Chapter 45: You Will Regret It, Sengoku!

(T/N: This is one of my favorite chapters in this novel)

Boom!

With a loud noise, the ground exploded, and a large amount of smoke erupted instantly, completely covering the surrounding area.

Amidst the smoke and dust, Sengoku's expression was slightly surprised, because his punch hit nothing!

Doflamingo, who was originally pressed to the ground by himself, disappeared!

Then, his peripheral vision swept around, and a large number of bats flew out from his hands.

Not surprisingly, this is Doflamingo's ability at work again!

The moment the punch landed just now, Doflamingo's body was 'shattered', he suddenly transformed into a large group of black bats, and broke free from Sengoku's shackles.

Soon, the smoke cleared, and Sengoku stood up very casually, and looked not far away, where a large number of bats gradually gathered together, and then merged into the figure of Doflamingo.

This is one of Doflamingo's abilities, batification.

From eating this Devil Fruit to now, Doflamingo has always felt that the vampire fruit seems to be focusing on 'immortality'.

The first ability is to absorb vitality, and then use the huge vitality reserves to achieve effects such as High-Speed ​​Regeneration.

The second ability is bat transformation. At the moment of being attacked, Doflamingo is able to directly transform his body into hundreds of bats, avoiding the attack by breaking himself into pieces.

And this is not the most powerful thing, the most powerful thing is that he can also use this trick when he is running. As long as he can escape with a bat alive, he will not die or be caught.

"It's really a weird ability. At first, I thought you were the shadow fruit ability user of Paramecia, but looking at it now, those bats just now were not transformed by the energy of shadows, but are real 'creatures'...." Sengoku also looked at Doflamingo with a hint of curiosity on his face.

Of course, perhaps going back to check the intelligence information, Sengoku can quickly deduce Doflamingo's ability, or maybe, in the subsequent fight, with the continuous use and exposure of Doflamingo's ability, he can possibly guess it.

Either way, Doflamingo didn't mean to explain to him, explaining your ability, in the absence of an absolute advantage, isn't that an act of cerebral palsy?

Seeing that Doflamingo didn't intend to speak, Sengoku didn't say any more. The two were silent for a moment, looking at each other.

The next moment, Doflamingo moved!

This time, Doflamingo took the lead. It has been proved just now that once Sengoku makes the first move, it is difficult for him to fight back, so this time, he has to make the first move.

His speed was not slow either. In an instant, Doflamingo appeared in front of Sengoku, and the umbrella blade in his hand directly moving to pierce the Admiral's throat.

Sengoku's Observation Haki is also locking onto Doflamingo, and with the speed shown by Doflamingo, it is not impossible for a master like him to keep up.

Sengoku wrapped Haki around his hand and grabbed very accurately towards Doflamingo's umbrella blade.

It was accurate indeed, as Sengoku locks the blade in one go, making it difficult for Doflamingo to penetrate him.

But it didn't matter at all, when Sengoku grabbed the umbrella blade, he had already discovered that Doflamingo was gone!

Obviously, Doflamingo didn't mean to confront Sengoku head-on with this move at all, it was just a feint.

In the next instant, Doflamingo's figure has emerged from the shadow behind Sengoku.

And at this moment, Sengoku, who had always been very calm, had a frightened expression, and a rare flustered look.

Then, Sengoku dodges Doflamingo's attack by leaping forward!

That's right, dodged!

In fact, Sengoku was able to withstand Doflamingo's attack directly just now. With his Haki power, it is impossible for Doflamingo to break through in an instant.

Sengoku himself also planned this way. At first, he planned to block it with Haki, but when he discovered Doflamingo's ultimate move, he changed his actions to dodge without a word. It was because of this sudden switch that he was slightly embarrassed.

"You bastard, how can you be so despicable!?" Sengoku turned around, looked at Doflamingo, and cursed angrily.

"How can any move in a fight be called despicable?" Doflamingo put away his "Thousand Years of Death" gesture and said very calmly.

That's right, if this old guy didn't dodge just now, Doflamingo would give him a spiral ascension!

Not to mention, Doflamingo's response made Sengoku speechless. Indeed, how can anything in a fight be despicable?

Attacking from any and all angles, isn't that the essence of a fight?!

