At that moment, Doflamingo moved.
Because he had already sensed it—the unmistakable killing intent radiating from Roya.
When he first detected that murderous aura, even he, the self-proclaimed "Underground Emperor," had instinctively shuddered.
So, with that in mind, Doflamingo decided to strike first.
"Overheat!"
Doflamingo stretched his hand backward, dozens of nearly transparent threads shooting from his palm before twisting together.
They formed a thick, hair-like cord.
Then, he pulled the cord as far back as possible before whipping it forward at Roya.
The motions seemed intricate, but Doflamingo had mastered his String-String Fruit to such a degree that the entire sequence was completed in the blink of an eye.
With a sharp whistle, Doflamingo's Overheat tore through the air, its terrifying cutting force splitting the wind with a howling "whoosh!"
Everything happened too fast.
Before the onlookers could even process what Doflamingo had done, the thread-cord was already in front of Roya.
Shaking his head slightly, Roya coated his hands without hesitation in Armament Haki.
The moment his peak-level Armament Haki manifested, Doflamingo's heart lurched.
His pupils constricted violently.
"Boom!"
Like catching a blade barehanded, Roya effortlessly blocked Doflamingo's Overheat.
But that wasn't all.
A sharp glint flashed in Roya's eyes.
"Shave!"—one of the Six Powers' peak techniques—activated!
His feet tapped the ground at blinding speed, propelling him directly in front of Doflamingo.
The sheer velocity left Doflamingo no time to react.
All he saw was Roya's pitch-black palm rapidly expanding in his vision before—
"Crash!"
Roya grabbed Doflamingo's face, lifting his entire body off the ground—
—and slammed him headfirst into the earth.
"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM—!!!"
The spectators, who had already retreated to a safe distance, watched in shock as Roya repeatedly smashed Doflamingo's skull into the ground.
Each impact left behind a massive crater, the terrain utterly devastated.
As he ruthlessly hammered Doflamingo's head into the dirt, Roya chuckled.
"You didn't forget you're a pirate, did you? As a Marine Admiral, I'd be embarrassed if I didn't arrest you."
After several more brutal slams, Doflamingo, fighting through the overwhelming dizziness, desperately raised an arm—
—and seized Roya's wrist.
Roya glanced down at him.
The next instant—
"HAAAA—!!!"
Doflamingo unleashed his Conqueror's Haki, the overwhelming pressure exploding outward in a shockwave.
The terrifying force weighed down on everyone present.
It felt like an illusion—as if countless savage beasts had surrounded them, crushing their will to resist.One after another, they collapsed to the ground, piling up in a disorderly heap.
Facing Doflamingo's Conqueror's Haki, Roya didn't do much—he simply released a tiny bit of his Spirit Pressure, which bore a striking resemblance to Conqueror's Haki in nature.
He shielded Ain behind him.
Ain watched in shock as everyone around her fainted under the overwhelming pressure.
She could sense Roya's protective care for her.
Otherwise, she realized, she would have been lying on the ground in a sorry state too.
"Oh? Are you angry now? Not bad, that aura of yours. But it's nothing special. Let me show you what real Conqueror's Haki looks like!"
As Roya's words faded, he slowly closed his eyes—then suddenly snapped them open!
In an instant, an immense Spirit Pressure akin to Conqueror's Haki crashed down upon Doflamingo.
Roya's Spirit Pressure was so intense that it even caused the surrounding space to distort slightly.
The once dry, stifling, and sweltering atmosphere of Sabaody Archipelago was suddenly overshadowed by dark clouds.
The entire sky seemed to split open, sending chills down everyone's spines!
Doflamingo stared blankly at the sky, feeling the overwhelming pressure emanating from Roya.
He muttered unconsciously, "How... how is this possible?! It can't be! Why do you possess the one-in-a-million Conqueror's Haki too?! And... and it's this powerful?!"
Doflamingo recalled the mysterious figure he had encountered on Seagull Island—back then, he had also felt such terrifying Spirit Pressure, equally aggressive and overwhelming in its Conqueror's Haki.
In Doflamingo's view, mastering Conqueror's Haki to this degree required reaching an extraordinary level.
However, he didn't detect the scorching heat of flames within Roya's Conqueror's Haki.
Otherwise, Doflamingo might have even suspected that Roya was the same mysterious man from Seagull Island.
But Roya didn't give Doflamingo any time to think. The corners of Roya's lips curled into an even wider grin.
With a powerful push from his legs, Roya grabbed Doflamingo's head and shot forward like a cannonball.
"Hey, Doflamingo... ever heard of a Meteor Drop?"
Before Doflamingo could even process what was happening, he felt an immense force.
He plummeted toward the ground at a speed far greater than when he had arrived.
"BOOM!!!"
The impact was so loud that not only could the people in Grove 1 hear it—the entire Sabaody Archipelago trembled from the shockwave.
Doflamingo's head was embedded deep into the ground.
The earth began to crack, fissures spreading rapidly.
Dust and fine sand poured into the widening crevices.
As the force dissipated, Doflamingo's body slumped limply to the ground.
Descending slowly from the sky, Roya approached Ain and said softly, "Report the situation here to Fleet Admiral Sengoku. Have him send someone to arrest Doflamingo and lock him up in Impel Down."
When Sengoku received Ain's message, his expression twisted into a bitter smile, as if he were deeply conflicted.Because Sengoku was well aware of Doflamingo's true identity.
This man was once a Celestial Dragon. Even though his father had voluntarily renounced their status, it couldn't erase Doflamingo's bloodline!
"Fortunately, Roya doesn't know this information, so ignorance can be excused!"
However, what Sengoku didn't realize was that everything was under Roya's control all along.
Otherwise, Roya wouldn't have immediately silenced Doflamingo by clamping his mouth shut during their battle, denying him any chance to speak...