Once she understood who it was, Dora immediately voiced her deduction. At the very moment she spoke, she actually saw a trace of helplessness on Vice Admiral Saul's face?!
What was going on?
Dora did not understand. Knowing the enemy's identity should make it easier to eliminate him, right?
As if he could see through Dora's confusion, Saul did not stint on his explanation.
"Little Dora, you don't understand. If it really is him, then we have no way to deal with him. Headquarters once issued an order about Doflamingo: if you encounter Doflamingo, you are to arrest him on sight. Even if you throw away your life, you must not kill him!"
"What? Why? Is it just because he's a Goro Goro no Mi (Rumble-Rumble Fruit) user?" Dora still did not understand.
"Not entirely. Headquarters didn't disclose much, but I think his identity might be rather special." Saul spoke dejectedly. Being unable to avenge his men was harder to bear than being killed himself.
However, Saul was not the sort to blindly follow Headquarters' orders. Saul had his own sense of justice, and when the two came into conflict, he chose to uphold his own justice.
So he took off his Marine coat, tossed it onto the deck, and directly ordered the Marine sailors to bring the warship alongside.
Seeing Saul act like this, Dora did not say anything more. She knew that Vice Admiral Saul was staking his future in the Marines to avenge the soldiers. She had no reason to stop a Saul like this.
When the warship drew close to Doflamingo, Saul relied on his nearly twenty-meter height and strode forward from the deck in a single powerful step, leaping up. He wrapped his fists in Armament Haki, aimed at Doflamingo's head, and roared, "Oni Moji Ken (Demon Crush Fist)!"
How big was a giant's fist? Big enough to match Doflamingo's full height. One could imagine how terrifying the power behind it was. But in Doflamingo's eyes, Saul was nothing more than a slowly moving, oversized target.
Just as Saul's fist was about to smash into Doflamingo's head, Doflamingo's figure vanished, reappearing beneath Saul's abdomen.
Doflamingo drove a heavy punch straight into Saul's stomach.
There was no deeper meaning to it. Doflamingo purely wanted to see just how strong his physical power was now.
And he did not disappoint himself. With that one forceful punch, even without using Armament Haki, Saul was blasted even higher into the air, his massive body tumbling over and over, unable to stabilize.
Fortunately, Doflamingo was a good person who could not bear to see others suffer. In the next instant he again shifted in a blur, appearing above Saul, and drove a vicious kick into Saul's back.
Saul had no time to react. With the combined force of free fall and Doflamingo's strike, he inevitably crashed into the sea below, sending up waves hundreds of meters high.
"Boring. The giants' strength is impressive, but if they can't hit their target, what's the point? They're just target dummies." Only Doflamingo would dare say such things. In this world, how many people possessed Doflamingo's speed, and how many possessed his strength? Having either one alone would be enough to be proud of, let alone both.
After kicking Saul into the sea, Doflamingo did not bother to check whether Saul would die. If a giant vice admiral could die that easily, the Marines would have been wiped out long ago.
Doflamingo had stayed instead of leaving precisely because he wanted to meet Saul. Seeing Saul's dopey face with that big toothy grin, Doflamingo sighed inwardly that he was no different from the man in his memories.
As for killing Saul, Doflamingo had no such intention. There had been a reason to kill Kongming, but if he really killed Saul, then that would truly mean an irreconcilable feud with the Marines. He might not care, but he had to think of the Donquixote Family.
For that reason, Doflamingo only wanted to have a look at him and compare his own strength a little. He had no other plans.
With his objective accomplished, Doflamingo naturally had no reason to remain. With a few flickers of movement, he disappeared beyond the horizon.
Even though Doflamingo had left, the impact he left on Dora was anything but small. In her heart, Vice Admiral Saul had always been the very image of "strong yet gentle." Even if she was still far from adulthood, Dora had always thought that her future husband would have to be someone as strong and as gentle as Vice Admiral Saul.
But everything was shattered today. That overwhelmingly powerful Vice Admiral Saul was crushed in just a few exchanges by Doflamingo, a man with a bounty of only 75 million Berries.
Dora's heart instantly sank to rock bottom. Was this world too insane, or had she simply seen too little of it? She had always believed that becoming a Marine captain at fourteen already made her a genius among geniuses. She never imagined there could be something even more outrageous.
After all, from what Dora knew, Doflamingo was at most thirteen years old this year. At that age, with that level of strength—was he even human anymore? He was probably far stronger than those three "monster" rear admirals.
At this moment, a fierce resolve to become stronger suddenly took root in Dora's heart, and her view of Doflamingo also changed.
And events played out exactly as Doflamingo had expected. On the patch of sea where Saul had crashed, after a bout of bubbling, a huge head with chubby-cheeked, groundhog-like features broke through the surface. Who else could it be if not Saul?
Lost in thought, Dora was jolted back by the sound of Saul splashing at the surface. She ordered the Marines to throw down a massive rescue rope, and Saul climbed up it onto the deck.
The moment he reached the deck, Dora anxiously asked,
"Vice Admiral Saul, are you all right?!"
"Dereshishishi, dereshishishi, of course I'm fine! It's just that I was beaten so easily. Little Dora, I'm really useless!" Saul laughed at himself, but there was a trace of bitterness hidden in that laugh.
"No, Vice Admiral Saul, you…" Seeing the man she regarded as the pillar of her world so downcast, Dora immediately wanted to comfort her "idol."
But even with his kind heart, after living more than a hundred years, Saul understood far more than ordinary people. He did not let Dora continue. Instead, he comforted her in turn.
"Dereshishishi, dereshishishi, little Dora, don't underestimate me. I won't lose my confidence over this. My justice absolutely won't allow me to give up.
I'll report this to Headquarters myself. The danger Doflamingo poses is absolutely no less than a great pirate like Whitebeard. If Headquarters doesn't take him seriously, more of our comrades will die at his hands, and I will never allow that to happen.
I'll also apply for a transfer. Whether it goes through or not, I'll stake this life of mine on capturing Doflamingo."
"Vice Admiral Saul! Uu… uu…" Dora covered her mouth, moved to tears by Saul. This truly was the Vice Admiral Saul she knew.
Dora knew that once Vice Admiral Saul made up his mind, he would definitely see it through. But with her current strength, even if she followed him, she would only be a burden.
Thus, Dora decided to enter the Marine training camp that Zephyr-ojisan had established. She would strengthen herself and, at the same time, seek out like-minded Marine partners, so that in the future she could help Vice Admiral Saul wipe out Doflamingo.
(End of Chapter)
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