Doflamingo had now spent nearly half a year on Ohara.
A few days earlier, Professor Clover had informed him that Olvia had made contact.
Her expedition was already on its way back, and they had successfully found the legendary Devil Fruit.
Doflamingo was naturally pleased.
For most of the past six months, he had done little besides train.
He repeatedly refined his martial arts fundamentals while attempting to push his Haki to a higher level.
His foundation had already been solid.
After seven years of training, both his Armament and Observation Haki possessed considerable depth.
Once he obtained proper information about advanced Haki, learning how to make his Armament Haki flow beyond his body within six months was hardly miraculous.
For Doflamingo, such progress was only reasonable.
Observation Haki, however, had proven far more frustrating.
His Observation Haki was already powerful and covered a broad area, but he had made no progress toward grasping the sensation required to foresee the future.
According to the information Professor Clover had provided, Observation Haki did not advance in the same straightforward manner as Armament Haki.
Different regions used different names for advanced Armament applications.
Wano called Armament Haki Ryuo and placed particular emphasis on allowing it to flow, while Kano Country described a similar principle as internal force.
Despite the different terminology, the underlying method was the same.
The user had to make Armament Haki flow instead of allowing it to remain rigidly concentrated around the body.
Once that flow could be projected outward, the technique had succeeded.
Advanced Observation Haki followed no single path.
Its development could take several different forms.
Some people possessed exceptional natural abilities, while others gained specialized perception through outside enhancement.
Their Observation Haki would develop around those advantages.
Patrick Redfield, for example, possessed an extraordinary ability to perceive the thoughts and emotions of others.
That was a talent he had been born with.
Enel, meanwhile, would later use the Rumble-Rumble Fruit to enhance his Observation Haki to a similar degree, allowing him to detect voices and conversations across an enormous distance.
Neither ability was the same as Future Sight, but both were still classified as advanced applications of Observation Haki.
Another path involved expanding the range of one’s perception to an almost absurd degree.
Once someone could cover an entire island—or even a vast stretch of ocean—with Observation Haki, it was likewise considered an advanced form.
Red-Haired Shanks would one day detect Admiral Aramaki from across the sea near Wano.
What made the feat even more terrifying was what followed.
After locating Aramaki through Observation Haki, Shanks overwhelmed him from an immense distance with Conqueror’s Haki.
His mastery of Conqueror’s Haki clearly stood among the greatest in the world.
Issho was another example.
Despite being blind, he could perceive his surroundings through Observation Haki and use his Devil Fruit ability to pull meteors down from the sky.
The fact that he had reached the highest levels of combat while unable to see demonstrated just how extraordinary his perception was.
Observation Haki also had a high degree of overlap between its different advanced forms.
Excluding rare innate abilities such as Redfield’s perception of emotions, enormous sensory range and Future Sight often developed alongside one another.
Someone capable of sensing an entire island or sea region would frequently also possess some ability to perceive the immediate future.
The opposite was not always true.
A person might possess the natural talent required for Future Sight without ever developing an abnormally large sensory range.
At present, Doflamingo could not understand Future Sight at all.
He had no sense of what direction he should pursue.
According to the material he had studied, the technique depended heavily on natural aptitude.
His own talent in that area was apparently unremarkable.
Still, his Observation Haki had not remained stagnant.
After learning more about its possible development, Doflamingo had finally broken through the limit that had previously restrained him.
The area covered by his perception was expanding slowly but steadily.
The old bottleneck was gone.
So he changed his approach.
Since he could not yet foresee the future, he would first continue expanding his Observation Haki as far as possible.
Perhaps once its range reached a sufficiently advanced level, Future Sight would emerge naturally.
He also had expectations for the Devil Fruit Olvia was bringing back.
Although it was a Mythical Zoan, its foundation remained the Bat-Bat Fruit.
Bat-related Devil Fruits generally possessed one natural ability in common: Echolocation.
Just as the Rumble-Rumble Fruit enhanced Enel’s Observation Haki, Doflamingo believed echolocation might strengthen his own perception.
It might even grant him an unexpected advantage.
After ending their spar, Doflamingo pulled Vergo to his feet.
The two sat beneath a tree to rest.
“I held back at the end,” Doflamingo said.
“I didn’t break anything, did I?” Vergo rotated his injured shoulder before shaking his head.
“No.
It took a heavy shock, but the bone is fine.
It should recover in two or three days.” Doflamingo nodded.
“The more I think about it, the more I feel there are still deeper applications of Armament Haki that we know nothing about.” Vergo looked puzzled.
“Really?
I don’t feel anything like that.” “Perhaps…” Doflamingo smiled teasingly.
“We simply haven’t seen enough yet.” Unlike Vergo, Doflamingo knew what the greatest Haki users would eventually be capable of.
Their achievements could not be explained by emission alone.
Nor did Conqueror’s Haki infusion seem sufficient to account for everything.
There were clearly deeper principles he had not yet encountered.
Professor Clover’s information probably did not reach that level either.
Kaido’s future claim that Haki alone could transcend all else was unlikely to be as simple as it sounded.
While Doflamingo and Vergo discussed their training, a boy with spiky hair came running toward them from the distance.
He carried a newspaper in one hand.
“Boss!
Boss Doflamingo!” Doflamingo turned toward the voice and smiled calmly.
“Gladius, I’ve told you many times not to panic whenever something happens.” Gladius immediately slowed to a stop and forced the tension from his face.
He was a member of the Donquixote Family and only ten years old.
The Family maintained an extensive training system that included locating promising orphans throughout the North Blue and raising them within the organization.
Gladius was one such child.
He had already possessed a Devil Fruit ability when the Family found and adopted him.
His power came from the Paramecia-type Pop-Pop Fruit.
Every Devil Fruit ability carried its own peculiar risks.
In Gladius’s case, extreme emotional agitation could cause his body to swell and detonate unintentionally.
Doflamingo had therefore taught him from an early age to remain calm and avoid overreacting.
Gladius deeply admired Doflamingo and would not tolerate anyone disobeying him.
That devotion was common among many of the Donquixote Family’s officers.
“Sorry, Boss,” Gladius said after steadying himself.
“Fuffuffuffu… Just remember next time.” Doflamingo gestured toward the newspaper.
“Now tell me what happened.” “It’s huge news!” Gladius raised the paper.
“Golden Lion Shiki led the main forces of the Golden Lion Pirates into battle against the Roger Pirates in the waters of Edd War!” “A massive storm suddenly struck during the fighting.” “Almost Shiki’s entire fleet was destroyed, and Shiki himself has disappeared!” “It looks like the Golden Lion Pirates are finished!” Surprise flashed through Doflamingo’s eyes.
It vanished almost immediately.
“The Battle of Edd War…” He spoke quietly.
“The beginning of a great ruler’s downfall.”