Chapter 63: Snake vs Flamingo (1)

The cigarette was dropped onto the floor.

Without speaking any word, Smoker stood back up, giving Rosinante time to recuperate. He then shifted his eyes at Doflamingo, who gazed back at him with lingering hatred.

"...Trebol, Diamante, gather at the hallway behind port number four immediately!" From Doflamingo's back, Pica was found speaking into a Den Den Mushi that lied at the corner of the hallway. His high-pitched voice resounded across the area, however, neither Smoker nor Doflamingo bothered to react against.

On the floor, the cigarette's tip was found to be lit still. The frail wisp of smoke traveled upward from the cigarette tip, which Doflamingo frowned upon.

'It's silent,' Rosinante thought as he touched the scar on his abdomen, where the wound was previously closed off by Smoker burning it, 'Silent though I didn't necessarily mute anyone.'

And then, one window abruptly shattered.

Doflamingo was suddenly found to be standing right in front of Rosinante with his hand outstretched at the latter. His wrist was held by Smoker, who swiftly redirected Doflamingo's attack toward where that now-broken window lied.

"Fuffuffuffu..." Doflamingo grinned, in a way that exhibited his rage. Though his eyes were hidden behind his sunglasses, Smoker could tell that the former was looking at him, "Who do you think you are, White Hunter?"

BOOM!

Just as he said so, a huge fist made out of stone impacted Smoker from the side. However, Smoker didn't falter. Even as the stone fist continued to push against his cheek, Smoker simply replied to Doflamingo, "A marine."

Then,

'White Out.'

A huge volume of white smoke suddenly burst out from Smoker, flooding into the entire room. Doflamingo, flinching in response, quickly jumped out of the hallway through the broken window—along with Pica who quickly followed him from behind.

And using that moment of time to his advantage, Smoker quickly spoke something into Rosinante's ears.

On the other hand, Doflamingo and Pica landed on top of a grassy plain. They watched smoke-filled hallway with wariness in their eyes.

And one figure, Smoker, suddenly flew out of it.

"Fuffuffuffu," Doflamingo met the attack of the approaching white-haired marine by swiping his right hand, "Five Colour Strings."

SWOOSH! From Doflamingo's hand left five strings that vibrantly glowed in mesmerizing rainbow colour. However, such strings simply passed through Smoker as the latter morphed the specific sections of his body into smoke and separated—effectively dodging them.

And now, Smoker stood right in front of Doflamingo, with his left hand holding onto one swirling ball of white smoke.

Swoo...

Doflamingo frowned while jumping back, feeling danger from said white ball of smoke. The strings immediately sprang out from his feet and shoulders and attached the other ends to the clouds above. Subsequently, those strings pulled Doflamingo up high to the sky, away from Smoker's technique—

BOOOM!

—or so Doflamingo thought, before the white ball of smoke was slammed onto his crossed arms at the next moment. The extent of force was enough to send Doflamingo flying back, and he barely managed to regain his sense before crashing into the terrain.

"Doffy!!!" Simultaneously, Pica's loud voice boomed forth. The ground below then shook, before a huge figure made out of stone emerged from within. This stone giant resembled Pica's appearance.

"Don't worry, Pica," Doflamingo replied as he kept himself afloat by the strings attached to the clouds, "Fuffuffu... I'm just getting started."

On the other hand, Smoker landed back on the plain. He, uncaring of Doflamingo's words, looked around his surroundings. At the corner of his eyes, he sighted the distant Doflamingo Park; it seemed that this area was on the other side of the island, away from where the civilians were.

'With many marines located there, an idiotic situation such as "holding hostages" won't happen.'

The remaining concern then, was the chance of there being 'slaves' somewhere in that park,

'Which is a task I left to Rosinante.' Smoker, facing off the huge stone giant and man in a pink flamingo-like coat, chuckled, 'Then the only thing left for me to do... is to beat the shit out of these filths.'

