The instant Zaraki gave the command in his mind, the limited blind box on the system interface turned into a stream of golden light and rushed deep into his consciousness.
There was no physical form and no sound, yet it felt as if countless pieces of information had washed over his soul in an instant.
A brief wave of dizziness passed through him. For a moment, the world around him seemed to fade, leaving only a pure golden sea.
Then the system's cold mechanical voice rang out clearly.
**[Limited Commemorative Blind Box opened successfully.]**
**[Congratulations, host. Ability obtained: Advanced Observation Haki — Future Sight.]**
**[Description: Allows the host to glimpse brief fragments of the immediate future when focused. The effect depends on concentration, combat state, and the host's mastery.]**
The golden light faded, and Zaraki's awareness returned to his body.
He stood where he was, his expression briefly frozen.
What the hell?
Observation Haki? The kind that could see the future?
For a fraction of a second, Zaraki's mind went blank.
He had imagined countless possibilities.
Maybe it would be a legendary sword, a fragment of some powerful template, or perhaps a destructive Kidō technique capable of tearing through a battlefield.
But he had not expected this.
The next second, a figure surfaced from deep in his memories—the man wrapped in a scarf, dressed in pink, who wielded mochi with almost absurd precision.
Charlotte Katakuri.
The man who could sense his opponent's next move several moments ahead, allowing him to reshape his body before the attack landed and creating the myth that his back had never touched the ground.
That kind of Observation Haki did not simply make a person faster. It changed the way a fight worked.
A slash, a step, a breath, a twitch of the shoulder—if he could glimpse even a fragment of what came next, then for someone with Zaraki's instincts, that was already enough.
An indescribable heat stirred deep in Zaraki's chest, flowing through his veins and spreading to every part of his body.
If the Zaraki Kenpachi template had given him monstrous destructive power, then future sight had just placed a sharp eye inside that killing machine.
Not perfect or mastered. But even raw and newly obtained, it made the entire battlefield feel different.
Destruction and foresight.
Madness and instinct.
Those two completely opposite qualities now existed inside him at the same time.
"Hah..."
A low laugh slipped from his throat. Zaraki slowly raised his hand and rested it on the hilt of Nozarashi at his waist.
The newly awakened Zanpakutō seemed quiet, but that silence carried a weight Murasame had never possessed.
Its presence steadied the heat in his blood while making his battle intent rise even faster.
'Come on, Doflamingo.'
'Let me see whether your strings could keep up with my blade.'
'And let me see whetheryour proud Birdcage still counted as a dead end before a blade that could cut its owner down.'
Just as Zaraki's fighting spirit rose and he prepared to welcome the incoming Heavenly Yaksha, a violent underground rumble suddenly erupted.
Rumble—!
It sounded like something enormous had collapsed beneath the city.
Zaraki turned his head.
His gaze landed near the Corrida Colosseum, where dust and stone were bursting up from below.
The main arena did not fully collapse, but the old inner structure beneath it had caved in, sending cracks racing across the plaza and making the stands shake violently.
The screams of the crowd, the crash of falling stone, and the thunderous echo from underground all merged into one chaotic roar.
But Zaraki's gaze was drawn to something stranger within the dust.
Among the fleeing crowds, countless toys of all shapes and sizes, which had originally moved with dull, lifeless expressions, were suddenly bursting with white light.
When the light faded, toy soldiers, dolls, and animal plushies all transformed in an instant back into confused, ragged humans.
Pirates, soldiers, merchants, warriors, fathers, mothers, children—people erased from the world for ten years had returned all at once.
"This... This is..."
Viola, who had been following behind Zaraki, widened her eyes and clapped a hand over her mouth, barely stopping herself from crying out.
She looked at the people returning to their original forms, then toward the trembling Toy House and factory area beneath the colosseum.
Joy so intense it was almost painful flooded her face.
Beside her, Rebecca trembled even harder, tears spilling down her cheeks.
She stared fixedly in one direction through the dust, as if searching for someone she did not fully understand how to name.
'Sugar... had fainted?'
Zaraki understood immediately.
The Nozarashi slash he had sent through the stone had killed Pica underground, and the shock from that cut had clearly reached the deeper factory area.
The brat who possessed the Hobi Hobi no Mi had likely been caught in the chaos and lost consciousness from fright.
Ten years.
Doflamingo had used that ability to maintain ten full years of false peace.
And now, in this instant, that lie had shattered.
Just then, a shrill scream rang out from a nearby pile of rubble.
Dellinger, covered in dirt and looking utterly miserable, scrambled out from under a collapsed stone slab.
One of his high heels was gone, and there was no trace of his eerie confidence left on his face, only extreme fear and despair.
He did not look at Zaraki. He did not even look at the citizens who had returned to human form around him.
He raised his head toward the King's Plateau and screamed.
"Young Master—! This is bad! Sugar fainted! This country is finished!"
That hysterical cry was like a boulder dropped into a calm lake, sending waves of panic through Dressrosa.
Almost at the same time, on the palace balcony atop the King's Plateau, Doflamingo crushed the secure Den Den Mushi in his hand.
He stood there quietly, his flamingo-feather coat fluttering in the wind.
