Lancelot let out a furious roar while lifting his powerful right leg, kicking Dellinger's abdomen like a bolt of lightning.
This kick contained the terrifying force that erupted from Lancelot's entire body—a level of power ordinary people couldn't withstand.
Although Dellinger had some strength, in front of Lancelot, he was merely ordinary.
With a loud "bang," Dellinger flew backward like a kite with its string cut.
His body traced a long arc through the air, swift as a meteor, stirring gusts of wind in his wake.
Before anyone around could even react, Dellinger crashed with tremendous impact into a solid wall a hundred meters away.
Another dull thud echoed as the wall shook violently, sending brick fragments and dust flying everywhere.
Dellinger was deeply embedded in the wall, his condition unknown.
Against Ability Users, Lancelot would hold back.
To obtain their abilities, he would at least spare their lives. Just like with Senor Pink!
Therefore, at this moment, Dellinger was already dead.
And deader than dead.
"Hiss..."
Gladius and Machvise naturally witnessed this scene, and both of them gasped in unison.
Dellinger was one of them, and they knew his strength best.
Among them, Gladius could defeat him, but Machvise would be instantly defeated.
That's right.
Dellinger possessed such strength.
Yet, with that level of power, he couldn't even withstand a single move from Lancelot.
One could imagine how terrifying Lancelot's strength was. Machvise and Gladius exchanged a glance.
The more critical the situation, the more they needed to stall—to buy time for their young master to gather all forces and deal with him.
"Hell's Ten-Thousand-Ton Vice!"
With a furious roar, Machvise unleashed his ultimate technique.
His entire body tensed, veins bulging as energy surged through him like a raging torrent.
As a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit user possessing the Ton-Ton Fruit, Machvise fully utilized the advantages of this miraculous ability.
First, he employed his fruit power to levitate his already massive frame mid-air, looming like a moving mountain.
Then, focusing intently, he directed all his attention toward Lancelot below. With a mental command, a low, dull rumble echoed as his body visibly swelled, expanding to colossal proportions in an instant.
Simultaneously, Machvise's weight skyrocketed—from hundreds to thousands of pounds, ultimately reaching tens of thousands of tons!
This terrifying increase in mass seemed to compress the surrounding air into solidity.
Finally, after all preparations were complete, Machvise unhesitatingly adjusted his trajectory and plummeted toward Lancelot like a meteor descending from the heavens, carrying cataclysmic force.
Since this technique relied entirely on crushing enemies through sheer body weight, its destructive power was truly earth-shattering.
"Stone-Lock Blast!"
Following this roar, Gladius coordinated seamlessly like a ferocious beast.
His muscular left arm shuddered as the embedded gear mechanism spun rapidly, emitting an unsettling grinding noise.
Instantly, several gray stone projectiles resembling rock spheres shot from the mysterious device.
Propelled with immense force and velocity, they streaked toward Lancelot like arrows, tearing through the air with sharp whistles as if to shred anything in their path.
Yet this was merely the prelude to Gladius's assault.
As the stones traveled a short distance, his Devil Fruit ability activated, causing the already formidable projectiles to visibly swell.
In the blink of an eye, they transformed into massive spheres several meters in diameter, crashing down upon Lancelot like meteors.
As the attack neared its target, time seemed to freeze.
Nearby, Violet watched with bated breath, her heart in her throat during this "heart-pounding" confrontation.
Finally, as the gigantic spheres closed in on Lancelot, a world-shaking explosion erupted.
"BOOOOM..."
The entire space trembled from the violent blast, with powerful shockwaves radiating outward. Towering flames surged nearly ten meters high, forming a fiery sphere that instantly engulfed Lancelot completely.
Right after, Machvise descended from the sky with unparalleled momentum, crashing violently into the raging flames of the explosion!
For a moment, it felt as though heaven and earth trembled.
The sheer force of the impact scattered the surging flames of the explosion, extinguishing them like candles in a gale.
When everything finally settled, the onlookers were astonished to find a massive crater, 20 to 30 meters in diameter, now marring the once-flat ground.
At the very center of this enormous pit lay Machvise's colossal form.
Had anyone else endured such a terrifying combined assault from Machvise and Gladius, they would have been lucky to survive, let alone escape grievous injuries.
Yet at this moment…
Machvise and Gladius's pupils contracted to pinpricks, their eyes filled with disbelief and horror.
The reason was simple—at the center of the crater, alongside Machvise, stood another figure: Lancelot!
But unlike Machvise, Lancelot stood firmly in the middle of the pit, as immovable as an unshakable mountain.
Even more shocking, Lancelot was effortlessly supporting Machvise—who was several times his size—with just one hand!
In other words, Lancelot had not only emerged unscathed from Gladius's explosion but had also single-handedly intercepted Machvise's most powerful strike…
The massive crater in the ground had formed simply because it couldn't withstand such immense force.
"Th-this… how is this possible?!"
Machvise and Gladius stared in utter shock, their eyes wide as saucers, as if their eyeballs might pop out at any moment.
Despair surged through them like a tidal wave, instantly drowning all their hope and courage.