Smoker reached his hand to his back and unsheathed Shusui. The black blade gleamed upon receiving the sunlight, and its metallic appearance spoke nothing but ferociousness.

"...A black blade," Doflamingo muttered gravely, "That weapon may be a little troubling indeed."

At the next mooment, Pica's stone giant began its move. Clenching its stone-made fist, it punched forth toward Smoker. However, Smoker then vanished from his spot,

BOOM!

Pica expressed confusion as his stone-made fist suddenly broke into pieces.

BOOM!

His stone-made right arm was destroyed by a potent impact from below. Pica's eyes widened, realizing that Smoker was simply moving at an incredible speed that he couldn't follow with his eyes. Then,

CLANG!

Doflamingo intervened Smoker's next blow with Haki-covered strings, which were intertwined to produce resiliency and toughness.

Doflamingo then pointed his palm at Smoker within point-blank range,

"Overheat."

SWOOSH! A rope made by condensing many strings altogether shot out from Doflamingo's palm. Due to the friction, said rope glowed in bright orange, emanating intense heat. However, Doflamingo frowned as Smoker, simply by forming a hole in the middle of his chest, caused said rope to pass through him without any damage.

And then, Doflamingo realized, that Smoker's sword, Shusui, couldn't be found within his sight. Instead, Smoker's arm was elongated by condensed white smoke, and said elongated smoke arm was circling around Doflamingo—

BOOM!

Pica quickly intercepted the approaching Shusui, held by Smoker's smoke-made arm, by placing his stone-made hand on top of Doflamingo. From one strike alone, the stone-made hand crumbled into pieces, and at the same time, Smoker pointed the index finger of his other hand at Doflamingo,

'Tobu Shigan: White Bullet.'

CLANG!

Doflamingo grimaced as he felt a hard blow on his stomach, which he shielded by immersing with Armament Haki.

Smoker's elongated arm still remained intact, holding onto Shusui tightly. He then swung it around like a whip, slamming it toward the midsection of Pica's stone giant,

BOOM!

Once,

BOOM!

Twice,

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Thrice, and more. Smoker, through the skillful use of his smoke-made arm, spun Shusui around him at an incredible pace—resembling a windmill when viewed from far distance away. Interestingly enough, each one of his strike, instead of cutting through the stone, blasted it into pieces like a dull weapon.

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!

Smoker grinned as he bulldozed through the stone giant,

'White Spiral.'

Within seconds, Pica was exposed to the fresh air, with the entirety of his stone giant shredded into pieces. He, expressing nothing but disbelief, couldn't do anything but watch as Smoker's Shusui butchered his left arm at the next moment.

SWOOSH!

"AHHHHH!!!!" Pica screamed in horror as he began to fall rapidly with the blood pouring out from his left arm.

"Pica!!!" Doflamingo shouted angrily before launching himself at Smoker. He shot out his hand,

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

which began to continuously shoot out the thick ropes that he termed as 'Overheat.' Smoker, watching as said ropes approached him at once, retracted his smoke-made arm and caught Shusui by his actual hand. He then swung Shusui horizontally,

'White Wave.'

WHOOSH! A huge volume of white smoke was released at the next moment. It quickly traveled and enveloped tens of orange ropes that resembled missiles. Smoker then snapped his fingers,

'Transmutation: Black.'

The white smoke morphed into multiple snakes, which all coiled around the flying ropes. Upon Smoker's call, they simultaneously turned black in colour, before,

BOOOOM!

exploding simultaneously. Doflamingo, who was rapidly flying at Smoker, was knocked back due to the impact generated by the explosions.

"Haa... haa..." At the same time, Pica wobbly stood up from the area of his crash, while preventing further blood loss by covering the stump of his left arm with rocks. He whispered in a shaky tone, "W-what... just what kind of monster have we touched...?"

"Oi, Pica!!!" Doflamingo, noticing the state that Pica was within, shouted at the man out of panic, "Snap out of it!!!"

Doflamingo hurriedly ran toward Pica. He was sweating profusely, truly afraid of what was about to happen to Pica at the current moment.

