96: Chapter 92 Doflamingo... Defeated?

"BOOM!!!!"

Doflamingo was sent plummeting downward by that punch.

The Kings Plateau collapsed with a roar.

Half the palace, a vast sea of strings, and countless stone pillars were all crushed into the earth at once.

"RUMBLE!!!!"

Huge fissures spread from the center of the palace, and the ground collapsed into a giant crater tens of meters deep.

The Birdcage in the sky emitted a piercing sound of snapping.

"SNAP!"

The first white string broke.

Followed immediately by the second, the third, and countless others.

The cage of death shrouding Dressrosa crumbled layer by layer under the sunlight, turning into a sky full of white fragments drifting down.

The domain of strings dissipated.

The streets returned to being cobblestones.

The walls fell silent once again.

The people trapped in panic looked up blankly, seeing the sunlight spilling down once more.

"The Birdcage... is gone?"

"Are we saved?"

"Doflamingo... defeated?"

A little girl sat on the side of the street, clutching a one-armed Toy Soldier in her arms.

She didn't know why she was crying; she only knew that when that white cage pressed down just now, she had instinctively hugged the toy in her arms.

And now, the sunlight fell on her face once again.

In that moment, the entire Dressrosa felt like it had woken from a nightmare, yet it still couldn't believe it had truly opened its eyes.

Near the harbor, a few sailors hiding behind cargo boxes stared blankly at the sky. They had originally prepared themselves to be shredded by the Birdcage, but now they saw the broken white strings falling into the sea like snow.

At the end of the street, the passionate ladies helped each other stand up, their makeup ruined by cold sweat and tears. Those who always wore smiles to welcome tourists finally revealed expressions that did not belong to the "Country of Love and Passion."

In the Coliseum, Bartolomeo knelt on the ground, crying until he could barely breathe.

"Luffy-senpai... has saved another island..."

The One-legged Toy Soldier did not speak.

It simply looked up at the crumbling Birdcage, watching the sunlight spill down, its tin fingers slowly tightening around its cane.

At the edge of the giant crater on the Kings Plateau.

Luffy landed back on the ground, Gear 4 disengaged, his body panting heavily.

Ace stood to his left, the White Flames gradually retracting into his body, his face also looking a bit pale.

Sabo stood to his right, his right hand trembling slightly, the stinging pain from overusing Dragon Claw Fist still lingering at his fingertips.

All three of them were covered in wounds.

But they all stood straight.

At the bottom of the giant crater, Doflamingo was embedded in the shattered rocks.

His sunglasses were completely shattered, countless bones throughout his body were broken, and his ten fingers hung limply, no longer able to control the strings.

Blood kept gushing from the corners of his mouth.

Luffy looked down at the bottom of the pit.

"Hey, pink-haired turkey, do you have any other moves?"

Doflamingo was embedded in the rubble, his broken sunglasses hanging on his face; he didn't even have the strength to lift his head.

Luffy added another sentence:

"If not, we're not going to wait anymore."

Ace stood nearby, the White Flames retracted into his body, blood still flowing from his temple.

He was silent for two seconds, then raised a hand to his forehead.

"Luffy, can't you say something normal at a time like this?"

"I'm being perfectly normal." Luffy blinked. "Uncle said you have to confirm if the opponent is still fighting, otherwise you'll get sneak-attacked when you turn your back."

Hearing this, Sabo couldn't help but chuckle.

His right hand was still trembling slightly; after pushing Dragon Claw Fist to its limit, the depths of his finger bones ached as if they had been burned by fire. But upon hearing Luffy's words, the tense killing intent in his chest dissipated a little.

"Tactically speaking, that's not wrong."

Ace glanced at him.

"Don't spoil him."

Luffy puffed out his cheeks in dissatisfaction.

"I don't need to be spoiled!"

On a distant hillside, Karl was puffing on a cigar, the smile in his eyes not yet faded.

"This kid..."

Just as he was about to make a snide remark, his eyes suddenly turned cold.

His Observation Haki swept across the depths of the palace ruins, and an aura—tiny, flustered, yet still carrying ripples of ability—was suddenly exposed from an underground passage.

At the same time, in the shadows of the collapsed palace, a petite figure stumbled out.

It was a woman who looked like a little girl.

With green hair and a crown-like decoration on her head, her face was filled with fear. She was clutching a grape-like object in her hand, and her other hand was trembling as she reached toward the nearest Toy Soldier.

"Don't, don't come over!"

Sugar's voice was shrill and distorted.

"None of you come over! As long as I touch you, you'll turn back into toys! Young Master Doffy won't lose! The Donquixote Family won't lose!"

A nearby Toy Soldier froze in place.

He instinctively backed away, but his mechanical joints caught on some rubble, and he fell to the ground.

"Sugar!"

Sabo's eyes sharpened.

"A Hobi Hobi no Mi user!"

Luffy immediately clenched his fists.

"Is she the one who turns people into toys?"

White Flames flared on Ace's shoulder, his expression darkening.

"This kind of ability is truly disgusting."

Just as the three brothers were about to move, Karl's voice rang out from behind them.

"Don't interfere."

Luffy turned back.

"Uncle?"

Karl had already appeared in front of them, his floral shirt swaying gently in the wind, a cigar in the corner of his mouth, his right hand leisurely unbuckling his belt.

Sugar's face turned pale the instant she saw Karl walking toward her.

She didn't know exactly how strong this man was.

But she remembered the scene earlier where he stood in the center of the Coliseum, forcing Doflamingo to retreat with nothing but his killing intent.

"You, you stay back!"

Sugar reached out her hand, her voice trembling.

"I will turn you into a toy! I really will!"

Karl stopped three meters in front of her.

"Little one."

Karl folded the belt in his hand with a light snap.

"Snap!"

A crisp cracking sound exploded through the ruins.

Sugar's pupils contracted sharply.

"Didn't your elders teach you that if you go around touching other people's kids, you're going to get a beating?"

"I, I'm not a kid! I—"

Karl took a step forward.

It was as if Sugar had been locked onto by an invisible behemoth, and the sound in her throat came to an abrupt halt.

Before her eyes, she seemed to see herself being whipped away by that belt, embedded into the ground just like Doflamingo.

"Ahhh—!"

Sugar shrieked, her eyes rolled back, and she fainted on the spot.

"Thud."

She collapsed onto the rubble.

The next instant.

Across all of Dressrosa, time seemed to have stopped.

On the street, a tin bear that was carrying wounded people suddenly froze. Its metal shell emitted a fine cracking sound, and then began to peel off piece by piece like a shattered shell.

A man with a full head of white hair knelt on the ground, his hands supporting him on the cobblestones; before his tears could even fall, memories rushed into his mind like a flood.

"I... who am I..."

He raised his head and saw a woman holding a child across the street.

The woman stared blankly at him as well.

The next second, the basket in her hand dropped to the ground.

"Hard?!"

The man's lips trembled.

"Lena... I... I'm back..."

The woman rushed over, hugged him tightly, and cried until she could barely stand.

"How could I have forgotten you... How could I have forgotten you for ten years..."

By the harbor, a wooden pony toy fell to the ground, its body twisting and expanding, finally reverting into a scarred sailor. Several young people nearby watched him blankly, until one of them suddenly covered their mouth.

"Dad..."

The sailor raised his head.

"You've grown up so much?"

In the Coliseum, countless toys in the stands, corridors, and medical areas simultaneously reverted into humans. The sounds of crying, laughing, screaming, and calling out the names of loved ones swept across the entire island like a tsunami.