In an instant, several thousand lines coated in Armament Haki took the shape of a flamingo's wings and shot out, piercing and surrounding the charging Zephyr.

"Get lost!"

Zephyr roared, and the giant crusher on his right arm—dyed black by Armament Haki—threw a punch; the air itself was shattered, and a terrifying shockwave blasted downward, forming an air cannon of extremely wide range.

It directly scattered those lines.

The blow slammed heavily into Doflamingo below.

The terrifying impact ground against his entire body, pressing him downward so that he could not move.