While Doflamingo was busy fighting women...
On a deserted island in the waters near Water 7...
His two women—
Smoothie and Tritoma stood facing each other, ten meters apart.
Bathed in moonlight, their expressions were tinged with even more frost.
Boom!
Tritoma made the first move. A fierce burst of Conqueror's Haki exploded from her, crashing down toward Smoothie.
"Heh."
Smoothie snorted coldly, eyes narrowing with disdain.
Whether it was Doflamingo, Kaido, or Mama—each of their auras utterly eclipsed Tritoma's.
"You? Using Conqueror's Haki? Don't make me laugh."
"Even bad Conqueror's Haki is still better than having none at all, don't you think?"
Tritoma wasn't discouraged by the failed pressure—she shot back with a smirk.
After all, her father had taught her long ago: the intimidation of Conqueror's Haki only worked on the weak.
And as the daughter of Emperor Big Mom, Smoothie was anything but easy prey.
In a flash, Tritoma vanished from sight—then reappeared above Smoothie, one long leg wrapped in jet-black Armament Haki, crashing down toward her skull.
Clang!
The blow struck the spiral greatsword that Smoothie had drawn at the last instant, sending a metallic shockwave through the air.
Missing her mark, Tritoma flipped midair using the sword as a springboard.
Her other leg, carrying even more force, came slamming down again.
It drove Smoothie's sword down toward her head, forcing her to grit her teeth.
Then Tritoma dropped a single, cutting line:
"Even Mama had the talent for Conqueror's Haki. You should've inherited it too... right?"
Smoothie's face darkened immediately.
If what Doflamingo said was true, and Mama had that power, then she should too. So why couldn't she feel it?
It had to be that useless father of hers, dragging her down!
"Tch. You really think you deserve that kind of talent? Must've just been dumb luck."
Smoothie spat bitterly, then activated her Float-Float Fruit power through her blade.
With buoyant energy surging through her body, she pushed off and sent Tritoma flying back.
Then, channeling her power into the ground through the sword, she aimed at the retreating Tritoma and shouted:
"Twist Zone!!"
Tritoma had just regained her footing when she saw it—earth and stone transforming into a tidal wave of terrain, crashing toward her like a living wall, threatening to swallow her whole.
Her expression didn't change. She'd seen too many Devil Fruit users who could warp the battlefield.
Dodging the rubble and debris, she surged toward the weakest point her Observation Haki could find—like a panther leaping through the jungle, hunting without hesitation.
Her leg, wrapped in Armament Haki, shot down like a sharp spear, piercing the shifting terrain with ease.
"You can envy talent all you want... but that won't make it yours."
Tritoma curved her lips into a grin, legs crouching low as she charged again—directly at the massive blade swinging down on her.
"Gold Lion's Devil Fruit... Doflamingo-sama gave that to you, didn't he? Just a little princess."
As the current Empress of Amazon Lily, Tritoma had grown up under her mother's care, trained in the ways of the Kuja tribe.
Her combat prowess had long since been honed to perfection.
After her father retired, he had time to guide her further—deepening her mastery.
And in the past two years of plundering in the Sabaody Archipelago, only Doflamingo had ever given her trouble.
But now, after testing the waters, she'd seen through the Charlotte Princess before her.
Strength and speed weren't bad—clearly inherited from the monster known as Big Mom.
The Devil Fruit was flashy too. But in terms of Armament Haki and fighting technique? Just passable.
"The Float-Float Fruit? That's a gift from my darling husband—feel the LOVE, you wrinkled old hag."
Smoothie's eyes went wide with fury. She slammed her greatsword into the ground, then swung it in a massive horizontal arc.
"And who the hell are you calling a princess?!"
Crack!
The earth exploded.
Smoothie grabbed hold of a forty-meter-long rock blade that burst forth from the ground. At the tip, boulders spun like a drill.
Even the air cracked under the force of the blow.
"I'm in my prime, dammit!"
The insult made Tritoma's brow twitch violently. She was only twenty!
She and Doflamingo-sama were a perfect match—how the hell was she an old hag?
Her Armament Haki began to pool toward her soles like liquid, glowing with a faint violet light.
"Let me show you the power Doflamingo-sama taught me with his own body."
Then, the ground beneath her feet shattered, and she launched skyward.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The giant blade—formed purely from stone, without any Armament Haki—was pierced through easily by Tritoma's flowing Haki.
Fragments burst outward.
As the dust settled, the first thing that came into view—
Was Smoothie's face twisted in a vicious grin.
"Go take a bath in the sea, you annoying old woman!"
Her powers erupted completely, channeling through the sword planted into the ground, spreading across the entire island.
CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK!
The sound of breaking earth echoed across the terrain.
"Oh? What kind of trick are you pulling this time, princess?"
Tritoma darted forward, eyes narrowing warily at the crisscrossing cracks around her.
She remembered very clearly the move Doflamingo-sama once used in battle with her father.
"Floating Hell!"
Smoothie roared, then soared into the sky.
"Damn it!" Tritoma's heart skipped a beat. Fighting in the air with Geppo was still a stretch for her.
And then—
The tearing of the island suddenly ceased.
BOOM!
A crushing force pressed down on Tritoma all at once, and the entire world below dropped away.
She found herself launched high into the sky.
Before she could even get a clear look at the floating isles around her...
A slicing shockwave came barreling down from above.
In the nick of time, Tritoma jumped toward another suspended landmass, narrowly dodging the blade.
But the moment she caught her breath, the island beneath her feet began plummeting.
And another slash came raining down.
No time to think—she stepped on air and leapt to a higher platform.
Now, she had stepped into Smoothie's domain.
And she had only two options.
One: stall her—see how long Smoothie could keep controlling the islands. That kind of stamina had a limit.
Two: take down the ability user—and end the battle instantly.
And Tritoma?
She was going to do both.
...
Time passed. The sky gradually brightened.
The battle between the two women raged on.
Meanwhile, with the sun high in the sky, Doflamingo had long since finished sowing his seeds.
Without an ounce of reluctance, he shoved aside the unconscious and limp Otohime.
He rose and walked toward the back of the Divine Palace, new clothes materializing over his body as he moved.
"Baccarat, how's the exhaustion?"
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Fanfic is finished 527 chapters in total on p@treon/tambeerg