Doflamingo was surprised by Chenos's move—but he had no intention of stopping his attack. He continued swinging the thread pillar, slashing straight toward Chenos.
When the thread pillar reached ten centimeters from Chenos's palm, the razor-sharp threads—threads that had sliced through pirate bodies, steel blades, and even massive trees without resistance—suddenly seemed to hit something invisible.
They stopped dead.
Not a single strand could advance even half an inch.
Chenos's palm remained untouched.
Even though Doflamingo had anticipated something, he still couldn't hide his amazement. One of his strongest offensive techniques had done nothing at all.
But he didn't give up.
He burst into laughter, manipulating the thread pillar to curve past Chenos and extend forward—then bend in midair and strike from behind.
The tail end of the thread pillar sharpened into an extremely lethal spike, thrusting toward Chenos's back.
And Chenos… still didn't move.
It was as if he hadn't noticed.
Behind the sunglasses, Doflamingo's eyes widened. Excitement surged through him—he wanted to see whether Chenos could still surprise him.
The spike shot forward and stabbed straight into Chenos—
Only to stop again, as if blocked by an invisible barrier, suspended in midair just off Chenos's back. It couldn't move forward even a fraction.
Chenos smiled.
The reason he dared to stand still and "take" the attack was simple: when he pushed his Observation Haki to the limit, he sensed that the thread pillar wasn't coated in Armament Haki.
And for Chenos, any attack not wrapped in Armament Haki was basically meaningless.
Against ordinary physical attacks, his Devil Fruit could absorb them completely—one hundred percent.
Chenos curled his lips into a mocking grin and said,
"Are you worried my attack power isn't strong enough… so you're delivering some to me?"
The thread pillar, having failed, fell limply to the ground. Doflamingo casually cut the connecting strings with a flick of his hand, letting them scatter.
"Fufufufu… you're getting more and more interesting," Doflamingo said.
"I still don't know your name."
"You're worthy of having your name remembered."
"Chenos."
As he answered, Chenos activated Rebound Step and rushed forward at explosive speed.
When he reached Doflamingo, he didn't attack immediately. Instead, he used Rebound Step's high-speed movement to flash around Doflamingo repeatedly—appearing and disappearing—making it impossible to predict where the real strike would come from.
Every now and then, Chenos feinted—forcing Doflamingo to constantly adjust his guard.
Then, the moment Chenos reappeared again—
Doflamingo's eyes lit up. He raised his hand high and slammed it down.
"Parasite!"
Several strings dropped from above at terrifying speed, shooting toward Chenos.
They were so fast that even Chenos couldn't dodge in time.
But Chenos didn't care.
Instead, his eyes gleamed.
An opening!
In midair, Chenos kicked off with Moonwalk, stamping the air once and flashing straight toward Doflamingo.
The falling strings struck Chenos—
And just like the earlier "Five-Color Strings," they did nothing at all. They were absorbed and converted into Chenos's power.
Closing in, Chenos planted one hand on the ground, kicked both legs high, and began spinning like a top.
"Tempest Kick: Blade Storm!"
This time, Chenos released the razor-sharp cutting force he had absorbed from Doflamingo's earlier thread-whip attack—channeling it through his legs.
As his feet spun, he unleashed countless air blades laced with that same terrifying sharpness, slashing relentlessly toward Doflamingo.
Seeing the attack, Doflamingo didn't panic.
He threw his head back and laughed.
"Hahahaha! Chenos, you're strong!"
"Your ability is fascinating."
"You're qualified to be my partner!"
As he spoke, Doflamingo extended his index finger, aiming directly at the incoming air blades.
"Overheat—no."
"Ever White!"
A thread pillar as thick as his finger shot out, smashing into the flying air blades. The instant each blade touched the pillar, it shattered.
But the pillar was also being shaved down—sliced piece by piece—turning into short, scattered fragments of thread that fell to the ground.
After extending about three meters, the pillar stopped. Then Doflamingo whipped it like a lash, repeatedly smashing apart the incoming air blades.
Yet the more he blocked, the shorter the pillar became.
By the time it was reduced to less than fifty centimeters, Chenos's blade storm finally ended.
"Huff… huff…"
Doflamingo breathed heavily.
He had blocked everything—but the sheer volume and extreme sharpness forced him to burn stamina, whipping harder and harder just to keep up.
And in that moment of breath—
Chenos's voice rang out again.
"Rebound Step!"
Chenos vanished from Doflamingo's sight.
When he reappeared, he was already in front of him.
"Finger Pistol: Hell Pierce!"
Chenos extended his index finger straight at Doflamingo.
His finger was coated in dense Armament Haki—and infused with the spike-like damage he had absorbed from Doflamingo's earlier attacks.
A black, flame-like aura seemed to flicker around it.
Doflamingo stared in disbelief.
For the first time, he felt real danger from Chenos.
His Observation Haki screamed warnings—Dodge! If you don't dodge, you will die!
But Chenos was too fast.
So fast Doflamingo barely had time to react—let alone defend properly or evade cleanly.
With no choice, Doflamingo instantly formed a web-like shield of threads in front of him.
That shield—normally unbelievably tough—lasted less than 0.1 seconds against the Finger Pistol.
But that fraction of time was enough.
It was a negligible instant in the grand scheme of things—
Yet for Doflamingo, it was the 0.1 seconds that saved his life.
He twisted his body sideways, forcing the strike away from his vital organs.
Shhk—!
Their bodies crossed.
Doflamingo glanced down.
A massive hole had been pierced through his shoulder. If the attack had landed even slightly closer, his heart would have been destroyed.
Pain exploded through him. Veins bulged on his forehead as he controlled threads to stitch the wound.
Chenos looked down as well—only to realize Doflamingo's "shield" wasn't just a shield.
It had become a thread ring, looped around Chenos's neck.
In that instant when they crossed—if Doflamingo had tightened it with Haki—
Chenos would have been strangled to death on the spot.
This exchange…
Doflamingo won by a razor-thin margin.
"Fufufufu… Chenos," Doflamingo said, voice low and delighted,
"Not bad. You're truly not bad."
"You nearly killed me just now."
"Now you're qualified to be my partner."
"With you involved, the New World will become far more interesting."
"Fufufufu… I'll be waiting in the New World."
"Let's shake this world together."
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