CHAPTER 614: CHAPTER 133: BY ORDER OF ADMIRAL SENGOKU

A deserted island.

A grotesque tableau unfolded.

World Government officials and Cipher Pol agents hacked and clawed at one another in a frantic, twisted melee, faces locked in masks of horror. Like puppets with their strings crossed, they turned their weapons on their own comrades, bloodshot eyes bulging with panic.

"Damn you, Doflamingo! What are you doing?!"

"This is open defiance of the World Government!"

"The higher-ups will never forgive you!"

"Help! Get away from me!"

"I can’t control my body!"

...!

Blood soaked into the dirt as Doflamingo cackled from his perch atop a mound of corpses. Fingers curled into talons, he traced lazy sigils in the air.

"Heh heh heh... Those five old geezers won’t spark a war over ants like you. If they wanted me erased, they wouldn’t send paper-pushers or CP1—they’d send the white specters."

Savage delight burned behind his lenses as officials carved one another down. His grin stretched wider, unhinged.

"This is only the beginning, old men. One day, I’ll make you kneel."

Thwack.

A bureaucrat’s neck split under a colleague’s blade; he reeled, clutching the wound, then crashed to the dirt. His limbs twitched, as if control had returned—terror never left his eyes.

"H-how...?"

Rage, disbelief, shock, resentment skated across his paling face—then froze there forever.

Suddenly—

Boom.

A cannon barked. A pitch-black round screamed in from the sea, punched into the ground, and blossomed into a churning inferno.

What...?

Everything stilled.

Then the officials erupted, salvation flooding their faces.

"The Marines!"

"The Marines are here!"

Their spines straightened; their old arrogance slotted back into place.

Doflamingo arched a brow and let his Parasite slacken. Beneath the sunglasses, his eyes narrowed; a crooked smile edged across his mouth.

"Heh heh heh... Finally. Something worth playing with."

Smoke roiled; fire danced.

When the officials blinked, a tall, lean figure was already standing before them—out of the smoke like a phantom. Short black hair lifted in the wind; his presence hit like a god or a demon. A great white cloak snapped wildly behind him.

"That’s enough, Doflamingo," Darren said, gaze fixed on the blond youth atop the corpse-hill. "State your terms. What will it take for you to hand over the Heavenly Tribute?"

Footfalls rattled in behind him—Vice Admiral Tsuru and a wedge of elite Marines, tight on his heels.

As motor control returned, the officials froze—then bristled at Darren’s words. "Foolish Marines! What do you think you’re doing?!"

"What right have you to negotiate with Doflamingo?!"

"The World Government’s authority brooks no compromise!"

Breathless and bluffing through fear, they bared their teeth at Darren. "If there are to be talks, our delegation will conduct them!"

"Now—attack Doflamingo at once!"

"Anyone who defies the Government’s authority must be punished on the spot!"

Buoyed by the Marines’ arrival, they grew bolder, trying to cow Darren with rank and seal. How could men used to absolute power swallow Doflamingo’s taunts? Even if they couldn’t kill him, surely they could make him pay—and if the Gorosei stepped in, the Marines would eat it. Not their problem.

They didn’t notice Tsuru’s face change the instant their tirade began. She saw the smile creep across Darren’s.

"Darren, stand down!" she snapped, lunging.

Her hand closed on his arm—just as a razor thread of black light lanced out of nowhere, faster than sight.

The officials and CP1 agents froze mid-word.

Tsuru’s pupils pinned.

Tch.

Tch.

Tch.

A dozen blood-slicked heads leapt skyward; crimson fountains geysered from severed necks. Even hardened Marines blanched and recoiled.

Vice Admiral Darren... had butchered World Government officials?

One lived.

All eyes swung to the lone survivor, kneeling and shaking, wits shattered by the slaughter. His gaze was blank, his body quaking; a dark puddle spread beneath him.

"Y-you’re insane..." he croaked, staring up at Darren, face warped in disbelief. "The Marines were supposed to protect us!"

Darren’s expression settled into righteous formality. "By order of Marine Headquarters Admiral ’Buddha’ Sengoku," he pronounced, voice steady as a bell, "this operation proceeds with extreme prejudice. All non-essential personnel are to be eliminated on sight."

"Admiral Sengoku assumes full responsibility for all consequences."

"???" Tsuru stared, floored. Around her the Marines gaped—he hadn’t even given his own name.

The official blinked, stunned—then Darren and Doflamingo moved in the same instant.

Boom—boom.

Two vast, equal forces detonated, and a storm like hell’s own gale tore across the island. Black and crimson bolts cracked through the void, their roar splitting the sky.

"Heh heh heh! Rogers Darren! It’s been too long, hasn’t it?!" Doflamingo vaulted from the corpse-heap, tearing at his black strings with vicious glee. "You want to negotiate? Fine. Prove you’re worthy."

"Hahaha! Seems the lesson I gave you back then didn’t stick, Doflamingo!"

Darren rocketed off the ground like a fired shot.

They smashed together in midair and vanished into the jungle of a neighboring islet.

The world shook. Forests collapsed inward; the earth groaned and split under the weight of their clash. Conqueror’s Haki rolled back in crushing waves; Marines staggered under the pressure, breath stolen.

Tsuru’s face flickered between fury and calculation. She glanced from the vanishing figures to the headless dead. Then she ground her teeth and barked:

"What are you waiting for?! Protect His Excellency!"

The Marines snapped from their trance and formed a tight ring around the surviving official.

He flinched from their hard faces, crab-scuttling backward. "W-what do you want?"

Tsuru knelt, a dangerous smile curving her lips. "Doflamingo’s brutality knows no bounds. To butcher representatives of the World Government like cattle... such a crime cannot go unanswered."

"Fortunately, Vice Admiral Rogers Darren of Marine Headquarters arrived in time to save you." She tilted her head, voice silky. "Yes—that’s exactly what happened."

"Isn’t that right, Excellency?"

To be continued...