New World, somewhere in the ocean.
Thick thunderclouds loomed over the island, a sea of pitch-black clouds pressing down like an enormous hood.
Lightning flashed and thunder roared, crackling through the clouds like rampaging dragons.
A white Torikago covered the entire island.
The once lush jungle had turned into a sea of fire, with charred craters riddling the forest and the ground. Flames raged, sending thick black smoke billowing into the air.
Among the collapsed trees and scorched earth, terrifying, crisscrossed gashes could faintly be seen.
"Damn it... who the hell are you..."
Felkas stood there, his body charred and covered in blood, looking as if his skin and muscles had been peeled off piece by piece, leaving him a grotesque, bloody figure. Official source is novel✶fire.net
"The Marines... pirates... working together..."
His face was twisted with disbelief.
He had relied on his powerful martial arts to cut a bloody path from the South Blue into the New World, his bounty soaring past one hundred million Belly.
Under his command were over a thousand men, enough to be considered a real force even in the New World.
But just as he was preparing to make a name for himself, he had run into those two monsters.
Everything had ended in an instant.
A despair unlike any he had ever known filled his eyes.
In his pupils, he could see the blood and scattered corpses littering the ground, the shattered remnants of the pirate ship split in half on the shore.
The pirate crew he had painstakingly built had been wiped out in less than three minutes by those two monstrous figures.
Blood gushed from his mouth and nose as Felkas, his eyes bloodshot, stared at the figure descending slowly from the sky.
A pink feathered coat, short golden hair, a mocking smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth...
Fingers bent and twitching, he manipulated invisible threads, stepping slowly toward the doomed man.
The threads binding Felkas tightened sharply, slicing through his skin like razor blades, leaving grid-like wounds across his body.
Felkas trembled in agony and roared hoarsely,
"Why!? We've never even met before!!"
No matter how he tried, he couldn't understand.
He had never crossed paths with this blond man—so why had he come straight for him and slaughtered his entire crew?
Doflamingo's lips curled into a twisted, mocking grin, his eyes full of scorn and amusement as he looked down at Felkas.
"What a stupid question... Do pirates need a reason to kill each other? There is only one throne of supremacy, and only the last one standing gets to sit on it."
"Of course, if you insist on having a reason...
I can only say—you were on a death list."
Felkas froze, confusion and helplessness flashing across his bloodstained face.
What list... He hadn't done anything!
But before he could react, the blond youth snapped his fingers.
A strand of thread wrapped in Armament Haki shot out like a sniper's bullet, piercing straight through his heart.
A spray of blood burst from his chest.
His body convulsed violently as the life drained from his eyes.
Felkas, known as the Blood Shadow Swordsman, bounty of 117 million Belly... dead!
With his death, a streak of blue lightning shot down from the clouds above, slipping through the gaps in the Torikago and condensing swiftly on the scorched ground into a deep and imposing figure.
"How many people are left on the list?"
Doflamingo didn't even glance at the corpses. He turned his head, looking coldly at Momonga, whose body was crackling with lightning.
With a flick of his fingers, the white Torikago covering the entire island slowly retracted like a receding tide, eventually vanishing without a trace.
"There were seventeen names. Four are still alive."
Momonga pulled out a piece of paper, glanced at it, and said calmly.
He swept his eyes over the blood-soaked battlefield, frowning slightly.
Pirate corpses lay scattered everywhere. Blood dyed the ground red, and even the air was thick with the stench of death.
"You're too ruthless, Doflamingo."
Since leaving the North Blue, this man's bloodlust had grown stronger and stronger, as if the restraints on a wild beast had been torn away, completely unleashing his ferocity.
Taking pleasure in killing, even savoring the torment of his enemies—it was not a good sign.
Doflamingo shrugged indifferently and sneered.
"If you can't stand it, you can leave the rest to me."
Momonga shook his head and said coolly,
"No. To be safe, I have to act alongside you. The ones left on the list all have bounties over a hundred million Belly. Their strength is no joke. One careless mistake could be fatal."
"If word ever got out that we're hunting the Shichibukai candidates, the consequences would be unimaginable."
"How could that possibly happen?"
"Once Torikago is activated, everyone inside becomes my prey. No one escapes."
Momonga glanced at him, then said quietly,
"There are always exceptions... like me. Torikago has no effect on me."
Doflamingo's face froze for a moment, but he couldn't argue back.
If it had been anyone else, Doflamingo would've already killed him without a second thought.
But this man was different.
His Goro Goro no Mi ability was terrifyingly powerful. After becoming an elemental lightning form, he possessed both the speed and destructive power of lightning. Torikago couldn't restrain him at all.
Doflamingo even faintly sensed that, even after entering the New World and mastering Haki, he still might not be this man's match.
And most importantly—if he had mastered Haki, then what about Momonga?
Doflamingo didn't dare to gamble on it.
Watching Doflamingo's shifting expression, Momonga said calmly,
"You don't need to be so wary of me. After all, clearing out the Shichibukai candidate list benefits you too."
"I don't deny you've become much stronger. With Torikago's special properties, most of the targets aren't a real threat. But being cautious never hurts."
"Daren once said he learned this after surviving in the North Blue—women and children can afford to be careless, but men cannot. Doflamingo, I'm helping you."
"Besides, these are Daren's orders."
At that final sentence, Doflamingo fell silent.
He had to admit it—his Torikago combined with Momonga's Goro Goro no Mi had proven terrifyingly effective in their previous hunting missions.
For half a month, they had flown across the seas, following the names on the list, hunting down the so-called "Shichibukai candidates."
This was already their twelfth target.
Every time they struck, the operation never lasted more than five minutes.
No matter how many enemies or pirate ships there were, the outcome was always the same.
The Torikago descended, lightning rained down, the target was eliminated... Their coordination was becoming sharper with each hunt.
Even though they knew the Marines and World Government were frantically investigating, no one had managed to trace a single clue back to them.
Signals were jammed, scenes were burned, bodies were shredded... Even the CP agents couldn't find anything.
After a few seconds of silence, Doflamingo turned and walked toward the coast.
"Let's go. Four left. No time to waste."
Momonga narrowed his eyes as he watched Doflamingo's retreating back.
Under the sleeve of his military uniform, a faint streak of deep black quietly faded away.