Sparring with Zephyr

After returning to Navy Headquarters, Doflamingo first rested in his student dormitory for a few days to recover his energy. Then he resumed his grueling training.

It was worth mentioning that when Tokikake sparred with Doflamingo now, it was already difficult for either of them to determine a winner.

Unless they fought for days and nights until they were truly exhausted, or Doflamingo used his Devil Fruit ability, there was basically no way to get a result.

Doflamingo was actually rather surprised that he could draw with Tokikake. After all, during their last match, the gap between them had already been extremely small.

So he had originally thought that he had surpassed Tokikake by now.

But unexpectedly, Tokikake's strength had also advanced by leaps and bounds during this time, to the point that Doflamingo still could not defeat him without relying on his Devil Fruit ability.

Doflamingo was surprised, but Tokikake was even more so. He had been spurred on by Doflamingo during this period, and more importantly, he had trained almost frantically in order to display his strength in front of Gion.

After going to sea, he had even sought out several Great Pirates with bounties exceeding 500 million to fight. After several bitter battles, he had unleashed quite a bit of his potential.

Over the past half year, his improvement in strength had far surpassed the progress he had made from more than a year of training after joining the Navy Training Camp.

He had thought that this match against Doflamingo would definitely end in a crushing victory, but in the end, Doflamingo had completely caught up with him instead.

Faced with this situation, aside from calling Doflamingo a freak a few times, Tokikake did not find it hard to accept.

Doflamingo's talent had never been inferior to his, and his dedication to training far surpassed his own. Being caught up to by him was something Tokikake had mentally prepared for long ago.

Besides Tokikake, Gion, that swordsmanship training fanatic, naturally did not forget about Doflamingo either. However, her progress was far behind Tokikake's.

It was not that she trained less diligently than Tokikake, but without the tempering of real combat, training alone could only build up one's foundation. Wanting to improve by leaps and bounds was simply unrealistic.

In front of Doflamingo, Gion could only hold on for less than an hour before being defeated.

So now, his training opponent had been replaced by his own teacher.

Boom!

On the Training Grounds, Doflamingo barely managed to stand up and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

"Your rate of improvement is pretty good, Steve!" Zephyr rubbed the sword wound on his chest.

It was a wound left by a thrust. It had only penetrated about an inch deep, piercing the skin and muscle without harming any internal organs. It could be said to have had no effect whatsoever on Zephyr's combat strength.

However, being able to leave a sword wound on Zephyr, who excelled most in Haki, was itself a symbol of strength.

For powerhouses of this level, formidable Armament Haki and terrifying bodies that were nearly indestructible and impervious to blades and bullets were practically the basics.

A slightly weaker Vice Admiral would not even be qualified to scratch them—scratches could at least leave a red mark!

In Zephyr's eyes, Tokikake, Gion, and Doflamingo from the current Navy Training Camp were undoubtedly another generation of the Three Admirals.

However, among the three, Doflamingo had practically already secured one Admiral position. Gion and Tokikake were still slightly lacking.

If the two of them trained even harder in the future, or were lucky enough to encounter some powerful Devil Fruit, they might have a chance of becoming Admirals.

Although the Navy also possessed quite a few Devil Fruits, it truly did not have any powerful Mythical Zoans, superior Logias, or heaven-defying Paramecias comparable to the first two.

So that could only be left to luck.

On the other hand, the intangibility ability Doflamingo displayed could, in a sense, be considered a heaven-defying Paramecia as well. It had drawn even greater attention to him.

"I'm still far behind you, Teacher Zephyr," Doflamingo said with a bitter smile.

"Hehe, at your age, this level of strength is already powerful enough. I wasn't this strong when I was young."

Zephyr spoke with a smile on his face.

That was also because Doflamingo was about to leave the training camp. Otherwise, Zephyr would not have been so pleasant with him. Back when he was still in the training camp, this devilish instructor would not have said a single kind word.

But to be fair, although he was utterly ruthless during training, this instructor truly cared for his students as well. To blend strictness and concern so perfectly, Zephyr might have been born to be a teacher.

"Alright, I've basically taught you everything I can teach you. But if you want to become a true top-tier powerhouse, you'll ultimately have to walk the road yourself."

"Besides your physical fitness and Haki, you should also further develop your Devil Fruit ability."

"Integrating your Devil Fruit ability organically into your own fighting style is the direction you should develop in from now on."

Zephyr rambled on, and his expectations for Doflamingo differed from those he had for Kizaru.

That was because Zephyr understood that Doflamingo himself was a training fanatic. When it came to foundational physical fitness and Haki, there was simply no need for Zephyr to worry about him.

Instead, Doflamingo rarely used his Devil Fruit ability. Although Zephyr knew that he was doing so to train his physical abilities and Haki, he could not help giving him a few pointers.

Doflamingo nodded repeatedly as he listened. He could not exactly tell Zephyr that he trained diligently every night in the Illusion Space.

Besides, intangibility was only a small part of his Devil Fruit ability. If he truly fixated on training that ability every day, that would be putting the cart before the horse.

After they chatted for a while, a strange expression appeared on Zephyr's face. "Steve, it should be about time to eat, right?"

Doflamingo secretly sighed, then put on a resigned smile. "Alright, I'll go cook now."

Well, after one training session between Tokikake and Doflamingo, Zephyr had caught them in the middle of a feast. What happened afterward was obvious.

From then on, there was one more person who often came to Doflamingo for free meals.

Deep-fried Sea King meat, charcoal-grilled Sea King ribs, salt-baked giant lobster, rich seafood soup, and vegetable grilled-meat wraps filled the table, making Zephyr drool.

In fact, Zephyr was already the most proper among the older generation of Navy officers. At the very least, he had never revealed Doflamingo's cooking skills. Otherwise, the number of people asking Doflamingo to cook would probably have been more than ten times greater.

Although Doflamingo possessed enormous potential, he was still only a training camp member for now. The rank he wore was merely that of an ordinary Navy Lieutenant Commander, and he was not even from Headquarters.

If he truly had to deal with a group of older Navy officers pestering him relentlessly, it would not be easy to brush them off. Cooking for two or three people was fine, but cooking for more than a dozen super big eaters every day would take up far too much of his training time.