Chapter 63

Before Doflamingo could react, a leg came flying in from the side and kicked him straight away.

Once again, it punched straight through the warship's hull.

Just as he was about to be kicked into the sea—

Doflamingo clenched his teeth, attached a single thread to the warship's railing, and used it to pull his falling body back from the sea's surface.

The instant he returned to the warship, Doflamingo immediately unleashed what was currently his strongest technique.

"Superhuman Whip!"

In an instant, as Doflamingo's ten fingers moved, countless slender, razor-sharp white threads sliced outward in every direction.

Zephyr's figure appeared in midair half a body-length in front of him, a pitch-black fist imbued with terrifying power about to come crashing down—

Doflamingo's mouth once more let loose that wild, arrogant laughter.

"Fuffuffuffuffu, Zephyr—my life, or the lives of those beloved students you have left. Take whichever one you want."

Zephyr's pupils contracted; his Kenbunshoku Haki instantly sensed the situation over there.

If he threw that punch now, he could indeed kill the Heavenly Yaksha before him—but over there, a great many more would very likely die.

Zephyr made his choice without the slightest hesitation.

He gave up on killing Doflamingo right in front of him, and instead rushed back at top speed to rescue his students.

Watching this scene—

The heavily wounded Doflamingo laughed even more wildly, even more smugly.

"Fuffuffu, Zephyr—a powerhouse like you, actually getting tangled up by something called 'feelings,' letting these worthless pieces of trash become your weakness. That's truly laughable enough."

On the deck where Luo En, Ain, and the surviving Marines were.

Luo En stared at the white threads slicing down from every direction, felt the dangerous aura contained within them; his gaze grew solemn, he tightened his grip on Lei Qie's hilt, and his Busoshoku Haki hardened directly, coiling around the blade.

Doflamingo's full-power strike, is it?

Right now, even he had no confidence he could take it head-on.

Ain struck first.

"Rankyaku!"

Her Rankyaku couldn't cut those white threads at all—instead, it was sliced apart on the spot.

Ain's face went pale; she clenched her teeth, stepped in front of the other Marine rookies, drew the sword at her waist, and slashed out at the dozen-plus white threads slicing toward them.

"Pale Wolf!"

A pale-blue sword-Qi condensed from sword-intent surged forth.

But it was sliced apart in an instant.

The sword in Ain's hand was also cut into several pieces.

She widened her eyes; within her pupils, those few white threads rapidly grew larger.

"Ain! Dodge—now!"

Binz shouted urgently.

But at this moment, Ain no longer had time to evade.

Just then—

"Breath of Wind · Third Form — Clear Storm Windswept Trees!"

A furious shout exploded behind Ain.

Immediately, three azure, violent slashes, accompanied by a surging gale, charged out to meet those white threads that resembled the Grim Reaper's scythe.

The two sides locked for an instant.

Just as those white threads came slicing in again—

A pair of pitch-black, burly fists, wrapped in a momentum capable of shattering mountains, smashed down viciously.

Shattering those white, razor-sharp threads apart on the spot.

"Nicely done, Luo En kid!"

Zephyr's towering, imposing figure appeared at Ain's side.

"Z-Zephyr-sensei!" Binz couldn't help the tears streaming down his face.

Ain, who had just walked a step past death's door, went weak in the legs and collapsed sitting down.

Luo En, behind her, also let out a long breath of relief.

And just then—

A chill of foreboding rose once more from the depths of his heart.

"Where?"

Luo En, utterly on guard, whipped his head around to look in every direction.

A single thread tinged with the light of blood emerged from the body of a dead Marine rookie, sprang up soundlessly, and then—like a venomous snake flicking its tongue—shot toward them from behind the group of surviving Marines at extreme speed.

If this strike landed—

This group of Marine rookies would be directly skewered through like a candied hawthorn on a stick.

Zephyr, whose Kenbunshoku Haki had detected this utterly treacherous attack, had his pupils contract; his tall, burly form flashed at top speed, appearing behind the group of Marine rookies who still hadn't been able to register what was happening.

But there was no time left to mount a precise defense with Busoshoku Haki.

Fwip!

That nearly invisible thread—its aura utterly concealed, yet honed to the utmost in thinness and sharpness—pulled a string of blood droplets as it pierced clean through Zephyr's right shoulder.

Just as it was about to continue stabbing toward the heart of the Marine rookie ahead, like a venomous snake, it was seized in one grip by Zephyr's pitch-black palm.

"Fuffuffuffu!"

Doflamingo's wild laughter rang out from the very top of the warship.

Clad in a pink feather coat, he stood at the highest point, looking down at the crowd on the deck and at Zephyr: "As expected, you fell for it, Zephyr. Being ruled by emotion—that is your weakness!"

He raised both hands, connecting every thread on the entire deck.

"Whip!"

Countless threads crisscrossed as they surged to strangle and kill Zephyr and the new Navy recruits he was shielding.

To break through this move was not difficult for Zephyr, but to shield everyone completely was very hard.

Zephyr clenched his teeth, exerted force with his right arm, and directly snapped the blood-colored thread that had pierced through his right shoulder.

Then.

He raised his pitch-black fist and slammed it heavily down onto the deck beneath him.

The deck instantly collapsed and crumbled apart.

Ain and the other astonished Navy cadets all fell downward.

Those threads, having lost their anchor point, could no longer pull taut, and thus could not form the encirclement-and-slash formation.

"Worthy of an Admiral."

Doflamingo narrowed his eyes.

Zephyr stomped down, his body shooting forth like a cannonball toward him. His wounded right arm clenched into a fist, air currents coiling around it, the fist's might terrifying.

"Thread Wave!"

Doflamingo ordered every thread scattered across this warship to surge over here, like white waves, coiling toward the charging Zephyr.

The fist Zephyr threw was wrapped by the soft threads, tightly bound.

But the force of this punch of his was still astonishingly great.

It directly shattered the spider web Doflamingo had used for defense, piercing straight through his abdomen.

"Cough!"

Doflamingo opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of blood, but as he looked at Zephyr before him, his face still wore a wildly crazed smile.

"Fuffuffuffu, just a little more."

Thread after thread wound along his wound toward Zephyr's arm and body.

Zephyr had just been about to shake them off directly.

But suddenly his right arm went numb.

He could not muster his strength at all.

His brow furrowed.

"Fuffuffu, finally noticed, have you?"

Doflamingo cackled wildly and wickedly: "It's already too late."

A sharp thread sliced straight across Zephyr's right arm, where his Armament Haki had dissipated.