Rayleigh, who had taken the opportunity to close in on Doflamingo, instantly sensed something was wrong.
He swung his greatsword down at blinding speed, unleashing another Conqueror's Haki-infused strike.
"You've seen someone else use Divine Avoidance?!"
"Of course I have!"
Doflamingo, with no strength left to dodge and no new power to resist, took the blow head-on.
Like a rocket's wreckage plummeting to Earth, he smashed straight into the ground.
BOOM!!!
The tremor could be felt across the entire island of Amazon Lily. A massive crater opened in the ground, dust and smoke billowing high into the air.
"Did we get him?!"
Tritoma, the little silkworm, was overwhelmed with excitement. After all this time in battle...
This was the first time Doflamingo had been thoroughly beaten back. Under her father's Conqueror's Haki, he had to be injured!
But Shakky wasn't so optimistic. Off in the distance stood the Rumble-Rumble Fruit user, his expression calm and unmoved.
If Doflamingo had truly been wounded, she couldn't imagine his subordinate just standing there and doing nothing.
"Wow... These relics from the old era really are terrifying."
Morgans, who had just fluffed and preened his feathers back to their pristine condition, was visibly excited.
If Doflamingo died here, he could broadcast the shameful spectacle across the entire world!
Umit and Giberson, too, were full of anticipation. Their chance to escape might have finally arrived.
They silently prayed:
"Rayleigh! Show the spirit of the Pirate King's right hand and crush Doflamingo completely!"
...
On the battlefield—
Rayleigh's Observation Haki clearly sensed that Doflamingo's life force had not weakened.
Unrelenting, he pressed in for another strike.
In an instant—
The ground turned a deathly pale white, rippling like a surging tide. Massive fists, several times larger than even those of giants, erupted from the earth.
They came crashing toward Rayleigh, aiming to swallow him whole.
"Divine Avoidance!!"
With nowhere left to run, surrounded on all sides by colossal fists, Rayleigh unleashed another Haki-infused slash.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The black-and-red slash tore through fist after fist.
Chunks of earth and stone fell to the ground, reverting to their original forms.
From the cracked, white earth below, Doflamingo emerged, laughing maniacally.
He had taken Rayleigh's full Conqueror's Haki strike head-on.
Unlike Kaido or Nika, he didn't possess a broken physique that made him near-invulnerable.
Even with Armament Haki and reinforced muscles, his chest and internal organs had taken damage.
But at this point, Doflamingo could no longer be viewed as a normal human.
His vitality was monstrous. His body made of threads, enhanced by Seimei Kikan and nanothread stitching of his organs.
In mere seconds, he had fully recovered.
Unless someone could decapitate him in a single instant and reduce him to pulp...
Even a shattered heart could be reconstructed with ease.
"Rayleigh!"
With a mere thought, Doflamingo's Armament Haki surged madly within him.
It merged completely with every inch of his muscles and organs, boosting his already monstrous power.
His entire body darkened to a hellish black-blue, like a demon descending to Earth.
His legs tensed. The black wings on his back trembled.
Then he shot forward like a rocket, appearing before Rayleigh. His massive fists clenched together and rose high.
Like a giant hammer, crackling with black-and-red lightning, he brought them down.
"Taste my Conqueror's Will!"
Rayleigh was stunned by Doflamingo's transformation.
Demon Mode?!
Wasn't that Bullet's fruit ability?
How was Doflamingo able to do this?
There was no time for answers. With no choice, Rayleigh swung his sword with all his strength to meet the incoming fists.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
His sword blocked the blow.
Rayleigh's face twisted in pain, his pupils bloodshot. Blood spilled from his nose and mouth.
Every muscle in his body strained to the limit. He could hear the sound of flesh tearing under pressure.
His body was being driven into the ground, deeper and deeper.
This guy's strength was terrifying even before...
Now in Demon Mode, he had evolved.
Each of his fists felt like a mountain falling.
Watching Rayleigh barely hold his ground, Doflamingo gave a wicked grin and spoke softly.
"Rayleigh, do you know who else has used Divine Avoidance before?"
"My dear cousin... a Celestial Dragon."
"You probably don't know much about the Celestial Dragons."
As he spoke, Doflamingo slowly lifted the giant hammer-like fists off Rayleigh.
"His other name is... Shōtarō."
The moment the pressure lifted, Rayleigh staggered and gasped for breath. He didn't even have time to counterattack—because that name stunned him.
The massive fists came crashing down once more.
BOOM!
Caught completely off guard, Rayleigh was smashed into the earth.
"Fufufufufu~ So this is the strength of the Pirate King's right hand?! That's all you've got?!"
Doflamingo laughed loudly, utterly shameless about his underhanded tactics.
His fists pounded the ground again and again. At the same time, he fully activated his awakened powers, assimilating the terrain to entangle Rayleigh.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The entire island shook like it was being hit by a chain of earthquakes.
Terrified beasts fled the battlefield, leaping straight into the sea.
Even the unconscious Kuja warriors in the central valley were jolted awake by the tremors.
"What... what's going on?!"
"The whole island is shaking..."
"Is it an earthquake?!"
...
Atop the serpent head—
Tritoma turned sharply, shouting orders down below:
"Get away from the cliffs! Retreat to the central clearing! Avoid unstable ground and falling rocks!"
As Queen of the Kuja, she had a duty to protect her people.
Hearing her voice, the panicked citizens found their anchor.
They helped one another, retreating toward safety.
Suddenly—
The island-wide quake ceased.
...
On the battlefield—
Doflamingo's eyes narrowed. He stopped his barrage mid-punch.
He grabbed a bolt of crackling black-red Conqueror's lightning—and hurled it downward.
In the next instant—
The ground exploded upward.
A searing laser shot straight into the sky.
This was Haki at its purest—an overwhelming external burst of Armament.
It collided directly with Doflamingo's Conqueror-infused fist.
"ZZZZZZZZT!"
A brilliant flash erupted. For a moment, everyone lost sight of the battlefield.
The shockwave stripped the ground bare, revealing layers of bedrock.
"You—what did you do to Shanks?!"
As the aftermath slowly faded, Rayleigh emerged from a torn path through the earth.
His body was drenched in blood, but his steps were firm.
...
"A pirate's final resting place..."
"...is to return to the sea."
Doflamingo appeared, rising from the dissipating light—suspended in the sky.
The battle armor damaged in the last blast was rapidly regenerating.
He stared down at Rayleigh across the distance, eyes burning.
Rayleigh's mastery of external Armament Haki was, without question, the finest Doflamingo had ever faced.
Even his own Infinite Cannon required the War God transformation to be used to full effect.
"You're right about that," Rayleigh said coldly.
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Fanfic is finished 527 chapters in total on p@treon/tambeerg