Chapter 7

After scaling the castle wall, Kat slunk behind a small pile of rubble without being noticed. Her eyes focused on Doflamingo and Trebol, but she also made sure to keep the Straw Hat captain and the Surgeon of Death in her periphery.

The young captain knelt down next to the surgeon and looked him over. His eyes bulged out of his head, and his entire body trembled. "Traffy is..."

"Dead," Doflamingo finished, a wicked smile playing on his lips. "Isn't it obvious?"

"You're lying!" Straw Hat's jaw tensed, and a searing anger filled his eyes. His hands curled into white-knuckled fists.

Kat readied herself to strike at the remainder of the Donquixote family until the wind blew into her face. The aroma of refined coffee and soft vanilla clung to the air-Claire's scent. It was thick and growing in intensity; she was close. Kat's gaze pulled away from Doffy and scanned the rooftop, mapping her route towards the source. Maybe if she got there, they could devise a stronger plan instead of just charging blindly into the scuffle.

But there was no viable path to take. Of the rubble piled up on the roof, nothing was close enough to move to without being seen. Kat thought about darting around, but these men were sharp, and she wanted to conserve her energy.

"You'll have to excuse me." Doflamingo's low, humming voice purred in his throat. "Apparently, I forgot to mention that the rules of the game have changed."

Straw Hat became irate. His nose flared, and his forehead wrinkled. "Game? What the hell are you talking about?" he snarled. His eyes became fixed on the top executives, jaw clenched.

A grin sprouted upon Doflamingo's face, watered by the young captains seething anger. "You see, the birdcage is, little by little, shrinking and contracting. Like someone slowly closing an umbrella." His back arched, and his face pulled down long shadows over his cheeks. "I'd give it about an hour for this entire country to be filleted."

Kat laughed. She folded her arms on top of the rubble pile and stared down the three of them. Her pale, pink lips curled into a thin smile, hooking upwards sharply at the ends. "You just trapped yourself with that, Doflamingo," she stated.

The vein on his brow popped out of his skin and pulsed to the rhythm of his heart. Both were shocked and angry to see her alive. "What are you doing here?" Doffy growled.

"I won't be stopping you," she affirmed. "I'll be stalling you until someone much more important comes." She sat back on the ledge behind her, crossing her legs and folding her hands in her lap. A massive bearded vulture landed on the ledge next to her and ruffled its brilliant red feathers.

Doffy's forehead vein seemed close to becoming an aneurysm. "Trebol," he snarled. "Take care of the girl."

A voice pulled at the back of Kat's mind. Miss, please don't interfere with Straw Hat-ya. As Trebol started towards her, she tilted her head towards the young captain. "You can take care of Doflamingo for now," she appeased. "I'll keep Trebol out of your hair."

The vulture beside her flew back into the air, and Kat rolled out of Trebol's way. She flipped to her feet and faced her new opponent. "You're faster," he commented. "But do you really think speed will stop the Young Master?"

Kat touched her bun. "Like I said before, I'm just here to stall for time," she responded. "Or do you not like that I'm faster than you now?" Trebol's goop surrounded her ankles and slithered up her legs. She lifted her leg, straining against the tension to raise her knee a few inches. Within seconds, Trebol pounced and smothered her in the substance.

The deep vibrations as he laughed reverberated through her, and the thickness of the material made her feel as if she was drowning, but Kat focused on the composition of the substance. She imprinted every last detail of it into her memory, from the slimy texture to the consistency. No longer did she feel imprisoned by the slime. Instead, she flowed freely through it like a fish in a river. She swam to the surface and drew in a quick breath of fresh air.

As Kat freed herself from him, Trebol stared in shock. "How? You shouldn't have been able to move!"

Kat took a few steps onto the roof and then turned to him. A few drops of goop fell from her soaked clothes and hair. "You seem to be forgetting just who I am," she reminded him. She lowered her gaze, shadows casting over the hollows of her cheeks. "Have you really gone senile that quickly?"

Trebol bit his lip so hard he might have ripped it right off. "I don't understand how a little brat like you could be in the top fifty," he hissed.

Putting her arm behind her back, Kat ignored the insult. "I'd like to introduce you to the two-finger practice rule," she stated. With her free arm, she held out two fingers. "My friend taught me this technique to heighten my general skills, but it's a nice little trick when I want to hold back."

Trebol charged again. Despite having the urge to dodge, Kat used her two fingers to parry each of his moves. When she saw the opening, she stabbed the front of his neck, taking all of his breath. He clutched his neck and stumbled backwards.

A slow, rhythmic clap pierced the air. "You've certainly learned well to use that in a fight." Kat glanced back to find Claire standing on the roof's edge. Her blonde, curly hair was speckled with blood and bits of dirt, but she seemed unharmed. Taking her blue eye from Kat, she looked to Doflamingo. "Do you remember me?" she asked.

He hovered over the surgeon, his foot caught by Staw Hat. A few seconds pause and then: "No, who the hell are you?"