The Battle at Amegakure

Deva Path Pain expressionlessly extended his left hand, its fair skin set off by red nail polish, and activated the Rinnegan's power.★😳  🍓🐜

"Banshō Ten'in!"

An irresistible force suddenly seized Doflamingo. Before he could react, the pull dragged him straight toward Pain.

"What kind of ability is this?!"

Doflamingo was horrified. He lost all balance in midair, flying diagonally toward Pain like a puppet at someone else's mercy.

Just as Doflamingo's head was about to strike the Black Receiver in Pain's left hand, two thick white strands shot up from the ground and wrapped around his right foot and waist, halting him in midair.

The strands strained like ropes bearing a heavy load, holding the sweat-soaked Doflamingo in place. He was just about to use the brief respite to counterattack when the tremendous pull abruptly vanished, replaced by an unstoppable force that hurled him away.

The sudden shift from attraction to repulsion made Doflamingo feel so sick he wanted to vomit. But he didn't have to worry about that for long, because he really did throw up...

The string wrapped around Doflamingo gave him an extra push as the repulsive force struck, sending him flying out of sight. Like a soccer ball kicked with all one's might, he punched through countless buildings, raising clouds of dust before vanishing from view.

Pain frowned at the damaged buildings, apparently displeased by their destruction.

As Pain moved to check on Doflamingo, an enormous white strand shot straight at his face. Pain calmly leaned aside and dodged it.

"Overheat!" Doflamingo's voice rang out from afar, cold and seething with fury.

At the same time, the several-kilometer-long strand swept sideways with a savage force, intent on reducing Pain to dust.

But Pain was prepared. He used the Substitution Technique to dodge, reappearing atop a shorter building. The stone statue beneath him—or rather, every building in Amegakure taller than it—was obliterated by the attack.

The tremendous commotion brought Konan and the Amegakure forces still stationed in the village rushing to the area.

A member of the Akatsuki and Pain's close friend, Konan was the first to arrive, thanks to the speed of her Paper Release. She flew to Pain on paper wings and, seeing that he was unharmed, slowly let out a breath of relief.

"Pain, I'm glad you're all right. Do you need me to step in?"

Pain's expression grew colder as he rejected her offer.

"Keep watch over the village. Don't let anyone disturb me. I'll make this intruder pay for my anger."

The other five Paths of Pain landed beside Deva Path Pain. They shared one mind and needed no words, immediately spreading out toward Doflamingo.💥👺  🎉👻

Outnumbered, Doflamingo swung his enormous whip. Though it looked unwieldy, it moved with astonishing speed, enveloping all six Paths in its attack.

But each of the Six Paths of Pain was powerful, and they could share their vision when spread out. Doflamingo's assault delayed them only briefly. Before long, they had surrounded him, taking positions atop buildings in a hexagonal formation.

The bald Asura Path struck first. He thrust both hands forward, and his fingers transformed like a robot's, firing ten small missiles at Doflamingo.

Doffy, a master of Observation Haki, didn't try to block the incoming missiles. He dodged them with ease and sneered. But the missiles flew past him, then turned around and came back, striking him from behind. Luckily, Doffy had his Observation Haki fully engaged. Just as they exploded, he wove a dense wall of string that blocked most of the blast.

Doflamingo activated his ability, sending a thick strand from his right hand. "Break White!" He swung it, sweeping the Six Paths into its range.

The Six Paths shared one mind and one field of vision, and could summon one another as well. Doflamingo's String-String Fruit had an enormous range, and he could direct its attacks at will, but the Six Paths darted between them like agile butterflies, leaving him increasingly frustrated.

The Animal Path, with its yellow ponytail, retreated a little and seized an opening. It quickly formed Hand Seals with both hands. "Summoning Technique!"

A huge cloud of smoke dispersed, revealing a massive, grotesque three-headed hound and a giant dark-green lizard. The hound's fangs gleamed with bloodlust as it charged Doflamingo, while the lizard remained motionless. Its body gradually faded until it disappeared. It was a chameleon!

The three-headed hound charged excitedly, but Doflamingo struck its head with a swift Break White. A cloud of smoke rose, and the hound split into two smaller three-headed hounds, which continued charging at him.

"Damn beast!" The summoned hound was enormous, but it posed no real threat to Doflamingo. The trouble was, it wouldn't die no matter how often he hit it, and it kept splitting into more hounds. It was as disgusting as having swallowed a fly. After a few blows, the area was crawling with countless smaller hounds, all attacking and biting at Doflamingo!