Just when Sengoku was about to say something, Doflamingo attacked again. He quickly got close to Sengoku's side, then wrapped his arms with Haki, and bombarded Sengoku at a very fast speed.

Sengoku's reaction is also very fast, completely defusing Doflamingo's offensive with skill, no matter what angle Doflamingo hits from, Sengoku can defend it.

After just three or five breaths, Sengoku grabbed Doflamingo's arms, looked at him and said, "What are you hiding? Since the beginning of the fight, you have only used your abilities a few times, is it because you have hidden some ultimate move, and you don't want to leak information to this old man? If you come to fight this old man with this mentality of hiding your hand...that is too arrogant, right? Brat!"

At the same time as the voice fell, Sengoku slammed his knee on Doflamingo's chest. The force of this knee blow was so strong that Doflamingo's ribs broke instantly, and he spat a mouthful of dirty blood.

At the same time, Sengoku let go of Doflamingo, and the force that followed immediately engulfed Doflamingo, he rolled on the ground more than a dozen times, and hit a ruined wharf before stopping.

Looking at Doflamingo who was severely injured by the blow, Sengoku snorted coldly and said, "Before this fight, I had a somewhat high opinion of you."

I thought this guy could give me some surprises, but in the end, he dared to hide his powers when he fought against Marine Admiral. What does this mean? You're trying to play me like a monkey, right?

Do you think I'm fooling around here?!

If it wasn't for Rosinante's sake, Sengoku would have killed Doflamingo just now.

Among the rocks in the ruins, Doflamingo was leaning at this time, and every time he took a breath, he expelled blood foam from his nasal cavity, which proved that his injuries were extremely serious, not only his ribs were broken, but also his internal organs were severely damaged. There was trauma, and he was already bleeding internally.

Indeed, Doflamingo is still holding back a little. He is always worried about whether he should hide his hand. After all, it is impossible for him to kill Sengoku here, so once he fully uses his ability, it will undoubtedly be an information leak that would harm him in the future.

In this case, if he fights against Marine, some of his advantages will be gone.

But as Sengoku said, it would be a bit too arrogant to fight against him and still want to hide his hand!

And in this short fight, Doflamingo also gradually understood some truths and formed his own ideas!

Why did he want to hide his hand?

The answer is fear and lack of self-confidence!

It was as if he instinctively felt that if he didn't hide his hand, he would not be able to win when facing Marine in the future!

From the very beginning, he seemed to have avoided the option of 'upright' and always thought of 'devious ways'.

Perhaps it can be said that it is for the sake of victory, and unscrupulous means are a necessity, but it does also represent his fear and lack of self-confidence!

This is the answer he got from his body and mind in this battle!

"It's so funny. I thought I had no scruples, but in fact... have I been afraid in my heart? Afraid to face... the heroes of this sea." Doflamingo whispered softly, with a somewhat self-deprecating tone.

I hold the arrogant idea of ​​​​becoming the "king of the world", but deep in my heart, I am afraid of the heroes and powerhouses in this sea. This kind of contradictory mentality is really sad.

Today, Sengoku taught Doflamingo a very important truth. Perhaps this was not Sengoku's original intention, but Doflamingo did understand a lot.

That is... to become a top powerhouse, one does not rely on the power of Haki, fruit, or fighting skills or physique.

These are all unnecessary, there are too many people who are physically strong, and fight with powerful Haki and mysterious fruit power in this sea.

But not all of them can become real top masters, heroes and powerhouses in this sea!

And those who can look down on the world, the only thing they have in common is 'heart'!

The indomitable will, that never allows them to give up!

"Fufufufufu..." Doflamingo laughed. He looked at Admiral Sengoku in the distance and said, "Sooner or later, you will regret it..... Sengoku."

There was confusion in Sengoku's eyes, he didn't quite understand what this kid was talking about.

The figure of Doflamingo slowly stood up from the ruins, his chest injury was recovering at an extremely fast speed.

"You will regret that today I have recognized my weakness and fear..." Doflamingo murmured softly.

At this moment, Doflamingo's eyes were extremely clear.

Seeing Doflamingo's injury that had recovered to its original state, Sengoku's eyes also showed some seriousness.