"I'm no guard dog. I'm just enjoying the treatment a hero should get!"
Bullet snapped back, a smirk tugging at his lips. He might've been stuck on Skypiea, but he still read the newspapers.
He knew all about how Crocodile had played hero in Alabasta.
If you could do it, why couldn't I?
"That was for my own purposes. What the hell are you pretending to be a hero for? Did Doflamingo mess up your brain or something?!"
Crocodile appeared in a blur atop an island cloud—no way was he letting this fight happen out at sea.
"Hahahaha! Maybe he did!!"
Bullet laughed instead of getting angry.
A certain image flashed through his mind—a little blonde girl in a nurse outfit.
His peaceful life over the past six months had become something hard to define.
It felt like what he wanted… but also not.
Still, not bad.
Maybe, just maybe, Doflamingo had broken something in his head.
"But even if that's the case, it's still better than being the World Government's lackey!"
As those words dropped, a terrifying wave of Armament Haki mixed with Bullet's will burst out of him like a dam breaking.
It poured from his body with crushing force.
Far off in the distance, the praying prisoners collapsed into unconsciousness the instant it hit them.
VMMM—
The airship groaned under the pressure, the hull shrieking as if it would explode under the weight of his Haki.
Lafitte and Daz Bonez fared even worse—they staggered back several steps and collapsed onto the deck, eyes wide with shared terror.
"Demon's Heir…"
Bullet's final words stabbed deep into Crocodile's chest like steel needles.
It was only after abandoning the Seven Warlords of the Sea title that Crocodile realized—
He had wasted so much time.
Chasing after shadows, falling further behind.
"Gu-hahaha~"
Crocodile's face darkened, but he sneered and raised a hand. A miniature sandstorm began swirling in his palm.
"The you standing here now… doesn't feel like the Bullet I once knew."
"The old Bullet wasn't this soft."
He hurled the sandstorm—instantly growing into a towering tornado of swirling sand that blotted out the sky.
It surged toward Bullet like a living beast.
Both in scale and lethality, it far surpassed the one Crocodile had unleashed in the West Blue against Moria.
The high-speed rotating storm cut like a chainsaw, easily able to rip flesh from bone.
"Weak, huh?"
Facing the terrifying attack, Bullet didn't move. A gleam of wild excitement flashed through his eyes.
Enel had been gone for a few days now.
Finally—someone else had come to take his punches.
His massive arms—thicker than most people's torsos—swung forward and struck the air.
"I'm stronger than before!!"
BOOM!
An earsplitting blast rang out as the very air compressed and exploded from the force of his punch.
A visible shockwave surged forward, slamming into the sandstorm before the storm even reached him.
RRRRMMMM!!
The sandstorm exploded outward.
Sand scattered like bullets in every direction, indiscriminately shredding everything in sight.
Some unlucky prisoners got a one-way ticket back to square one.
But Crocodile's form had already reformed from the dust and wind, reappearing behind Bullet.
Poisoned golden hook in hand, he lunged for Bullet's neck.
"I'll be taking your head first!"
"You're even weaker than the last time I saw you."
Bullet frowned slightly.
This level of attack and Haki? He didn't even need to dodge.
He let his monstrous Haki, strong enough to blanket a mountain, harden his body.
CLANG!
The golden hook struck Bullet's neck and rang out like metal striking metal.
But it was only a probing strike.
From Crocodile's other hand came a massive desert greatsword, forged from sand and fury.
He swung it down in a rage.
"Weak?! Die, you bastard!!!"
But in the next instant, Crocodile's expression twisted in shock.
A huge hand—wrapped in Armament Haki—grabbed his sword arm mid-swing.
"You really have gotten weak."
Bullet's lips curled into a cruel grin. Thick veins bulged along his arm like overdrawn bowstrings.
With a casual motion, he lifted Crocodile like a rag doll—and slammed him straight into the island cloud below.
BOOM!
The rock-hard island cloud cracked open beneath the impact.
Crocodile's eyes rolled back, blood spewing from his mouth as his body shattered into sand and retreated, reforming at a distance.
"What, is this all the growth you've achieved over the past few years?"
"You just got better at taking a beating?"
"Crocodile—what the hell happened to your Haki?"
Bullet raised a brow, puzzled. In that brief clash just now—
Crocodile had only grown a little sturdier.
His Haki level hadn't changed much since the first time they fought.
Bullet had always believed people only grew stronger over time.
So what was this? Stagnation?
Crocodile's face twisted even more, as if stabbed in the gut again.
But he had no comeback.
These past six months of awakening had only allowed him to barely catch up with his former self.
Bullet, on the other hand, had soared beyond anything he once was.
There was only one card left to play—his ability.
Endless sand poured out from the clouds around them, Crocodile's power transmuting the terrain.
The clouds couldn't be turned to sand—so he'd simply create a desert from scratch.
...
"Pathetic."
Bullet's eyes turned cold as he watched Crocodile silently reshape the battlefield.
This fight had gotten boring.
He didn't feel like playing anymore.
The Haki hidden deep in his muscles surged forth. Empowered by his Devil Fruit, it began dyeing his skin a blue-black hue.
His eyes burned red, an overwhelming wave of killing intent and sheer willpower pouring out of him.
"One hit. That's all I need."
Bullet clenched his massive, calloused fists—each finger gnarled like tree roots.
His thick, bulging muscles writhed like living pythons, pulsing with raw power that could crush mountains and part oceans.
RRRIP!
His clothes split apart as his surging muscles tore through them, revealing a chest covered in burn scars.
From Crocodile's perspective—
A swirling black bolt of lightning coiled around Bullet's fist.
He'd seen that same thing on Whitebeard's blade.
His instincts screamed at him—move now or die.
"Grand Sand Burial!!"
The entire desert swelled like a tidal wave, a sand tsunami over a hundred meters high bearing down like the wrath of a god.
Crocodile stood atop the crest, commanding the living desert.
He looked like a resurrected Pharaoh, guiding the sands to devour any who dared disturb his slumber.
"Die, Bullet!!"
"Nice control over your power!"
Bullet bent his knees—and leapt.
The island cloud beneath him visibly caved under the pressure.
DOOM!!
With a deafening boom, he vanished from Crocodile's sight.
The next moment—his fist, wreathed in black and red lightning, appeared right in front of Crocodile's face.
"But this place is hell for Devil Fruit users, and paradise for brute strength!"
RRRRUUUMMMBLE!!
The massive sand wave exploded.
PFFT!
Crocodile—hidden within—convulsed as if struck by lightning.
His back arched violently, his body folding inward—
And then he was sent hurtling toward the island cloud like a missile.
His eyes had already gone white. Unconscious before he even hit the ground.
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Fanfic is finished 527 chapters in total on p@treon/tambeerg