Spandine cautiously arrived at the Oasis Hotel.
For some reason, the rebels, after storming Alubarna, coincidentally avoided attacking the Oasis Hotel.
On one hand, they were engaged in fierce street fighting against the Revolutionary Army and the Royal Army, and on the other, their main direction of attack was toward the Royal Palace.
A mere Oasis Hotel was truly left undisturbed amidst the intense fighting.
Soon, Spandine hurried to Diarmuid's door, knocked tentatively, and secretly prayed that his 'golden leg' hadn't gone out to play.
Before his thought was even finished, the door was opened. Spandine's face relaxed, and he said with a happy expression, "Commodore Hina."
It was Hina who opened the door for Spandine. As the door opened, Spandine also heard Admiral Diarmuid's voice from inside, seemingly talking to someone.
"Aren't you protecting your girlfriend's entire family? You still remembered the task I gave you?" Diarmuid said with amusement into the Den Den Mushi.
"I have already safely brought Windsor's family to the Oasis Hotel, just downstairs from the Admiral. Just keeping an eye on them will suffice. I am currently heading to the Royal Palace with Windsor. She comes from a major Alabasta noble family and is very familiar with the palace. I took that into account, which is why I..." Vergo explained on the Den Den Mushi.
Diarmuid had previously tasked Vergo with trying to locate the 'Devil Fruit Inheritance' technology that the Nefertari Family allegedly possessed.
The chaos wasn't severe enough for Vergo to act before. Now that the entire Alubarna was a chaotic mess, utterly ruined by the fighting, it was the perfect opportunity for him to fish in troubled waters.
Thus, he decisively brought his 'girlfriend navigator' and headed toward the Royal Palace.
Hearing Vergo's words, Diarmuid was somewhat surprised. "You didn't decide on this because of that plan... Hey, playing with someone's feelings is not a good thing!"
Vergo was silent for a moment, his teeth aching slightly, before replying, "I met Windsor before any of this came up..."
"Ah, right, that's true, hahaha. Anyway, be careful. Everything is fine here at the hotel, so don't worry," Diarmuid said with an awkward laugh.
After giving a couple more instructions, Diarmuid hung up the Den Den Mushi, then turned to look at Spandine, unable to hold back a laugh.
"Why are you here?" Diarmuid asked, amused.
Spandine was quite the lackey, stating without hesitation, "I missed the Admiral so much that as soon as the city gates were breached, I rushed here, eager to receive your guidance."
Diarmuid waved him in, gesturing for Spandine to sit anywhere, and said with a chuckle, "The truth."
"Ahem..." Spandine cleared his throat. As his interactions with Diarmuid increased, and since Diarmuid genuinely considered him 'one of his own,' this subtle shift in attitude had changed Spandine somewhat. Seeing Diarmuid's direct question, he said sheepishly, "It's too dangerous outside. I figured it would be safest right here with you, Admiral, so I came over..."
Hina, standing nearby, couldn't help but smile. This man always managed to deliver such ringing flattery.
Diarmuid also shook his head with amusement. "If you knew it was dangerous, why did you rush in so quickly?"
"Outside might be even more dangerous. Hancock-sama, Jinbe-dono, and even Doflamingo have already entered the city. Mihawk has gone to find Dragon. Outside, it's just me and Crocodile. If that guy truly harbors ill intentions, I feel safer inside the city. Plus, the mission is still there; we absolutely must capture the Nefertari Family," Spandine explained.
"Mihawk went to find Dra—" Diarmuid began, sounding surprised.
Before he could finish, however, an immense, powerful slash shot up into the sky. In the current territory of Alabasta, Diarmuid only knew one person capable of unleashing such destructive force: Mihawk.
The next second, activating his full Observation Haki, Diarmuid instantly confirmed that Dragon was indeed engaging Mihawk. However, Mihawk seemed to have already plunged deep into the city. Royal Army and Revolutionary Army soldiers surrounded him.
Therefore, the Warlord was unconstrained in his moves, fighting with massive, sweeping strikes and showing no concern for whether innocents were injured.
In contrast, Dragon was notably cautious, holding back his strength in his attacks, and seemingly trying to lure Mihawk to fight somewhere else.
Consequently, Mihawk appeared to have the upper hand, his Black Blade, Yoru, seemingly unstoppable.
After only a brief observation using Observation Haki, Diarmuid drew a conclusion: Mihawk's strength was significantly greater than when they met in the East Blue.
Back then, Mihawk lost to Gion, but the reasons were numerous: Gion utilized the power of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, and the battle was fought at sea, where Mihawk lacked Gion's mobility. Finally, in terms of overall comprehensive strength, excluding swordsmanship, he was slightly inferior to Gion.
But judging by the present, this man, having established himself as the king of swordsmanship, had undergone earth-shattering changes in power, or perhaps a spiritual shift that propelled his strength further.
When he struck, he exuded an unstoppable, "I am the strongest in the world" aura. His movements, seemingly simple sword techniques and slashes, contained extreme power in every strike.
It was as if the secret techniques that ordinary swordsmen kept as their ultimate reserve were now second nature to Mihawk; his 'Normal Attack' was an ultimate technique. He had reached the extreme of the swordsmanship he had mastered, eschewing all unnecessary flourish, making his actions complex in their simplicity!
