Successful Evacuation

By the time Gray arrived at the secret port in the back, Trebol was already rushing the others to load supplies.

"Gray!"

"Gray-sama!"

"Keep busy with your work. Let me rest for a moment, and bring me some food while you're at it!" Before anyone could ask what had happened, Gray cut them off.

Right now, Gray felt nothing but hunger.

Even though he had just finished breakfast that morning, the intense exertion of this battle had left his stomach completely empty.

"Yes! Lord Gray!"

A subordinate hurried off to fetch food, while Jora held Dellinger and stood guard over the cargo loading alongside Buffalo.

Off to the side, Corazon was guarding a sullen Law.

Only Trebol remained with a manifest, checking off supplies and overseeing the transfer of the family's vital documents and the bulk of their assets.

"Gray-sama, the food is here!"

"Good!" Gray didn't even have time to speak; he grabbed the food with both hands and began to devour it.

On the front side of the port, the battle raged like wildfire, buying more time for the evacuation here.

Boom!

Suddenly, a loud crash echoed from the side of their ship, sending seawater spraying everywhere.

"Who's there?"

"Don't panic, it's Shark Chili returning!" Gray, having sensed the situation with his Observation Haki, stopped his subordinates from panicking.

"Keep moving the supplies, faster!" Trebol urged them again. Both inside and out, Trebol was so flustered that he even forgot to use his usual annoying verbal tics.

"One minute, we only have one minute, then we set sail immediately!"

"Yes!"

"Hahaha, you did a great job this time~ Shark Chili!" Gray patted the head of the Shark Chili that had poked out from the side of the ship, praising it as he fed it the food from his hand.

"Chumi!"

"I know, I know! Keep doing it like that in the future; once you destroy the bottom of a ship, don't stick around. If you keep fighting, a young one like you will be in danger!"

"Chumi!" Eating the food in its mouth and enjoying Gray's affectionate petting, Shark Chili felt like it was enjoying a double treat.

A minute passed, and the subordinates scrambled back onto the ship as Trebol pulled out a flare gun and fired.

Boom~

A massive, colorful firework rose into the sky. Doflamingo and his family executives stood on the shore, locked in a standoff with Tsuru, who stood upon the wreckage of a ship on the water.

After Gray had left, Tsuru—who could no longer be held back by Doflamingo—had returned to organize the Navy's rescue efforts, facing the combined attacks of all the Donquixote Family executives by herself.

"Fufufu... It seems you have failed, Great Staff Officer Tsuru!"

"Are you not going to continue?" Tsuru showed no trace of fear; instead, she said calmly, "I have already learned the details of your abilities this time."

"When we meet again, you won't have such good luck, brat!"

###!

Taking a deep breath, Doflamingo suppressed the urge to continue the banter. "Fufufu... Come and get me if you have the skill!"

This battle had taught him a great deal.

It wasn't just about witnessing the technique of projecting Armament Haki; it had also served as a wake-up call for his inflated ego.

The pond of the North Blue could not raise a dragon!

No matter how much they acted as kings and tyrants here, in the eyes of the powerhouses of the New World, they were merely people from a backwater place.

And the New World's assessment of such people was correct!

Although the Donquixote Family was strong, possessing only two types of Haki and Devil Fruit abilities was not enough to compare to the powerhouses of the New World.

Armament Haki would not grow stronger just by fighting the small-timers of the North Blue.

"Retreat!"

Doflamingo waved his hand, and they departed with the others. With Tsuru there, they were no match for her; if it hadn't been for the female marine behind them holding Tsuru back, their Donquixote Family would have been wiped out by Tsuru alone.

"Set sail!"

Everyone quickly returned to the ship. Once they cleared the port, Doflamingo collapsed instantly.

"Doffy!"

"Young Master!"

"Ship doctor! Get the ship doctor, quickly!"

The severe injuries Tsuru had inflicted upon Doflamingo had finally taken their toll.

At the start of the battle, he had been so desperate to buy time for the family's retreat that he had only used his ability to crudely stitch his internal organs back together.

After retreating to safety, Doflamingo, suffering from severe internal hemorrhaging, could no longer hold on.

After Doflamingo collapsed, the atmosphere on the ship grew heavy.

Except for Gray and Baby-5, who had her heart set entirely on him, the rest of the executives wore miserable expressions.

Not only that, but they had even lost their usual shrewdness; they couldn't even decide where to retreat to.

"Rotten wood cannot be carved!" This was Gray's assessment of the Donquixote Family's executives.

With strength that couldn't improve and potential that wasn't high, these people actually still harbored thoughts of letting Doflamingo become the Pirate King?

It was practically turning into a game of pirate house.

He knew from the original story that they had arrived in the New World full of confidence, acting entirely like businessmen, without showing a shred of ambition to conquer.

Later, after they produced artificial Devil Fruits and caught Kaido's attention, they must have been given a beating; otherwise, Doflamingo wouldn't be so afraid whenever Kaido was mentioned.

After that, although Doflamingo became one of the Underworld Emperors, that was as far as he went!

He lacked the advanced internal destruction application of Armament Haki, his Conqueror's Haki had seen no progress, let alone Advanced Conqueror's Haki.

There was nothing worth mentioning about his Observation Haki either!

The only commendable aspect was that he had developed his Devil Fruit ability to the point of awakening.

"Forget it, how they fare has nothing to do with me." Stopping his train of thought, Gray turned his attention to himself.

Through this battle, he had figured out his own standing.

His current offensive power was roughly between that of a Marine Headquarters Commodore and a Rear Admiral. If he were engaged in aerial combat with an enemy, he could hold off a Vice Admiral for a short time.

However, Gray estimated that with that style of combat, his stamina would be exhausted after half an hour. Furthermore, when fighting a Vice Admiral, his fragile body couldn't afford to take a single hit.

This meant he had to keep Observation Haki covering the entire field, which was also a burden on his spirit.

Therefore, in a comprehensive evaluation: in aerial combat, taking half a day as a benchmark, he could remain undefeated against a Commodore.

As for defeating an opponent, that might not be realistic.

Let's call it an eight-to-two split!

Gray gets two, the enemy gets eight!

After all, Gray's full-power attacks could still threaten a Commodore.

"In this battle, there were no problems with the offense, but in terms of defense—aside from flying to dodge, I don't seem to have a formal defensive move yet!" Through this fight, Gray clearly identified the problems he had exposed.

First point: the stamina issue.

There was no way around this; his physical age was what it was, and he had only been training for a year. Being able to live freely in a six-times gravity environment was already the result of Gray never slacking off.

Second point: the lack of defensive skills.

"Clever brain, think of a way quickly. How can a Spin-Spin Fruit user develop defensive skills..."