Projecting Armament Haki outward was, of course, an extremely advanced technique.
Especially for swordsmen and the like. The more convenient it was to cut people down in the early stages, the more time they would have to spend making up for that lesson later on.
Otherwise, when swordsmen accustomed to cutting everything in two encountered Armament Haki they could not cut through, their openings would increase dramatically. Never mind their combat power plummeting—they could even be beaten to death in a counterattack.
That was the helplessness of swordsmen.
But conversely, once a swordsman had learned Haki, their blades could cut and cleave through anything. At that point, they could be called a great swordsman.
The same applied to Sabo's steel pipe. Once he had mastered projecting Armament Haki outward, it meant his Armament Haki had truly reached an advanced level. How could Flamingo not turn serious?
He realized that he had indeed underestimated these Revolutionary Army members. Leaving everything else aside, just their leader alone was qualified to join the ranks of the Shichibukai and stand alongside them.
And those two people who had just cut Pica apart—even if they could not defeat Pica immediately, their combat strength clearly did not fall below that of his four highest-ranking officers.
This was troublesome. Hopefully, Pica and the others could hold them back.
With that thought, Doflamingo's attacks grew increasingly urgent. Every one of his moves was "read" by Sabo's Observation Haki. Sabo easily blocked Doflamingo's threads, claws, and kicks, handling them with ease.
It was as though he were the Shichibukai, while Doflamingo was merely a great pirate challenging him.
That feeling nearly made Flamingo explode. He was already close to his limit, but he still had to kill Sabo first!
Sabo was far calmer than Doflamingo because he had someone