After observing for only a moment, Diarmuid felt great emotion. Mihawk was indeed the paragon of swordsmanship in this world. To command the respect of swordsmen worldwide, his natural talent was absolutely second to none.
At his current strength, Diarmuid figured that even if he himself were to face Mihawk, it would be a bit of trouble.
Of course, only 'a bit.'
He estimated that Mihawk's current strength was certainly not much inferior to Gion's. As for whether he was stronger than Gion, Diarmuid thought about it carefully and concluded that he probably still was not.
Despite Gion's increasing low profile in recent years, few at Marine Headquarters would dare claim they could defeat her in terms of pure power. As far as Diarmuid knew, Kuzan had lost to Gion three times in live combat.
Sakazuki and Borsalino were Marine Admirals, so Gion respectfully refrained from challenging them. After all, if either of those two lost, it would slightly damage the prestige of the Marine Admirals. Did they truly think the title of 'Greatest Military Power' came without burden?
In any case, Diarmuid now felt that even between Borsalino and Sakazuki, Sakazuki might be slightly inferior to Gion in actual combat. Only Borsalino, the 'old sneaky one,' had yet to truly reveal his limits within the Marines.
Before sorting out the Dark-Dark Fruit, Diarmuid even felt he might not be able to defeat Borsalino.
This isn't to say Borsalino was definitively stronger than Whitebeard, but Diarmuid vaguely sensed that if he was inferior to Whitebeard, it was by only a tiny margin. Due to his ability, that small gap didn't matter much. In fact, when it came to actually defeating him, he was even more troublesome than Whitebeard!
In the original story, when Kaido and Charlotte Linlin teamed up, Borsalino took the rare initiative to volunteer, saying, "Should I go for it?"
The tone and manner suggested that if he went, Kaido and Charlotte Linlin would be completely finished.
But back to the main topic: regardless of whether Mihawk was as strong as Gion, the intensity he was currently displaying was sufficient!
With his first strike, he gave the feeling of suppressing Dragon...
However, before Diarmuid could fully enjoy watching Mihawk, two more powerful auras collided not far away. After sensing it briefly, Diarmuid was somewhat surprised. "Jinbe and Ivankov have started fighting..."
Indeed, the sudden new confrontation was between Jinbe and Ivankov. But compared to Mihawk's battle, their movements were much smaller, and the fighting wasn't particularly fierce.
Jinbe's strength was clearly affected within Alabasta. The heavy rain from a few days ago had completely evaporated. Under Alabasta's arid climate, Jinbe couldn't even use techniques like 'Vagabond Drill'!
He could only rely on his immense Haki power and his Fish-Man Jujutsu and Karate techniques to engage Ivankov.
Then, as if everyone had found their designated opponent, Doflamingo's figure suddenly soared into the sky. Immediately after, a massive black shadow jutted out from the ground, aiming to stab Doflamingo mid-air.
Doflamingo swung his five colored threads, wrapping them around the black shadow. The threads exploded with Haki power, barely managing to block the attack.
The massive black shadow was none other than Gecko Moria's Spiky Shadow Lizard!
Doflamingo twisted and turned in the air, displaying his 'Heavenly Yaksha' skills to the fullest. Moria's strength was also not as weak as Diarmuid recalled; in fact, he was strong enough to rank among the top Warlords of the Sea.
He even seemed to be subtly suppressing Doflamingo!
Especially since Moria appeared to sense the severity of the battle and was eager to take down Doflamingo. After just a few exchanges, he went all out and released his Doppelman.
The Doppelman is essentially Moria's own shadow. By utilizing the power of the Shadow-Shadow Fruit, this personal shadow acts as Moria's second body.
Conceptually, the shadow has existed as long as Moria has, so his Doppelman is capable of wielding his full strength.
Once this move is used, it essentially means two extremely strong Morias are fighting one opponent. They are two halves of one whole, with perfect synergy, and the Doppelman possesses many special abilities, making it incredibly powerful!
Doflamingo, who already seemed to be falling behind, became even more desperate when faced with the dual assault of the Doppelman and Moria. If he weren't so nimble, the situation would have been much uglier.
However, just as Moria was about to use a massive scissors-attack to slice Doflamingo in half at the waist, a second Doflamingo suddenly appeared, kicking the scissors.
Moria was momentarily stunned, then resigned himself to the 'fair' status of two against two.
Black Knight!
Doflamingo also possessed the 'Shadow Clone Jutsu'!
In short, with the top fighters starting to move, the entire landscape of the Alubarna battle had drastically changed. At this stage, neither side was holding back. Regardless of whose army held the numerical advantage, the true game-changers were undeniably these top-tier fighters.
Their success or failure would truly decide the outcome of the war.
After observing for a while, Diarmuid stroked his chin. "Where is Hancock? Why hasn't she appeared yet?"
Doflamingo, Mihawk, and Jinbe were all fighting. Spandine had mentioned that Crocodile hadn't entered yet, so what was Hancock's situation?
However, Diarmuid didn't dwell on it for too long. He retracted his Observation Haki, opened his eyes, and looked at Spandine. "You suspect Crocodile will turn against you?"
"It's almost a certainty. But it doesn't matter. My mission isn't to eliminate Crocodile; as long as I capture the Nefertari Family, my job is done. Crocodile can do whatever he wants, so I won't bother targeting him," Spandine explained with a laugh.
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