Of everyone who had crossed blades with him, Shanks understood this most clearly.
Doflamingo's Conqueror's Haki and swordsmanship were evenly matched with his own, but Doflamingo was slightly stronger physically, slightly stronger in Armament Haki, and vastly superior in Observation Haki.
With so many advantages combined, the battle became completely one-sided. After only a few dozen exchanges, Shanks was already beginning to struggle.
Isn't this too absurd? Does this guy seriously have no weaknesses? He's this strong without even using his Devil Fruit ability. If he went all out, just how strong would he be?
Barely evading one of Doflamingo's horizontal slashes, a faint sheen of sweat appeared on Shanks's forehead.
Here in the New World, with Wano Country as such a juicy prize, it was not as though Shanks had never fought other Great Pirates.
There was no need to mention Kaido and Charlotte Linlin. Golden Lion, who occasionally found Shanks displeasing—Kozuki Hiyori's teacher, who was quite dissatisfied with the cooperation between Wano Country and the Red Hair Pirates—and Bullet, who loved challenging others, had also fought Shanks.
Other than Red Count, who traveled alone and adhered thoroughly to solitude, and Whitebeard, who was bold and generous by nature and disdained bullying the weak with strength, Shanks had fought pretty much every other powerful pirate.
Together with Hawkeye, who often trained with him, Shanks could absolutely be considered battle-hardened. He had definitely fought Top Experts more than twenty times.
Yet he still had to admit that even without counting his Devil Fruit ability, Doflamingo was unquestionably the strongest person he had ever seen. There was no second place.
Swish! A crescent-shaped sword light swept past Shanks. As Shanks dodged, Doflamingo suddenly released Narikitsune, clenched his hand into a fist, and struck through the air with a fist wrapped in