Gojo reached the third floor of the Flower Hill. As he stepped onto the landing, he arrived at a massive flower garden where Diamante was locked in combat against Kyros. The yellow petals spread across the battlefield, but the natural beauty of the garden was completely overshadowed by the suffocating tension of the ongoing struggle.
Diamante, utilizing his Observation Haki, had already sensed Gojo's approach. The moment Gojo stepped into the garden, Diamante halted his assault on Kyros and spun toward the newcomer. His expression immediately became solemn.
This monster made it to the third floor already? Diamante's heart hammered against his ribs as a heavy pressure settled in his chest. That can only mean one thing—his strength is far greater than we ever anticipated. It means every single officer stationed on the second floor has already been slaughtered or incapacitated.
Now, he was caught in a lethal bottleneck.
His eyes shifted frantically between Kyros and Gojo.
If they both flank me at the same time, I don't stand a ghost of a chance. I need to figure out a way to survive this, now!
Gojo looked at him for a moment, immediately reading the naked panic written across Diamante's face. A faint, mocking smile played on his lips.
"You don't have to worry," Gojo said calmly. "I am not here to kill you, nor am I going to fight you. After all, someone else is already fighting you to take their own revenge."
As he spoke, Gojo glanced toward Kyros.
Kyros stood firmly with his sword in hand, his gaze locked onto Diamante like a predator tracing its prey. The tragic death of his wife, the endless suffering his family had endured, and the agonizing years spent as a toy—everything had led to this exact moment.
This was Kyros's battle. His long-awaited revenge. Gojo had no intention of interfering.
Kyros was slightly surprised to hear those words, and a deep sense of gratitude flashed in his eyes. Looking toward Gojo, he said sincerely, "Thank you for leaving me this chance... to take revenge on him and kill him with my own hands."
Gojo simply nodded. "Well, I wish you the best in getting your revenge."
After saying that, he turned around and walked away without another glance. Diamante remained hyper-alert, tracking Gojo's back as if expecting a sudden, deceptive strike, but Gojo never stopped or looked back.
His destination was clear. The fourth floor. The highest apex of the plateau. The place where Doflamingo's mansion loomed.
Soon, Gojo entered the grand mansion and moved through its shattered corridors. His pace was neither fast nor slow—completely relaxed. Through his heightened senses, he could clearly feel Doflamingo's volatile presence and headed directly toward it.
After a short while, he stepped into a massive, open-air room.
The ceiling above was entirely gone; Doflamingo had previously sliced the roof of the mansion, leaving the area completely exposed to the sky. Bright sunlight poured down from above, illuminating the heavily damaged stone structure.
Gojo's eyes swept across the scene.
Law was there, heavily bruised, securely chained to a decorative chair and unable to move. Nearby stood Trebol, his repulsive, sticky body swaying slightly as he glared at the intruder.
And directly ahead stood Donquixote Doflamingo.
His back was straight, but the murderous fury within him was barely contained. Thick veins bulged violently on his forehead and neck as he stared at Gojo. The atmosphere instantly turned to ice.
For few moments, a dead silence filled the ruined hall. Then, Doflamingo finally spoke. His voice was forcedly controlled, but the underlying rage hissed through his teeth.
"Why?" He stared directly into Gojo's eyes. "Why did you target me?"
The question echoed sharply through the open air.
"We don't have any kind of enmity. No rivalry. Nothing that should make an anomaly like you go to such extreme lengths to hunt me down." His signature sunglasses reflected the harsh sunlight as he pressed further. "Or are you just trying to make a grand statement to the world? By overthrowing a Warlord of the Sea? By defeating me?"
Law quietly watched from his constraints, his mind racing. What is Gojo's play here? He doesn't seem like the type to care about pirate politics.
Trebol also remained silent, slime dripping onto the floor with a soft splat. Both were waiting on a knife's edge for Gojo's response.
However, after hearing the interrogation, Gojo said nothing. Instead, he slowly reached for the hilt of his weapon.
The sharp, metallic cry of steel leaving its sheath vibrated through the courtyard.
SHING!
The pitch-black blade emerged inch by inch. Unlike ordinary swords, the steel seemed to actively swallow the sunlight around it. Virtually no light reflected from its dark surface, making it look like a shard of pure, physical darkness.
The moment Doflamingo saw the weapon being drawn, his body instinctively locked down. He's not talking. He's choosing execution.
Without a shred of hesitation, Doflamingo snapped into a combat stance. Thin, razor-sharp strings erupted from his fingertips, whistling through the air as they swirled around him like invisible, lethal webs. Every muscle in his frame coiled like a spring. His Observation Haki was fully hyper-focused on Gojo.
Ready to defend. Ready to counterattack. Ready for whatever strike was coming next.
But contrary to Doflamingo's expectations, Gojo did not lunge forward. Instead, he simply held the black blade horizontally before him. Then, he looked directly past the sunglasses and into Doflamingo's eyes.
"Do you see this sword?" His calm, melodic voice drifted through the area. "Do you recognize this sword?"
As soon as Doflamingo heard the bizarre question, he was thrown completely off balance. Questions? Now?!
Just seconds ago, he had been braced for a fatal clash. His strings were already humming around his fingers, and his body was primed to react to a supersonic blitz. Instead of attacking, Gojo was acting like a merchant showcasing his wares. The abrupt shift left Doflamingo momentarily bewildered.
Still, the warlord recovered his composure almost instantly.
"Heh... well, how could I not know it?" Doflamingo sneered, trying to regain control of the conversation. "After all, that blade became quite infamous the moment you started making waves in the New World. That is Supreme Grade Blade Kogetsu no Yoru, is it not?"
