Chapter 257: Choice
The roles were reversed.
This time, Marco launched an attack on Axel, while Doflamingo sat leisurely to the side and watched.
Compared to Jozu, Marco's attacks were not as overwhelmingly powerful, but they were by no means weak. His advantage did not lie in brute strength, but in agility.
At the same time, as a phoenix, his terrifying recovery ability allowed him to force his body through movements that would normally injure him, gaining power and speed through a reckless fighting style that traded injury for pressure.
And since Marco's overall strength surpassed Axel's in a direct confrontation, the battle lasted only a few minutes before the tide began to shift in his favor.
"Stop struggling."
Marco attacked while speaking.
"Your defeat is only a matter of time, and I don't like attacking children."
"My life is on the line here. I can't exactly give up."
Despite saying that, Axel knew very well that if things continued like this, Marco was right.
This was not a long-term solution.
At present, the only things that could break the deadlock were probably his two strongest moves.
One was the Prison of Absolute Blades.
Its destructive power could definitely exceed Marco's recovery speed. However, that move was designed for slow and cumbersome opponents, not someone as agile as Marco.
Even if Marco chose to take it head-on, Axel did not know whether Doflamingo would interfere.
The second was the Chaos state.
It was a skill Axel had created by chance, and now it seemed to be a symptom of something wrong with his Brain Domain expansion.
Back then, he had not realized it and had thought it was a normal phenomenon.
But the state he had entered earlier had felt like his emotions were sinking into chaos.
If he gave his body over to his desires again, he did not know whether the consequences would become even worse.
Unless it was the most critical moment, Axel absolutely would not use it.
As the battle continued, people gradually began to gather around the ruins.
The first to arrive were the other crew members from Marco's ship.
Seeing their captain come over, they had naturally followed. However, because they had been blocked by the Donquixote Family and were not as fast as Marco, they had only just reached the battlefield.
There were also some curious residents of Dressrosa.
The commotion from Axel and Marco's fight was not as massive as Pica's earlier, so a few brave citizens had quietly sneaked over to investigate.
Seeing Marco, his crew members shouted during a brief lull in the fight.
"Captain Marco! We're here to support you!"
"Where's Captain Jozu?"
Marco was at a loss for words.
He did not know how to answer.
Jozu had been turned into a toy right under his nose.
And at that moment, Marco had chosen to watch from the side.
He had no idea how to explain that to the others.
Just then, Axel landed a kick that sent Marco flying backward.
"It's not good to get distracted during a fight."
After saying that, Axel suddenly gathered the surrounding wind, forming wind wings on his back before flying toward the sky.
However, just as he was about to escape, Doflamingo kicked him back down.
"That applies to you too."
Doflamingo smiled from above.
"This grand show isn't over yet. How can the actor leave?"
Axel fell to the ground, quickly stood up, and patted the dust off his uninjured body.
He looked at Doflamingo with some resentment.
As expected, this guy would not let him leave so easily.
The sudden turn of events caught the pirates off guard.
They had never expected Captain Marco to be kicked away.
When it actually happened, indignation immediately filled them.
The moment Axel hit the ground, they all drew their firearms and pulled the triggers without hesitation.
Each of them was a battle-hardened veteran.
Hitting a target dozens of meters away was child's play for them.
They aimed at vital points.
The head.
The heart.
The chest.
Once such a dense volley landed, there was no doubt that no one could escape death.
They did not hold back just because Axel was a child.
For pirates, age did not matter.
There were only enemies and allies.
That remained true even for the Whitebeard Pirates.
Rat-tat-tat!
Gunfire rang out as a curtain of bullets swept across the battlefield.
Dense ammunition tore through the air with sharp whistles, flying straight toward Axel.
Although steel-core bullets lacked some penetration power, piercing a child's flesh should have been easy.
At that moment, Axel's red pupils slowly widened.
Then came a sudden sense of tyranny.
The bullets spinning through the air gradually stopped rotating.
One by one, they halted in front of him.
They neither fell nor continued forward.
They simply dotted the space before his eyes like stars in the night sky.
And he was the one controlling those stars.
"Run!" Marco shouted to his crew.
After fighting Axel, Marco had become somewhat familiar with his ability.
This kind of bullet attack could not possibly overcome his power.
Instead, it might become a tool for his counterattack.
Realizing this, Marco immediately issued an order to his subordinates while moving his body between the bullets and his crew.
At this moment, Axel only needed to wave his hand slightly.
The bullets would regain their momentum and fly back toward their owners at an even greater speed.
However, he slowly lowered his hand.
The bullets fell to the ground one after another.
It was like a furious monarch retracting his anger in an instant.
The change felt jarring.
"This script is getting boring."
Doflamingo's voice carried disappointment.
He twitched his fingers, connecting silk threads to the pirates and skillfully manipulating them.
"Stop it!"
One pirate shouted as he swung his blade at another.
"My body is moving on its own! It's not me!"
"I... what's going on? My body's moving on its own too!"
The entire scene immediately fell into chaos.
Marco instantly realized what was happening and roared, "Doflamingo! You bastard, stop this right now!"
"Fufufufu..."
Doflamingo laughed.
"I just thought this play was getting a bit dull, so I wanted to add some fun for you."
"Hmm...?"
Axel stepped forward and instantly closed in on Sugar.
Realizing this, Doflamingo immediately stopped his game and appeared in front of Axel, blocking him.
"I can't let you ruin the game..."
"This game is only for you."
Axel's voice was low.
"No one else is interested."
His tone carried a trace of irritation, as if he were restraining something.
When those crew members had attacked him just now, a surge of tyranny had welled up in his heart.
It told him to kill everyone.
To release the emotions inside.
However, Axel had restrained himself at the last moment.
At the same time, while Doflamingo was playing his little game, Axel had launched a surprise attack on Sugar.
As long as he defeated Sugar now, everything would be undone.
Although this action would instantly plunge the country into darkness, and although Doflamingo would never allow the truth to be exposed, which meant a bloody suppression would surely follow, things had already reached this point.
Axel was no longer prepared to worry about that much.
.....
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