It was in midst of the night, where the moon was shrouded by the thick layer of cloud.
*SWOOSH*
However, the scenery in the Dressrosa seemed as bright as the day, with all the executive members of the Donquixote family facing against one man, Rowan.
"Fullbright!!!"
The sharp strands of strings all came striking down onto Rowan,
*BOOOM*
but Rowan simply vanished from his position.
"Pica boo."
Pica turned around in urgency, and saw Rowan's punch slamming onto his exposed back.
*BOOOOOOOOOOM*
Pica vomited a gallon of blood as he was sent rocketing all across Dressrosa.
*BOOOOOM*
Rowan momentarily landed back on the ground as he sensed a small life-form exiting the ruined castle.
'A dwarf? Fairy? What is that, even?'
"Pica!!!" Doflamingo cried with gritted teeth, but was quickly forced to raise his arms and generate a massive number of strings at the next moment,
for Rowan suddenly appeared in front of him with his right fist having turned black—indicating the use of Armament Haki: Hardening.
"Sticky Launcher!" Trebol, in order to prevent Rowan's punch, generated many number of spears made out of mucus, before launching them to Rowan.
At the same time, Doflamingo's layers of strings expanded into multiple layers of spider webs,
"Spider's Web!!"
"Bounce Impact."
*BOOOOOM*
However, all of them were for naught, as one burst of force from Rowan effectively destroyed both techniques in a span of a millisecond.
Then, Doflamingo saw Rowan's fist crashing onto his face,
"Juggernaut Blast."
before his whole world exploded.
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*
""DOFFY!!!"" Trebol and Diamante cried as they saw their king coughing out blood while his blurry form rapidly flew toward the Green Bit, the small island connected to Dressrosa by a bridge.
"Even if you are the infamous Grimheart," Gladius, whose right hand was touching upon the huge boulder that being swelled up by his fruit ability, exclaimed, "you aren't able to defeat all of us alone!!!"
*BOOOM*
Then, the swelled-up boulder exploded right in front of Rowan, and those pieces slammed onto his body from the point-blank range.
"Sugar, now!!" Gladius then threw Sugar with his free hand.
Sugar, with her right hand outstretched, flew into the dust generated by the previous collisions.
"Ah, you are that woman with Hobby Hobby fruit." Within the dust, Rowan casually stated, before,
"Kek—"
Grabbing Sugar by the neck.
*Swoosh*
Then, Rowan appeared right in front of Gladius, and even before the latter had the time to react,
Rowan slammed Sugar's forehead onto Gladius's, knocking them out in a single go.
"Ahhhh!!!!"
"Wha, just what is this?!!"
"How could I have forgotten?!!"
Just then, the anguish cries from the residents of the Dressrosa was heard; Sugar being unconscious caused all the toys to return back to their original human bodies and had the others recover all memories associated with them. The issue, however, was that with the exclusion of one toy, all the others were taken by Linlin to the Whole Cake island.
"Gust Matasaburo!!!"
From the above, Buffalo, by rapidly spinning the propeller around his neck, generated a strong gust of wind that slammed onto Rowan from the top.
Rowan, who didn't even seem to be tickled by it, simply let his hands go.
*BOOM* *BOOM*
Due to Buffalo's attack, the unconscious Gladius and Sugar plummeted onto the ground.
"Ahh, my bad!!!" Buffalo upon seeing that his attack only further injured his fellow crew mates, stopped his technique immediately.
Just as Buffalo's technique ceased, Delinger came in flying with his right leg outstretched,
"Pistol High Heel!!"
Rowan hopped slightly in the air, and just as Delinger passed underneath him,
*BOOOOOM*
slammed his feet on top of Delinger's extended leg, crushing it into bloody mush.
"AHHHHHHH!!!!!!"
Immediately after, pushing himself off of Delinger's leg, Rowan shot upward to Buffalo, and in a single strike,
*BOOOOOOOOM*
sent Bullafo skyrocketing up high at a blinding speed.
Below Rowan, a frail-looking old man, Lao G, was waiting in his martial stance. Then,
"Ultimate Art of the Geo-Fist Style: Battle Insurance Fist!!!"
his body buffed up into a muscular form just as he threw his punch at Rowan.
Rowan, without an attempt to dodge, met Lao G's punch with his own,
*BOOOOOOOOM*
shredding Lao G's entire arm apart.
Lao G's form instantly shrunk down into his usual frail form, before he fell as the blood spilled out of his arm profusely.
Immediately after, Rowan turned around and narrowed his eyes at one beautiful-looking woman, Viola.
"Don't you dare."
Viola, whose index and middle fingers were joined together in O-shape to use her Glare Glare fruit ability on Rowan, froze in fear.
"You don't even possess the will to fight. Stay out of this, woman." Being in midst of the fight, Rowan growled to Viola before raising his hand up.