Pica's eyes widened upon hearing Doflamingo's statement, waking up from his trance. By then, he realized,

Tap.

that Smoker was standing right in front of him, and that Smoker's palm—encased by Armament Haki: Hardening—was in contact with his exposed chest. And then, Pica heard his death sentence.

"Black Impact."

BOOOOM! It was such a devastating technique. Smoker directly pushed the explosive black smoke through the pores on Pica's skin, and had them explode from the inside, effectively destroying Pica's internal organs with one single blow. Though Smoker would've too received damage as well if he were to use this technique three years ago, now, he was capable of protecting himself with Armament Haki.

Pica's eyes hollowed out, and from his agape mouth, smoke existed. He, not having any strength to latch onto the realm of living, fell down to the ground with a thud.

"PICA!!!!" And Doflamingo was one step late. The bullet-like bundles of strings that he shot toward Smoker—they arrived only a second later, and Smoker, having seen this coming through the use of his Observation Haki, morphed the specific sections of his body into smoke and created gaps to evade those string bullets.

Doflamingo's body trembled as he gazed at Pica's corpse. It was an abrupt and unexpected death that resulted from the Donquixote pirates' complacency.

"First, Vergo. Then, Pica." Smoker, twirling Shusui around, said coldly, "Who's next?"

Smoker looked to his right, where the five of Donquixote family's executives: Trebol, Diamante, Lao G, Machvise, and Gladius, stood with their eyes widened in disbelief. Behind them, hundreds of pirates stood with their guns held up against Smoker, ready to shoot at any time.

"...Oi," Trebol forced a shaky grin on his face, "Y-you're kidding, right? It... it's only been ten minutes since Pica called us!! So why,"

The grin dropped from Trebol's face, and he shouted, "Why is Pica dead in front of us?!"

The entirety of Donquixote family gulped. The sweats poured down from their bodies as they gazed at this marine, Smoker.

Prior to arriving here, they saw at port #4, that thousands of pirates were all knocked out. Furthermore, they knew how strong Pica was, and how much much stronger Doflamingo was. Smoker... he dealt with thousands of pirates before reaching Doflamingo and Pica, and subsequently managed to kill Pica even while facing the two of them at once.

The Donquixote family began to feel dread, as chills ran down their spines.

"...I'll kill you." Doflamingo then whispered at Smoker, "I'll pluck out your nails and teeth. I'll pull out your eyes and eat them in front of you. I'll slice you into pieces and feed them to dogs. I'll ensure you the worst kind of death you can ever imagine—"

"You said something similar months ago." Smoker, unfazed by Doflamingo's cursing, bickered while resting Shusui on his shoulder, "Are you all bark and no bite, Joker?"

Doflamingo saw nothing but red. And then,

every present member of Donquixote family launched their attacks on Smoker, simultaneously.

__________

"...Guess."

While the intense battle between Smoker and the entire Donquixote family was ongoing above, Senor Pink was on the underground floor of the Doflamingo Park. He, seemingly conflicted, asked within the darkness,

"Why do you think I joined this crew?"

Back then, he heard. The top executive officer of the Donquixote family, Trebol—he was chatting with Diamante through the Den Den Mushi. Senor Pink was standing behind the door back then, overhearing that Trebol 'fabricated' Giolla's supposed 'betrayal.'

Tap. Tap. Within this darkness, a set of footsteps were heard, before one blonde with tattered marine attire, Rosinante, revealed himself.

Senor PInk then chuckled, "...It was because I wanted a family. Growing up as an orphan and having no one to trust but myself... I was delighted when the young boss approached and asked me to join his family. And now, I came to learn that this family was nothing but a 'play' in the end."

"..." Rosinante didn't respond, and instead, stared at Senor Pink seriously.

"...I talked far too much, didn't I? My apologies," Senor Pink, gaining a serious demeanour himself, then held his fists up, "Come, young boss's biological brother."

Rosinante and Senor Pink rushed against each other, before starting a fight of their own.