"I don't understand, Rear Admiral Raleigh," Cleveland said, his voice laced with confusion. "Don't you... don't you already have your own weapon?"
As he spoke, Cleveland couldn't help but glance at the impressive sword hanging at Raleigh's waist.
Even though it was still sheathed, the ornate and powerful scabbard screamed "famous blade."
It looked sharp, heavy, and incredibly valuable.
So, he genuinely couldn't comprehend why Raleigh was asking for his standard-issue weapon.
"Heh. You'll soon find out what it's for," Raleigh said with a mischievous grin that sent a shiver of unease down Cleveland's spine.
Raleigh took the offered saber, not to hold it, but to aim it.
He settled into a low stance, his muscles coiling, his grip on the sword less like a swordsman and more like a javelin thrower.
"Genkotsu - Meteor!"
It was a move Raleigh had once seen Garp demonstrate back at the military academy, a ridiculous technique for throwing cannonballs at impossible speeds.
Later, in one of his lazy, system-based prize draws, he'd actually won the skill himself.
He had long since mastered it and even used its principles of pure, propulsive Haki to develop his own shockwave-based moves.
Cleveland watched Raleigh's stance, and a look of dawning, abject horror crossed his face.
He wasn't going to fight with it.
He was going to throw it.
"Wait, Rear Admiral Raleigh!" Cleveland yelped, his professionalism forgotten.
"Please stop! That's my most precious sword! My grandfather gave me that—"
But before he could finish his desperate plea, Raleigh's arm blurred.
With an explosive burst of force, he hurled the saber.
The sword didn't just fly; it screamed.
Propelled by Raleigh's terrifying power, it spun through the air like a drill, vanishing from sight almost instantly as it shot straight toward the snot-covered Trebol.
"Holy fucking shit!" Tokikake couldn't help but curse from the sidelines.
Just moments ago, he'd been wondering why Raleigh, who clearly wasn't a dedicated swordsman, would bother borrowing a blade.
Now he understood.
That magnificent bastard.
He was reluctant to get snot and goo all over his own famous sword, so he'd sacrificed Cleveland's instead.
The saber flew at a terrifying speed, completely invisible to the naked eye.
Trebol, who had been trying to slink away, had no time to dodge.
Raleigh knew this guy's whole deal.
Although Trebol looked like a bloated, slimy Logia-type user, he was actually a Paramecia.
The massive, gooey body was just a "suit" of mucus, hiding his true, pathetically skinny form inside.
Anyone unaware of the secret would waste their attacks on the slime, only to be caught off guard and severely injured.
But in front of Raleigh, no secret in this world was safe for long.
"Goo-Goo Fruit—Gooey Meteor!"
Seeing the incoming projectile locked onto his true body, Trebol knew he couldn't evade it.
He prepared for a desperate, all-or-nothing defense.
Using his mucus, he ripped the surrounding, already-shattered houses from their foundations.
With a roar, he hurled the massive structures with all his might, trying to intercept the spinning saber.
Two massive buildings and one slender sword met in mid-air.
Trebol strained, his hands splayed, trying to guide the debris to block Raleigh's attack.
But it was all in vain.
Thud!
The sound was dull and sickeningly final.
Trebol stared blankly down.
A gleaming saber, Cleveland's saber, was lodged hilt-deep in his actual abdomen, having punched through the flying buildings and his mucus armor as if they were nothing more than mist.
Drip… drip… drip…
Blood, real blood, trickled down the hilt and dripped onto the ground.
Trebol lifted his head, his eyes straining to find Doflamingo's unmoving form in the rubble.
His body, rapidly weakening from blood loss, crumpled to its knees.
Just before his consciousness faded, he murmured one last, desperate plea.
"Doffy... run…"
Boom! BOOM!
Without Trebol's power to hold them, the two massive buildings he had levitated instantly crashed back to earth, smashing two new, enormous craters into the already devastated road.
Dust billowed everywhere, a thick, choking cloud that made it impossible to see enemies or allies.
"Charge!"
A woman's sharp cry rang out.
