Conqueror's Haki

Among the blood-colored puppets in the Illusion Space, the one that looked the most like its original form was Goriki, who resembled a musclebound man.

Other than having no skin, with nothing but pure crimson exposed, he looked exactly the same as he had in the real world. Clearly, the stronger the soul and the firmer its conviction, the more of its original traits it retained, and the more it resembled its original form.

Doflamingo strode over with his feet turned out, reaching out to absorb the more ordinary pirates first.

Though these pirates had also left behind a few Skill Pearls, almost all of them concerned physical training. Only two contained Haki training, and both were the most basic kind—even weaker than Doflamingo's own Haki.

One pirate's soul had even left nothing behind at all. Clearly, he had been a complete weakling.

To Doflamingo, these Skill Pearls were hardly essential. At most, they added a little to his experience with physical and Haki training, allowing him to progress a bit more smoothly in the future.

"What a pity. If they could directly increase physical abilities and Haki instead of merely adding experience, I could become invincible just by taking down enough ordinary pirates."

After indulging in that pipe dream for a while, Doflamingo turned his attention to the real feast: Goriki's soul.

He reached out and absorbed the soul energy, leaving behind glittering red sand. Once the process was complete, Doflamingo saw a faint gleam shining from within the red grains.

Brushing aside the sand, he found a five-colored pearl lying quietly in the pile. It was visibly a full size larger than an ordinary Skill Pearl.

"It already looks stronger than the usual ones. Don't disappoint me." Doflamingo picked up the five-colored pearl, closed his eyes, and began absorbing it quietly.

In his daze, Doflamingo seemed to witness Goriki's entire life.

An ordinary family, an ordinary background. The only thing special about him was that he was taller and stronger than most people.

Yet such an ordinary man had given birth to an almost absurd dream.

"I want to become the strongest in the world!"

Training and fighting. First, ordinary street thugs, then bandits and the Mafia. Finally, after becoming the strongest person on his entire island, he set sail and challenged powerful opponents everywhere.

Wicked pirates, bizarre Devil Fruit ability users, terrifying Sea Kings in the ocean—every day was spent training and fighting, and the ordinary Goriki steadily grew stronger.

"I hear that the strongest man in this world is the Navy Hero, Iron Fist Garp. Then my Pirate Crew will be called the Iron Fist Pirates!"

"One day, I will become the new strongest!"

Then everything came to an abrupt end after he encountered Doflamingo, leaving only a sigh. "In the end, I still failed to become the strongest!"

Opening his eyes, Doflamingo remarked, "He sure had big ambitions. If this guy hadn't died young, he might really have become a First Mate-level powerhouse, or even an Admiral Candidate."

As for the level of the Four Emperors or the Three Admirals, unless his luck was absurdly good and he obtained a top-tier Devil Fruit, no amount of training would let him break through that limit.

Goriki's Skill Pearl brought Doflamingo many gains. The experience in physical training and Armament Haki would both greatly speed up his future progress, but most importantly, it gave him an experience of Conqueror's Haki.

In reality, Doflamingo opened his eyes. A powerful aura burst from his body, followed by a series of thuds as the Marines in half the naval branch immediately fainted.

"Success!" Feeling the eruption of Conqueror's Haki, Doflamingo smiled.

As the One Piece manga continued, Conqueror's Haki, once thought to be useful only for clearing fodder, revealed its true purpose. Like Armament Haki, Conqueror's Haki could also be infused into one's body to increase attack power.

With that, the potential of someone who had awakened Conqueror's Haki and someone who had not was worlds apart.

Although the original Doflamingo had awakened Conqueror's Haki before the age of ten, that did not mean the Doflamingo who had taken over his body necessarily possessed the potential for it as well.

This time, however, Doflamingo was finally at ease.

He first used illusions to plant suggestions in the unconscious Marines outside. He did not want to expose his Conqueror's Haki within the Navy yet, lest it draw even more attention.

Within the Navy's system, Conqueror's Haki often represented an unruly nature. For someone like Doflamingo, who had ambitions of his own, that was not exactly a good thing.

Over the following period, Doflamingo entered another grueling phase of training. The cultivation experience Goriki had given him allowed him to make rapid progress in both physical training and Haki cultivation, and this positive feedback made Doflamingo even more immersed in training.

Moreover, the lesson from his previous voyage taught Doflamingo that even with the Illusion Fruit ability, he was far from invincible. Any major officer under one of the Four Emperors from the original story, or a somewhat stronger elite Vice Admiral of the Navy, could easily take him down.

Time flew by, and a year soon passed.

A year of grueling training had greatly improved Doflamingo's strength. He was already in his growth period, the stage where training was most effective and improvement came fastest.

On top of that, he needed only two hours of sleep each day, giving him far more training time than others. Deep sleep also allowed his body to develop perfectly.

The training in the Illusion Space and his absorption of Skill Pearls kept him growing along the right path.

Inside the Illusion Space, Doflamingo gripped the Grade Sword Chidori, his gaze fixed tightly on Goriki across from him.

He had fought Goriki in the Illusion Space for a full twelve hours. At that moment, both of them were covered in wounds.

Over the past year, Doflamingo had fought Goriki more than a hundred times without using any Illusion Fruit abilities other than intangibility. Every single time, he had been defeated.

At first, he could only hold out for a little over half an hour against Goriki. Now, after fighting for twelve hours, neither side had gained the upper hand. Doflamingo's rate of growth was clear to see.

And today's battle was the closest Doflamingo had ever come to victory.

"One-Sword Slash!" Doflamingo shouted, squeezing out every last bit of his strength as he brought his blade down.

Expressionless, Goriki threw a punch without hesitation. Thick Armament Haki made his fist resemble a black meteor as it crashed into the black Chidori.

Amid the violent shockwave, Chidori showed faint signs of failing before turning completely intangible. Goriki's iron fist immediately slammed toward Doflamingo's chest without hesitation.

But before that could happen, the phantom Chidori lightly swept across Goriki's chest, suddenly turning solid at his heart and piercing it through in a single stroke.