"Bellamy, are you going to keep this up?"
"No matter how fast you are, you'll never break my shield."
As the battle reached this stage, Doflamingo's will to fight was beginning to waver. He started trying to use words to disrupt Bellamy's focus.
"Only one of us is leaving here alive today."
"Doflamingo, if you're still holding out hope for a lucky break, then just die!"
Before he could finish his sentence, Bellamy's attack was already descending from above.
Shave: Godspeed Kick!
A kick so fast it left no afterimage, aimed directly at the crown of Doflamingo's head.
At this level of speed, Doflamingo's nerve reflexes couldn't keep up at all.
"Awakening: Ocean White Wave!"
Fortunately, his Devil Fruit Awakening reacted instinctively to his will.
Countless white threads erupted from the ground, switching from defense to offense as they surged madly toward Bellamy above.
"You think a move like this can hit me?"
"I'm a goddamn Spring-Man!"
The speed of the awakened String-String Fruit was already incredibly fast. In an instant, it could swallow everything in the vicinity, transforming it all into a torrent of threads to assail an opponent.
But Bellamy's speed had completely surpassed the limits of what the String-String Fruit could achieve. In the domain of pure speed, the fruit had no advantage; it was a fundamental weakness of its abilities.
To keep up with Bellamy, Doflamingo had only one option: use his strings to completely devour the surrounding space.
"Is running all you can do?"
Under these circumstances, the Birdcage was undoubtedly the optimal choice.
The Birdcage was Doflamingo's strongest technique, a despicable move he only used as a last resort. It was an enhanced version of "Parasite String," possessing both immense offensive power and a degree of control. To use it, Doflamingo needed to gather power, then release countless strings from his body. Once these strings reached a certain point in the sky, they would rain down like a meteor shower.
Upon hitting the ground, the strings would extend, forming a massive, dome-shaped cage from the sky to the earth. The Birdcage itself was not only extremely durable but also razor-sharp; the slightest touch would cause injury. At the same time, the strings forming the cage could be split off and used as Parasite Strings, inserting themselves into his opponents' bodies to control their movements, forcing the people trapped inside to slaughter one another.
Like birds in a cage, anyone who resisted would be made to kill each other. This was the origin of the name "Birdcage."
To escape his current predicament, the Birdcage was unquestionably the best solution. As Doflamingo's ultimate trump card, he naturally had absolute confidence in it. He believed that as long as he could deploy it, Bellamy's death was certain.
But using the Birdcage required a period of charging and calculation. The technique's power came from the fact that the strings were not only saturated with the immense power of the String-String Fruit but also heavily imbued with Armament Haki. Without the coating of Armament Haki, the Birdcage's toughness and lethality would be greatly diminished. To deal with an opponent of Bellamy's caliber, ordinary strings would be useless.
Doflamingo knew this very well.
However, Bellamy was currently launching a continuous, high-speed assault, showing no signs of stopping.
After his Godspeed Kick was blocked, Bellamy unhesitatingly used Moon Walk to pivot in mid-air, his figure instantly reappearing on Doflamingo's right. The various high-speed attacks of the Six Powers manifested one after another, hammering Doflamingo until he was drenched in sweat.
Forget charging up an attack; right now, Doflamingo didn't even dare let his mind wander for a second. If he failed to block this barrage, given the severe injuries he'd already sustained, the fight would be over.
If this continued, his defeat was certain.
Even the power of his Devil Fruit Awakening couldn't overwhelm Bellamy's ferocious assault.
What the hell happened to him these past three years?
The more Doflamingo fought, the more alarmed he became. He knew that if he didn't come up with a plan, Bellamy would beat him to death right here.
His fists... they're getting heavier!
It was definitely not an illusion. The greatest strength of the String-String Fruit was fine control. Doflamingo possessed a perception for minute changes that ordinary people could not hope to match. He could feel that Bellamy's punches were at least ten percent heavier than when the fight began.
Don't underestimate that ten percent. The battle was entering its most intense, close-quarters phase, and both of them had already pushed their strength to the absolute limit. At a time like this, an extra ten percent of power was enough to turn the entire tide of the battle.
But the one who had gained that extra power wasn't the one at a disadvantage; it was the already dominant Bellamy.
Amidst the churning white waves of string, Bellamy's figure would suddenly appear, then vanish. He was like a ghost, leaving no trace to follow. Every time he paused for a split second, the sea of threads would suffer a terrifyingly heavy blow.
From the very start of the fight, Bellamy's Observation Haki had been locked onto Doflamingo. No move could escape his eyes.
I won't let you charge up.
Before this battle, Bellamy had run through countless combat simulations. He understood the threat of the Birdcage better than anyone. A technique like that was indeed the perfect counter to the Spring-Spring Fruit.
That's why I will absolutely not let you use it!
Under his relentless assault, the white ocean of strings was gradually beginning to thin. This proved that Doflamingo's Devil Fruit ability was not without its limits.
The moment he glimpsed that limit, Bellamy changed his tactics without hesitation.
His hands silently pulled back to their maximum extent. Without any charge-up, the violent energy surging from within his body instantly filled his entire arms. He had long since trained the hyperbolic structure of his springs into pure instinct. Without any need for adjustment, a storm of supersonic iron fists rained down.
"Feel the power of the spring."
"Armament: Supersonic Spring Barrage!!"
His arms, coated in Armament Haki, pushed the power of his hyperbolic structure to its absolute peak. The instantaneous acceleration, occurring in a thousandth of a second, allowed his fists to completely blanket the sky.
Such a ferocious, supersonic barrage was a feast of raw energy expenditure. Bellamy could clearly feel the vast energy within his body being consumed at an astonishing rate. If even he felt the energy drain was shocking, how could Doflamingo, who was being pinned down and beaten, possibly hold on?
"Damn it, stop! Just stop!"
Doflamingo had already pushed the power of his Awakening to its limit. The once-flat ground was now a massive crater. An untold amount of earth and rock had been forcibly converted into strings, only to be consumed under Bellamy's iron fists.
But it wasn't enough. It was far from enough.
The characteristic of the Spring-Spring Fruit—to rebound with greater force, to grow stronger the more one fights—was beginning to manifest.
If this was the extent of Doflamingo's limits, then this battle could be declared over.