Experiencing Lancelot's power firsthand, they now deeply understood the vast, insurmountable chasm that lay between their strength and his.
Before this, when they had resolutely stepped forward to block Lancelot's path, they had already prepared themselves for death.
As loyal subordinates, sacrificing their lives for their master was a duty they accepted without hesitation.
Even so, while they were willing to die, they had hoped their sacrifice would hold some value—even if it only delayed Lancelot's advance by a little.
But the harsh reality mercilessly shattered their final illusions.
Dellinger had joined them in standing against Lancelot, hoping to halt his progress.
Yet now, it was clear their efforts had been in vain.
They hadn't even been worthy of slowing Lancelot down, let alone posing any real obstacle.
The only consolation was that, despite the overwhelming disparity in power, they had managed to accomplish one crucial task: they had successfully relayed the message of Lancelot's impending intrusion into the royal city.
By now, their young master must have learned of this emergency.
Though it remained uncertain whether other measures would prove effective, at the very least, they had managed to give the young master some psychological preparation in advance.
For them, achieving this alone was already sufficient.
At this thought, the gazes of Machvise and Gladius grew resolute. Remarkably, the two shared a perfect understanding.
With just a single exchanged glance, they immediately grasped each other's intentions. Machvise's expression darkened as he swiftly seized Lancelot's arms, attempting to restrain him.
"Blast Rock-Rock Festival!"
This was one of Gladius's strongest moves!
Meanwhile, Machvise, who was being held up by Lancelot with one hand, grabbed Lancelot's arm with both hands, successfully "pinning" him in place, making it impossible for him to move even an inch.
Seeing this, Gladius knew the timing was perfect and couldn't be missed.
He moved like lightning, instantly circling around Lancelot at high speed.
As he rapidly circled, his hands continuously touched various spots on the ground.
Each contact with the ground was like planting a dangerous seed—trigger mechanisms were quietly set up across a wide area of the terrain.
Nearby, Violet witnessed the scene, her face instantly turning deathly pale.
As someone who deeply understood Gladius's abilities, she knew all too well what kind of terrifying and violent explosion would occur when so many triggers were activated simultaneously!
Without even a moment to think, she immediately turned and sprinted away into the distance.
At the same time, Caesar Clown, standing not far away, curled his lip disdainfully.
Unlike Violet, as a Logia Ability User, he had no fear of ordinary explosions that didn't involve Armament Haki.
However... he glanced down at Senor Pink, whom he was carrying, and thought to himself: Although he himself had nothing to fear from these explosions, this guy couldn't withstand them!
After a brief hesitation, he ultimately decided to retreat from the scene along with Violet.
After all, Lancelot had explicitly stated that this guy needed to be kept alive.
Thus, after the two quickly retreated a considerable distance, Gladius finally completed setting up all the trigger mechanisms.
The battlefield was now filled with a suffocating tension—everyone knew that an earth-shattering explosion was imminent!
It was no exaggeration to say that, at this moment, the area where Lancelot stood was almost entirely covered with triggers, except for the small circle beneath his feet.
The solid ground began to visibly swell at a rapid pace, as if an invisible force was surging up from below.
Witnessing this scene, Lancelot's eyes flickered slightly.
Suddenly, a thought involuntarily crossed his mind—he actually felt a twinge of envy for that punk Doflamingo.
After all, this joint attack by Machvise and Gladius was a move made with complete disregard for their own lives.
Given the scale of this explosion, its destructive power was bound to be immense.
Especially Machvise, who was right at the epicenter alongside him—even if he managed to survive, he would likely be severely injured.
Both of them were fully aware of this. Yet, despite the perilous situation, they still chose to carry out their mission without hesitation.
All of this was merely to buy a little more time for Doflamingo.
"BOOM…"
With an ear-splitting roar, the terrifying explosion finally began!
The area within a hundred-meter radius where Lancelot stood instantly transformed into a massive, blazing inferno.
The ferocity of the flames seemed as though they would devour the entire world.
The shockwave triggered by the explosion swept outward in all directions like a violent typhoon, its destructive force beyond imagination.
Everything in its path was mercilessly flung into the air—objects tumbling and colliding midair, creating a scene of chaotic terror.
Simultaneously, the intense heat generated by the explosion spread alongside the shockwave. Intertwined and fused, they scorched everything in the vicinity with relentless high temperatures.
Whether solid rock or fragile vegetation, all proved defenseless against this searing energy.
It was foreseeable that any ordinary person unfortunate enough to be caught within this zone would be utterly unable to withstand such terrifying heat.
In the blink of an eye, they would be reduced to unrecognizable, charred corpses.
By then, the air would be thick with the scent of death.
As the chaos gradually subsided, an astonishing sight unfolded before everyone's eyes—a colossal crater, over a hundred meters in diameter and ten meters deep, now marred the once-level ground.
Its edges were shrouded in billowing dust, like a grotesque wound torn into the earth.
Yet, amid the devastation, Lancelot stood unwavering, like an indestructible statue.
His posture remained ramrod straight, completely unaffected by the cataclysmic explosion moments earlier.
His handsome face retained its usual composure and calm, the corners of his lips even curling into a faint, almost imperceptible smile.
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