Law's Strategy

Doflamingo recognizes the man who interrupted him in midair: "You're the Strawhat crew's... 'Black Leg,' aren't you?" Sanji answers by setting his leg ablaze and naming the attack: "Diable Jambe... Go, Sanji!!!" He drives straight in and lands Premier Hache, his burning kick smashing into Doflamingo amid violent impact lines and Doflamingo's laugh of "Fuffuffu!!!" The attack shakes the air above the Sunny, and Sanji's face tightens as he sees Doflamingo's hand twitch. The battle has barely started, but it is already clear that Doflamingo is not merely taking the hit; he is preparing to answer with something Sanji cannot yet see.

Doflamingo retaliates with "Five Shade Thread!!!" and invisible slashes rake through the air around Sanji. Sanji is blown backward with a cry of "Uwah!!" while Doflamingo mocks him from a distance: "Just try to protect them, those friends of yours!!!" Below, the crew on the Sunny sees Sanji falling and cries out, "Sanji-kun!!" and "Sanji-san!" Doflamingo grins with "Fufu fufufu!!!" as the ship panics. Nami, Brook, Chopper, and the others shout, "He's coming...!!!" and "Go away!" The scene makes the threat explicit: Doflamingo is using Sanji's rescue attempt to pressure the entire crew, not just the fighter in front of him.

Sanji answers Doflamingo's thread attack by igniting even hotter flame. He calls out "Poele a Frire" and then "Spectre!!!" as a storm of rapid flaming kicks crashes through the air. Doflamingo is pushed into defense while Sanji's legs blur in a sequence of hard impacts, each strike cutting into the space between them. For a moment, Sanji forces Doflamingo to take him seriously. Doflamingo's reaction is not fear but interest: "Ooh..!! What strength! You sure can fight." The praise is dangerous rather than respectful, because Doflamingo is measuring Sanji's strength while preparing the next move.

The advantage flips instantly. Sanji is struck in midair and suddenly cannot move. He shouts, "What the!? I can't move!" while someone on the Sunny realizes, "What!? Sanji-san has stopped in mid-air!!" Another voice explains what is happening: "Ohhohho he can't move!! That's the young master's ability at work!! Now he's like an insect caught in a spider's web!!" Doflamingo looms before Sanji, smiling at his trapped prey. Nami screams, "Sanji-kun, run away!!" but the warning comes too late. Doflamingo's next line is a death sentence: "Just waiting for death!!!" Sanji is suspended helplessly by unseen string.

Doflamingo raises his hand and declares the execution: "Over"... The crew understands the nature of the attack at last. Nami blurts, "A whip!?" Sanji warns them, "Don't try anything! Just get away!!" and then, seeing the attack forming, shouts, "Fly with Coup de Burst!!!" Nami begins to answer, "We could never..." because the ship is not ready for that kind of escape. Doflamingo's string whips down, but Law intervenes from below with "Shambles!!" The attack cuts into empty space, and Sanji is pulled out of the fatal line. Law has used his power to snatch Sanji away at the instant Doflamingo tried to finish him.

Law expands a huge "Room!!" over the sea and sky, large enough to include the Sunny, Doflamingo, Sanji, and the space between them. Doflamingo's attack is written as "Excess Whip String," and the force of it cuts through the air with "Heat!!!" Sanji appears in Law's range, shocked but alive, while Doflamingo registers that the target has vanished. Law's power has not solved the battle; it has only bought a few seconds. Still, those seconds matter. Sanji, Law, and Caesar are now closer together, the Sunny is still in danger, and Doflamingo's attention shifts from killing Sanji to understanding Law's next move.

Doflamingo sees the substitution and says, "Ah!? It's Law!" A ring-shaped object pops through the air while Law moves Caesar and Sanji out of immediate reach. Doflamingo snarls, "That brat..." The action shifts back toward Dressrosa, where the shock of the battle reaches the city: a slash tears across the sky and people below shout, "What!? What's going on!?" and "Uwahh!!" The page ties the sky battle to the island itself. Law's Room is so wide, and Doflamingo's strings are so destructive, that their clash is no longer isolated over the Sunny; Dressrosa's citizens can see the consequences cutting across their own skyline.

Law drops Sanji and Caesar onto the Sunny's side of the exchange. The crew shouts, "It's Tora-man!! He saved Sanji!!" Sanji immediately apologizes: "Sorry, this was my fault!!" and urges, "Let's jump to the ship!!" Nami calls, "Sanji-kun!!" while the others shout "Tora-man-san!!" and panic as Law's substitutions pop around the ship. Caesar is shoved back into the crisis and yells, "Nuahh!!! Shit! Back on this damn ship!!!" He tries to complain that Jora is not enough to save him, insisting, "Oh, it's Jora isn't it! Save me!! They captured me as well!" Jora protests, "How careless of me!!" but the crew's priority has already changed: escape now matters more than arguing with either hostage.

The crew tries to pull Law into their escape, but he keeps the plan narrow. Caesar screams, "Doflamingo's coming again!!" Law asks Sanji, "Black Leg-ya! How's the 'factory destruction' plan coming along?" Sanji answers, "We know the factory's location, but Franky says that it's going to be much harder to destroy than we ever could have thought." Momonosuke asks after Kin'emon and Kanjuro: "And my father!? And what of Kanjuro!? Sangorou!!" Sanji tells him that the samurai is also at the factory and will be rescued when everything is done. Then Law reveals the key piece: Caesar's heart. Caesar shouts, "Hey!! Is that heart mine!? You just brought it from inside the cabin!!" Law says, "This is my heart. Your heart is currently inside me." He hands over the hostage and commands, "Anyhow, you need to take this guy, and hurry along to Zou!!"