*BOOOM*
The man who ate the Ton Ton fruit, Machvise, landed on top of Rowan's palm, and to everyone's shock, Rowan withstood Machvise's enhanced weight singlehandedly.
"How… bold…" Viola unconsciously muttered with a slight blush.
Trebol, with troubled expression, shot another round of mucus toward Rowan.
"Juggernaut Blitz."
*BOOOOOOOOOOM*
Then, Rowan slammed the bounce force along with the advanced use of the Emission of the Armament Haki: Internal Destruction, onto Machvise.
Afterward, his body was bent unnaturally just before it was hit by Trebol's attack, indicating the use of Kami-E, one of the Rokushiki techniques.
Machvise, whose weight reached to a sheer ten thousand tons, was blasted up as the smoke came out of his mouth. Rowan's point-blank-ranged attack completely ruptured the former's organs; Machvise was already dead when he landed back on the ground.
*SWOOSH*
Leaning his body back, Rowan sighted a flattened sword cutting through the air right above him; it came from none other than Diamante.
Right after, one man in pink toddler's attire, Senor Pink, jumped up from the ground that he was 'swimming' within, about to grab Rowan's body.
"Giolla!!"
Just as Senor Pink shouted, a round woman with curly hair, Giolla, sent forth a bizarre wave of cloud toward Rowan and Senor Pink.
"Blow Kung-Fu Art—eh?!!"
In Giolla's eyes, Senor Pink was powerlessly flying up in the air with a big wound on his stomach, while Rowan was now standing right in front of her with his right hand cocked back.
*BOOOOOOOOOM*
Then, Rowan raise his hand up and caught the sharp string strand that was trying to penetrate his spine.
"Took you forever."
Doflamingo, whose sunglasses changed with the previous one having been broken due to Rowan's attack, came back flying toward Rowan.
And from Rowan's back, the whole ground shook as a gigantic stone figure, Pica, arose.
"Five Colour Strings!!!"
Just as Doflamingo swiped his hand and produed five sharp strings with the intention to cut through Rowan, the three other elite officers, Trebol, Diamante, and Pica, surrounded him.
"Stick-Stickem Launcher!"
Trebol shot numerous spheres of hideous mucus toward Rowan.
"Vipera Glaive!!"
Diamante's sword flattened and rippled in a peculiar manner, before its blade began to extend at a rapid pace, about to stab through Rowan.
"Pulpostone!!!"
From the back, along with Pica's high-pitched voice, a huge mass of stone tentacle overshadowed Rowan from the above.
From the side, Baby 5 found an opening between the attacks, and shot her Gatling guns toward Rowan's exposed torso.
In midst of these attacks, Rowan simply closed his eyes, before vanishing from the spot.
*BOOOOOOM*
Baby 5 found her face being embedded within the ground by Rowan's fist.
*BOOOOOOOM*
"AHHHH!!!!"
Diamante, with a crushed chest, was helplessly flying up in the air, with him screaming in pain.
*BOOOOOOOOM*
Trebol's thick mucus cloth was nowhere to be seen, with his detached head flying up in the air with a shocked expression on his face.
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*
The gigantic stone figure was instantly demolished into fine grains, and Pica was revealed to be bleeding from all the holes as he crashed onto the ground without any consciosuness.
"Now, it's just you, Doflamingo."
Rowan, who was standing in front of Doflamingo without any hint of exhaustion, stated coldly.
"...Trebol. Diamante. Pica. The rest of you..." Doflamingo didn't seem to hear Rowan. He was engulfed by a pure rage that his family has all been killed in one night.
The potent Conqueror's Haki began to burst out of Doflamingo—
"Tone yourself down."
An even stronger burst of Conqueror's Haki blasted out of Rowan, completely crushing Doflamingo's down.
"Heheh...heheheheh!!!!" Doflamingo began to laugh like a mad man before his fingers twitched,
"Ever White."
The entire area around Rowan and Doflamingo morphed into the vast amount of strings. Then, just as those strings rapidly condensed into two wings and their tips darkened in Armament Haki: Hardening, the sharp threads shot out toward Rowan with a murderous intent.
"Flap Thread!"
Rowan, gazed at his back momentarily and sighted that many citizens were now spectating the fight with disbelief in their faces. With a smirk, Rowan turned back to face Doflamingo's attack,
"Entropic Imbuement,"
Rowan's palm instantly heated up to an extreme degree,
"Blast Gun."
*BOOOOOOOOOM*
With the incorporation of his potent bounce force, a scorching blast of pressurized air collided against Doflamingo's sharp strings. And to Doflamingo's surprise, the strings, which were set on fire, began to burn into ashes and lose their momentum.
However, Doflamingo didn't seem to care. Transforming even greater amount of his surrounding into strings, he condensed them into sixteen extremely concentrated needles. Then, the entirety of their bodies were imbued by the Armament Haki: Hardening.
