"Straw Hat!!!"
From within the settling dust, Doflamingo stepped out, his face a mask of livid fury. His cold, murderous gaze locked onto the glowing red Straw Hat boy standing dozens of meters away.
At this moment, he was absolutely incandescent with rage.
Why?
Why was the Straw Hat brat, who was supposed to be in the Colosseum, suddenly appearing here?
He had stationed every executive of the Diamante Army at the arena, plus three officers from the Chris Pirates. Even if a Yonko had arrived in person, they shouldn't have been able to one-shot everyone instantly; someone should have been able to send a report!
"It's so absurd I'm actually laughing!"
Veins pulsed violently on Doflamingo's forehead. He didn't even know how to describe the state of his mind anymore. First, Trebol suffered a catastrophic failure, then Diamante let his targets escape. Now, Dressrosa was undoubtedly spiraling into total riot. Ten years of his blood, sweat, and tears, gone in a single day!
Luffy glanced at the severely injured Zoro and Law, then glared back at Doflamingo. "Mingo! You did this to Zoro and Tra-guy... I'm definitely not letting you get away with this!"
"..." Zoro and Law's mouths twitched at the nickname.
"Fuffuffuffuffu~ Not letting me get away with it?" Doflamingo's cold laughter echoed before his voice dropped to a bone-chilling frost. "I'm the one who isn't letting you off, you brat!"
Doflamingo thrust his arm forward. The ground in front of him suddenly bulged and erupted into a massive pillar of white thread, lunging toward Luffy like a lightning strike.
"What is this?!"
Luffy's eyes widened, and he vanished in a blur of speed, dodging backward.
BOOM!
The pillar, composed of tens of thousands of transparent white threads, slammed into the earth, gouging a massive crater and sending stone fragments whistling through the air.
In an instant, the steam-wreathed, crimson Luffy reappeared directly in front of Doflamingo. His fist blurred, moving faster than the eye could follow.
"Gomu Gomu no… Jet Pistol!!!"
BANG!
Doflamingo crossed his arms, hardening them with Armament Haki to block the strike. The impact sent a powerful shockwave through the air, and Doflamingo was pushed back several meters, his feet carving two deep furrows into the pavement.
"Fuffuffuffu~ My turn! Five Color Strings!!!" Doflamingo charged back with a sneer. He swiped his hand downward, five nearly invisible, razor-sharp strings slicing through the air.
Squelch—!
Luffy leaped high, narrowly avoiding the attack, but the five strings carved deep, clean gashes into the ground where he had stood.
Seeing the two clash, Zoro shouted at the top of his lungs, "Luffy! Stop fighting! There's a Marine Admiral right behind us!"
"Straw Hat-ya, we need to leave Dressrosa now! If the Admiral catches us, we won't get another chance to escape!" Law added, his voice laced with urgency.
"A Marine Admiral?!" Luffy gasped, memories of the three terrifying monsters at Marineford flashing through his mind.
"You think you're leaving?"
Doflamingo's lips curled into a hideous grin. "Fuffuffuffufu... No one is leaving this island alive today!"
He thrust his hand toward the sky. From his palm, an infinite fountain of white thread erupted like a volcanic explosion, soaring thousands of meters into the atmosphere.
Luffy watched in awe as the threads reached a zenith in the sky and then began to rain down like a meteor shower.
"This is..."
Law's face went pale. The scene triggered a memory from over a decade ago. His pupils contracted as he gasped out the name: "Birdcage!!!"
In the blink of an eye, centered on a point high in the sky, countless threads rained down along the coastline of Dressrosa. They hammered into the ground with mathematical precision, forming a massive, dome-shaped cage of wire that completely encased the kingdom.
"Birdcage?"
"What does that mean, Tra-guy?!"
Luffy turned to Law, while Zoro looked on with equal confusion.
"Doflamingo intends to slaughter everyone on this island before the truth of this country can leak out!" Law's face was grim, his voice heavy with dread.
He had seen this move years ago on Minion Island in the North Blue. It blocked all electromagnetic waves and Den Den Mushi signals, preventing anyone from calling for help. Everyone inside was a literal bird in a cage, left to be toyed with and murdered at Doflamingo's whim.
"Nani?!"
Luffy and Zoro were horrified. Killing everyone? The sheer scale of the madness was unthinkable.
At that moment, thinner, nearly invisible threads branched off from the Birdcage, raining down into the heart of Dressrosa. These were Parasite strings. They burrowed into the bodies of thousands, seizing control of their limbs.
Civilians, pirates, even Marines... under the control of the Parasite strings, they began to slaughter those around them against their will. Dressrosa had turned into a living hell.
Soon, the sounds of gunfire, explosions, and blood-curdling screams wafted over from the city behind them, painting a vivid picture of the carnage.
"It's the Parasite strings... he's forcing ordinary people to kill each other!" Law explained, his expression dark.
Hearing this, Luffy and Zoro's faces twisted with rage.
"Mingo! STOP THIS RIGHT NOW!!!"
"Gomu Gomu no… Jet Gatling!!!"
Luffy roared, charging forward. His fists became a blur of motion, raining a relentless barrage on Doflamingo. The speed was so great that sonic booms formed white rings of vapor in the air.
"Off White!!!"
Doflamingo sneered and barked the command.
Suddenly, with Doflamingo as the center, the ground for dozens of meters turned into white thread. Two massive, shield-like pillars of thread rose and crossed in front of him.
Thud thud thud thud…
A series of heavy impacts shook the area. Each pillar, reinforced by tens of thousands of threads, stood firm against Luffy's onslaught.
Seeing his rapid-fire strikes fail to even scratch the defense, Luffy pulled back, staring in shock at the whitened earth. "Wha-Why are there strings coming out of the ground? What did you do to the floor?!"
Zoro and Law were equally baffled. How did he turn the very ground into thread?
"Fuffuffuffuffu~ You ignorant brats!"
Doflamingo licked his lips wickedly. "There is a higher level of Devil Fruit mastery... it's called 'Awakening'!"
"I'm going to kill you all. Ever White!!!"
The white ground surged outward, consuming the earth for a hundred meters. The area became a sea of pure white, billowing like ocean waves as it surged toward Luffy, Zoro, and Law to entangle them.
…
Outside the Birdcage, on the sea.
A massive Marine warship sat motionless on the water.
"Admiral Issho! Dressrosa has been encased in a massive wall of thread! We can't land!"
"Furthermore, we've lost all contact with Vice Admiral Bastille and Vice Admiral Maynard inside!" An officer reported frantically.
"Threads covering Dressrosa... Doflamingo's ability?!" Issho frowned, opening his sightless eyes toward the island.
Through his Observation Haki, he could feel it. The country of Dressrosa... was crying.
"Wait, at the bridgehead...!" The lookout in the crow's nest screamed in shock.
"Admiral Issho! We've spotted Donquixote Doflamingo in a fierce battle with Straw Hat Luffy, the Pirate Hunter, and Trafalgar Law at the bridge entrance!"