After exchanging blows, Dawn gained a direct understanding of Katakuri's strength.
At the same time, he gained an equally clear understanding of his own.
Admiral level.
With Return activated, he absolutely possessed Admiral-level combat power. With the overload boost of Dual Rings, he could also fight a top powerhouse like Katakuri, the strongest subordinate of one of the Four Emperors.
Katakuri could hold his own against him only because his Observation Haki far surpassed that of ordinary people, allowing him to gain some advantage.
If it had been another Sweet Commander, Dawn would have been able to steadily suppress them even without going all out.
Katakuri could only put some pressure on him. If the enraged Katakuri truly wanted to kill him, that was simply impossible.
Although Dawn had never truly fought one of the Four Emperors, he understood the strength of people like Aokiji and Akainu. They even sparred occasionally.
He had also taken plenty of Old Man Garp's iron fists. After digesting the feedback Sanjuan Wolf had given him, Dawn estimated that his strength would rank among the very best even among the Four Emperors and Admirals.
The back-and-forth with Katakuri was merely to temper his Observation Haki.
Fighting powerful enemies was the fastest way to improve Observation Haki. Dawn's strength had now entered a plateau.
At his Admiral-level strength, it was naturally impossible for him to improve as rapidly as he had when he was weak.
But that did not mean there were no ways to grow stronger.
For example, he could strengthen his Observation Haki or obtain some powerful Devil Fruits.
Devil Fruits were things one could only encounter by chance, but he did have a target. Capturing Catarina Devon had been part of his plans for a fruit.
Unfortunately, she was too cunning and had