Gion was the first to move, her famous blade Konpira already drawn as she charged headlong into the dust, searching for any remaining members of the Donquixote Family.
"Snake Sword!"
From deep within the smoke, a slender rapier shot out, silent and fast as a venomous snake striking from the darkness.
It was aimed straight for Gion's heart.
Clang!
The attack, which should have been a guaranteed killing blow, was deflected at the last second by the flat of Gion's sword.
"How is this possible?!" A shocked voice emerged from the dust. "How could you detect my attack?"
A tall man dressed in fiery red trousers and a cloak, wearing a strange headdress that resembled Indian feathers, stepped into view.
It was Diamante.
He was genuinely astonished that Gion had been able to spot him.
In truth, he couldn't clearly see through the dust either.
But his philosophy was simple: in a chaotic situation, strike first and ask questions later.
There was no way he'd accidentally hit one of his own executives.
Gion's delicate eyebrows furrowed sharply on her cold, beautiful face.
If she hadn't recently mastered the basics of Observation Haki, that blade would be lodged in her heart right now.
The thought of getting ambushed and embarrassed, especially after witnessing Raleigh's overwhelming display of power, was something Gion simply could not accept.
Raleigh could end this entire family with one punch, and she almost got taken out by the first survivor? How outrageous!
"One-Sword Style. Cherry Blossom Fall!"
Gion's feet blurred, using Soru to close the distance instantly as she swung Konpira in a merciless, high-speed arc aimed at Diamante's neck.
"Bullfighting Cloak!"
Seeing the ferocious attack, Diamante didn't dare underestimate her.
He could feel the skill radiating from her; this woman was a true sword master, far surpassing him.
He swiftly flung the red cloak draped over his body, positioning it directly in the path of her blade.
Clang!
Sparks flew.
A flicker of surprise crossed Gion's large, beautiful eyes.
"This cloak... it's as strong as steel."
Though Diamante's cloak had appeared light and fluttering, Gion's attack confirmed it.
But she paid it little mind.
It was just steel.
Until an opponent mastered advanced Armament Haki, with Konpira's sharpness and her own master-level skills, slicing through a sheet of metal wouldn't be difficult.
"One-Sword Style. Thousand Leaves!"
Gion swung Konpira again, her blade moving so fast it became a silver blur of afterimages.
Countless tiny, sharp Sword Beams shot toward Diamante as her figure closed in rapidly.
She'd calculated that no matter how hard the cloak was, it couldn't block this many attacks at once.
"Army Flag!"
Diamante activated his Devil Fruit ability.
A bizarre, unseen wave rippled out, and the solid ground beneath Gion's feet suddenly fluttered.
The hard stone began to ripple and wave like a giant flag in the wind.
Gion, advancing at full speed, suddenly slipped, her feet finding no purchase as she lost control of her balance.
"Perfect chance!" Diamante grinned.
"Bullfighting Lance!"
His rapier, which had been transformed by his power into a fluttering ribbon, suddenly snapped rigid, its tip hardening into the shape of a charging bull's head.
He thrust it forward, aiming for the off-balance Gion.
Though caught by surprise, Gion didn't panic.
In a split-second reaction, she slashed out a massive, crescent-shaped Sword Beam.
Boom!
The Sword Beam collided mid-air with the tip of Diamante's thrusting sword, the impact staggering him. S
eizing that brief moment, Gion kicked off the air itself, soaring upward and out of the cloak's reach.
"Geppo."
This was a technique Raleigh himself had taught her during their journey in the North Blue, and it had just saved her from a very trapped situation.
She hovered in the air, looking down like a Valkyrie judging a mortal.
Her face was cold with rage.
If not for the rapid progress she'd made in the past month under Raleigh's... unique... training, she might have actually fallen to this Mafia goon.
"Any other tricks?" she called down, her voice dripping with contempt. "If not, then you can die."
She descended from the sky, her sword aimed straight at Diamante's heart.
"STOP RIGHT THERE MARINES!" a new voice suddenly roared from the smoke.