Brook questions Law's order: "You say 'next island,' but what of Luffy-san and the others?" Law answers that it is the next island and says, "I thought I already gave you the vivre-card." Nami refuses the idea of abandoning their captain: "Absolutely not!! We're waiting!! There's no way we can set sail without our captain!! We're the Strawhat crew, after all!!" Law, however, insists on the broader plan: "Once the factory is destroyed, we'll have no more business on this island. So we'll follow along after you soon enough!" The sea around them remains violent and strange, with flowers and waves swallowing the background, but the argument is sharper than the scenery. Law is asking the crew to trust a plan that splits them from Luffy.

A battleship suddenly flies toward the Sunny. The crew cries, "That battleship is flying at us!!!" and "But how!?" The danger is not only the falling ship; Doflamingo is also approaching from above. Law gives his condition plainly: "You're free to stay, but I cannot let him have Caesar." Someone on the Sunny points upward and warns, "And Doflamingo is coming from over there!!!" Law's strategy has become unavoidable. If the Sunny stays, Caesar will be taken. If Caesar is taken, the plan against Kaido and the destruction of the Smile supply collapse. The flying ship, Doflamingo's pursuit, and Caesar's value all converge into one decision: the Sunny must leave.

The Sunny fires and surges through the chaos while massive debris crashes around it. Someone shouts, "Fire!!!" and the ship booms away as the crew cries, "Wahh!!" Then another threat falls from above. The crew sees flaming rocks tearing down through the sky and shouts, "Meteors!?" and "And now something's raining down from the sky!!!" Law answers with another "Room!!" trying to manipulate the battlefield before the ship is crushed. The page compresses every danger into one moment: Doflamingo is attacking, Fujitora's meteors are falling, the ship is maneuvering, and the sea around Green Bit refuses to give the crew any safe route.

Law orders the Sunny to move: "Tora-man-kun, we're the swirllystraw crew now, so let's set sail!!!" someone announces, while Sanji calls, "Hey, Law!! Then hurry up and go!!" Sanji understands the risk but also the necessity: "I understand that we need to get Caesar far away from here. And I don't care if we have to go on ahead now, but..." He turns the accusation back on Law: "Aren't you... focusing a bit too much on Doflamingo?" Sanji reminds him, "I thought that Dressrosa only represented a checkpoint in our plans. And that our mutual goal was to take down the Emperor, Kaidou!!!" Then the meteor comes into view and everyone screams, "The meteor!! The meteor!!!" Law snaps his fingers with "Tact!" and redirects the falling disaster.

Fujitora notices the meteor's course change and casually says, "Whoops that was careless. Law must be right below us..." Even while eating, he adjusts to the shifting battlefield: "This battle... seems to be changing location... so adjust our bearings." The Marines panic as the ship is hit: "Isshou-san!! The hull is breached!!!" A Marine tries to report, "Lesh prosheed to Dre-shrosa," and Fujitora keeps calmly eating. Meanwhile, Caesar recognizes the danger from Doflamingo's previous string attack: "Joker, save me!!!" and "It's the whip from before!!" Doflamingo laughs, "Fuffuffu!!" as he sends "Over Heat!!!" across the water, a long burning string attack that lashes toward the fleeing Sunny.

Law explains Doflamingo's movement to the crew while the attack bears down on them: "Listen closely. Head for somewhere that doesn't have clouds!! Doflamingo has the ability of the Ito Ito no Mi." Sanji grasps the hidden mechanics: "He can move through the air by attaching his strings to clouds? So he can't chase you into an area with no clouds!! Strings...!! So that's what they were!" Caesar panics, "Young master! Please don't worry about me!!!" while the crew shouts, "Doflamingo!! Look here!!" and "Law! What's this all about!" Caesar yells, "Get ready for the Coup de Burst!!!" The Sunny launches forward in a burst of speed, trying to outrun both the string attack and Doflamingo's cloud-based pursuit.

Doflamingo watches the Sunny vanish toward clearer sky and asks, "So what exactly was the point... of helping half of the Strawhat crew escape...?" Law answers from the bridge: "When the other half is in Dressrosa...!! I'll just take them hostage and force the others to return Caesar to me." He adds, "If you try that... well, there are far too many... who underestimated this crew and were burned for it, isn't that right?" The Sunny crew, now separated from him, looks stunned as Law says, "It's unfortunate, but my pirate alliance with the Strawhat crew ends here!" Luffy, elsewhere, reacts with a shocked "Ah!?" The alliance that was supposed to continue through Dressrosa is being severed by Law's own hand.

Law finally states what has truly driven him. While Doflamingo says, "Although I'd love to see the ensuing chaos that your death brings to the world..." Law remembers the deeper wound: after joining Doflamingo, using him to stop the production of "SMILE"s was Law's only aim. Even if Law fails to take revenge directly in this battle, Doflamingo will have lost his Smile supply, and Kaidou will eliminate him. Law tells Joker that setting matters right from thirteen years ago is far more important than the present alliance: "It's far more important to set matters right in regards to 13 years ago!!! Joker!!!" Doflamingo smiles and answers, "I see how it is... so you are prepared to die along with me...!!!" The chapter ends with Law choosing revenge, sabotage, and sacrifice over escape.

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