"Youngsters these days really can't handle being provoked," Darren mused, half-amused, half-weary.
Then he remembered—Bullet was only sixteen or seventeen. A kid, really.
And with that realization came a flicker of sympathy. At that age, who could swallow humiliation—especially someone as proud and ferocious as Bullet?
"Darren," Bullet growled, slowly lifting his head. His eyes burned crimson, fierce battle lust surging within like molten fire. "You're an infuriating bastard... but I can't deny you're worthy of my full strength."
A dark hurricane of Conqueror's Haki roared around him, the purple-black aura twisting violently as it whipped his golden hair into the air.
Chunks of earth and rock hovered and spun around his body, pulled in by the sheer density of his power. He reached up, tying his long hair into a tight, high ponytail—a calm gesture at odds with the storm raging around him.
"Ever since I broke free from Kaido's chains," Bullet said, his voice low but sharp as a blade, "my one regret has been not finishing our fight."
"I told you back then—our next meeting would be to the death."
His gaze sharpened. "I'll admit it. You're stronger. Your Haki, your physique, your speed—they all surpass mine."
Then, that wild, manic grin stretched across his face again.
"But that doesn't mean I'll lose."
He clenched his fists until the bones creaked. "Do you know why they call me the 'Demon Heir,' Darren?"
"Open your eyes and watch carefully. This is the result of my training—of every drop of blood and sweat I've spilled for this moment!"
With a guttural roar, Bullet's aura suddenly contracted—his swirling Haki snapping back into his body like a collapsing storm. For an instant, everything fell eerily still.
Then came the eruption.
A sinister, purplish-black glow burst from his skin, rippling outward in a wave of malignant energy. The air warped and crackled. The very earth seemed to recoil from him.
In that instant, Douglas Bullet no longer looked human. He was a monster cloaked in demonic power—muscles swelling, veins bulging beneath skin etched with burning purple-black lines. His presence devoured the air around him.
"DEMON FORM!!"
BOOM!
The explosion of power ripped through the island like a hurricane. Darren squinted against the gale, coat snapping violently behind him as dust and shattered stone whipped past.
Through his magnetic field sense, he could see it clearly—Bullet's life force had spiked, surging to terrifying new heights.
On the distant battleships, chaos erupted.
"His power—it's still rising?!"
"Impossible! His aura just doubled in intensity!"
"W-What kind of monster is that?!"
Even from afar, the Marines felt it: a suffocating, primal killing intent that made their hearts seize. It wasn't just bloodlust. It was the pure instinct to destroy everything that lived.
"Truly terrifying," Borsalino murmured from his beach chair, his tone casual, though his eyes glimmered faintly behind his sunglasses. "He's forcing his spirit to merge completely with his Haki. Turning himself into a living weapon… a demon born from pure will."
The three Vice Admirals turned to him in disbelief.
He'd seen through it with a single glance.
---
"So that's what this is," Darren said quietly, his eyes narrowing as he studied the transformed figure before him.
A grin tugged at his lips. "You've actually refined your Armament Haki to this degree, Bullet. Impressive. Truly."
Bullet's transformation reminded Darren faintly of Straw Hat Luffy's Fourth Gear—a compressed, internal fusion of Haki and physical power. The difference was refinement. Bullet's mastery was on an entirely different plane.
His entire body was sheathed in that eerie purple-black Haki, pulsing with an energy that blurred the line between man and monster.
Darren's pulse quickened.
Finally—an opponent worth testing himself against.
Ever since the battle with Kaido, he hadn't faced anyone who could truly push him. Golden Lion didn't count—that fight had been a brutal, desperate trap, not a contest of equals.
But this—this was different.
Douglas Bullet, in his Demon Form, had undeniably stepped into the realm of Admiral-level power.
And Darren wanted to see exactly where within that realm he stood.
Excitement flickered through his veins. His grin sharpened, hungry.
As if reading his intent, Bullet met his gaze head-on. Their stares collided, and violet-crimson lightning crackled between them, splitting the air like thunder.
Then Bullet moved.
BOOM!
The ground shattered beneath his feet as he launched forward, vanishing in a burst of raw power.
Darren's eyes gleamed.
His Observation Haki registered the change instantly—Bullet's speed had surged nearly thirty percent.
Now we're talking.
Without hesitation, Darren moved as well.
Their bodies blurred into streaks of light, too fast for the naked eye. Even the three Vice Admirals watching from the fleet, masters of Observation Haki themselves, lost sight of them completely.
"All we can see are afterimages…" one of them whispered.
"They've both refined their bodies beyond human limits."
A hundredth of a second later, they reappeared—high above the island, face to face.
Two fists flashed black.
BANG!!
The impact cracked the sky itself. The earth split open in a hundred-meter fissure, dust and stone exploding outward in a blinding wave.
When the shockwave cleared, both men were still standing, muscles taut, grinning through the blood and smoke.
Their power—equal.
"Kahahaha!!" Bullet's laughter thundered across the island. "How about that, Darren?! Not so invincible now, are you?!"
He could feel it—at last, he wasn't being overwhelmed. Blow for blow, he could stand his ground.
You dare look down on me?
You said you'd break my arm?
Then today—I'll tear yours off and show you what it means to be one-armed!
To be continued...