At this moment, inside a narrow alley, two extremely weakened people were lying there, while the streets outside were filled with rioting crowds, flames and wails rising and falling one after another.
But Ace and Sabo could do nothing at all.
The two lay facing the sky, heads touching as they lay together.
"Hey, Sabo, what did that young Orin say to you back then~"
Ace, having given up struggling, simply asked about what had happened earlier in the colosseum. Before Azure Orin disappeared, he seemed to have said something to Sabo and handed him an item.
"That thing..."
Sabo struggled to lift his arm and took out the photo album from his chest. There were quite a lot of photos inside.
"This. He told me to make copies and then give them to Orin—the Orin we're familiar with..."
Ace took it with difficulty. The first photo showed a man with Haki covering his fist, brawling with a man holding a sword.
The man whose face had been struck by a punch actually looked extremely similar to Ace.
"This is..."
Of course he could recognize them—his father and grandfather, Roger and Garp—he just hadn't expected them to be so young.
Not only that,
There was also a very familiar figure to Ace—a strong blond man with a crescent-shaped mustache.
It looked like he was fleeing at the time, with his chicken-chan Garp still chasing after him.
Red hair, a baby with a bump on its head who had fainted,
A burly man with a foolish expression, as if chewing on something,
A pink-haired, beautiful woman being punched in the face.
"What even is all this..."
At this moment, in Sabo's hand was a photo of a young man who looked somewhat like Luffy, currently carrying a baby and charging outward through a chaotic battlefield.
"Could this be... Dragon?"
The background of the photos seemed to be a war, yet every picture had been taken in an oddly interesting way.
"If it's Orin, he'd definitely be very interested in these photos~"
Sabo packed the photos away, planning to hand them to the News Bird sometime later, letting Morgans' channels pass them on to Orin.
...
Right at this moment, a group of people burst into the alley, all holding blades and guns, clearly not friendly.
"It's over..."
Ace and Sabo's eyes widened instantly. In their current state, they had no power to resist at all.
And the leader of that group seemed extremely excited.
"Found them!!! Severely wounded Fire Fist Ace and Revolutionary Army Sabo!!!"
They walked toward the two of them, and at that very moment, a piercing sound cut through the air from the distant sky, faintly accompanied by a desperate shout.
"Go!!!"
"What?!"
A bullet landed precisely in the alley. After exploding, countless tiny water droplets appeared, splashing toward the ground.
The Doflamingo Family foot soldiers were just about to feel relieved when they saw two figures stand up.
"That... this..."
"Fire Fist!!!"
Boom—!!!!!
Violent flames erupted from the alley. Immediately after, a chunk of stone carried the two of them, flying toward the direction of the royal palace plateau.
The flames propelled the floating stone as the two figures smiled.
"Let's go, Sabo!!!"
"I know!!!"
They wanted to head to the palace to help Luffy and then directly take down Doflamingo to resolve everything.
But their opponents were automatically matched.
At some point unknown to them, the high platform near the palace plateau—the place where Usopp had fired his shells—had already been enveloped by a vast forest.
A man wearing sunglasses and a justice cape was waiting there.
"Honestly..."
"I just relaxed a little, and it ended up causing me this much trouble..."
He looked at Usopp, whose face was pale as he was bound by trees.
"Green Bull!!!"
Ace's gaze sharpened as he immediately jumped down from the platform and charged toward him.
"I can't just watch the person who helped us—who's also Luffy's companion—get killed here!!!"
"Fire Fist!!!"
Flames collided with the forest. Fire instantly ignited massive amounts of trees.
Green Bull had no choice but to elementalize and escape the sea of fire, staring at Ace with an ugly expression.
"Of all things, fire? Tch..."
Logically speaking, even though Ace's strength had been enhanced, he still hadn't reached the level of a Yonko. He could be said to be on the higher end among Yonko Commanders, roughly at Marco's level.
But facing another Logia user—and one whose Wood-Wood Fruit restrained him—it could still end up as an even match.
Sabo wasn't doing much better either.
Not long after flying out, he was surrounded by several white figures stepping through the air with Geppo.
His eyes turned sharp as he spoke their identities aloud.
"CP0?!"
Guernika, the strongest CP0 who had once been responsible for investigating Sadgeo, was now leading the CP units to intercept Sabo.
"Flying Finger Pistol!!!"
"Bang—"
Stepping on Geppo, they began an intense clash in midair.
As for Sabo, although he had eaten the Float-Float Fruit, since he had never seen Golden Lion before, in his haste he could only rely on combat instinct to use the ability.
Countless stones flew into the sky, smashing toward the CP0 members stepping through the air, only to be forcibly shattered by their Haki.
At this time, Doflamingo, who was at the center of the battlefield, also sensed that something was wrong.
Green Bull and CP0 were actually being restrained!
Little master, there's more to this chapter ahead—please click the next page to continue reading. Even more exciting content awaits!
...
As for Doflamingo, although he had already learned how to use Ryuo because of Orin,
Luffy had also received the same "encouragement" and could likewise use Ryuo at this moment.
Even though Doflamingo held the advantage in the early stages, he was still brutally beaten in the later phase.
"What kind of joke is this..."
"The world I've lived through is completely different from yours!!!"
Having experienced despair in his youth, this overlord who had clawed his way out of blood and hatred relied on his own strength, a national treasure capable of threatening the Celestial Dragons, and the backing of Orin's name to reach this point step by step.
He shouldn't lose!!!
But as his glasses shattered, everything came to an end.
Dressrosa was liberated.
Straw Hat Luffy became a hero—but had Orin truly abandoned him?
Not necessarily.
Orin was still somewhat tolerant toward his own people, even when they became arrogant and forgot their roots.
Later on, he had prepared a safeguard for every capable subordinate under him—
Just not a mandatory one.
...
At this moment,
At the boundary where the Birdcage had disappeared, a red figure wearing a cloak walked from the shoreline onto land. Some Marine officers tried to step forward to stop him,
Only to be instantly blasted away by several flung water droplets.
"Although Orin granted me authority and assigned me to manage internal unrest, I really shouldn't be handing you over to the Marines."
"But you're different, Doflamingo..."
"Because of your bloodline!!!"
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