"Lahahahaha! It's useless!!!"
Aramaki stood with his arms crossed, laughing maniacally.
The fire-resistant forest around him twisted and writhed, reflecting his unstable mental state.
Suddenly, the grin on Aramaki's face twisted into a mask of hatred and rage.
"You twisted freak with your goat horns—go to hell!!!"
A massive wooden hand, large enough to blot out the sky, came crashing down.
"Damn it!"
Judge yanked back his spear, which had failed to pierce through, and flashed away in a crackle of lightning, dodging the massive attack.
But—
The burning Caesar below wasn't so lucky.
Boom!
It was like an adult slapping out a brat's flaming textbook.
The blazing fire Caesar had ignited was completely extinguished beneath the massive wooden palm.
And the giant hand didn't stop there—it began grinding against the floating island beneath it, causing thunderous rumbles.
...
Meanwhile, Judge noticed a gap open in the defensive wall of firewood that had been blocking his advance.
Jets of high-pressure energy erupted from his boots.
In a flash, he closed in on the vine-wrapped ball encasing Tesoro.
He didn't just have electric attacks—his kicks were explosive too!
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The vines, stretched taut like a pulled bowstring, shattered one by one under his attack.
But in the very next second, they began to regenerate at high speed.
Judge's expression shifted. He didn't have enough power!
He stomped down hard, breaking free from the threads wrapping his legs, and retreated at top speed.
"I told you—it's useless!"
Aramaki's face gleamed with smug satisfaction.
Watching Doflamingo's subordinates struggle in his grasp—it was a thrill beyond compare!
He gently caressed the lily carnation on his shoulder and burst into laughter.
"Lily! Dance wildly! Show them your magnificent form!"
"Hee!"
The Lily Carnation's sunny smile split wide open, its pupils contracting into eerie crosses.
From where Aramaki stood, green began to spread outward, absorbing sunlight from the sky above.
Buzz, buzz, buzz!
The vines twisted together. In an instant—
A slick, jet-black body like a massive serpent grew forth.
This was Lily Carnation's true form.
A burst of intense heat erupted from beneath the earth.
BOOM!
The wooden hand pinning Caesar down was pierced by the concentrated gas laser beam.
And it didn't stop there—it streaked forward, straight toward Aramaki and the enormous vine serpent behind him!
But Aramaki didn't move.
He wanted them to taste fear—maximum fear.
BOOM!
Flesh and wood flew in all directions as Aramaki exploded into pieces.
Bruised and battered, his entire body broken, Caesar laughed at the devastation he'd caused.
"Shirolololo! That's what you get for messing with me!"
"Lily!!"
Aramaki reformed from a vine nearby, completely unharmed.
He smiled coldly at Caesar's terrified expression and called softly,
"Heeheehee!"
The Lily Carnation gave a sharp little cry.
All the broken pieces reassembled and shattered again—
This time transforming into countless wooden arrows that filled the sky like a cloud of death.
Then, they rained down.
Fast as thunderbolts.
"Gyaaaaah!!!"
Caesar's face went pale. The arrows were coated in Armament Haki—there was no way he could dodge them.
Caesar exploded into a ball of flame—his final act of defiance.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
Smoke engulfed the battlefield, swallowing Caesar's form.
Nearby, Judge's pupils contracted. He stomped hard—
His tech-enhanced boots blasted out electromagnetic energy, propelling him out of the wooden arrow storm.
He wasn't some monster with a freakish body—his protective suit had limits.
But... had he really escaped?
The wooden arrows Judge had dodged suddenly changed course mid-air, like they had a mind of their own.
They honed in on him, faster than ever.
"Lahahahaha! That's it—run! Keep running!!!"
Aramaki roared with laughter.
Only by watching them flee like this could he vent the pain, the humiliation he'd suffered here—
At the hands of Doflamingo.
But that wasn't enough.
There were still those twisted scientists who'd drained his blood during their experiments.
They all had to die!!!
...
"Useless trash!"
