"But, don't think you can make a move against anyone else."
"Of course. So, shall we sit down and catch up a bit?"
Katakuri made two chairs out of mochi, but Marco didn't come over at all. He just stood off to the side with Jozu, watching Katakuri and his brothers warily, even pulling Brook and Bon Kurei over with him.
Their participation in the battle wouldn't make much difference. Even if they managed to defeat Daifuku, they'd just end up in a state of exhaustion. It was actually safer to use this alternative way to exchange pieces. [TN: "Exchange pieces" or "trading pieces" refers to a tactical move where one player uses a piece to capture an opponent's piece in Chinese chess and then allows the opponent to capture the first piece in return. This exchange usually happens when the pieces involved are of similar value.]
"Gear 4!"
Armament Haki covered both his arms, and as he blew air into his body, Luffy's muscles began to swell, turning into a muscular balloon full of elasticity.
The powerful elasticity even made it impossible for Luffy to stand normally, causing him to bounce up and down on the ground like a rubber ball.
"I'm going in first, Tra-guy! Gum-Gum Kong Gun!"
Luffy's arm contracted, then burst forth with incredible explosive force. Doflamingo hadn't expected such a sudden transformation from Luffy, and was sent flying a considerable distance by this punch.
"Straw Hat brat… you…!"
If not for Usopp, the things below wouldn't have been exposed at all. This punch also ignited Doflamingo's anger, and five sharp threads appeared at his fingertips, slashing toward Luffy ahead.
But these threads, which could slice through rocky walls with ease, were actually bounced away by Luffy's unique body.
"Useless. I'm not the same as before now!"
"Is that so? Then let me show you something more interesting! Break White!"
The ground gradually turned into a wave of threads. Facing Luffy in Gear 4, Doflamingo also entered his awakened state, launching a new round of fierce combat.
"Aren't you concerned about what's happening over there?"
Above, Redfield, fighting Yamato, couldn't help but ask after noticing the situation below.
"You're too strong for him to deal with, but he can deal with that rookie down there. Even if he loses, it doesn't matter. If he can't even defeat a rookie, that b*stard father will just think he's even more useless."
Yamato had no intention of treating Doflamingo like a fragile good that needed protection. Faced with something he could handle, she intended to let him deal with it himself; even if he suffered a little, she didn't care.
After all, she'd only guarantee that Doflamingo would be safe in the end. What happened along the way wasn't her concern.
"You're pretty confident."
"Of course. If he falls here, then there's no point in talking about any future goals. If you've changed your mind, you can choose to leave. I don't want to keep fighting you."
"I already promised someone else, so I have to see it through."
"Then I'll just have to… take you down first!"
Flames burned around Takeru, with traces of lightning flickering inside. This wasn't a fusion of Zekrom and Reshiram's powers. Yamato was simply using the power of both at the same time, still far from true fusion.
And right now, Yamato was in White Mode, with fire as the dominant force; the power of lightning was much weaker than the flames.
Below, aside from those who had already exchanged pieces, the ones still free were Robin and Sanji.
Watching Luffy and Doflamingo's fight, Sanji had wanted to go help. This wasn't some fair one-on-one, more like a chaotic melee, and people from other directions who had finished their own battles were also gradually gathering over.
But before he could act, several arms suddenly sprouted on his body, locking him firmly in place.
At first, Robin had a hard time dealing with objects moving at high speed, since the arms she generated struggled to catch them.
But as her ability grew stronger, Robin's control over it also became much more strong. When she could generate arms directly on the bodies of fast-moving enemies, speed lost its meaning in front of her.
Besides, Sanji had another weakness: he couldn't bring himself to attack women, but there were occasional exceptions.
In the original timeline, when facing Charlotte Linlin, he had no such scruples about not being able to attack a woman, and even showed a courage that was rare for most people.
"Mr. Curly Brows, just stay here and watch quietly, please. Don't get involved in what's happening over there."
An external brain had to have some use; she had no intention of just standing around watching.
"I say, miss, can't you just let me go? You've seen for yourself what Doflamingo is doing here."
"Young Miss' fight isn't over yet. It's best not to distract her when she is fighting a battle at this level."
Robin's arms showed no sign of loosening, but she could feel the strength of Sanji's struggles.
Looking at Sanji's curly brows and considering his name alongside some information she had, Robin planned to try something to completely break his fighting spirit.
"Speaking of which, my outfit here uses quite a bit of Vinsmoke family technology."
The moment the word "Vinsmoke" came out of Robin's mouth, she could clearly sense a change in the strength of Sanji's resistance.
"Come to think of it, all the names in that family are quite interesting—Ichiji, Niji, Yonji. (TN: 1,2,3,4 in japanese is ichi, ni, san, yon.)
But there's only three missing between two and four, and they all have these special curly eyebrows, don't they, Mr. Curly Brows?"
Traveling the seas on her own, she had come into contact with plenty of other forces, and Germa 66 was among them. After learning about them and combining it together with Sanji's earlier performance, Robin had arrived at her current suspicion.
"Shut up! I have nothing to do with those people!"
"Nothing to do with them, huh? I see."
Sanji's reply was almost a confession in itself, making Robin more confident in her guess and prompting her to update her information.
Judging from the current actions of the Straw Hats, they'd probably run into each other again in the future.
"What do you know!"
"ROOM: Chambres!"
Before Sanji could finish, Law's ability enveloped the area. As he activated his power, both he and Robin disappeared from the spot, reappearing on the next level of the King's Plateau.
Seeing Law suddenly act against her, Robin frowned and was just about to use her power again, but Law immediately raised both his hands.
"Wait! I don't mean any harm. I just wanted to tell you, I've already gotten hold of Doflamingo's artificial Devil Fruit technology!"
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