Diamante's sword in his hand twisted like a snake under the influence of his ability. Once a Devil Fruit is consumed, it becomes uncontrollable, and even if the opponent is killed, no one knows where the fruit will be reborn.
But as long as the ability user is killed, they have a chance to find the fruit again, although he has no idea who has eaten the fruit.
The first person to be ruled out was Tesoro. The Zoan transformation is too obvious; Tesoro clearly isn't the ability user. Next to be ruled out was Baccarat, whom he suspects to be the Barrier-Barrier Fruit user.
Although there were many people left, it didn't affect his decision. Diamante decided to eliminate everyone here. As long as he killed everyone connected to them, the fruit would naturally be reborn.
But the real correct answer was ruled out by him from the start. The one who ate the Gol-Gol Fruit is Tesoro; the moment he got the fruit in his hand, he had already consumed it.
This is the best way to handle most people purchasing a Devil Fruit. Unless the fruit is intended for someone else, consuming it immediately is the best way to prevent it from being snatched away.
However, the Gol-Gol Fruit, having just been consumed, hasn't had the opportunity to manifest its abilities. Although gold is a natural mineral, the Gol-Gol Fruit cannot generate gold; it can only control it.
The Gol-Gol Fruit is also a special Paramecia-type Fruit, able to turn the consumer's physique into special gold but unable to elementalize into gold to avoid attacks.
Meanwhile, the ability user can control gold that has been touched and manipulate the gold by stretching and transforming it, able to temporarily assimilate objects into gold through gold dust or a touch of gold, but cannot generate gold out of thin air.
Without sufficient gold, the Gol-Gol Fruit cannot exert any effect, turning the person into an ordinary human in the normal form of the Human-Human Fruit, but incapable of swimming.
The premise of developing this fruit is to become wealthy, which is not difficult for Tesoro at present. According to the Hundred Beasts Fruit development plan, in two years, the entertainment ship can set sail, and by then, it will be the largest known entertainment ship at sea.
Unless absolutely necessary, Tesoro does not want to expose his true identity in the Underworld, hence he wears a mask while here.
Although after transforming, the mask has fallen off, no one except Stella and familiar individuals who've seen his ability form can recognize him.
"Tanaka, take care of Baccarat."
As he spoke, Tesoro crossed his arms, using the spikes on his arms to block Diamante's attacking Soft Sword. Then, he jumped into the air, his body starting to spin. Using the momentum from the spin, his spikes wrapped around Diamante's Soft Sword.
Diamante wanted to break free but found he couldn't extract his sword. When Tesoro began spinning, the spikes on his arm pierced through Diamante's Soft Sword.
"How is this possible?!"
Though his sword was soft like a ribbon, that was due to his Fruit Ability. The blade was still fundamentally metal.
It wasn't any Famed Sword, nor was it refined into a Black Blade using Haki, but it was still a rare sharp edge, yet Zoan's body pierced through his weapon.
"Don't be so surprised, where's your courage from before? Do you know that ruining my clothes will earn me a scolding?"
That was the result of the battle just now, due to the ability of the Float-Float Fruit, Diamante's attacks had strong randomness. Even though the compound eyes of an insect gave him sharper dynamic vision, they still resulted in a large tear on his clothes.
Stella has a gentle personality, but she becomes irritable after he performs a reckless action. Having experienced desperation, she cherishes hard-won things more, yet for their future together, he inevitably has to take some risky moves.
The two spikes swung by Tesoro were wielded like sharp blades, and their power increased significantly.
The initial spin was a Sword Dance, but the swing now turned into a Flurry Strike.
While spinning incorporated Sword Dance to enhance attack power, it could also use the energy from Sword Dance for defense, whereas Flurry Strike became an increasingly powerful special move.
Diamante wasn't aware that facing Flurry Strike, one shouldn't resist directly, but should dodge. Dodging once nullifies Tesoro's accumulated power, but he didn't know this, and every defense turned into an opportunity for the opponent to store strength.
Subsequently, under Tesoro's fierce attack, Diamante's cloak was torn open with a huge gash, the bee spikes flashing with black light only a few centimeters away from his head.
The black light wasn't from bee venom but from Haki. Training in Armament isn't particularly difficult, with certain innate talent and physical foundation, if someone is willing to teach, comprehension comes after getting beaten for a while.
The systematic teaching Tesoro received naturally included Haki, but without a suitable teacher, one can only explore in battles of life and death to self-discover it.
At this moment, Diamante sweated coldly seeing the bee spike, his cloak not made of ordinary fabric but a shield crafted from metal softened via ability and draped behind him, he hadn't expected it to be pierced.
Tesoro's bee spike didn't pierce through Diamante's head, not because he held back, but because several threads wrapped around Tesoro's bee spike, halting his next move. Then, the ground under Diamante's feet fluctuated, and Pika's ability-turned rock hand whisked him away.
The other cadres of the Donquixote family had arrived, but Doflamingo wasn't angry, he still carried a smile.
"Fufufu... Mr. Tesoro, it's just a small misunderstanding, don't be so upset."
He didn't recognize Tesoro but did recognize Tanaka and Baccarat; they did not cover their faces, though ordinary folks don't remember them.
But those with access to channels of information can identify them, and Doflamingo is among them.
He has channels that ordinary people don't, and after entering the New World, committed many faces to memory.
Tesoro, as the leader of the Hundred Beasts' clean gloves, naturally received special attention. From photos in some newspapers, he pieced together this information, knowing that the person Baccara and Tanaka followed was ninety-nine percent Tesoro.
He's clear about his own definition, being a middleman in the gray area, and to be a good middleman in the Underworld, he must know who can't be offended.
Unquestionably, the last person he'd want to offend now is Kaidou. He originally felt anger upon hearing the Gol-Gol Fruit had issues, but upon confirming the target's identity, he promptly hid his discontent.