Fierce Battle

The referee had barely finished speaking when Tokikake, wearing that smug grin, said, "Go easy on me, little brother!"

Compared to Doflamingo's overwhelming victories all the way here, Tokikake seemed somewhat weaker. Whenever he encountered a slightly stronger opponent, he had to fight three hundred rounds, always looking like he had won with great difficulty.

If I hadn't read the original manga, I really might have believed your nonsense, you bastard who pretends to be weak before devouring the strong!

Though Doflamingo grumbled inwardly, he kept a cheerful smile on his face. "Don't worry, uncle. I'll go easy on you."

"U-Uncle? I'm only eighteen!" The smile on Tokikake's face instantly froze as he angrily explained himself.

"Really?" Doflamingo scratched his head as if puzzled. "I thought you were already thirty-eight."

Crack! Tokikake turned to stone on the spot, unable to recover.

Doflamingo, who had been smiling all along, decisively drew Chidori. Pitch-black Haki wrapped around the blade as he immediately brought down a One-Sword Slash.

The fierce sense of danger fed back by his Observation Haki made Tokikake react instantly. He clenched both hands into fists and crossed his arms over his head. Empowered by pitch-black Haki, his arms seemed like black diamonds.

With a boom, the arena shook violently. The trainees below were filled with shock as they began discussing it heatedly.

"Hey, hey, Steve's taking this way too seriously, isn't he?"

"Is Tokikake dead? Do those two have a grudge or something?"

"Doctor! Where's the doctor? Hurry up and save him!"

"Why isn't Instructor Zephyr stopping them? Tokikake won't get chopped to death, will he?"

However, once the shaking and dust settled, everyone saw Tokikake. Though he had been sent flying more than a dozen steps and had a deep wound slashed across both arms, it was far from a serious injury.

"Seriously, deliberately trying to distract me like that is way too underhanded." Tokikake looked at the wounds on his arms and spoke helplessly.

"Uncle, you're the one who should talk. You're clearly so strong, yet you deliberately pretended to be weak to fool a young man like me." Doflamingo spun Chidori in a flourish and smiled.

Tokikake was not angered by Doflamingo's words. "Ah, so you saw through me. I was hoping to win a little more easily."

"A little more easily? So you still think you're guaranteed to win? You're underestimating me too much." Doflamingo gripped Chidori tightly. "Then let me see what you can really do, uncle!"

A ferocious blade of Haki-wreathed light slashed over without hesitation. Tokikake covered both hands in Armament Haki, yet still did not forget to say, "It's big brother, not uncle!"

Blade light flashed and fist winds howled. After more than a dozen exchanges, Doflamingo gradually began to falter.

Although he had gained a slight advantage at the beginning by taking Tokikake by surprise, there was, after all, a four-year age gap between Doflamingo and Tokikake.

At thirty, such a gap was insignificant. But during one's teens, even a single year could often create a huge difference in strength, let alone four years.

And in terms of physical talent, Tokikake, who would later become an Admiral Candidate, was likely a notch above Doflamingo as well.

Only through deep sleep and the accelerated learning ability granted by his cheat had Doflamingo broken through some of his innate limits to a certain extent. Otherwise, he would have been defeated within a few minutes at most.

Though he could now hold out longer, relying only on physical strength and Haki cultivation, he truly was still no match for Tokikake.

The gap in the Pirate World was simply too enormous. The difference between the Four Emperors, Admirals, and ordinary Navy Vice Admirals was so vast that it was practically beyond measure.

Even if Doflamingo's physical strength and Haki cultivation had not reached the level of a Navy Vice Admiral, they were at least at the peak of Rear Admiral level. Yet against an Admiral Candidate who had not even reached his peak, he was still completely outmatched.

More than ten minutes later, after taking three punches and two kicks, Doflamingo wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his face full of frustration.

Tokikake, on the other hand, did not seem injured at all. His clothes had merely been cut to shreds, and even his breathing had not grown heavier.

"As expected, there's still a gap between my hand-to-hand combat strength and yours, uncle. Be careful now—I'm going to use my Devil Fruit ability."

Though at a disadvantage, Doflamingo said this before immediately slashing out again.

"A Devil Fruit ability user?" Tokikake still wore that smug grin, but inwardly he became cautious.

The sea held all sorts of strange and bizarre Devil Fruit abilities. Seeing that Doflamingo's body had not changed, he was clearly neither a Logia nor a Zoan user. That meant he was most likely a Paramecia user—the most troublesome kind.

Paramecia Devil Fruit ability users might not be the strongest, but they were certainly the most unpredictable. Many seemingly unsolvable Paramecia abilities were enough to give even powerful opponents a headache the first time they faced them. Used well, they could even land a killing blow upon first encounter.

Naturally, Tokikake was extremely wary of Doflamingo's Devil Fruit ability, afraid of falling victim to it.

Just as the Chidori in Doflamingo's hand was about to strike Tokikake, it suddenly became incredibly illusory. At the same time, the intense sense of danger made Tokikake's scalp tingle. He immediately used Soru to pull away in rapid retreat.

"What kind of Devil Fruit ability is that?" After retreating seven or eight steps, Tokikake asked with a wary expression. Even now, the sense of danger radiating from that illusory blade still gave his Observation Haki a stabbing sensation.

In fact, in the Pirate World, the stronger someone was, the more powerful their vitality and defense became. Tokikake was confident that even if he faced Instructor Zephyr, though he would be nowhere near a match for him, he absolutely could not be killed in a single strike.

Yet the feeling given off by the illusory blade in Doflamingo's hand had convinced him that if his vital point were struck, he would undoubtedly die.

Hearing Tokikake's question, Doflamingo curled his lip. Every one of these experts was as shrewd as a rabbit. Couldn't they just let him show off properly for once?

Their brains clearly did not work all that well, but once battle began, their instincts became astonishingly sharp, making it difficult for him to catch them off guard.

Fortunately, the intangibility ability was not his real Devil Fruit ability anyway, so he did not mind revealing it.

"I ate the Intangibility Fruit, making me an Intangibility Fruit ability user! I can freely shift my body and weapons between illusory and real. If someone is struck by an illusory blade, then I turn that blade real, no matter how sturdy the object is, it will be completely repelled and destroyed."

Doflamingo waved Chidori, seemingly quite pleased with himself as he spouted utter nonsense with a serious face.