Chapter 382: Beaten Uncontrollably
If everything really unfolded as Doflamingo claimed, wouldn’t that mean no one could afford to provoke him?
That was impossible! Ian simply didn’t buy his bluff.
Perhaps for others, Doflamingo invoking the World Noble Celestial Dragons would intimidate them into considering the consequences, but for Ian, it had zero effect.
No help for it—deep down, Ian had already seen through the true nature of the Celestial Dragons: a bunch of fools strutting around in tiger skins, throwing their weight around. He had challenged their authority once before, and for someone who had killed a Celestial Dragon and still roamed free, the implicit threat in Doflamingo’s words was nothing to fear.
What Ian truly dreaded was the Marines’ power, but as his own strength grew, their threat to him was steadily diminishing.
Thus, Doflamingo’s speech not only failed to quell Ian’s killing intent but also stirred it in another person—Boa Hancock!
Doflamingo himself hadn’t expected that the first to strike would be Boa Hancock. Most of his attention was on Ian, knowing he was the ringleader. So when Boa Hancock’s Mero Mero Mellow came rushing in, Doflamingo was startled and quickly leaped aside to dodge, barely avoiding being caught by the beam.
As a fellow Warlord, Doflamingo knew just how dangerous this woman was. Doflamingo was inherently evil, and such people often harbored desires stronger than others. Thus, against Boa Hancock’s Mero Mero Fruit power, his resistance was quite weak, because the petrification ability of Mero Mero Mellow generally worked on anyone with desires, regardless of whether he was seduced by her beauty.
Just as he dodged the Mero Mero Mellow’s light, Ian closed in from the side. Doflamingo cursed under his breath, raised his right leg—clad in a pointed shoe and covered in leg hair—and blocked Ian’s slash with a kick.
The clash of their Armament Haki produced a metallic ring. Though the collision was evenly matched, Ian wielded a weapon while Doflamingo used his body, so Doflamingo felt the pain.
Ian gave him no chance to catch his breath. Black flames surged along his blade, and he unleashed a series of slashes at Doflamingo.
Ian’s sword speed was now faster than ever. Doflamingo could barely track his movements, relying on Observation Haki to barely sense Ian’s attack directions, then raising his arms and legs to block.
But the sharpness of the Evil King Flame Slayer Sword’s flame edge exceeded Doflamingo’s expectations. After just a few blocks, his Armament Haki gave way, and the flame edge cut his skin, leaving a wound on his wrist.
“Ah!! Bastard!” Doflamingo, unaccustomed to being wounded in a long time, was both shocked and enraged. He suddenly curled his fingers into a claw and slashed down at Ian, who was right in front of him.
“Five-Color String!”
In Ian’s Psychic Field perception, the threat of this claw wasn’t in Doflamingo’s fingers themselves, but in the threads attached to his five fingertips. Ian quickly raised his sword horizontally to block in front of him.
“Clang!” Though Doflamingo didn’t actually grab Ian, his hand merely swept past his face, a powerful impact struck Ian’s blade. The solid black flames on the Thousand Cherry Blossoms’ blade were split into five gaps by this collision, as if broken.
Ian quickly used the force to step back a few paces, checking his blade with some concern.
Although the Thousand Cherry Blossoms Zanpakuto was a weapon manifested by the system, it wasn’t indestructible—Ian had known this before.
Fortunately, now upgraded to a Five-Star blade, the Thousand Cherry Blossoms was far sturdier than the Three-Star Sword Saint Longsword from before. Doflamingo’s String-String Fruit slashes left no marks on the blade.
As Ian retreated, Boa Hancock’s Slave Arrow shot toward Doflamingo.
Seeing the Slave Arrow incoming, Doflamingo couldn’t pursue Ian and had to turn to counter Boa Hancock’s attack.
He curled his fingers, leaving only his index finger extended, and flicked repeatedly at the incoming Slave Arrow, like a Six Pulse Divine Sword, missing only a “pew pew” sound effect…
This was Doflamingo’s “Flick String” technique—fine threads created from his index finger shot out at high speed, with enough destructive power to pierce a human body in one hit. But now, he could only use it to knock down Boa Hancock’s Slave Arrow.
Just as he finished dealing with Boa Hancock’s attack, a purple flame suddenly flew toward Doflamingo along the ground.
Ian and Boa Hancock’s attacks were cleverly coordinated, leaving Doflamingo almost no respite. Due to the angle, Doflamingo didn’t notice the flame until it was too late to dodge!
Boom! The purple flame exploded instantly, and a surging wave of fire engulfed Doflamingo’s body.
Think of Me on Moonlit Nights! After the Eight Wine Glasses explosion, a human-shaped purple flame lingered within the pillar of fire.
After Ian obtained Iori Yagami’s exclusive treasure, the Yasakani no Magatama, the Eight Wine Glasses could freeze the time flow around the target, making it look as if Doflamingo was entirely frozen by the flame.
However, Ian didn’t take the chance to attack Doflamingo trapped in the flame. Instead, he suddenly looked up at the sky!
“There!” Lightning flickered all over Ian’s body. He flung his hand, and a powerful bolt of lightning tore through the sky over Dressrosa, shooting diagonally upward.
In Ian’s Psychic Field perception, the figure frozen by the Eight Wine Glasses flame wasn’t Doflamingo’s real body—it was a puppet substitute left by his String-String Fruit. His real body had barely escaped at the moment of the flame’s explosion, using the clouds to fly into midair. If Ian’s Psychic Field hadn’t detected that the body in the flame lacked life signs, he might have been fooled.
The Lightning Gun’s speed was astonishing, instantly striking Doflamingo in the sky. Under the high-voltage impact, Doflamingo screamed and was knocked down from the air.
His whole body was blackened, part of his firebird coat burned away by the lightning, emitting thick black smoke. But upon landing, Doflamingo rolled and didn’t fall, landing normally.
In this world, people who trained in physical combat had incredibly strong bodies. So even hit by the Lightning Gun, Doflamingo was only injured, not killed.
As he landed, veins bulging on his forehead, Doflamingo thrust his right hand backward and roared, “Take this back! Whip Strike!”
From his palm, countless transparent threads stretched out wildly, then twisted together into a thick whip. With the swing of his right hand, this whip, carrying immense rebound force, broke through the air and howled toward Ian!
By then, Boa Hancock had already fired several Kiss Shots at Doflamingo, but he endured being hit by them to strike at Ian.
This Whip Strike was extraordinarily powerful. Though Ian had never seen it before, his instincts sent him a danger signal. He didn’t dare take it head-on, rolling on the ground as fast as he could to dodge Doflamingo’s attack.
Boom! A tall building behind Ian was pierced clean through by the strike. The stone at the impact point instantly turned to dust!
Failing to hit Ian, Doflamingo was instead riddled with wounds from Boa Hancock’s Kiss Shots. As a master of Haki herself, when Doflamingo wasn’t focused on defense, the Kiss Shots easily tore through his Armament Haki hardening, making his whole body tremble as if hit by bullets.
Though the three had been fighting for less than a minute, Doflamingo had already sustained several injuries. While none were serious, it made him realize how dangerous it was to face two Warlords at once. If he didn’t use his real skills, he might be beaten to death by Ian and Boa Hancock working together…