That oppressive, red-black aura flared up again.
This time, it wasn't strong enough to knock out the ordinary soldiers.
It was more like a wounded animal's roar—a final, defiant announcement that someone wasn't dead yet.
Raleigh, Gion, and Tokikake all sensed it instantly.
It felt powerful on the surface, but underneath, it was hollow.
All show, no substance.
"Looks like the brat's been thoroughly broken," Raleigh mused.
He casually pulled a premium cigar from his breast pocket, lit it with an exquisite lighter, and exhaled a long, comfortable puff of smoke.
While most of the marines were relieved, Cleveland, standing behind Raleigh, looked like his world had just ended.
"My sword..." he whispered, his voice trembling. "It's... it's been... defiled..."
He kept glancing silently from Raleigh to the military saber still embedded in Trebol's slimy, bloody abdomen.
His normally stoic, resolute face was a mask of pure, traumatized grief.
Raleigh pointedly ignored him.
What was done, was done.
He was not having that conversation.
"Stop."
Raleigh's voice cut across the battlefield.
It wasn't a shout, but it carried an authority that brooked no argument.
The fighting just... stopped.
Gion and Tokikake, who had been pressing their advantage, silently sheathed their weapons.
The entangled Mafia members and Marine soldiers, hearing the dual commands, instinctively separated, moving to opposite sides of the ruined street.
A small, bloody figure struggled to stand.
It was Doflamingo.
His head was a mass of cuts, his body was covered in wounds, and every step was clearly agony.
But he gritted his teeth, refusing to make a sound.
"So, brat," Raleigh said, puffing on his cigar, his expression one of pure smugness.
"Ready to listen to my rules now?"
Doflamingo didn't answer.
He just swayed on his feet, his eyes hidden by his own blood.
Then, he did something no one expected.
He dropped to his knees.
Raleigh's smirk froze. 'Huh?'
This... this he had not seen coming.
He had considered Doflamingo might try one last, desperate surprise attack.
He'd even considered the kid might just accept his terms out of sheer defeat.
But he never expected that Doflamingo—the man who walked like he owned the world, the man with the pride of a Celestial Dragon—would ever kneel.
"Doffy!" a choked voice gurgled.
It was Trebol, somehow still conscious, awakened by that last flare of Haki.
"Doffy, get up! Stand up! You're our king! You can't kneel to him!"
The other family members, those who could still stand, just stared, frozen in disbelief.
They had joined Doflamingo because he was strong, cunning, and ruthless.
He was their king.
If their invincible leader could just... kneel... was he still the man they'd chosen to follow?
Ignoring their gazes, Doflamingo pressed his forehead to the dirt-caked stone.
"Rear Admiral..." he growled, his voice raw and broken. "I... I'm willing to trade my life for theirs. Take me to Impel Down, execute me... I don't care. Just let my family live."
Raleigh looked down at the kneeling boy with a complex mix of feelings stirring.
This kid... he was pure evil.
A true villain, one of the worst this world would ever produce.
Raleigh knew his future; he knew the depths of his cruelty.
But even a monster like him... had something he cherished.
His "family."
Raleigh's mind started turning.
He had no intention of actually killing a former Celestial Dragon.
But more than that... if handled just right, Doflamingo could be... useful.
A perfect "gray glove."
The Mad Blade Pirates were long gone, and the Salisbury Family was strictly small-time, barely able to control one island.
But this? The Donquixote Family, led by a ruthless, ambitious, and now broken user of Conqueror's Haki? They had potential.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk," Raleigh said, tapping his cigar. "You've really put me in a tough spot, kid."
Doflamingo's shoulders tensed.
"See, you... you still have their blood in you," Raleigh said, his voice casual. "Even if they kicked you out, you're still a Celestial Dragon. I can't just kill you. But your family..."
He let the word hang in the air.
"They're just pirates. And I have to eliminate pirates."
Doflamingo's head snapped up.
Raleigh's words hit him harder than any punch.
He couldn't understand.
He had humiliated himself.
He had knelt.
Why? Why wouldn't this man spare them?
That same bitter, metallic taste of helplessness... This was the third time in his life he'd felt it.
"Then again..." Raleigh flicked the ash from his cigar. "If you agree to a few... conditions... I might consider letting them walk away."
Doflamingo's eyes locked onto him.
"You have ten seconds to—"
"I agree!"
Doflamingo's voice was instant and raw.
He didn't even let Raleigh finish.
He lifted his small, blood-smeared face.
He tried to smile, but it was a broken, gap-toothed grimace.
"In this world..." he panted, "besides revenge... nothing else matters... but my family."
The Donquixote Family members who had just been doubting him... their resentment vanished, replaced by a wave of raw, stunned emotion.
"Doffy..."
"Young Master... are we really worth it...?"
"Young Master, we're willing to die for you! Please rise!"
Every conscious officer of the Donquixote Family struggled, forcing their broken bodies to stand.
They were in awe.
In that single moment, they felt an overwhelming pride.
That was their king.
A king who would sacrifice his own unbreakable pride to protect them.
Diamante, Trebol, Vergo, Giola... one by one, those who had been beaten into incapacity moments before summoned their last reserves of strength to stand in solidarity.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
Raleigh actually clapped.
A slow, quiet, mocking clap, his cigar still clamped between his teeth.
This kid was something else.
A true "formidable figure," even in defeat.
A venomous snake.
That was the perfect description for him.
After a long moment of silence, Raleigh finally spoke.
"Take your people and crawl back to lick your wounds, kid."
Doflamingo's head shot up again, his eyes wide with disbelief.
Raleigh just shrugged.
He wasn't worried.
He knew this kid's entire story, his future, his eventual defeat.
He wasn't worried about Doflamingo growing powerful enough to threaten him.
(Besides, with his meta-knowledge and the system, how could he possibly lose to a "country bumpkin"? Unless, of course, that bumpkin's name was Luffy.)
"Get out of my sight."
Raleigh turned his back on them.
Still, a few precautions were necessary.
He'd need to plant a few spies in Doflamingo's organization... just to keep an eye on him.
Raleigh's original, slow-burn plan to unify the North Blue's underworld had just been thrown out.
Doflamingo, by kneeling, had just given him a new, much faster one.