From the so-called House of Defeated, Bullet rose—his body like it had been forged from solid steel.
On the battlefield—
Thunk!
"Shit!"
Judge's heart sank as a wooden arrow pierced his backside.
This cursed thing was draining his flesh and blood.
His movements visibly slowed.
Thunk thunk thunk thunk!
Arrows stabbed through him, one after another.
Soon, only Trebol's goo bombs were still offering any kind of resistance, though even those were flailing weakly.
"Oh? You're still crawling around, little rat?"
Moments later, Trebol, who had been stalling from afar, was also impaled by the wooden arrows.
He joined Caesar and Judge in misery.
Hung in the air like meat on hooks.
His fate was worse—his body shriveled and dried up into something like a mummy.
Aramaki paced back and forth, taking long drags of his cigarette.
Struggling to restrain the urge to drain Judge and Caesar into husks, he asked,
"Come on, which of you is gonna tell me—where's the formula for making Seastone?"
He remembered, back when he'd been a test subject—
These two freaks were in charge of the lab.
One of them had to know the method for manufacturing Seastone.
"..."
Half-dead, Judge didn't even look at him.
The World Government couldn't give him what he wanted anyway.
And in this situation?
If he gave up the secret now, he'd be dead the next moment.
Better to get captured. As long as he stayed alive—
The Boss would definitely come to save them.
Caesar played dumb too. He didn't reveal his cowardly nature, still clinging to Doflamingo's prophecy of the future.
The Boss must have foreseen this. He'd come. He had to.
Thunk!
Vines jabbed into their bodies, beginning to drain their flesh.
The creeping sense of death broke Caesar's composure. His tongue lolled out in terror as he screamed,
"Wait, wait, don't kill me! I know! I know!!!"
But this outburst didn't hold Aramaki's attention.
Suddenly, he twisted his head.
Behind him, the reformed Carnation also turned toward the ruins of the immigrant district.
Something beastly—something wrathful—was approaching.
Step!
Clink clank!
Throwing off his Seastone chains, Bullet had never felt this light before.
He clenched his fists—air cracked from the sheer pressure.
His knuckles itched—it was time to punch something.
Seeing who was coming, Aramaki's pupils shrank in shock.
"You—you're Douglas Bullet, the Demon's Heir?! Former crew of the Roger Pirates?! What the hell are you doing here?!"
"None of your damn business."
Before he'd even finished speaking, the ground exploded with a boom, and Bullet vanished from sight.
"?!! I can't see him!"
Aramaki's face twisted in panic. He couldn't track Bullet's movements—not even with Observation Haki.
In the next instant, Bullet appeared right in front of him.
A fist the size of a normal man's head came crashing down.
"Shi—!"
BOOM!!
Aramaki's face dented inward from the punch.
His body bent under the force.
"AAAGHH!!"
Aramaki howled, his body rapidly regenerating. He hadn't even had time to shift into his elemental form and escape.
Then came the barrage—
A flurry of fists so fast they left afterimages, slamming into him nonstop.
BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM!
Like a wobbling doll, Aramaki was pounded across the battlefield.
The little white flower on his shoulder had long since been obliterated under Bullet's fists.
"You're a tough one—I like that."
Bullet grinned, baring his white teeth. Aramaki's freakish recovery speed piqued his interest.
He pulled back his right fist, charging it up—
A deep black sheen of Armament Haki shimmered across it.
And then—
BOOM!
Aramaki's body exploded completely, reduced to a storm of flying wood chips.
"Lily!!"
From the shredded remains, Aramaki's head reformed atop the Lily Carnation, his face pale with lingering fear.
That last punch had almost killed him.
"Hee!"
The Carnation exploded, transforming into a swarm of wooden arrows that closed in on Bullet.
Clink! Clang! Tink!
The arrows stabbed into Bullet's flesh, ringing like metal striking metal.
All the arrows fell—…
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Fanfic is finished 527 chapters in total on p@treon/tambeerg