"Damn it!"
Feeling insulted, Law blurted out, "If I beat this guy, do I become an officer right away?"
Everyone there froze for a moment, then burst into laughter, as if they had just heard the most ridiculous joke in the world.
"Hahahahaha!"
"Behehehe, you're making my snot run."
"Are you serious?"
"Stop laughing!"
Humiliated and furious, Law charged forward and slashed with all his strength, only to be casually knocked back to the ground by Diamante once again.
It was painful to watch. Even August felt secondhand embarrassment for him.
He was speechless. Law was usually a smart kid, but the moment a fight started, it was like all that judgment disappeared. Then again, it was not that hard to understand. Up to this point, Law had never properly learned how to fight, much less how to kill. Even when he had faced those vagrants before, he had only managed to keep going through sheer ferocity.
So yes, being weak and reckless was at least understandable.
"You can't kill anyone on guts alone," Diamante said mockingly.
"Then I'll use this! I don't have long to live anyway, so I've got nothing to fear!"
Law suddenly pulled a grenade from inside his clothes, his face full of ferocity.
He had found it on the ship and secretly hidden it away.
Because of Senor Pink, the two of them had not been tied up after being captured. They had even been fed full meals every day. That was what gave Law the chance to hide things.
But Law's move did not frighten anyone. Instead, it deeply irritated Diamante, whose expression immediately darkened.
"Don't underestimate pirates, kid!"
Diamante, who had only been defending until now, suddenly struck with the back of his blade.
A cry rang out.
Law let out a scream and flew several meters through the air before crashing heavily to the ground. Both the short knife and the grenade slipped from his hands and tumbled into the scrap heap.
How stupid would someone have to be to think a single grenade was enough to deal with an opponent at Diamante's level?
No wonder Diamante was angry. He felt insulted.
"So he really is all talk."
At some point, two other children about Law's age had appeared nearby and were now sitting on top of the scrap heap, watching the show.
One was a cute little girl in a maid outfit with a yellow ribbon on her head.
The other was a chubby boy in overalls, dressed all in green with a pink wool cap on his head, looking exactly like the type who was not very bright.
"It's over, it's over. Let's go play hide-and-seek."
"Agreed~"
The little girl and the chubby boy hopped down, ready to leave. Even Doflamingo, who had been watching Law rather closely from upstairs, gave a slight shake of his head and turned as if he were about to head back inside.
But at that very moment, something happened that no one had expected.
"He's not the only one underestimating people!"
Bang!
Whoosh!
Boosted by the third-level enhancement of his Power Enhancement Shoes, August, who could no longer afford to stand by, drove a fierce kick into the pile of metal scrap in front of him.
He knew perfectly well that, with these shoes alone, even if he drained every last bit of power from them, he still would not be able to defeat Diamante.
But he could create an opening for what came next.
He needed to show his value as clearly as possible.
Although he was joining the Donquixote Family just like Law, the path he intended to walk was completely different.
He did not just want to climb upward as quickly as possible and become an officer. Deep inside, he had always carried the ambition to one day replace Doflamingo himself.
And he believed replacing Doflamingo would not even be his limit.
He could go farther.
Until one day, he would truly stand at the very top of this world.
Driven by that terrifying ambition, countless pieces of metal scrap shot toward Diamante and swallowed up the space around him.
Diamante really had let his guard down.
Most of his attention had been fixed on Law, the one shouting such outrageous things, and he had instinctively ignored the other brat nearby, the one who had shown nothing of note so far.
Who could have imagined that this overlooked nobody would suddenly make him flinch?
By the time the metal scrap was already in front of him, there was no longer any time to dodge.
Bullfighter Cape!
His bright red cape instantly spread out in front of him like a shield.
It looked soft and light, but in truth it was made of steel, altered into that supple form through his Devil Fruit ability.
The storm of metal junk slammed into it with a rapid chorus of clanging sounds.
Against someone at Diamante's level, little tricks like this were never going to be enough. The gap in strength was simply too great to bridge.
Not a single thing got through.
Not even one nail slipped past.
Everything was blocked.
And yet Diamante's expression turned even uglier.
Because he had actually been forced to use his Devil Fruit ability.
What a humiliation.
Hidden behind the cape, Diamante's face darkened.
If not for Doflamingo's orders, he would have already chopped that brat into pieces for making him lose face.
But this was only the appetizer.
What no one noticed was that among the metal scrap August had kicked was a banana.
"Kid, you..."
Diamante had only just revealed his face from behind the cape.
Boom!
The sudden explosion stunned everyone watching.
August was not about to make the same amateur mistake Law had. If you were going to use a bomb, you did not announce it first.
Diamante had not expected a hidden move like that either, and he was instantly swallowed by flames.
August immediately ran over to where Law had fallen, picked up the grenade from the ground, pulled the pin without hesitation, and hurled it straight into the fire.
Boom!
Another violent explosion erupted.
The two consecutive blasts were enough to leave Diamante dazed, at least for a moment.
At the same time, it gave everyone else the false impression that August, like Law, had hidden a grenade on his body and kicked it over together with the metal scrap.
Otherwise, there was no way to explain why a banana had exploded.
Even so, Diamante was still not someone they could defeat.
"I'm going to kill you, brat!"
With a furious roar, Diamante wrapped his cape around his entire body and charged out of the flames like an enraged bull.
He was not completely unharmed, though. August could see that part of his hair had been singed, and his face was smeared with black and white soot. If all of Diamante's clothes, pants, and even his cape had not been made of steel, he would have come out in far worse shape than this.
But in the very next moment, August paid the price for what he had done.
Thud!
With his face twisted by rage, Diamante drove a kick into August and sent him flying dozens of meters away.
(End of Chapter)
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