"Pikkya-ra-ra-ra! I have to admit, pulverizing my entire upper body in one swing was impressive!"
The high-pitched, squeaky voice echoed from the waist-down remains of the stone giant.
"Give it a rest already! You're like a cockroach!" I yelled, wiping sweat and stone dust from my brow.
"It's useless! As long as there is stone, I will rise again! And again! Let's go for Round Two!"
With a roar of shifting tectonic plates, Pica drew mass from the very island, reforming into a titan even larger than the first.
"No," I growled, bracing my legs and leaping once more toward his towering head. "This is the Final Round. I've stored up more than enough 'impact' for this."
"You never learn! Paistone (Stone Bite)!!"
The giant lunged, its cavernous rocky maw opening wide to swallow me whole. But I wasn't swinging a normal hammer anymore.
"Dead Hammer... REJECT!!!"
At the moment of impact, I triggered the secret weapon embedded in the hammer's head: a Reject Dial from Skypiea. All the kinetic energy from my previous missed swings and Pica's own titanic movements had been absorbed into the shell. I released it all in a single, localized cataclysm.
The hammer's alloy shaft snapped under the backlash, but the shockwave was absolute. It didn't just break the stone; it vibrated through the entire mountain, shattering Pica's connection to the earth.
The giant disintegrated into pebbles, revealing the real Pica—human-sized and coughing blood—as he tumbled to the ground.
"Wh... what was that force...?" He gasped before blacking out.
Doflamingo, who had been tending to his fallen officers, looked up with a face like a thundercloud. "Diamante! Flatten him!!"
"Leave it to me, Doffy!!"
A tall man in a flamboyant feathered hat and a shimmering cape lunged forward, sword in hand. Diamante, the "Hero" of the Coliseum.
"Another one? You guys are persistent," I muttered, drawing my twin prototype sabers—No. 53 and No. 54—and crossing them in front of me.
"Army Pantera!!"
"Guh—the ground!"
The solid earth beneath my boots suddenly turned soft and wavy, like a flag flapping in a gale.
"Uhyahaha! How do you like the fluttering earth? I am the Flag-Human, user of the Hira Hira no Mi! I can make anything—even the ground—ripple like cloth!"
"I've spent my life on the deck of a ship, Diamante! A little sea-sickness under my boots won't stop me!" I lunged, swinging both sabers in a horizontal scissor-cut.
CLANG!
The blades hit his cape and bounced off with the sound of striking an anvil.
"Uhyahaha! Watch yourself! This laundry is made of steel! Now eat this! Vipera Glaive (Snake Sword)!!"
His sword suddenly softened, turning into a fluttering ribbon of steel that snaked around my guard, leaving shallow scores on my armor plates.
"A steel cape and a ribbon sword... fancy toys," I grunted.
"Uhyahaha! They're custom-made for me. Tell you what—if you swear loyalty to Doffy right now, maybe I'll let you have one!"
"Pass. I don't work for guys who'd stab me the moment I turned my back. Nitou Zangeki: Migazami (Twin-Blade Slasher: Sea Crab Pincer)!!"
"Uhyahaha! You know us too well!"
The clash was a blur of sparks. Diamante's fluid swordsmanship was a nightmare to track. I cursed my lack of formal sword training as I fought to keep him at bay. Then, Diamante leaped back, raising his sword high in a crescent arc.
"Half-Moon... GLAIVE!!!"
The downward slash carried immense weight. I gauged the trajectory—it was aimed right at where the wounded Rosinante lay. I threw myself in front of the fallen Commander, crossing my armored forearms to take the full brunt of the shockwave.
The ground shattered around me. "Is that the best you've got?!" I roared, teeth gritted against the pressure.
"Uhyahaha... so you did protect him."
"...What?"
"You chose to shield the traitor Corazon! That makes my job easy!!"
Diamante reached into his coat and pulled out several rolls of thin paper, tossing them into the air. With a series of light pops, they expanded into small tubes that fired into the sky like fireworks. High above, they burst into what looked like harmless confetti.
"What is this? A celebration?"
"Exactly! A funeral celebration! Doffy, take the others and get back!" Diamante warned his crew.
I tried to grab Rosinante to move him, but Diamante smirked. "Hira-Release!!"
The "confetti" high in the air suddenly regained its original form and weight.
"What—?! Thousands of spiked iron maces?!"
"Uhyahaha! Isn't it beautiful? Like a rain of falling stars!!"
Diamante opened a thick, folded steel umbrella to protect himself, laughing as the sky began to fall.
"You think this is enough to kill me?" I asked, my voice dangerously calm.
"Don't be so sure. This 'Stardust' can wipe out an entire army! You might survive in that tin suit, but what about the dying traitor behind you?"
He was banking on my sense of duty. He thought he could pin me down by forcing me to shield Rosinante.
"You've lived in the underworld too long, Diamante," I said, unbuckling the straps of my heavy chest plate. "You've forgotten what a Marine Rear Admiral is capable of."
I shed my outer armor and draped the thick, reinforced plating over Rosinante like a bunker. "Stay down, Commander," I whispered. Then, I stood up, gripping my twin sabers, and looked at Diamante.
"Uhyahaha! Stripping off your own armor? Suicide! Die in the debris! Death Enjambre (Death Starshower)!!"
The iron maces rained down, a cacophony of whistling metal. To Diamante, this was an inescapable AOE attack. But as the spiked balls plummeted, I didn't run. I moved forward.
I didn't use my swords. I used my bare hands and my sheer physical speed.
CLANG! GAKIN!
I swatted the falling maces out of the air with my Haki-clad fists, parrying the lethal projectiles as I closed the distance. One step. Two steps.
"W-what?! Are you a Devil Fruit user too?!" Diamante stammered, his umbrella shaking.
"Maybe I am. Maybe I'm just better than you."
Diamante panicked, pulling a pistol from his belt and firing. The bullet sparked off my shoulder and richocheted away. "Doffy! This guy is—!"
"Shut up and take it!! Rensou Kenpou: Gikoku Sousou (Twin-Mount Fist Cannon: Final Burial)!!"
I lunged. My twin fists slammed into his thick steel umbrella. The metal didn't just dent; it shattered like glass. The force continued through the shield and into Diamante's chest, launching the "Hero" into the air. He hit a stone wall with a sickening crunch and slid down, silent.
I stood over the wreckage, my breathing heavy, my knuckles smoking. Five officers down.
Only the "Young Master" and his last few retainers remained.
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