One Piece Gunslinger

After following the birdcage for about 2,500 meters from the palace, Li Ang muttered, "I reckon the fighting over there has started by now, and it should be deadlocked soon."

Since that was the case, Li Ang stopped, took out a signal gun from his pocket, and pulled the trigger towards the sky.

Chapter 263 Using a Birdcage

"Look, he's sent a signal!" Sabo was the first to spot the signal flare fired by Leon and quickly alerted Fujitora, regardless of whether Fujitora could actually see it.

Upon hearing this, Fujitora smiled as he flew through the air, indicating that the time was ripe.

However, just because Fujitora couldn't see it didn't mean he couldn't detect the signal flare. His Observation Haki had such a wide range that he could even sense meteorites in outer space. Right now, Li Ang was less than three thousand meters away from him, and he easily detected the signal flare and Li Ang.

In contrast to Fujitora's smile, Doflamingo, who just a few seconds ago thought the Revolutionary Army was nothing special and wondered if he was overthinking things, now felt his heart sink.

"What's going on with this signal flare? What does its appearance mean?" I couldn't help but fall into that panic again.

"What was that signal flare just now? Did you have some other tricks up your sleeve?" Doflamingo said, waving a row of thin threads as he slashed at Fujitora.

Fujitora calmly cut the threads, saying, "Why ask if I have any tricks up my sleeve? You'll find out soon enough."

The two were the only pair fighting in mid-air; perhaps fighting on the ground would have been too risky and could have affected others. Although not as strong as Fujitora, Doflamingo was able to hold his own for a while thanks to his awakened Devil Fruit abilities. He placed all his hopes on the other executives.

However, Doflamingo had a feeling that Fujitora wasn't using his full strength and was just trying to hold off Doflamingo without going all out to defeat him as quickly as possible.

If Fujitora were to go all out, Doflamingo would only be able to hold out for a few minutes at most. Why would Fujitora do that?

Why isn't Fujitora using his full strength? He's holding Doflamingo back in this battle because he shares the same idea as Doflamingo: to place his hopes elsewhere.

As for this so-called other place, of course, it must be Li Ang.

So just as Doflamingo was living in fear and on guard against any sudden changes, those changes actually happened.

Right before everyone's eyes, a spray of blood suddenly splattered from Torrepol's chest.

"Unbelievable," was Torrepol's first reaction; he had never been shot.

Regardless of where the bullet came from or what damage it caused, the fact that it could see through his slimy camouflage and accurately hit the thin, hunched body beneath it is already terrifying. This means that all his intelligence has been revealed to the Revolutionary Army, no matter how well he hid it.

The one who started this shot was, of course, Li Ang, who was far away outside the birdcage. Only he could see through Torrepol's disgusting slimy disguise.

Everyone in the Revolutionary Army was inside the circle. Even Sabo, who wasn't originally in the circle, led his men into the circle before the Birdcage was built.

Li Ang was the only exception; he was outside the industry.

Li Ang's unusual actions were not merely a way to show off his eccentricities or boredom.

This is partly because Li Ang doesn't want to show his face and make it famous, and partly because it's related to this decisive battle.

This was Li Ang's deliberate act; staying outside the birdcage was exactly what he wanted.

Knowing that the birdcage was bound to appear and could not be destroyed, how to deal with it became more important. Li Ang had already arrived at the edge of the island, just waiting for the birdcage to fall and stop him outside.

In his view, the appearance of the Birdcage could not be ignored. Although it was Doflamingo's ultimate move and final trump card, even Doflamingo himself could not stop, retract, or destroy the Birdcage unless he lost consciousness or died.

In that case, this terrain advantage could very well become Li Ang's terrain advantage.

Anyone who has played any DOTA-like game knows that for a squishy damage dealer, the hardest thing to find is a good position to deal damage, as they are most easily targeted and have their backline attacked. No matter how high their damage output is, it's all for naught if they can't deliver it.

So what is the birdcage? It's a barrier, an insurmountable barrier. Li Ang can completely hide behind the barrier and stand still to unleash his full power. No one can stop him; they can only take hits inside the birdcage.

As long as Li Ang can unleash his full potential in a safe environment, he can save the world, become the MVP, and dominate the battlefield.

In Li Ang's words, this is "nothing is unusable; even the enemy's ultimate move can be turned into my capital under the right conditions."

With everyone on the King's Heights and Li Ang on the ground, how could the Don Quixote family members be shot with such a large height difference?

This is where the hardworking and meritorious Fujitora will have to step in.

This is why Doflamingo felt that Fujitora wasn't using his full strength. Fujitora was still two thousand meters away, distracted by controlling Leon to keep him stable in mid-air. It would be a miracle if he was using his full strength.

