A Perilous Victory

"My stamina's draining too fast! I need to end this quickly."

Although Doflamingo had cut off his opponent's six senses in a single move, he could also feel his stamina plummeting off a cliff.

After all, this was an opponent who surpassed him even in basic physical attributes. Though Doflamingo's Mental Energy far exceeded his opponent's, allowing him to easily cut off his six senses, the stamina expenditure was by no means small.

He did not dare slack off in the slightest. He immediately phased his right arm and used Black Tiger Seizes the Heart, plunging his entire arm into his opponent's chest.

At that moment, driven by an intense sense of danger, Goriki broke free of Tenbu Hōrin's control. Having regained consciousness, he let out a furious roar and drove a punch straight into Doflamingo's chest.

"Pfft!" Doflamingo felt as if a massive iron hammer had smashed into his chest. Amid a series of cracking sounds, several of his ribs broke. He spat blood wildly as the blow sent him crashing through several cabins before he finally slammed into the mast and fell down.

After taking a moment to recover, he felt dizzy, with stars swimming before his eyes. Every last bit of strength had drained from his body, leaving his limbs weak and sore.

The pain in his chest and internal organs told him that at least three or four ribs had been broken, and his organs had suffered some internal bleeding as well.

Yet even after being beaten so badly, Doflamingo still smiled, because he was holding a bright red heart in his right hand.

"Cough, cough. You dared to act tough in front of me... I tore your heart right out!... Cough, cough!" After coughing a few times, Doflamingo forced himself to stand, only to see Goriki slowly walking toward him.

"Cough, cough! Your life really is tenacious. You've lost your heart, yet you can still hold on until now." Wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, Doflamingo teased Goriki.

From the aura emanating from the man alone, Doflamingo could tell that he was merely forcing himself forward on his last breath. He would die very soon.

"Oh, zeh zeh zeh zeh. Dying midway through my challenge to become the strongest is a pirate's romance," Goriki said with a loud laugh. "Marine, can you tell me your name?"

After a moment of silence, Doflamingo looked around at the Marines and pirates, all of whom had fainted under the effects of Conqueror's Haki. He straightened his back. "My former name was Wang Sen. Now, you may call me Doflamingo!"

"Doflamingo?... My path... ends here." A relieved expression appeared on Goriki's face. Then he closed his eyes and stopped breathing.

Doflamingo, who had been standing straight, dropped onto the ground on his backside. "You're already dead, and you still had so much to say. Don't worry. One day, I'll become the strongest in the world. Dying at the hands of the future strongest man in the world means you can rest in peace."

As he spoke, Doflamingo casually flicked out several Flying Finger Pistols, striking the heads of a few nearby Marines.

With his current stamina, the Flying Finger Pistol could only make someone hurt for a moment, which was just enough to wake the Marines knocked unconscious by Conqueror's Haki.

Once he saw several Marines regain consciousness, Doflamingo immediately ordered, "Hurry up and tie all these pirates up!"

He was completely exhausted and battered from head to toe. Any little pirate with a ten-million-Beli bounty could probably beat him flat right now.

Doflamingo did not want these unconscious pirates to take advantage of him at the very end. If that happened, his death would be downright ridiculous.

Fortunately, nothing went wrong in the end. The Marines first woke their companions, then tied every pirate up one by one like dumplings and threw them into the cabins.

Though Doflamingo led only a small warship with a little over twenty men, it was small but fully equipped, and there was a doctor aboard.

After a round of treatment, Doflamingo's injuries improved considerably. Combined with how tough and naturally resilient people in this world were, he had mostly recovered after a few days.

However, this battle also taught Doflamingo a lesson. This world was not like the manga, where all the experts were in the New World, the Four Seas were full of weaklings, and the first half of the Grand Line was nothing but rookies.

Nor did one's bounty directly determine one's combat strength. A high bounty certainly meant one's strength was not low, but a low bounty did not necessarily mean one was weak.

(A certain reserve-ration ship doctor: That's right, that's right, I can fight too! What the hell is with my 100-Beli bounty? I fight pirates with bounties over a hundred million every day!)

If he truly believed he could be invincible in the first half of the Grand Line, sooner or later he would run into someone powerful who would teach him a harsh lesson.

The battle had been dangerous, but the gains were considerable as well. After this fight, Doflamingo had not only gained much more combat experience, but more importantly, he had collected Goriki's soul.

However, since he had been aboard a warship the entire time, Doflamingo had not absorbed the soul. He planned to begin absorbing it after returning to Water 7.

After drifting at sea for several months and taking down quite a few pirates, especially after that final perilous battle, even Doflamingo felt rather tired. The Marines were even more eager to return home.

Thus, after only a few days, they returned to Water 7.

Water 7 was still the same as ever, with no major incidents having occurred. The Marine branch there was still slacking off as usual. After Doflamingo had taken away twenty ambitious Marines, the remaining Marines had become even more idle.

However, when they saw the pirate heads Doflamingo had brought back, the entire Marine branch erupted into excitement.

Before encountering Goriki, Doflamingo had already taken down several pirates with bounties exceeding fifty million. Adding up the bounties of all the Pirate Crews, the total came to around three hundred million.

Bounties of that level were already enough for Doflamingo and his Marine subordinates to advance one or two ranks. For some lower-ranking Marines, being promoted three or four ranks this time was perfectly normal.

This left many old deadweight soldiers who had stayed behind in Water 7 pounding their chests and regretting it bitterly.

Of course, even if such deadweight soldiers wanted to join, Doflamingo probably would not dare accept them.

Combat strength was secondary, since pirate battles were basically decided by the outcome between the strongest fighters.

But specialized skills such as operating cannons, sails, and ropes, handling damage control after a ship was damaged, and judging course direction were extremely important. If something went wrong in any of those areas, it could be fatal.

After holding a celebration banquet and eating their fill, Doflamingo returned to his officer's villa, shut the door, and began taking stock of his gains.

Inside the Illusion Space, seven or eight Blood-colored Puppets with bizarre appearances wandered aimlessly across the beach.

These puppets were Doflamingo's greatest harvest from this voyage. They were the captains of every Pirate Crew he had taken down after putting to sea.