But Doflamingo was skilled in all three types of Haki and a master of Taijutsu. He dodged and weaved with ease, soon using the String-String Fruit to wrap each hound up like a cocoon and immobilize it.

Just as Doflamingo restrained the last hound, a transparent figure suddenly attacked from behind, seizing the instant he let his guard down.

Doflamingo's mouth curled into a smile. With his Observation Haki, ordinary tricks like invisibility were nothing but clownery.

But just as he went to dodge, a tremendous pull suddenly seized him, making him lose his balance. The invisible chameleon struck him squarely and sent him flying into the air.🎈🐧  ☺💛

There was no time to lose! A gleam flashed in Pain's eyes. As Doflamingo hung in the air, off balance, the Asura Path's body transformed, and several missiles with flaming tails shot from within it, roaring toward Doflamingo.

But Doflamingo suddenly rose much higher in midair, as though pulled by an invisible hand. Several invisible strands sprang from his hands, detonating the incoming missiles before they could reach him.

Doflamingo used his invisible strings to descend quickly and let out a long breath. His abdomen throbbed where the chameleon had struck him. Luckily, Armament Haki had absorbed the blow; otherwise, he would have been caught in a chain of attacks.

Angry, Doffy decided to take the initiative.

"Parasite!"

While Doflamingo had been dodging around the battlefield, he'd already laid down a large number of invisible strings. Now that the chameleon had revealed itself, the strings sank deep into its muscles and immobilized it!

The Six Paths of Pain surrounding him were caught as well. The Parasite strings burrowed into their bodies, and all six suddenly stopped moving.

"Fufufufufu!"

Doflamingo's arrogant laughter rang out. "What's the matter? Can't move?"

His hands moved as if he were playing a beautiful piano melody. With a slight lift of his ring finger, the bald Asura Path stiffly walked over to Deva Path Pain like a puppet, revealed its mechanical fist, and swung it down hard.

"Fool."

Deva Path Pain didn't change expression. The Asura Path's fist stopped right in front of him, its fierce gust of wind no more than a breeze brushing his face.

"How is that possible?" Doflamingo cried in shock. No matter how he used his Devil Fruit power, he couldn't control the Six Paths of Pain with his Parasite strings.

"Foolish."

Pain had no interest in explaining how he controlled the Six Paths of Pain, much less revealing that they were puppets made from six corpses. How could the puppets he'd made with his own hands disobey his will? That strange white string might give him a little trouble, but that was all.

Doflamingo soon realized that even though the Parasite strings had taken control of the muscles and joints of the figures before him, they still couldn't control their movements.

"Oh-ho-ho, so you're puppets to begin with?" Doflamingo quickly figured it out. "Then the warm-up's over!"

Doflamingo slowly lowered himself to the ground with his white strings. A snowy ripple spread out beneath his feet, turning everything it touched—ground and buildings alike—into white strands.

"Ever White!" Countless thin, transparent white strings rose from the ground in horizontal lines, forming an angry wave that surged toward the enemy. Doflamingo controlled the strings with both hands, sending them closing in on Pain and the others from every direction.

"It isn't ninjutsu. I can't absorb it." The Preta Path nodded to Deva Path Pain, who understood what he meant through their shared mind.

In that case, Deva Path stepped forward, and the other five Paths gathered behind him. He brought his hands together and activated the Rinnegan's power.

"Shinra Tensei!"

A force of repulsion, even more terrifying than before, spread outward from Deva Path and the others. The enormous wave of white strings was driven straight back

until it struck the layers of netting Doflamingo had woven, bringing it to a halt.

Doflamingo kept flicking his fingers, sending another white wave surging toward Deva Path and the others, just as powerful as the first.

Pain didn't try to meet it head-on. The Preta Path quickly formed Hand Seals and summoned a giant Yata Crow, which carried the group out of the attack's path.

The surging strings missed and converged into a huge, twisted white torrent that rose up and rushed toward the bird in the sky.

"Summoning Technique!" A massive stone panda statue fell from above and landed on the white wave, pinning it to the ground.

Doflamingo had finally used his Devil Fruit Awakening to seize control of the battle's rhythm. He had no intention of letting up; his attacks continued without pause.

"Thousand Arrows Piercing Heart: Feather Strike String!"

Thousands of strands wrapped in Armament Haki suddenly surged out of the white ground, spreading around Pain and the others in the shape of a flamingo's wings.