As for the previously mentioned two thousand meters, it's because Li Ang's range is only two thousand meters. If it exceeds two thousand meters, the hit rate will be greatly reduced.

If you want to be extremely precise, like hitting your little finger but never your thumb, then one kilometer is the limit.

This is why Li Ang chose to shoot the body instead of his usual head; a distance of two thousand meters is too far, and the bullet would take more than two seconds to travel through the air. The wind speed and the character's movements are also too unpredictable factors, and Li Ang dared not be careless.

Therefore, Li Ang devised a plan to attack when the birdcage shrank to a radius of three kilometers. By the time the two armies were locked in fierce fighting and focused their attention on the enemy in front, the birdcage had shrank to about two kilometers.

At this moment, Li Ang once again demonstrated his sharpshooting skills, firing a sniper shot from two thousand meters away, which was impossible to defend against, eliminating an enemy with a single bullet.

This is Li Ang's combat method: you block in front, and I'll detonate explosives in the rear.

Moreover, no one could see Li Ang's extraordinary prowess. All the living people on the island were gathered inside the circle, and he was the only special person outside the circle. Moreover, given his flight altitude, even people below couldn't see him clearly with binoculars; they could only see his outline.

Trebol's fall, shot and wounded, was undoubtedly a huge blow to the Donquixote Family, and everyone's faces immediately darkened. At that moment, everyone was focused on the battle before them; perhaps only Doflamingo could understand what had happened.

"An attack from outside the Birdcage? That's the main point of attack in this battle. It seems even I can't control it, and you all know about the Birdcage. This defeat is not unjust." Doflamingo finally learned his lesson and understood the Revolutionary Army's plans. However, there was nothing he could do to reverse the situation. The destruction of the Donquixote Family was only a matter of time.

Fujitora nodded and said, "We didn't take any action before so that the Birdcage could be reduced to his firing range. From now on, every time he fires a shot, it means one of your officers will fall."

As expected, after Torrepol, the next to fall was Buffalo of the Spade Army. With a scream, Buffalo was also shot and fell to the ground. Two officers in quick succession were rendered incapacitated, their fates unknown. They didn't even know where the attack came from, which undoubtedly caused the Don Quixote family's morale to plummet.

Doflamingo glanced at the wounds of the two men. Neither of them had Armament Haki to protect them, so they couldn't stop the bullets fired by Li Ang and were shot right through them.

"Judging from this, this is the same person who killed Vergo before?"

It's natural to connect this to Vergo from before. Now that I think about it, I realize that merchant ships heading to certain places never returned, which means the Revolutionary Army was up to something.

Vergo was killed because he discovered the Revolutionary Army's movements. In order to prevent the Revolutionary Army's actions from being exposed, he also carried out some disguises, which confused the Navy and Doflamingo.

However, it was too late to think of these things now.

"That's right, but Vergo didn't die from that kind of attack. He died from a different kind of gun that was more powerful than a sniper rifle and could even penetrate Armament Haki. It's just that that kind of gun wasn't suitable for long-range attacks."

Fujitora's words were certainly not well-intentioned, nor were they meant to enlighten Doflamingo. Rather, he wanted Doflamingo to recognize reality: there was no turning back now, and surrendering sooner would be better for both sides.

Having received Fujitora's affirmation, Doflamingo gained a deeper understanding of the Revolutionary Army's strength. Moreover, a grand plan unfolded before him; the so-called World Conference was likely a smokescreen, with Dressrosa being the Revolutionary Army's primary objective from the start.

The only organization capable of using the World Conference as a smokescreen is the Revolutionary Army. The World Government has already lost ever since it responded to the Revolutionary Army's provocation of the World Conference.

Doflamingo quickly understood Fujitora's intention, but he shook his head: "Hehe, it seems my stage has already ended before it even began. Since it's a curtain call, then I should act like one."

At this point, Doflamingo shouted, "Pica, forget about the King's High Ground, let's cause one last ruckus!"

Pica, already in his stone giant form, was locked in a fierce battle with Sabo. Hearing Doflamingo's words, he understood that his situation couldn't get any worse, and he might very well be defeated here today.

Since things are as they were before, there's nothing to worry about.

Sabo channeled his Armament Haki and struck the stone giant with his staff, but to his surprise, the stone giant shattered into pieces.

"That's strange, he was pretty durable before," Sabo muttered to himself, tilting his head in confusion.

Nonsense, there's no one controlling it now, it's just a statue, of course it won't withstand a beating.

While Sabo was still wondering, the King's High Ground beneath their feet began to tremble violently.

Chapter 264 The Finale

"Sigh, it seems I was a bit too optimistic before, and it still came to this." Fujitora sighed as he watched Pica integrate into the King's Highlands and gradually take control of the entire highlands.

