Life Under Akainu

Sakazuki placed considerable importance on this junior of his. Being granted the rank of Rear Admiral right after graduation—he knew very well what that meant.

Back then, Kizaru, Aokiji, and he himself had all been made Rear Admirals immediately upon graduation. It could be said that this was proof of Admiral potential.

Though Akainu's personality was stern to the point of near cruelty, after returning to Navy Headquarters, he did not assign Doflamingo any tasks.

During the recent brawl in the New World, many powerful Navy officers had spent nearly a year drifting at sea. They had also clashed with numerous Great Pirates from time to time. Having only just returned, they naturally needed a period of rest.

However, after only a dozen or so days, Akainu began taking Doflamingo out to crack down on pirates.

Honestly, Marines of Akainu's caliber were in an awkward position.

Sending them after ordinary pirates would be making a mountain out of a molehill—using anti-aircraft guns to swat mosquitoes.

Yet if they went after pirates of their own level, hardly any such pirates operated alone. They were all top forces within major Pirate Crews.

Though the New World did not yet have the term Four Emperors, all kinds of Pirate Crews had already grown into major powers, ruling over many islands in the New World.

Under such circumstances, any move would affect the whole situation and ignite a conflict between the Navy and a large Pirate Crew.

Akainu was still only an Admiral Candidate, so he could still put to sea to deal with pirates. Once he truly became an Admiral, aside from the later Summit War, he would hardly make a move at all.

It was not just him. The other two Admirals were the same. As the face of the Navy, they could neither lower themselves to hunt down weak minor pirates nor directly clash with Pirate Crews on the level of the Four Emperors.

At that point, they could only sit around like clay idols, or wander aimlessly across the sea like Kuzan, seeing whether any minor pirates might happen to run into them.

No wonder Garp was so resistant to becoming an Admiral. Vice Admirals could run all over the world chasing pirates, but if an Admiral went after ordinary pirates, people would accuse him of neglecting his proper duties.

So what exactly did Admirals do? In the original story, apart from the Summit War, Admirals had only two concrete duties: launching Buster Calls and protecting Celestial Dragons.

It was not until after the Summit War, when the New World's balance was shattered, that the era of Admirals running around everywhere truly arrived.

Over the azure sea, the Navy led by Akainu was battling pirates.

"Dog Bite Crimson Lotus!"

Akainu's right hand transformed into a gigantic magma hound's head, instantly swallowing the ship before him.

The entire pirate ship was smashed into two with a single blow. Flames and thick smoke rose from its severed halves. Two powerful pirates roared as they leaped toward the warship, only for the cold-faced Akainu to give each of them a punch, burning them into charcoal on the spot.

Doflamingo casually unleashed a Flying Slash, cutting down another pirate ship. The pirates aboard that ship were not nearly so fierce. They did not dare fight the Navy at all and fled in small boats or by dog-paddling away.

Bored, Doflamingo took a rifle from a nearby Marine and began picking off the pirates in the water.

The Dovish Faction would surely frown at this, believing it showed too little respect for life. But Akainu would simply bark, "Fire the cannons and blast them apart! Don't waste time!"

Yes, that was exactly how he barked orders.

"Vice Admiral Sakazuki, we do not have many shells left either." Doflamingo put away his rifle. Instead of firing the cannons, he sent a Flying Slash skimming across the sea, drawing a chorus of screams from the water.

Akainu followed the standard Navy approach. When fighting pirates, he generally used cannon fire to suppress them first. They had already spent over half a year roaming the seas, destroying countless Pirate Crews. Even with resupplies from Navy bases along the way, they no longer had many shells left.

Still, their achievements had been brilliant. The New World was still in a state of chaos. Top Pirate Crews like Whitebeard's and Big Mom's were not easy to touch, but there were plenty of first-rate Pirate Crews beneath the Four Emperors.

They had once fought a Pirate Crew of that caliber, barely gained the upper hand, and killed one of its Top Executives.

Speaking of which, that had been Doflamingo's contribution. The Navy Fleet led by Sakazuki had clashed with that Pirate Crew many times, and both sides knew each other well.

Thus, in that battle, the enemy had followed the same pattern as before: soldiers against soldiers, generals against generals. The Captain and two Top Executives surrounded Akainu, while the remaining executives tangled with Akainu's subordinate officers.

Then Doflamingo suddenly struck. Catching them off guard, he killed a Top Executive with a single move. The entire Pirate Crew nearly collapsed on the spot. Only after suffering further casualties did they manage to escape.

However, they had killed a thousand enemies at the cost of eight hundred of their own. The ships and Marines under Akainu's command had also reached their limits. Even cannon shells had to be conserved.

After hearing Doflamingo's words, Akainu fell silent for a moment before asking, "Steve, how much longer can our supplies last?"

"Not much longer. Food and drinking water are manageable—we can always kill a few Sea Kings if needed—but our guns and ammunition are only enough for one more major battle. And while we are fine, the men have already been exhausted to the limit."

Seeing that the enemy fleet had been completely wiped out, Doflamingo sheathed his sword and answered.

Akainu looked over his men and saw that their faces were indeed filled with exhaustion. Those who could follow him out to sea were certainly all from the Hawkish Faction. Now, even they could no longer hide their fatigue. They had clearly reached their limit.

"Fine! We return." Akainu crossed his arms, reined in the power of the Magma Fruit, and spoke to the Navigator behind him.

The Marines all breathed sighs of relief. They had spent more than half a year drifting at sea and had reached their limits as well. Now that they heard they could return, they were naturally quite pleased.

With nothing else to do, Doflamingo returned to his cabin and began his Sword Meditation. Of course, that was only the excuse on the surface. In truth, he immersed himself in the Illusion Space to continue his training.

Honestly, staying with Akainu was highly beneficial for training. Like Doflamingo, that guy was ruthless and vicious, and the stronger his opponent was, the less likely he was to hold back.

Had it been Aokiji, freezing his opponents would basically have been enough, after which he would send the pirates to Impel Down. Kizaru, meanwhile, could barely be bothered to fight at all and was completely indifferent toward performance.

Under those circumstances, if he wanted to gather high-quality souls, Akainu was naturally the one to rely on.

Sure enough, after just one voyage, he had collected the soul of a pirate with a bounty as high as six hundred million.

In Doflamingo's eyes, that Top Executive had at least strength close to that of the Sweet Commanders. If Doflamingo had not ambushed him while he was fighting the Navy, Doflamingo might not necessarily have been able to defeat him.