Even when Doflamingo's Birdcage had fully taken form, it still couldn't threaten the Kiryuu Pirates.
All that talk about it being unbreakable—pure nonsense.
No technique in the world is truly absolute. Even Bartolomeo's supposedly invincible barrier could be shattered by overwhelming strength. If you can't break it, that only means your power isn't strong enough.
Even Doflamingo's awakened String-String Fruit powers, combined with his full-body Armament Haki, were torn apart by Luffy's Gear Fourth.
So what right did this so-called Birdcage—based merely on string clones—have to call itself "invincible"?
Souta Kiryuu rose from the golden throne, his expression calm and commanding.
"Everyone, move out! Don't let that clown Doflamingo escape!"
He waved his hand, issuing a full-scale assault. Something so trivial wasn't worth wasting his time.
"Yahaha! Let's see who finds Doflamingo first!"
Enel laughed wildly, his body bursting into lightning as he vanished from the Ark Maxim. None could escape his Mantra—the reach of his Observation Haki.
On Dressrosa, the strongest presence was unmistakable—it had to be Doflamingo. The moment Enel locked onto that formidable aura, he was certain.
"Just another Warlord of the Sea," Barrett muttered, disinterested. Still, he jumped off the ship to join the chaos.
"Come, Monet. We're going to bring your sister back."
As the officers of the Kiryuu Pirates left the Ark, Souta led several women down from the heavens.
"Thank you, Master," Monet said earnestly, her green hair swaying. "I'll convince Sugar to return to the crew."
Her memories had been rewritten, and under Souta's training and conditioning, her loyalty to the Kiryuu Pirates was absolute. She was determined to free her sister Sugar from the wretched Donquixote Family.
Riding upon sentient white clouds—Homies imbued with the souls of Seraphim beasts—Souta and his companions descended like divine spirits upon Dressrosa.
Meanwhile, deep beneath the King's Plateau, in the underground factory—
Doflamingo's expression was dark. His string clone had failed in negotiations and been destroyed by Souta. Even the Birdcage hadn't activated properly.
"That bastard's dead set on taking me down!" he snarled, his voice trembling with rage.
Never had he expected Souta to reject his surrender outright—and to obliterate his clone in response.
"We'll leave Dressrosa first. I'll rebuild later."
Gathering Trebol and Sugar from the underground office, Doflamingo rushed toward the hidden harbor beneath the island.
As for Diamante, still fighting in the colosseum—he could only apologize.
Diamante and Pica would hold off the Kiryuu Pirates to buy him time to escape.
With Vergo commanding the G-5 Marine base, Doflamingo could quietly rebuild under the Navy's shadow.
At his order, Pica used his Stone-Stone Fruit powers to seal every passage connecting the King's Plateau to the underground factory and port, slowing the Kiryuu Pirates' pursuit.
But with Violet—formerly of the Donquixote Family—among Souta's allies, the entire underground layout was already known to his strategists.
According to the plans laid out by Nico Robin and Lafitte, Kuma, Moria, and Bege had already moved to block the port's exit.
No one would leave this island alive.
Souta gazed upon the towering King's Plateau, deep in thought.
He once believed the high palaces of Alabasta's capital and Dressrosa's plateau were merely symbols of royal pride—kings who looked down upon the world.
But after studying records from the Kingdoms of Adams, Pritz, and Mars, whose palaces were also built high above sea level, he realized there was more to it.
The royal families of the Celestial Dragons seemed to know a hidden truth—every one of them had built their palaces far above the sea. And when the twenty royal families formed the World Government, nineteen of them moved their bloodlines to the Red Line, ten thousand meters above the ocean.
Souta had once discussed this with Dr. Vegapunk.
And in the scientist's grave expression, he found an astonishing revelation:
"One day, the entire world will be swallowed by the sea."
That, Vegapunk claimed, was the prophecy recorded in ancient texts.
The nobles built their high palaces to survive. The Celestial Dragons moved to the Holy Land for the same reason. Their air helmets, their aversion to Devil Fruits—all precautions for what was coming.
Not long after the World Government's founding, construction began on the "Bridge Kingdom" of Tequila Wolf.
For eight hundred years, it had continued—millions of slaves dead—its massive bridges stretching endlessly across the ocean.
Like the palaces of the Celestial Dragons, Tequila Wolf stood above the sea, perhaps as a safeguard against an impending cataclysm.
Souta didn't believe in such prophecies.
He couldn't imagine how the sea could flood the entire world. Even if sea levels rose by hundreds of meters, it wouldn't drown everything. And where would all that water even come from?
Could it be a colossal meteor crashing into the ocean, triggering a world-spanning tsunami?
Or a race of massive Sea Kings so vast that they could sink every island?
Impossible.
Even a Sea King five thousand meters long couldn't destroy so many islands—not with humans and countless powerful beings standing in the way.
As for Imu and the Five Elders supposedly having the power to destroy the world—utter nonsense. They were just Mythical Zoan users, not gods.
Even if they awakened their powers a hundred times, they couldn't end the world.
Still, the Celestial Dragons' behavior suggested they truly feared something.
When Souta had pressed Vegapunk further, the scientist stammered through excuses, admitting only that his research into ancient texts had uncovered this so-called prophecy.
The explanation had nearly earned him a slap from Souta himself.
"Don't tell me this prophecy came from that bastard Joy Boy?" Souta muttered darkly.
The thought reminded him of another story from his previous life—when Black Zetsu rewrote the Uchiha stone tablet to deceive Madara Uchiha completely.
Could this world's history have been similarly tampered with?
Had someone altered the Poneglyphs or manipulated fate itself—deceiving even Imu and Joy Boy?
Souta scoffed and pushed the thought away.
He had the Float-Float Fruit, his own sky island, and enough power to stand above any flood.
"Let the sea rise all it wants," he thought. "Even if it drowns Mary Geoise, it won't reach the sky."
Casting aside his idle thoughts, Souta refocused on the mission.
Today, they would crush the Donquixote Family. Everything else could wait.
Then, before his eyes, the ground before the King's Plateau began to tremble. A massive stone giant rose from the earth, roaring as it swung a colossal fist toward them.
"Well now… that's interesting," Barrett grinned, cracking his knuckles. The giant's size nearly rivaled his own Ultimate Fusion Titan form.
"Let's see if this one can take a hit—and whether its Armament Haki can withstand mine!"
"Nyahaha! How does this compare to my Island-Island Fruit?"
Avalo Pizarro laughed madly, merging into the ground as he seized control of the island's terrain.
The battle for Dressrosa had truly begun.
...
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