A Victory Without Suspense

Like a meteor shower had struck, the beach was dotted with circular craters, and Lord Umit lay quietly in one of the larger pits.

Umit... lost?

That thought naturally surfaced in his mind. He was still racking his brains trying to buy more time, yet Umit had fallen before him. His fighting spirit suddenly plummeted—if Umit had lost, their battle held no meaning anymore.

Besides him, everyone else had already fallen.

[Deep Sea], [Grey Knight], [Flying Rabbit], [Red Hat]... these colleagues who, like him, had once roamed the seas, now lay scattered on the ground. Some still had a breath of life, while others had already lost their warmth.

We lost.

Seeing this sight, Marcus fully grasped the current situation.

A crushing defeat.

An utter, complete defeat.

A defeat so thorough that both face and substance had vanished like smoke with Umit's fall.

To his surprise, he found himself not particularly disappointed. His heart was so calm it even made him wonder, but... well, that was fine too. The curtain was about to fall anyway. A wild boar like him, who preferred to guard his own muddy pond, was never suited for a place like the New World.

Still, the ending shouldn't be this ugly.

"Explode!"

Observation Haki locked onto Aleus flying behind him. He spread his hands, activated his ability, and heat rapidly gathered and accumulated in the air. The air began to expand violently, and in the next instant, an explosion erupted. Amid the deafening roar, a storm of high-temperature, high-pressure gas surged, engulfing Aleus's figure.

Marcus was also propelled backward by the blast wave, accelerating toward the ground.

The moment his body touched the ground, he activated his ability again, granting the earth an extremely high coefficient of elasticity. His body, coated in Armament Haki, slammed into the springy surface, taking no damage at all as the rebound force launched him back up—

"Bam!!!"

A slender, pale hand grabbed Marcus's head, forcibly suppressing the rebound force and slamming him hard into the ground.

This time, the elasticity had vanished. The back of Marcus's skull made intimate contact with the rocky earth.

This entire chain of events

happened in an instant.

So fast that blood was already seeping from the back of Marcus's head, yet his face remained blank, as if he hadn't even registered what happened.

"Seeing that dejected look, I thought you were about to surrender. But instead, you pull this trick on me—trying to set me up, huh?" Aleus pressed his palm against Marcus's forehead, his pair of jet-black wings slowly folding behind him. "So? How about surrendering? I'm quite interested in your ability."

Marcus's head was spinning. The sharp pain from the back of his skull made his consciousness waver, needles stabbing through his brain, preventing any effective resistance.

His heart turned ice-cold.

Too strong! The gap... was too vast! Even Lord Umit's fists couldn't bring him down this easily, leaving him unable to fight back, lying on the ground like a salted fish waiting to be butchered. The chasm-like difference in strength made him deeply realize that Lord Umit's defeat was inevitable.

"Lord Umit... he..."

"Dead."

"Dead, huh? Really... feels like a dream! How did he die? Lord Umit?"

"I beat him to death."

Aleus said it with utter indifference. "His fists were tough. In terms of Armament Haki mastery alone, among everyone I've ever met, he'd probably rank around eighth or ninth? But that's all he had—hard fists, no speed at all."

This was the truth.

The battle between Umit and Aleus had been quite simple and direct, far less spectacular and varied than the fight between Marcus and Eschbach.

Of course, that was from an aesthetic perspective. After all, Umit wasn't a Devil Fruit user, so naturally, he lacked the flashy tricks ability users had. Some might prefer the visceral impact of fist-to-flesh combat... well, saying that, it wouldn't be fair to jump to conclusions. It's just a matter of taste.

In short, the fight between Umit and Aleus was a flurry of punches and kicks. Anyone with poor eyesight couldn't even track their movements, only seeing wave after wave of shockwaves ravaging the beach, leaving behind man-made craters that replaced the original Mushroom Rock, crafting a new scenic line for Dressrosa.

At first, Umit seemed to have the upper hand against Aleus, even breaking a few of his bones.

But that achievement didn't expand further. Once Aleus quickly figured out Umit's methods and confirmed that the King of Maritime Transport had no more trump cards, unwilling to drag things out for Joker's amusement, he ended the one-sided battle with speed that surpassed Umit's.

To be fair, Umit was no weakling.

As a heavyweight of the Dark World and a guest of honor at Big Mom's table, Umit was a top-tier fighter in the New World.

It's just that Aleus was stronger.

And not just a little stronger—it was overwhelming dominance. The moment Umit stepped before Aleus, he naturally became the weaker one.

"Eighth or ninth? Was Lord Umit really that bad?"

"It's because the Whitebeard Pirates are too strong."

Aleus's words left Marcus momentarily speechless.

How could he forget? The Ekmondo Kingdom flew the flag of the Whitebeard Pirates. It was only natural that Aleus had dealings with them. Compared to the Whitebeard Pirates, it made sense that Umit would rank that low.

"Hey, give me an answer? Surrender?"

Aleus's right hand still pressed down on Marcus's head.

"Surrender... Black Prince, sorry about that!" Marcus endured the pain, baring his teeth in an ugly grin. "I may just be a wild boar who loves rolling in the mud, but..."

"BANG—!!"

Before Marcus could even display his will and resolve, his head slammed heavily into the solid rock and earth once more, bouncing like a ball.

This time, Aleus deliberately used Spirit Pressure to strike Marcus's soul, and unsurprisingly, he fell completely unconscious.

"So much useless chatter. If you won't surrender, then don't! I wasn't planning to force you anyway. Why do you have to jabber on like a duck..." Aleus grabbed Marcus by his bald head and stood up, tossing the unconscious bald man aside. "Eschbach, keep an eye on this guy. Don't let him die. I'm interested in his ability—bring him along when we head back."

Having casually dealt with the only target that had piqued his interest since landing on the island, Aleus rolled his eyes and looked toward the distant cluster of buildings stretching across the horizon. He curled his lips into a grin, his face breaking into a radiant smile.

He even raised his right hand and waved.

As if he were just short of shoving it in Doflamingo's face and shouting, "Hello!"