Through his cracked sunglasses, he watched the colosseum district shake, watched the toys become humans, watched ten years of secrets crawl back into the sunlight.
There was no calm left in him.
Only a smile stretched over rage so deep it no longer looked human.
"Fufufu... Fufufufufufu!"
His low laughter grew louder and louder, becoming wild, crazed, and sickly with pleasure.
The perfect kingdom he had built on lies, fear, and erased memories had been broken in the crudest way possible.
Fine.
If the secret could no longer be buried cleanly, then he would kill every witness and leave the World Government only one story to choose from.
Doflamingo slowly raised his right hand, his index finger pointing toward the sky.
"Since you've all seen too much," he said, his voice cold beneath the laughter, "none of you need to leave."
A thread so thin it was nearly invisible shot from his fingertip toward the clouds.
The next second, Zaraki's eyes narrowed.
His newly gained future sight gave him a rough flash, not a clear image, but it was enough.
A cage.
The island being sealed.
Zaraki suddenly raised his head.
At some point, countless silver-white reflections had appeared in the sky above Dressrosa.
Endless threads, thinner than hair yet harder than steel, descended from the clouds and covered the edges of the island.
Several Den Den Mushi relay posts near the harbor were sliced apart first, their lines dying with sharp, panicked squeals.
Then the threads began to close inward, weaving together into a gigantic, slowly shrinking dome.
Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh!
Dense, sharp whistles cut through the air.
"What is that?"
"Look at the sky! Oh my god!"
The people on the ground also noticed the terrifying sight.
The joy of being freed from the toy curse vanished, replaced by a deeper fear.
"It's Doflamingo!"
Smoker bit hard on his cigar, his expression dark.
"That bastard wants to silence the whole island."
Gion reacted first. Her expression sharpened as she turned toward the Marines gathering behind her.
"Evacuate the civilians from the collapsing streets! Move the wounded away from the edges of the cage! Tashigi, take a squad to the colosseum district! Carina, help guide the restored citizens—some of them won't even know where they are!"
"Yes!"
Tashigi rushed off at once, while Carina clicked her tongue and sprinted toward the panicking crowd.
"Honestly, this place is a nightmare... Everyone who can move, follow the Marines! Don't stand around staring at the sky unless you want to be sliced into ribbons!"
Smoker spread into white smoke and swept toward a side street, blocking falling debris long enough for several civilians to run through.
Standing near Zaraki, Yamakaji slowly drew the sword at his waist, his eyes more solemn than ever.
"Birdcage," he said heavily. "The Heavenly Yaksha's technique for cleaning up anything he doesn't want the world to see."
Before his words had even finished, Yamakaji stepped forward.
His burly arm swung his long sword, releasing a powerful slash straight at one of the falling threads near the edge of the dome.
Clang—!
A piercing sound of metal striking metal rang out.
Yamakaji's slash, strong enough to split a warship's armor, left not even the slightest mark on that seemingly delicate thread.
The recoil came back through his sword, numbing his hand and forcing him half a step back.
Shock appeared on his face.
"It can't be cut?"
"It's no use, Vice Admiral," Smoker said from the smoke-filled street, his voice bitter. "If it were that easy to cut, it wouldn't be Doflamingo's Birdcage."
With one final heavy, muffled sound like a giant iron gate slamming shut, the dome formed by countless threads completely closed, turning Dressrosa into an isolated prison.
Sunlight was sliced into tiny fragments and fell through the gaps between the threads, casting strange net-like shadows across the ground.
"There are only two ways to break this Birdcage," Yamakaji said, lowering his sword. "First, overwhelm Doflamingo's Haki and cut through it by force. Second, defeat the ability user himself."
He paused, his tone grim.
"And this cage is shrinking. Slowly, yes, but in a few hours at most, everything on this island will be cut to pieces."
Just as despair began to settle over everyone's hearts, a figure slowly descended along a string connecting the clouds and the palace.
Doflamingo landed before Zaraki, less than a hundred meters away.
He spread his arms, as though embracing his masterpiece, and spoke in an exaggerated tone.
"Fufufufufu... Welcome to my game, War Demon."
Through his sunglasses, Doflamingo's gaze locked onto Zaraki, the madness and killing intent in his smile almost overflowing.
"This is a survival game. Everyone inside the cage is your enemy, and every one of them is my hostage. Now, you only have one path left."
Doflamingo stretched out one finger, pointing at Zaraki, then at the ground.
"Death."
The air seemed to freeze in that instant.
Yamakaji, Smoker, and the others tensed, their hands already on their weapons.
But Zaraki smiled.
It was a bloodthirsty smile, one born purely from excitement for battle.
His thumb brushed Nozarashi's hilt, feeling the faint, savage hum of the newly awakened blade resonating with his fighting spirit.
"Death?"
Zaraki's voice was not loud, but it clearly entered everyone's ears.
His pitch-black eyes were like the deepest abyss, reflecting Doflamingo within them.
Inside those eyes burned a crazed battle intent that made even Doflamingo's heart jolt.
"Then I'll just cut off your head."
Zaraki's smile widened little by little, his mouth nearly stretching to his ears as he bared white teeth.
"Then there'll be a path, won't there?"