In the narrow underground space, Bellamy's punch shattered the earth. But the violent tremor also shook the entire fissure. Countless clumps of dirt and loose stones rained down from above, crashing onto their heads. If he kept fighting like this, the fissure would collapse.
"Captain!" Drake couldn't help but glance at Bellamy. If this chasm caved in, they would be in a dangerous situation.
"Today, either he dies, or I do." Bellamy threw another punch, giving his answer without a moment's hesitation.
"You actually caught up."
"Fuffuffuffuffo!"
Although his situation was rather pathetic, Doflamingo laughed with genuine delight.
"Slow down, Pica."
"Young Master!"
Pica found it hard to understand, but he followed his master's command and slowed their descent.
It seems I've been underestimated.
How long had it been since he was in such a sorry state, chased around like a stray dog? Bellamy's actions had thoroughly ignited Doflamingo's vicious nature. No great pirate ever became famous by running away. Even a ridiculous figure like Buggy the Clown had hands stained with blood. As a pirate, Doflamingo certainly did not lack the courage for a desperate, life-or-death struggle.
"Then let's settle this underground, Bellamy!"
"The loser will be buried forever in this unknown darkness."
With a laugh like a screeching owl, sixteen great waves of white string, each wrapped in high-density Armament Haki, rose from the surrounding earth, lancing upwards with lightning speed.
Sixteen Holy Assassin's Bullets: God Execution!
Just as Bellamy's fist tore open the ground, sixteen jet-black spikes erupted from below, shooting toward his head.
"Watch out!" Drake only had time to shout a warning as he saw his captain about to be hit.
At this incredibly critical moment, Bellamy quickly raised his right arm to protect his head.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
A rapid series of metallic clashes rang out, and countless sparks flew in the pitch-black underground. Caught off guard, Bellamy's arm was pierced with more than a dozen large holes, and blood flowed freely from them.
But before Doflamingo could let out a triumphant laugh, Bellamy reached out and grabbed all the strings in his hand.
"Is this all you've got?"
Before his words had even faded, the wounds on his arm began to heal at a visible rate, as if by magic. The best way to defeat Bellamy was to inflict a devastating injury in a single blow. This kind of piecemeal attack was completely ineffective against him.
By the dim light of the sparks, Doflamingo once again witnessed the terrifying nature of the Spring-Man. At that moment, he couldn't help but wonder, Can a monster like this truly be killed? This rate of healing was even more horrifying than that of the legendary monster, Kaido of the Beasts. When Doflamingo had fought Kaido back then, he had never seen such a terrifying self-healing ability on the so-called immortal creature.
No, he still has weaknesses!
As long as Bellamy was human, he couldn't escape the absolute vital points of a human body. Otherwise, he wouldn't have abandoned his attack just now to defend himself. Since a direct frontal assault wasn't working, it was time to try a different method.
At this thought, Doflamingo swung his one remaining arm, and the sixteen Holy Assassin's Bullets held in Bellamy's grasp began to struggle violently. Then, the surrounding earth began to change rapidly. Wave after wave of string tides appeared once more, surging toward Bellamy.
But this time, Doflamingo changed his approach. He chose to use a massive number of strings to obscure Bellamy's vision, while infusing a single, separate thread with a large amount of Armament Haki to launch a sneak attack on his vitals.
Nameless Darkness: God Piercing!
The awakened ability of the String-String Fruit instantly transformed the entire underground space into an ocean of threads. In this white tide, Bellamy and Drake had almost no place to stand.
"So this is a Devil Fruit Awakening!"
Facing this power head-on for the first time, Drake finally felt Doflamingo's true ferocity.
"Don't be afraid."
"This kind of power can't last for long."
The stamina consumption of an Awakening was more than ten times that of a normal ability. If there were no limits, Doflamingo wouldn't have had to flee at all; he could have just turned the entire island into strings and worn Bellamy down to death. But now, the one being worn down was clearly Doflamingo. Bellamy was banking on the fact that this ability couldn't be maintained indefinitely, which was why he was attacking so recklessly.
And in fact, his assessment was correct. If Doflamingo kept up this kind of assault without success, he would soon fall into a state of weakness.
Faced with this wave of counterattacks, Bellamy responded with extreme calm.
"Guard your vitals. Ignore everything else."
With Drake's physique, as long as his head wasn't chopped off on the spot, Bellamy didn't have to worry about him dying.
As for himself, in just the past few seconds, his intuition had already sounded several alarms. Clearly, something was lurking in the shadows, targeting his weak points.
You want to wear me down? Let's see who can outlast whom.
As long as Doflamingo didn't run, Bellamy had all the patience in the world to play this game with him. In a battle of stamina, the winner would undoubtedly be him. There was absolutely no question about it.
The tide of strings continued to surge, slowly swallowing Bellamy and Drake. Countless threads grazed their bodies, leaving a dense network of cuts. This should have been Doflamingo's strongest ability; anyone caught in this sea of strings would be ground to death. But the one thing Bellamy feared the least was precisely this kind of slow, grinding attack.
If Doflamingo understood Bellamy's abilities, he would never have launched such an attack with a sliver of hope. He was already beginning to sense that something was wrong, having secretly laid an assassination thread, stealthily aiming at Bellamy's vitals. But this time, Bellamy didn't seem to be in a hurry to break out. Instead, he began to bide his time within the tide of strings, as if he were trapped and unable to escape.
If it weren't for the sheer number of strings constantly snapping against his body, Doflamingo might have actually believed it.
Is this guy trying to exhaust my stamina?
After calculating his own consumption, Doflamingo was horrified to find that since the start of the battle, he had already used up half of his stamina. If this continued, he would be completely drained in a few hours.
When did this happen?!
This was only the second time he had ever encountered such a situation. Apart from Kaido, no one had ever thought of using such a method to completely drain his stamina.