For Li Ang, the only two people he couldn't take down with a sniper rifle were Doflamingo and Pica. The former was incredibly powerful, possessing not only an awakened Devil Fruit but also Haki protecting him, and he was constantly trembling in the air with Fujitora, moving at high speed throughout, making Li Ang's attacks hardly a threat.

Pica, however, was hiding inside the rocks, and it was impossible to tell exactly where he was hiding from the mesh, unlike a mech piloted from the chest or head. He could hide anywhere he wanted.

Therefore, Li Ang was completely at a loss as to how to deal with this. Sabo fought with him for a while but only found his abilities unfathomable and made no progress.

Now, due to Pica's actions, the two sides that used the King's Highlands as a battlefield have had to temporarily cease hostilities and separate. Without a foothold, what's the point of fighting?

Of course, without the battlefield, Fujitora could only safely bring everyone down to the ground. The Donquixote Family members also used their unique abilities to jump off Pica.

"Wow! This giant is really cool." Sabo stood on the ground, trying his best to look up at the super giant that had been transformed from the King's High Ground, and couldn't help but exclaim.

The entire King's Highlands, including the royal palace and castle on it, has now become part of the Colossus's body.

Doflamingo, carrying Trebol in one hand and Buffalo in the other, descended from mid-air with these two heavily wounded men, grinning menacingly: "Did the legendary Chief of Staff anticipate this situation?"

"Is this your last resort?" Fujitora said. "If so, then it was exactly what I expected. I was hoping to persuade you to give up your last resistance."

Doflamingo asked in surprise, "Oh? You mean, my reactions were all predicted?"

Judging from this, it's obvious they don't believe it.

Fujitora rubbed his shoulders, didn't answer Doflamingo's question, and sighed, "It seems I'm destined to be a busybody; an easy life is impossible for me."

Leon wasn't surprised by Doflamingo's choice. Even knowing defeat was inevitable, his personality dictated that he would continue the fight. This allowed Pica to unleash his full power.

Fujitora hadn't believed it before, thinking he could make Doflamingo back down and give up. But in the end, Leon learned more about Doflamingo.

Doflamingo was still unclear about what Fujitora meant by those words, and why he suddenly started complaining about them.

Then Fujitora's next move revealed the answer.

"rise!"

Fujitora raised his sword high in front of everyone, and then they saw the giant's feet slowly leave the ground.

"Hey, you're kidding, right?" Doflamingo trembled at the sight. "Is this true power?"

The crowd, forced to gather due to the birdcage search, experienced a rollercoaster of emotions. Upon seeing the stone giant, they initially thought they were doomed; a fight would inevitably result in collateral damage, and even standing there wasn't safe.

Before the stone giant could even unleash its power, it was lifted high like a child, and no matter how much it waved its arms and legs, it couldn't do anything about it.

As the stone giant gradually floated up, everyone felt that time was stretched out like a thin thread. Although it was only a few seconds, it felt like a long time had passed.

Pica, who was being lifted up, was completely dumbfounded. His poor giant stone giant had just taken shape when he was lifted off the ground and cut off from the ground. He had no way to escape.

"This is amazing. I never thought it could be resolved so easily." Gaz's commentary brought everyone back to their senses.

As the stone giant rose higher and higher, Doflamingo understood that Fujitora wanted him to crash into the birdcage, so that the stone giant and Pica hiding inside would be cut into pieces at the same time.

Since that's the case, of course we can't just stand by and watch things develop. We made a quick decision and led the rest of our men to attack Fujitora.

Fujitora wasn't incapable of controlling Pica and fighting Doflamingo simultaneously, but Sabo was faster and took the initiative to meet him. Now it was as if the two had switched opponents.

Fujitora was naturally happy to have some peace and quiet, letting the rest of the Revolutionary Army and the Don Quixote family fight each other again while he focused on fighting against gravity.

Of course, Li Ang wasn't idle either. Every time he fired, he made sure to take down a member of the Don Quixote family, specifically targeting those who looked like low-ranking captains. Core members like Diamanti, having become more vigilant, weren't as easy to kill as before. So he simply left those to be dealt with by others, ensuring his own one-shot kill accuracy.

This battle was undoubtedly the Don Quixote family's last act of madness. Knowing that they were doomed to perish today, they might as well show a do-or-die spirit and go all out one last time.

The revolutionaries, on the other hand, prioritized stability. As long as they could hold out, they were content; they sought to avoid mistakes rather than achieve merit.

Therefore, in Li Ang's view, this scene had simply turned into guarding Fujitora.

Unfortunately, the outcome was already predetermined. In less than half a minute, Fujitora had already sent the stone giant into the sky and cut it into pieces with a birdcage.