"Oh~"
Nami couldn't quite understand, but still pretended to have an epiphany, opened her left hand, and clapped her fist:
"So, what you're saying is, the old guy's managed to do this, meaning he's gotten a lot stronger, right?"
"You could say that."
Shano grinned, "After all, each of you has become so much stronger. As the captain, how could I fall behind?"
"Hooray!"
Nami tightly hugged his chest, cheering joyfully, "Now we can finally leave this island and head towards the New World with full force!"
This grey island, apart from the noisy monkeys, had nothing else, and she was thoroughly tired of it!
Shano didn't say anything more, just affectionately rubbed his sister's orange short hair.
But in the depths of his eyes, a faint, deep light flickered.
After this session of closed-door training.
The "Blood and Flesh Melting Furnace Technique" was completely mastered, the Supreme King Entanglement fully grasped, and at ten thousand meters beneath the sea, with historical text as an aid, he had gone through such prolonged hellish self-abuse training, elevating his physical strength to a level far beyond before...
The pace of his power growth had even surpassed his original expectations.
Thinking back.
To all the experiences before the closed-door training...
Akainu had beaten him into half a skeleton in half an hour, cornering him. If it weren't for using an Immortal Bean, he would have been dead without a burial place;
Kizaru, with a full-force blow, pierced his heart in just one attack;
Kaido, without even using fruit ability, effortlessly countered all his attacks in human form.
These events, these kinds of things...
Henceforth, will never happen again!
"Oh, by the way, sorry, Kuina."
Shano looked at his deputy captain, "Doflamingo was supposed to be your opponent, and you should have solved him, but I..."
"No need to blame yourself, sir." Kuina shook her head, "That guy chickened out and chose to break his promise. I couldn't break through his birdcage in a short time; your intervention was unavoidable."
Though she said that.
As she sheathed her sword, the look she cast toward the half body in the fountain still carried a hint of regret and disappointment.
"Don't worry."
Shano patted her shoulder, "We're about to leave Paradise. In the New World, there'll be no shortage of opponents of this caliber. It probably won't be long before you have another chance to showcase your swordsmanship."
"Yes."
Kuina nodded, and mentioning the place called "New World," her eyes also took on a glimmer of anticipation.
"Hey, look over here, look over here!" An urgent voice suddenly came from afar, "Do you have a ship doctor? Help out, save Mr. Kuma!"
"I almost forgot about this."
Nami slapped her forehead, quickly grabbed Shano's arm, pulling him towards the castle gate, "Hurry, come this way, bro!"
"Kuma?"
Only then did Shano notice the Tontatta Dwarves Race princess at the door, his gaze sweeping past that small figure, landing on the bear on the ground.
"What's going on?" he asked with a frown.
......
Many kilometers away in the sea.
High in the sky, Doflamingo's consciousness began to blur, the blood loss making his vision black, but he still gritted his teeth to hold on, barely flying in the air with the help of his string manipulation.
It's unclear how long has passed or how far he has flown when finally a ship's silhouette appeared in his view.
That's the Navy's flag!
"Save... save me..."
Doflamingo used the last of his strength, manipulating his strings to fling himself onto the warship's deck.
Boom!
His upper body heavily hit the bow, the huge commotion echoing across the entire deck.
"Who's there?!"
The Navy soldiers followed the sound and gathered around. Among them, some experienced veterans looked carefully and upon recognizing Doflamingo, their faces instantly changed.
"The Seven Warlords of the Sea... Doflamingo?!"
"What's going on? How did he end up like this!"
"Never mind that, quickly! Call the medics and nurses over here!"
Amid the chaos.
A middle-aged man wearing a tea-colored hat and clenching a cigar pushed through the crowd, striding forward. Seeing this miserable appearance, he hesitated.
"Isn't this the Celestial Yaksha? What happened to him?"
"It's you..." Doflamingo struggled to lift his head, recognizing the person, "Tokikake..."
"Ah, it's me."
Chaton squinted his eyes, being a seasoned Vice Admiral from the Navy Headquarters; he had interacted with him several times at the Seven Warlords of the Sea meetings.
This indisputable scoundrel, even at Marinfanto, was arrogant and domineering, even going so far as to use strings to manipulate Navy officers to kill each other for amusement, simply due to boredom while waiting for meetings.
He had long been displeased with him, but observing the current state, it's too miserable, isn't it?
After all, this guy has managed to establish a foothold in the New World as one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea.
In the first half of the Grand Line, who could possibly take this guy down?
"Can you save him?"
He asked the old military doctor crouching beside, trying to save him.
"Can't be done..." The old military doctor shook his head, "Too much blood loss, several important organs and intestines are all gone... Now, it's just a fleeting moment of consciousness."
"Is that so... What a shame."
Chaton furrowed his brow and exhaled a ring of smoke, "Looks like we'll soon lose an ally from our Navy Headquarters. Any last words?"
Doflamingo also heard the old doctor's words.
But he didn't even need the other to say it; he knew himself that he was already at the end of the road in terms of physical condition...
He's going to die.
Unlike the time he was tied to the cross, this time, he really was going to die...
He suddenly felt a strange hatred for the Navy, spat out a large mouthful of saliva, splattering it onto Chaton's face.
Chaton's face immediately darkened, but he said nothing and didn't wipe off the saliva.
"You Navy Headquarters are truly a bunch of useless fools, screwing up all kinds of intel..."
Though his face was already entirely pale, Doflamingo still forcefully chuckled, full of ridicule:
"Sha...no... that Shano, he's not dead, not dead at all! From now on, you Navy's troubles will just keep coming, fufufufufu..."
Laughing, his pupils suddenly dilated, and his body helplessly slumped onto the stretcher, completely losing vitality.