This was Doflamingo's ultimate technique.
"Sixteen Holy Assassin's Bullets..."
Right in front of Doflamingo lied Rowan, and behind Rowan lied many innocent citizens who watched the battle with wariness.
Rowan couldn't help but sigh. In usual cases, a single blow would've been enough to finish the whole Donquixote family in one go. However, upon seeing those inhabitants of the island, Rowan couldn't dare himself to bring harm onto them. Up until now, Rowan was fighting his enemies while preventing any damage on the weak.
"...God Thread!!!"
The sixteen needles of string instantly shot out toward Rowan simultaneously.
"Juggernaut..."
Rowan's right fist blazed up into the golden-coloured Emission of the Armament Haki and potent flame from the Entropic Imbuement, along with,
*PAZZZZZ*
the Infusion of the Conqueror's Haki.
"...Overblast!!!"
Just when Rowan blasted out his technique, Doflamingo saw that his strongest technique was defeated without a single moment of struggle. There was nothing that he could do but to watch Rowan's ferocious attack approaching him.
Then, just when Rowan's fist was about to penetrate through Doflamingo's skull, it suddenly stopped.
*BOOOOOOOM*
The entire area around Doflamingo was surrounded by the wild gusts that caused the already-destroyed castle behind him to explode once more.
"Can't have you die yet." Rowan, who stared at the shaking Doflamingo while rolling his right shoulder, simply flicked his finger onto the latter's forehead.
*BOOM*
With such a strong blast on his head, Doflamingo was instantly knocked out.
In just a single night, the entire Dressrosa has subverted.
"I, I... my wife!!! How could I not have known?!!"
"Give my son back!!! That accursed Big Mom!!!"
However, the citizens of Dressrosa, weren't in a joy. Instead, they were crying in misery, with them having realized that their family members weren't in the Dressrosa.
"F-father!!" Then, from the back, the voice of a young woman was heard as she followed the one-legged man who was making his way toward Rowan.
"I can't believe it..." The one-legged man in grim expression, Kyros, muttered as he stopped right in front of Rowan, "The source of our suffering for years... has been resolved within a single night."
"...Indeed. A miracle has been bestowed onto the Dressrosa." From the other side, the muscular man who seemed to be around 60s in terms of age, revealed himself. He was riku Doldo III, the king of the Dressrosa prior to Doflamingo's invasion.
"M-my king!!" Kyros exclaimed with an evident joy, "You were alive as well!!"
"Nothing relieves me more than to know that the one-legged toy soldier was you, Kyros." Riku replied with a smile of his own as well, before making his way in front of Rowan.
Then, in front of everyone's eyes, Riku knelt down to Rowan.
"""King Riku!!!!""" All citizens of Dressrosa shouted with widened eyes. The king himself, kneeling down in front of a pirate publicly?
"Grimheart Rowan. I've personally witnessed your virtuous deeds of preventing any damage onto the civilians. Along with the defeat of Doflamingo, you are the saviour of our country. With all gratitude... thank you."
"Father!!" Viola, whose eyes were moistened by tears, rushed up to the king Riku with a mix of joy and relief.
Rowan, who was gazing around the scene around him, replied with a frown, "Forget it. I'm not trying to play a hero."
Reverting back to his foolish past self was the last thing that Rowan wanted.
Hero? Hero gives all the gold to the others, while pirates takes it all. He wanted to be a pirate rather than a hero!
Turning around as he lifted up Doflamingo with his left arm, Rowan was ready to depart from the island. However, just before he was about to fly,
"Hold on!!! You are the enemies to Big Mom and Kaidou, aren't you?!" Kyros, who was behind king Riku, spoke up with determination, "If possible, will you take me with you? I promise that I can be of help to the war!"
Rowan, stopping on his track, turned his head around in a serious manner, "And why would you do that?"
"Big Mom took many people of ours! If I don't go and save them, then who will?!"
Just then, all the others began to speak up as well,
"Please take me as well! My husband is stuck in that demonic book, suffering up until now!"
"Let us fight!!!!"
"I plead to you... my daughter is in need of me!"
King Riku gazed at them with surprised eyes, "All of you..."
Rowan, who witnessed the resolution of those in the Dressrosa, sharpened his eyes.
"Big Mom…? ."
Turning around to Viola, Rowan asked gravely,
"What was Big Mom doing here, of all places?"
Viola answered with a cold sweat on her back,
"She… along with Kaidou… used Doflamingo's power to talk with the distant Blackbeard."
"…I see." Rowan clicked his tongue.
After all, he believed that in usual cases, they won't ally with another pirate crew due to their pride. The fact that they wished to talk to Teach meant one thing: they discovered something worth of doing so.
There was no time to waste.
"If you wish to fight alongside me, then get the ships ready. We leave immediately to the Runelight."