"Damn it!"
Feeling that he was being looked down on, Luo grew even more "brazen": "If I beat this guy, can I become an officer right away?"
Everyone present froze at that, then burst out laughing, as if mocking Luo for overestimating himself.
"Hahahahaha!"
"Bwehehehe~ I'm laughing so hard my nose is running."
"Are you serious?"
"Stop laughing!"
Humiliated and furious, Luo immediately shouted and charged forward, swinging his blade with all his might—only for Diamante to casually knock him to the ground again.
It was downright pitiful. Abel felt embarrassed for him just watching.
He was at a loss for words. Luo was usually pretty sharp, so how did he turn into a complete idiot as soon as a fight started?
But then again, maybe it wasn't so strange. After all, Luo had never properly learned how to fight or how to kill someone.
Even when facing those vagrants, Luo had only managed to hold on through sheer ferocity.
So being both reckless and terrible at fighting was somewhat forgivable.
"Charging in headfirst won't kill anyone," Diamante continued to taunt him.
"Then I'll use this! I don't have long to live anyway, so there's nothing to be afraid of!"
Luo suddenly pulled a grenade from inside his clothes, his face fierce.
He had found it on the ship and secretly stashed it away.
Because of Senor, the two of them hadn't been tied up after they were caught, and they'd even been fed to their fill at every meal.
That was what had given Luo the chance to hide things.
But Luo's move didn't scare anyone. If anything, it only made Diamante deeply displeased, and his expression darkened at once.
"Don't underestimate pirates, kid!"
Diamante, who had been only defending and never attacking, suddenly swung his sword, striking with the back of the blade!
With a cry of pain, Luo let out a scream. His body flew several meters before crashing heavily to the ground. The short sword and grenade in his hands flew free and landed in the garbage heap.
How stupid did you have to be to think a single grenade could take on an opponent of Diamante's caliber?
No wonder Diamante was so angry. He felt he was being looked down on.
"Looks like all this guy's good for is running his mouth."
At some point, two other kids about Luo's age had appeared nearby, sitting on the garbage heap and watching the show.
One was a cute little girl in a maid outfit, with a yellow bow in her hair.
The other was a chubby kid in overalls, dressed all in green, with a pink woolly hat perched on his head. He looked like he wasn't very bright.
"It's over, it's over. Let's go play hide-and-seek."
"Sure~"
The little girl and the chubby kid hopped off to leave. Even Doflamingo, who had been watching Luo closely from upstairs, gave a slight shake of his head and turned to go back inside.
But just then, something nobody expected happened!
"He's not the only one who underestimated someone!"
Bang!
With a whoosh!
Boosted by the enhanced power of Gear Three, Abel, who had no choice but to step forward, kicked a pile of discarded metal parts hard.
He knew very well that even if he relied on these technological shoes and used up every last bit of power, he still couldn't beat his opponent.
But he could create an opening for what he planned to do next.
He had to show his worth as much as possible.
Though he was joining the Donquixote Family too, the path he intended to take was completely different from Luo's future one.
He wanted to climb the ranks as quickly as possible and become an officer. Deep down, he even harbored the ambition to replace Doflamingo!
And he believed that replacing Doflamingo would never be the limit of what he could achieve.
He could do even better, until one day he truly stood at the top of the world!
Driven by that terrifying ambition, countless pieces of scrap metal shot out and instantly surrounded Diamante.
Diamante had indeed been careless.
Most of his attention had been focused on the boastful Luo, and he had unconsciously ignored the other useless rookie beside him.
Who would have thought that this rookie, whom nobody had taken seriously, would suddenly startle him?
By the time the metal scraps had reached him, it was already too late to dodge.
Cape Bull!
The soft, bright-red cape instantly spread out in front of Diamante.
It looked thin and supple, but was actually made of steel. He had used his Devil Fruit ability to make it so soft.
The countless pieces of metal clanged against it.
A powerhouse of Diamante's caliber couldn't be dealt with by little tricks like these. The gulf in strength was simply too wide to bridge.
Not only had the attack failed to break through his defenses, but not even a single nail had slipped past. He'd blocked everything.
Even so, Diamante's expression grew even uglier.
He had actually used his Devil Fruit ability!
It was a complete humiliation!
Behind his cape, Diamante's expression had turned grim and uncertain.
If Doflamingo hadn't given him orders, he would have torn that damn brat who'd made him lose face limb from limb!
But that was only an appetizer.
Nobody noticed that a banana had been mixed in with the pile of metal scraps that had been kicked away.
"Kid, you—"
Diamante's face had just emerged from behind the cape.
Then came a booming explosion!
The sudden blast left everyone watching stunned.
Abel wasn't going to make the same low-level mistake as Luo. If he'd decided to use a bomb, he wasn't going to waste time mouthing off!
Diamante hadn't expected his opponent to have another trick up his sleeve, and was instantly swallowed by the flames.
Then Abel quickly ran over to Luo, picked up the grenade lying on the ground, and without hesitation pulled the pin. He hurled it toward the flames.
Boom!
Another loud explosion.
The two consecutive bombs had more or less left Diamante dazed.
They also gave everyone else the mistaken impression that, like Luo, Abel had been hiding grenades on him and had kicked one toward Diamante along with the other metal scraps.
Otherwise, there was no explaining why a banana had exploded.
But even so, Diamante was still impossible to defeat.
"I'm going to kill you, kid!"
With an angry roar, Diamante wrapped himself completely in his cape and charged out of the flames like an enraged bull.
But he hadn't come through completely unscathed. Abel noticed that some of the man's hair had been singed, and his face was black and white with soot.
If all the clothes and cape he wore hadn't been made of steel, he would have been in far worse shape than just looking a little disheveled.
But Abel soon paid the price for what he'd done, too.
Thud!
Diamante's face twisted with rage as he kicked Abel, sending him flying dozens of meters.
Before you continue