The Last Ripple?

Although the ships were not far from the port, these female marines were fully capable of swimming to shore. However, the Donquixote Family executives, who had been venting their pent-up frustration after being bombarded by them earlier, were not about to let them land so easily.

Seeing the situation below, Tsuru knew she could no longer remain tied down by Gray and the others.

"Fufufu..." Doflamingo finally let out a hearty laugh. "Tsuru, what will you do now?"

"I've heard that you Navy personnel are prepared to make sacrifices when on missions, but as their superior, can you really watch them die here?"

"They are wives to husbands, mothers to children, and children to their parents!" As he said this, the smile on Doflamingo's face turned ferocious. "Fufufu..."

"Will you abandon them, or continue to pursue us?"

Not wanting to let Doflamingo blather on, Tsuru decided she could no longer afford to hold back the move she had intended to surprise Gray with once she got closer.

To avoid being delayed by Gray and his companion, she had no choice but to act, even though the distance between them was still significant.

"Tempest Kick: Chaos!" She swung her legs rapidly, sending a barrage of sharp slashes toward Gray and Doflamingo.

"Just slashes?" Gray, whose Observation Haki had been enveloping the area, was not threatened by these attacks in the slightest.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Another Sky Crystal Flying Wheel rose from the wheelchair behind him. Controlled by his fruit ability, the lightning-wreathed wheel shot across the air.

"Eight-Fold Light Wheel!"

The speeding wheel, carrying immense cutting power and kinetic energy, easily sliced through the incoming slashes.

As for the rest, Gray simply shifted his position slightly to dodge them.

While Gray was busy dodging and attacking, Tsuru had already begun to dash toward the marines on the ground.

"Where do you think you're going, old hag?" Just then, Doflamingo, having finished stitching his lung fragments together, was already capable of movement and immediately flew toward Tsuru.

"Disobedient brat, come any closer and this old woman won't be so polite!"

"Hmph!" Tsuru turned her head, and that single fierce glare stunned Doflamingo for a split second.

But in the very next moment, whether out of irritation or something else, Doflamingo could no longer control his emotions.

"Not polite? Tell me exactly how you plan to be impolite!!!"

BOOM!!!

A black-red ring of light expanded outward as Doflamingo unleashed his Conqueror's Haki.

"Conqueror's Haki!" Tsuru paused, intending to turn back and finish off Doflamingo, but after glancing at the female marines below, she continued her descent.

The female marines, who had been holding up reasonably well, were now half-unconscious under the pressure of Doflamingo's Haki, while the remaining half were deep in the water, trying to retrieve their comrades.

This allowed the Donquixote Family executives on the shore to attack the marines at will.

If she didn't go down to help, the marines she had brought would be completely wiped out.

She now bitterly regretted the distance; she had enjoyed chasing Gray earlier, but now that distance felt agonizingly vast.

Fighting at an altitude of over two thousand meters meant she couldn't utilize the speed of the "Shave" technique, making the journey back feel infinitely long.

As a moderate in the Navy, she could not sit idly by while her marines died in vain. If it were a hawk like Sakazuki, he might only have eyes for Doflamingo's crew and wouldn't care about the sacrifices of the marines at all.

"Five-Colored Strings!" The strings were dyed pitch-black by the addition of Armament Haki.

Having suffered once before, Doflamingo no longer dared to engage in close-quarters combat. He could only disregard his Haki consumption, using an excessive amount to neutralize the effects of Tsuru's fruit and hinder her speed as she tried to return.

"Get lost, brat!" With a casual punch, Tsuru swatted away the strings, which had lost most of their power. She had no interest in playing a turn-based game with Doflamingo here.

Behind her, seeing that Doflamingo was mobile again, Gray no longer had to worry about his stamina.

The lightning-wreathed rotation of the Sky Crystal Flying Wheel was his current limit, but that limit was meant to be broken.

The magnetic field rotation had no limits; only Gray's stamina did.

He had never witnessed the true power of an all-out attack when he didn't have to conserve his energy.

And now, the time had come.

"Eight-Fold Light Wheel: Full Power!" The Sky Crystal Flying Wheel spun at maximum capacity, the magnetic field rotation accelerating rapidly as his stamina drained away.

This caused the wheel to spin faster and faster, the lightning upon it becoming increasingly dense. By the time the wheel was completely enveloped in electricity, Gray had only enough stamina left to land on the ground.

This... is my final...

Holding the Sky Crystal Flying Wheel aloft, he kept Tsuru locked in his Observation Haki.

"Limit Break: Meteor Style Two!"

The Sky Crystal Flying Wheel streaked through the air like a meteor, its speed officially breaking the sound barrier.

"Dangerous!" Even with her back to the enemy, Tsuru's Observation Haki prevented her from being caught off guard. It wasn't that she didn't want to interrupt Gray's attack, but she was being held back.

The marines below needed her, and Doflamingo was clinging to her like a plaster, impossible to shake off.

"Iron Body: Steel!" Using a derivative of the Iron Body technique, she coated her right arm in thick Armament Haki, gathered all her strength, and struck out.

As the Sky Crystal Flying Wheel entered the range of her fruit ability, Tsuru exerted all her power to "wash" the energy from it, finally combining her externalized Haki with the force of her right arm.

BOOM!

A visible shockwave swept across the area, causing Doflamingo's coat to flap violently in the wind.

"Fufufu... well done, Gray!"

"Leave the rest to me!" Even behind her sunglasses, Tsuru could clearly sense the thick malice in Doflamingo's eyes at this moment.

"Is this the extent of it?" His full-power attack hadn't caused Tsuru any trouble, and Gray knew he still had a long way to go.

"No choice then! I'll have to double my training from now on!" Even though he was unwilling, Gray could only land on the island and head toward the family's retreat ship.

Having little stamina left, he had effectively announced his exit.

Yet, what Gray didn't know after he left was that Tsuru, having caught his attack, had inevitably begun to breathe heavily.

There was no helping it; she was already of advanced age, and when she first attacked Doflamingo, she hadn't thought to conserve her strength.

She had intended to take Doflamingo down with thunderous speed, and had it not been for Gray bringing Shark Chili along, Doflamingo would have already been captured.

During the subsequent pursuit of Gray, the three of them had reached altitudes of over two thousand meters, where the stamina consumed by Moonwalk and the aerial combat against Gray's Rotation Field had taken their toll.

Facing the attacks from Gray and Doflamingo afterward, she had used her Devil Fruit ability at full power several times, and after blocking Gray's current limit-breaking attack, she was merely breathing heavily.

If anything, it was a testament to why she was the Marine Grand Staff Officer!

And so, even though she appeared to have exhausted much of her stamina, Doflamingo dared not approach the tiger's whiskers, choosing only to observe from the periphery.