"Shinra Tensei!" A tremendous repulsive force again spread outward from Pain, driving back the countless strings and perfectly deflecting the attacks from every direction. But with the forces canceling each other out, the repulsion posed no threat to Doflamingo.

Now! A sharp glint flashed behind Doflamingo's glasses. The instant Deva Path used Shinra Tensei, Doflamingo activated his Devil Fruit power and readied his next attack!

"Sixteen Holy Bullets: God Thread!"

Sixteen billowing waves of white string rose from the ground, stabbing toward Deva Path Pain and the others at tremendous speed.

The Yata Crow was pierced straight through by the attack, which was wrapped in densely packed Armament Haki. Deva Path Pain and the others were left exposed.

With no time to dodge, the group could only use the Asura Path's metal body as a shield and brace for impact.

"Bang!" The Yata Crow was struck and vanished in a cloud of smoke, ending the summoning.

The Six Paths landed atop the stone panda. The Asura Path, with its metal body, was battered and full of holes. The Animal Path, who had summoned the beasts, along with the Human Path and Preta Path, who had done little throughout the fight, had all been seriously injured by that single attack.

"Fufufufu! You can't keep using that move forever, can you?" Doflamingo laughed triumphantly. Seeing his enemy gravely wounded after he'd exploited the gap between attacks left him as satisfied as if he'd killed a sworn foe!

"Then there are only two left!" There was the strange ability to manipulate attraction and repulsion, and one puppet with an unknown ability. That repulsive force had a cooldown, too. The advantage was mine!

Doflamingo confidently controlled the white strings, gathering them into several waves that rolled forward and swallowed Deva Path Pain.

Deva Path Pain remained expressionless. The Naraka Path, who looked like a middle-aged man, seemed unconcerned by the attack about to come. He summoned a bizarre, enormous humanoid head with a face like a King of Hell and the character "King" carved into its crown.

"Shinra Tensei!" Deva Path Pain said coldly, driving back every incoming white wave.

Seeing Pain use Shinra Tensei, Doflamingo was delighted. This move will finish you! Several enormous white strands surged up from every direction, wrapped in potent Armament Haki and aimed straight at Pain.

Clang! The white strands didn't hit Pain and the others. Instead, they struck an enormous crab.

"What?"

"Mortal, you see the tree, but not the forest!"

Deva Path Pain, the Animal Path, the Naraka Path, the Asura Path, and the Preta Path—unharmed—appeared beneath the crab's belly. The giant crab had been wounded by the attack and vanished in a cloud of white smoke.

Doflamingo watched as the bizarre, open-mouthed head summoned another figure—the last one, the Human Path. The six reappeared, unharmed. He instantly understood: the final puppet's ability was healing! He felt as if he'd been toyed with...

"Six puppets, six different abilities? What a pain..." Doflamingo thought, still working his hands. The entire ground, made up of white strings, began twisting into a whirlpool. Dozens more waves surged in from all around, while string attacks from above and below closed in on the Six Paths, blotting out the sky.

Faced with this inescapable net of attacks, the summoned King of Hell swallowed all six Paths at once. Then the summoned stone panda crumbled, its fragments quickly enclosing the King of Hell and forming a massive stone sphere.

The white strings coated in Armament Haki smashed through the stone exterior with unstoppable force. But when they struck the King of Hell's head, their advance was greatly slowed. In those few seconds, Shinra Tensei had cooled down.

The white waves crashed like towering breakers, only to be driven back. The giant stone sphere shattered into pieces, revealing the Six Paths of Pain, unharmed.

"That's enough. This ends now. Banshō Ten'in!"

An irresistible pull seized Doflamingo and dragged him toward Pain at tremendous speed. The repulsive force swept away the white strings along the way, leaving them no time to stop him.

"Asura—Overlord Fist!" The bald Asura Path transformed its right forearm into a metal fist and slammed it into Doflamingo's abdomen while he was off balance.

The blow rolled Doflamingo's eyes back, knocking him unconscious.

Deva Path Pain remained expressionless as he tossed Doflamingo's comparatively large body to the ground. The Human Path crouched beside him and pressed a hand to his forehead, preparing to read his memories.

"Wait!"

The Human Path's expression darkened. It drove its right hand forward and crushed the head of the figure before it—but the head unraveled into loops of white string, and "Doflamingo's" body fell to the ground like a battered puppet. Its head had been crushed to pieces, with countless white strands still clinging to its neck. Following them down, the entire body could be seen to be made of those same white strings!

This wasn't Doflamingo's real body. It was a puppet Doflamingo had created with the String-String Fruit!