Just as Jerry and his crew were making their way toward the high ground where Dressrosa's royal palace was located, the Donquixote Family had also assembled within the palace walls at Doflamingo's urgent summons.
"Fufufufufu... They're here, just as expected," Doflamingo snarled, clenching his fists tightly while gritting his teeth. His anger was unmistakably evident in every word he spoke.
Caesar Clown had been an invaluable tool that he'd secretly cultivated over years of careful planning. The weapons of mass destruction that the mad scientist had been developing commanded enormous prices in the dark world's underground markets.
As one of the most influential middlemen operating in that shadowy realm, Doflamingo maintained countless channels and connections spanning both legitimate and criminal enterprises, allowing him to profit tremendously from Caesar's twisted research.
More importantly, the artificial Devil Fruits that Caesar had been producing represented a crucial bond between Doflamingo and Kaido, one of the Four Emperors who relied on those synthetic abilities to expand his crew.
Now Jerry and his crew had completely destroyed both the scientist and his research facility over what amounted to a simple disagreement about Caesar's human experimentation. Not only was Doflamingo absolutely furious about this development, but Kaido had also flown into a murderous rage upon hearing the devastating news.
"Young Master, the Black Star Pirates are definitely heading toward our position, but regarding their pirate ship..." Gladius—the Paramecia-type Bomb-Bomb Fruit user—paused meaningfully when he reached this crucial detail.
Dellinger, the fighting fish half-fishman standing beside him, asked with obvious confusion, "What happened exactly? Didn't Giolla go there to handle the situation?"
"She did go there as planned, but the intelligence she brought back was that she proved completely unable to destroy the Black Nova," Gladius explained with a heavy tone. Since he wore a mask similar to certain other characters, his facial expression remained completely hidden from view.
Hearing this unexpected report, the other assembled officers couldn't help but demand more details. "What's the situation? How is that possible?"
It turned out that Doflamingo and his organization had already formulated a comprehensive strategy well in advance. The moment the Black Star Pirates launched an attack with clear hostile intent, their first line of defense would focus on eliminating or capturing the enemy's ship.
Doflamingo's intelligence network had thoroughly investigated the Black Star Pirates' operational patterns and confirmed that they always disembarked with their entire crew, basically never arranging anyone to remain behind and guard their ship.
Therefore, the Donquixote Family had believed that as long as they could successfully destroy or commandeer the ship, they would gain tremendous strategic advantages and severely limit their enemies' options.
Unfortunately, their carefully laid plans seemed to have encountered a major obstacle at the very first step, which explained why everyone was now staring expectantly at Gladius for clarification.
"According to multiple eyewitness accounts, the pirate ship wasn't anchored on the ocean's surface at all—it was completely submerged beneath the waves!"
After hearing Gladius deliver this sobering intelligence with complete seriousness, Doflamingo and the other assembled officers fell into stunned silence.
Of course, they did have crew members like Dellinger who possessed the ability to fight effectively underwater, but the strike team that Jora had assembled for this particular mission included no such specialized personnel.
When they recalled Jerry's incredible demonstrated ability to manipulate seawater with supernatural precision, they began to understand that their opponents hadn't arrived unprepared for potential sabotage attempts.
"Fufufufu! So they're not just reckless young fools who only know how to charge forward blindly!" Doflamingo laughed with grudging admiration mixed with growing concern.
He had never placed particularly high expectations on the preliminary strategies that his officers had discussed during their planning sessions.
Doflamingo understood perfectly well that during the legendary Battle of Marineford, the Black Star Pirates had already demonstrated their sophisticated strategic capabilities, proving beyond any doubt that they were definitely not the type of small-time pirates who would rush headlong into obvious traps without proper preparation.
"In that case, I'll still have to ask all of you for your complete support and dedication," Doflamingo announced to his assembled family. "But if any of you feel that the gap in power is simply too overwhelming, you have my permission to retreat and preserve yourselves. After all, you're all precious family to me..."
In response to their leader's passionate and heartfelt words, the Donquixote Family's various officers and executives responded with fierce determination and unwavering loyalty before dispersing to their assigned positions throughout the palace complex.
Doflamingo looked down at the prosperous kingdom spread out beneath his feet—a realm he had carefully governed and meticulously managed for many years through both legitimate rule and criminal enterprises.
This was his primary base of operations, the absolutely crucial foundation for their rise to power that had been planned and painstakingly constructed over more than a decade of patient work.
