He is not above poking fun at himself, though. At a recent golf tournament he was paired — to his surprise — against Michael Gomez, a young Pimco executive known to be close to his nemesis, Mr. El-Erian.

“I really wanted to win — but yeah, they killed us,” he said, laughing loudly.

Since Mr. Gross officially took control of his fund on Oct. 6, 2014, he is up 1.8 percent, compared with Pimco Unconstrained, which is down 1.64 percent, according to Morningstar.

Making it all the sweeter is the fact that Daniel J. Ivascyn, one of the executives who led the effort to oust him and then took over as chief investment officer, is an executive of the fund. Mr. Ivascyn, who manages the better-performing Pimco Income Fund, is not a primary manager on the vehicle.

“My whole evening is dependent on whether I beat them,” Mr. Gross said. “You see, I have to prove it all over again. Every day.”

Despite this favorable run, money has not flooded in. One of his larger investors, George Soros, last year removed $490 million from his oversight.

Of the $1.3 billion in the fund, about half is Mr. Gross’s own money.

“Money is holding out,” said Todd Rosenbluth, a mutual fund specialist at Standard & Poor’s Global Market Intelligence. “I think there is legitimate market skepticism that he can do this on his own — without a Pimco team supporting him.”

Mr. Gross contends the main reason that his bond fund has been winning the day is that Pimco has been making bold plays on emerging market bonds and inflation-linked securities, wagering that central bank activism will stimulate global growth.