Gojo nodded smoothly. "Yes."
Then, he threw out another question. "What would you say is the price of this sword?"
Doflamingo's brows furrowed deeply behind his glasses. What the hell is he getting at? None of this answers why he is targeting me.
Nevertheless, Doflamingo answered, playing along. "That sword is entirely priceless. If a blade of that caliber were ever put on the black market, its value would easily rocket past hundreds of millions—if not billions—of Berries."
Gojo gave a small, satisfied nod. "Hmm." The black blade remained perfectly steady in his grip. "Well, at least you know the true worth of it."
Doflamingo remained silently coiled, watching for any sudden muscle twitch.
"Then tell me, Doflamingo... do you know how I acquired this sword?"
That question made the warlord narrow his eyes. We're finally getting to the point.
Gojo didn't wait for him to guess. "Years ago, when you staged your bloody coup and attacked the Dressrosa Kingdom, one soldier managed to escape your purge." His voice remained entirely indifferent, as if recounting a fairy tale. "Whether he fled on his own merit or simply got lucky enough to slip through the cracks of your forces doesn't really matter."
Law's attention sharpened dramatically. A survivor from the tragedy of Dressrosa?
Even Trebol stopped his disgusting swaying and leaned in to listen carefully.
Gojo continued, "By pure, unadulterated chance, that broken man eventually washed up on an uninhabited island." He lightly raised the black blade, letting the darkness of the metal contrast against the blue sky. "And by an even greater stroke of luck, he stumbled upon this hidden sword."
A faint, chilling smile appeared on Gojo's face.
"You know how this world works, Donquixote. Sometimes, you can find the most precious treasure hidden among a pile of garbage on some trashy island nobody cares about. So, that dying soldier found a Supreme Grade Blade. And then, his final stroke of luck followed."
Gojo looked directly into Doflamingo's soul.
"He met me during my early days."
A sudden gust of wind howled through the ruined opening in the ceiling, causing Law's heavy coat to flutter with a sharp flap-flap. Gojo's voice cut through the wind, echoing like a death knell throughout the open chamber.
"He gave me this sword."
Doflamingo's arrogant expression slowly began to fracture.
"And in return," Gojo's grip on the hilt tightened, his knuckles whitening slightly, "he asked for only one thing."
The air pressure in the room plummeted.
"Kill Doflamingo."
The revelation fell like a physical blow.
"Destroy his entire pirate crew."
Silence followed. Absolute, terrifying silence. For several long moments, nobody breathed.
Then Gojo finally tilted his head, his smile cold and empty. "So, do you understand now why I am here?"
At that exact moment, everything clicked violently inside Doflamingo's mind.
The questions... the value... the origin... it was a contract.
The answer to his frantic 'Why?' had been staring him in the face the entire time. Gojo hadn't targeted him out of a desire for fame, or justice, or territory. Gojo had simply accepted a payment. A job. And the down payment just happened to be one of the twelve most valuable weapons in existence.
In a literal sense, Gojo was merely a mercenary fulfilling a years-old transaction, with a Supreme Grade Blade serving as the blood money.
A small, strained smile forced its way onto Doflamingo's face. It wasn't his usual mask of arrogant amusement. It was the frantic smile of a cornered beast desperately trying to find an exit from a burning room.
"Well," Doflamingo said, his voice dropping to a lower, bargaining register. "I certainly understand your reason now. But... can't we negotiate something better?"
Gojo raised an eyebrow in mock curiosity.
Doflamingo spread his arms wide, gesturing to the sky. "I mean, look around you. I can give you far more wealth than a single dead soldier ever could."
The proposal hung heavily in the air. Trebol immediately shot a glance toward Gojo, his eyes wide. Even Law's gaze shifted anxiously to the swordsman. After all, Doflamingo wasn't some petty pirate—the sheer scale of the wealth, underworld connections, and influence he wielded as Joker was monolithic. He could buy kingdoms.
However, Gojo simply looked at him as if he had just heard a child tell a thoroughly amusing joke.
"Well, can you now?" His tone carried a devastating wave of amusement. "Most of your liquid capital probably goes straight into funding the production of those artificial Smile Devil Fruits that you supply to Kaido."
Doflamingo's smile instantly stiffened.
"So, once you pay off the Emperor, how much money are you actually left with?" Gojo began walking forward again, each step landing with a heavy, rhythmic thud that echoed through the ruined hall. "Even if you could somehow scrape together more coin..."
He raised one finger. "One billion."
Then another. "Two billion."
Then a third. "Three billion Berries."
Each astronomical number dropped like a boulder into the dead silence. Finally, Gojo stopped his advance. His black blade pointed slightly downward, angled directly at Doflamingo's boots.
"But you and I both know something, Doflamingo." His gaze locked onto the warlord, stripping away all warmth from the room. "Supreme Grade Blades are entirely priceless. Especially to a swordsman like myself."
A terrifying, suffocating pressure—a physical manifestation of sheer, unbridled power—began to bleed from Gojo's body, cracking the stone floor beneath his feet with a sharp snap. The amusement vanished entirely from his face, replaced by a gaze of absolute, frigid certainty.
"So you can abandon any pathetic hope you have of surviving today."
The moment those words cut through the air, the atmosphere in the entire courtyard became so thick it was hard to breathe. Trebol instinctively took a step back, his teeth chattering in sudden terror. Law stared on in stunned silence.
And Doflamingo's expression finally fell into an expression of grim, absolute seriousness.
Because he understood, with cold clarity, that Gojo's decision had been written in stone years ago. No amount of gold, no threats of an Emperor's wrath, and no negotiation tactics were going to save his life.
----
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