Doflamingo would never surrender Dressrosa easily under any circumstances. If he were willing to abandon this stronghold, he could have developed far more flexible and varied tactical options for dealing with threats.
"The tide of the times is surging forward relentlessly," he murmured to himself with growing unease. "Could it be that I didn't choose to board the right ship after all?"
Then he shook his head firmly, stared at the distant sky with renewed determination, and declared with absolute conviction, "Impossible! As long as they dare to come here, we'll defeat this accursed Leviathan together, and everything will remain under my complete control!"
"Emergency announcement! Emergency announcement!"
"The evil Black Star Pirates are attempting to capture our peaceful nation! Please seek immediate shelter..."
The urgent broadcast that echoed across the entire island reached Jerry's ears as he observed civilians on the streets quickly disappearing into hiding places. Numerous guards had begun surrounding their position from all directions with obvious hostile intent.
Skull was the first to comment on these developments. "Oh! It looks like our opponents have also begun making their moves."
"Well, that's only natural, isn't it?" Jerry replied casually, keeping one hand in his pocket while rubbing his nose with the other. He couldn't shake the feeling that Doflamingo was probably cursing him behind his back at this very moment. "Did they really expect to just watch us march brazenly into their palace without any resistance?"
Seeing that Cavendish, Brook, and the others had already prepared themselves for imminent combat, Jerry continued with practical instructions, "We just need to subdue those toy people without causing permanent harm. The other guards are pretty much fair game... Actually, never mind. Just do whatever feels right in the moment."
As soon as he finished speaking, a powerful wave of Conqueror's Haki suddenly erupted from Jerry's body before retracting almost instantly.
Under the overwhelming pressure of this selective force, many weaker enemies immediately collapsed unconscious to the ground, though a significant number of stronger opponents and reinforcements arriving from distant positions remained completely unaffected.
Jerry wasn't particularly concerned about this mixed result, since his primary purpose had simply been to screen and filter their potential enemies based on combat capability and willpower.
He understood that many of the animated toys scattered throughout the city were actually innocent civilians who had been transformed against their will, while others had originally been pirates, Marine personnel, or representatives from various other organizations who had visited Dressrosa.
Similarly, some of the royal guards were genuinely loyal to the Donquixote Family or simply wanted to defend what they believed was their legitimate homeland. However, once serious combat began, Jerry wouldn't have the time or mental energy to distinguish between different categories of opponents on a case-by-case basis. He could only ask his crewmates to exercise restraint whenever practically possible.
Otherwise, even setting aside other considerations, the lightning attacks from Cavendish alone would be more than sufficient to cause massive civilian casualties throughout the urban area.
With their strategy established, Cavendish took point as their spearhead, riding his beloved horse Farul to clear the path ahead with swift, decisive strikes.
In the center of their formation marched Jerry and Carina, both carrying long-range weapons and ready to provide covering fire, while Deuce and Skull positioned themselves on either side to watch for potential enemies attempting flanking attacks.
Brook brought up the rear guard, occasionally drawing his violin while keeping watchful eyes on enemies emerging from behind their advance. From time to time, he would use his cane sword as a violin bow to play haunting melodies that were powerful enough to lull opponents into peaceful sleep.
Carrot and Kotatsu moved fluidly around the periphery of their main formation, launching lightning-fast strikes against enemy squad leaders and other priority targets as opportunities presented themselves.
Jerry strolled leisurely through the center of their group, holding his fishing rod casually over his right shoulder with completely relaxed confidence.
As he nonchalantly swung his left hand in various directions, numerous water droplets materialized in the air around them, precisely striking the guards and animated toys that attempted to swarm their position.
The Black Star Pirates maintained an absolutely unstoppable pace of advance. Even the occasional mid-level officers from the Donquixote Family who appeared to challenge them proved completely unable to pose any meaningful threat to their coordinated group movement.
However, despite their steady forward progress, waves of enemies continued emerging from buildings and side streets in seemingly endless succession.
"It doesn't seem particularly wise for them to keep throwing troops at us in such continuous waves like this," Deuce observed thoughtfully as he moved closer to Jerry's position. "Are they actually trying to use these expendable forces to gradually exhaust our energy reserves?"
Jerry's mouth curved into a crooked, confident smile. "That's certainly not impossible, but what else could Doflamingo realistically compete with me over? Comparing endurance? That's absolutely hilarious!"