Borsalino

"Welcome, welcome. You must be junior Steve, right?"

As they entered the harbor, Doflamingo had just stepped off the ship when he saw a tall man approaching. He wore a yellow-striped suit and brown sunglasses, with a lecherous monkey-like face.

The moment he saw that outfit, Doflamingo immediately understood who he was. The Glint-Glint Fruit user. A future Navy Admiral, currently a Navy Vice Admiral—Yellow Monkey Borsalino.

At the same time, he was the current commander of G1 Base.

Long before Doflamingo arrived, Borsalino had received orders through a Den Den Mushi. He knew that a highly promising junior was coming to his base for training.

The moment Kizaru heard the news, he was overjoyed. He finally had a chance to slack off!

As the Navy's most important stronghold in the New World, the importance of G1 Base went without saying.

However, because of Roger, the Navy's upper-level combat power was severely stretched thin. Aside from Kizaru himself, the strongest person at the entire base was merely a Navy Captain. Nearly every time they encountered a formidable Pirate Crew, he had to personally take action.

That was unbearable for Kizaru, a terminally lazy man and the Pirate World's greatest slacker. How could he live such a grueling nine-to-five life? Now that he had heard an outstanding junior was coming to help, he was naturally ecstatic.

"I'm Steve. You must be senior Borsalino. I hope you'll give me plenty of guidance," Doflamingo said with a smile after glancing at Kizaru.

"Oh, guidance and all that is far too formal." Borsalino keenly sensed the ill intent in Doflamingo's gaze. Seeing that he seemed eager to challenge him, he immediately changed the subject.

"As it happens, this senior of yours has been worried sick over the number of pirates nearby. I'm truly afraid that one day, they might capture the entire Navy base. Junior Steve, you came at just the right time."

Hearing that, Doflamingo slightly reined in the fighting spirit in his eyes.

Among the Three Admirals, Kizaru was probably the best swordsman. Even though his swordsmanship did not follow the pure path of a Great Swordsman, instead combining with his Devil Fruit, it was still immensely enlightening to Doflamingo.

But who was Kizaru? The legendary ultimate salary thief, the Pirate World's Slacker King. Even a strict instructor like Black Arm Zephyr had been somewhat helpless against his slippery ways. Naturally, he would not easily allow Doflamingo to challenge him.

It was not because he feared losing, but because it was too tiring!

Fortunately, Borsalino had long understood the mindset of battle maniacs like him. Rather than fight him here, it would be better to send them out to chop up pirates.

Sure enough, once business was mentioned, Doflamingo also restrained the fighting spirit in his heart. He followed Borsalino to his office and began listening to his analysis of the situation nearby.

In truth, the nearby Pirate Crews were nowhere near as terrifying as Borsalino had made them sound. After all, this was only the entrance to the New World. Most of the pirates who came here were rookies. Though they were numerous, their quality was lacking.

Borsalino was merely lazy. Otherwise, with the incredible speed of his Glint-Glint Fruit and strength that now far surpassed an ordinary Navy Vice Admiral, he could clear out those pirates in ten days to half a month.

But now, this glorious task was handed over to Doflamingo by Borsalino. Doflamingo also wanted to gather more souls, so the two hit it off immediately.

Thus, the next day, after resting for the night, Doflamingo led his subordinates out to hunt down pirates.

Over the next few months, Doflamingo fought across every direction. With G1 Base as the center, he swept through nearly all the nearby Pirate Crews.

Though he encountered quite a few powerful enemies and went through many hard-fought battles, occasionally even being forced to cheat by using illusions, the aid of combat and soul memories caused Doflamingo's strength to rise steadily, advancing another step.

However, this also drove vast numbers of pirates away from the vicinity of G1 Base. The remaining three Pirate Crews were all tough bones to crack.

The three remaining Pirate Crews were the Lion Pirates, led by Skull Crusher Snow, an Ancient Zoan Savage Lion Fruit user with a bounty of 420 million Beli.

Then there were the Amalgam Pirates, led by Modok, a special Paramecia Mercury Fruit user with a bounty of 560 million Beli.

And finally, the Horde Pirates, led by Kojiro, a Clone-Clone Fruit user with a bounty of 430 million Beli.

"So, these three are our only opponents left now." Doflamingo lazily said as he looked over the bounty posters in his hand.

"More or less. In another two weeks, we can wipe them out completely. Of course, I imagine they'll flee beyond G1 Base's jurisdiction before then!"

Just as Doflamingo was still analyzing the intelligence, the lookout's voice came from above. "Captain! Pirate Crews spotted ahead!"

"Oh! Which Pirate Crew is brave enough to come at us?" A look of surprise appeared on Doflamingo's face.

"It's... it's all three of the remaining Pirate Crews!"

Doflamingo froze for a moment, then a troubled expression appeared on his face. "Oh dear, all three together? Now that's going to be troublesome."

In truth, Doflamingo had underestimated the ferocity of New World pirates. In the first half of the Grand Line, his aggressive attacks would have surely made other Pirate Crews avoid him. But in the New World, such actions only stirred up the savagery buried in these pirates' bones.

With the three strongest Pirate Crews joining forces, based on the strength Doflamingo had displayed in battle, his odds were undoubtedly grim.

However, Doflamingo had Devil Fruit abilities to protect himself, so he was not particularly afraid. At worst, he would just use cheats. Below a certain level of strength, there was simply no ability to resist the Illusion Fruit ability.

The most terrifying thing about illusion abilities was that once someone was caught in them, they would be instantly killed. It was completely unlike the Pirate World, where great battles lasted for days and nights.

Combined with his intangibility and one-hit kill ability, Doflamingo remained very confident in himself.

After deciding on a plan, Doflamingo leaped into the air and used Geppo to charge toward the three pirate ships. He did not wait aboard the small warship at all.

Although a warship's cannon fire was generally stronger than a pirate ship's, the Tiny Little Hummingbird was simply too small. If a naval battle truly broke out, it would be unable to handle those larger pirate ships.

Still, since the warship was small, it was naturally very fast and generally could not be caught by Pirate Crews. Doflamingo, meanwhile, directly used Geppo to land on pirate ships and fight every time. Therefore, he simply did not care much about the combat strength of the pirate ships themselves.