Akainu! Little Glutton

In the blink of an eye, hundreds of copies of the kid filled the sky, shooting toward him from every direction.

"A Devil Fruit user?"

This kid was a Devil Fruit user too?

Clones?

The thought vanished a moment later. A thread wrapped around one of the figures, only to pass straight through it.

"So they're just illusions!"

Doflamingo sneered. "Then what good are they?"

Observation Haki-

"What?"

Doflamingo's expression changed abruptly.

Below.

"What?"

Doll froze. "Naito was a Devil Fruit user?"

"Hm?"

Zephyr looked surprised. "Didn't I mention it?"

"Never!"

Rear Admiral Marcus was at a loss for words.

"There wasn't much need to mention it,"

Zephyr said, shaking his head. "Naito's ability creates illusions and phantom sounds. It's useless against an enemy who has mastered Observation Haki."

"Teacher Zephyr, are you sure about that?"

Simon swallowed. "How come I can't tell them apart at all?"

"What?"

Zephyr was startled. He suddenly looked up and instinctively released his Observation Haki.

Then he froze.

Every one of the hundreds of Naito illusions gave off an aura identical to Naito's!

This!!

Had Naito's ability reached a new stage of development?

By now, Doflamingo's face was covered in sweat. He couldn't tell which one was the real kid!

In that case, there was no need to tell them apart.

"Thousand Arrows: Feather Piercing Threads!"

An endless torrent of threads surged upward, forming hundreds of pitch-black spears in midair. At that moment, they all stabbed toward Naito's phantom clones.

But at that very instant, even more illusions appeared. There simply weren't enough thread spears.

A great number of illusions were pierced, but even more were already closing in around Doflamingo.

"Damn it! Overheat!"

Doflamingo swung his whip of threads, trying to dispel the illusions.

Suddenly, the whip was caught.

Doflamingo whirled around in alarm.

Behind him?

"Serious Punch."

Since he no longer had to worry about damaging the base, the Haki coating this punch surged even more fiercely.

Boom!

The sky exploded. Doflamingo's body became a black streak, shooting across the sky with a sonic boom cloud coiling around him.

Chapter 33: Akainu! Little Glutton

All the illusions vanished, and the agitated threads fell still.

Naito floated in the sky, stepping on the air. He clenched his fist and let out a quiet breath.

Without a doubt, Marine Naito was by no means at the bottom among the Shichibukai. His strength in a head-on fight was already no less than Doflamingo's, and the upgraded Illusion-Illusion Fruit was an even more unexpected surprise.

In the distance, Doflamingo plummeted diagonally toward the sea.

But the next moment, his body seemed to be pulled by invisible threads. He drifted beyond the shore like a feather, out over the sea, and finally landed-on a ship on the water.

Naito gazed at the fleet on the distant sea.

Though it was far away, its distinctive seagull-and-wrench emblem was easy enough to make out.

A ship from G-5 Base, or G-1 Base?

Either way, it didn't matter.

Naito became an afterimage and gave chase again.

Out on the sea.

"Ugh-"

Doflamingo landed on the warship's deck, clutching his chest and vomiting a mouthful of blood.

That kid!

What astonishing Haki!

The power of that last attack was no less than that damn woman's Fire Dragon Tail Sweep!

"Hey, this guy is!!"

On the deck, the Marines who had come to support Punk Hazard were given quite a fright.

How had a guy suddenly fallen out of the sky?

Then the Marines quickly recognized the man.

"Donquixote Doflamingo, one of the Shichibukai!"

"How did he get hurt so badly?"

"Was he fighting those escapees?"

The fleet's supreme commander, a Vice Admiral and the commander of Marine G-5 Base, stepped out from the crowd. "Doflamingo, what happened? Were you fighting those people?"

Doflamingo looked back and gave the Vice Admiral a cold glance. Then his gaze swept over the crowd and paused on someone for a moment, before he raised his head again without hesitation and looked at the figure rapidly approaching through the sky.

In the crowd, the man wearing a Justice Coat with a spoon stuck to his face-Marine Headquarters Lieutenant Colonel Vergo of G-5 Base-secretly clenched his teeth.

Doffy, how did you get hurt this badly?

Who is the enemy? I'll never forgive him!

"Look! Someone's coming through the sky!"

A Marine cried out.

The Marines all looked up and saw the figure stepping through the air toward them.

"Geppo?"

"Wait, he's wearing a Justice Coat!"

"He's one of us!"

The Marines cried out.

"What on earth-"

The Vice Admiral commanding G-5 Base was also somewhat bewildered.

Was he here to pursue Doflamingo?

But why was he a Marine?

Naito stopped above the warship and looked down at the large vessel.

It looked like G-5 Base, because Akainu wasn't there.

Then he glanced at Doflamingo, who was clutching his chest.

He can really take a beating. No wonder he was able to drag Luffy down through sheer endurance and leave him bedridden for days after their fight.

"I'm Naito, a Headquarters major with the Marine Guerrilla Unit."

Naito introduced himself. "This man, Doflamingo, is suspected of colluding with the escapees and allowing them to flee. Please help me apprehend him."

He framed him without a moment's hesitation.

Doflamingo clenched his teeth. "Kid!!"

"What?"

The Marines on the deck instinctively moved away from Doflamingo at once.

Compared with this Shichibukai, a fellow Marine was naturally more trustworthy.

A few people, however, noticed a problem.

"Wait, the Marine Guerrilla Unit is the one Mr. Zephyr formed—but he said he's a major!"

"Was he the one who sent Doflamingo flying here?"

"You've got to be kidding... That's a Shichibukai!"

Even the commander of G-5 Base was stunned.

That young—and that powerful-

No, the question now was, had those escapees already left? And had Doflamingo really betrayed them?

In the crowd, Vergo's back was already drenched in cold sweat.

This is bad!

Damn it, if this kid really hurt Doffy that badly, could Doffy and I escape even if we joined forces?

"Fuffuffuffu,"

It had to be said that Doflamingo, the king of reading newspapers, wasn't so stupid that he couldn't even offer a rebuttal. He merely sneered. "You're going to attack me without an order from the government, just because some kid spouted a load of nonsense? Are you sure you want to do that?"

"This-"

The commander of G-5 Base fell silent at once.