Deserted Island.
Two figures tore toward each other at ruinous speed.
Whitebeard's golden hair whipped in the gale, his eyes burning a deep, blood-dark red. Fury remade him into an asura, a presence like a demon descending to earth. Milky-white force crackled with black lightning around his fist as it drove straight into the Marine Vice Admiral's jet-black dragon claw.
Boom!!
The impact burst like a missile at point-blank range, a brutal shockwave rippling out from their clash.
Darren skidded away like a fired shell, digging a long trench before he forced himself to a halt. Blood slicked his shredded forearms; muscle fibers showed through torn flesh.
Roger's blade could carve the sky, but Whitebeard's raw destructive power eclipsed it—especially when that "world-destroying" quake energy shattered the very air. Each shock threatened to overrun even Darren's Indestructible Body.
"Kahahaha! Still too weak, Darren! Watch this!" Bullet roared. A strange purple aura erupted around him and raced across the ground.
"Combination!"
The world bucked. Vegetation, rock, soil—everything, living or dead—writhhed and rushed toward Bullet as if on invisible rails. His body swelled and elongated until a giant tens of meters tall rose from the earth in a thunder of dust and debris, its vast shadow swallowing Whitebeard whole.
ROAR!
Armament Haki layered thick across a wolf-headed, sky-piercing colossus. Lantern-sized eyes burned a savage crimson. The land cracked under its bellow.
Large Bullet—unleashed.
"Kahahaha! Behold my power, Darren!" Bullet sat within the giant as if in a cockpit, hands clamped on phantom levers, laughter rolling.
"I built this technique just to crush you!"
The giant threw its head back with a deafening roar. A fist the size of a mountain heaved up and came down like an avalanche, mass and might ripping white shockwaves through the air.
"Ultimate Cannon!"
The meteor fist fell. The gale from its passage tore at Whitebeard's cloak and hair.
Panting, Whitebeard narrowed his eyes and planted his feet. He drew a steady breath—and punched.
Boom!!
Mismatch or not, the two blows met in the void. Space spider-webbed and shattered. Bullet's pupils pinpricked as the scene before him twisted—and split—like glass.
A milky-white aura detonated from Whitebeard's fist.
"I'm… Whitebeard!!"
Crack! Pop!
Fine fissures raced across the giant's knuckles and ran up the arm. An instant later it burst apart, disintegrating from fist to forearm to shoulder in a cascading blast. The wolf-headed titan—dozens of meters high—came apart into powder under the World's Strongest's punch, leaving Bullet suddenly exposed in its place.
"Is that all?" Darren said dryly, rolling his eyes.
Bullet flushed. "You try it, tough guy! I got bigger! Can you?"
Darren grinned. "As it happens… yes."
"A giant? I've got one too."
He took a breath. His rhythm steadied. Then his body began to change.
Crack… crack… crack…
Bones broke and reknit with a chill-inducing symphony. Under Bullet's stunned stare and Whitebeard's hardening gaze, the Marine Vice Admiral swelled like an inflating bellows. His uniform split; metal fragments spiraled in and locked together, layering into a sleek, futuristic armor that sealed over him. A streamlined steel giant rose where Darren had stood.
Giant's Body.
Pressure rolled out in a tangible wave, wind and grit snapping into a cyclone. Whitebeard's expression tightened.
Not a Devil Fruit trick, he realized at once. This power came from the man's own flesh.
A Giant bloodline—?!
Before the thought finished forming, Darren's massive hand closed around Enma—grown colossal in his grasp—like a primordial titan raising a cleaver to split the sky. He bellowed and brought it down on the World's Strongest.
Whitebeard moved by instinct, Murakumogiri flashing up to meet the blow.
BOOM!!
The towering black blade slammed down with the weight of a falling firmament, edge blunted by sheer force as Darren swung it like an iron cudgel. Metal sang; Whitebeard's stance trembled. A copper taste rose in his throat. His feet sank deep into the ground like hammered stakes. For kilometers around, the island's skin collapsed by several meters with a single, shuddering boom, rock exploding outward. Color climbed Whitebeard's face; vein-cords writhed along forehead and arm.
"…What kind of ability is that?!" Bullet blurted. This form—the giantization combat style he'd forged for himself—was designed to explode destructive power even if it traded away speed and snap. Perfect against Whitebeard, whose speed was mortal but whose devastation was not.
So how had Darren built something like this—already?
"Save the commentary!" Darren snarled through his teeth. "Help me!"
Bullet blinked—then vanished and reappeared atop Darren's helm.
"What are you doing?!" Darren thundered, voice cracking Bullet's ears. "Get off my head!"
But a spark of inspiration had already flared behind Bullet's eyes.
"If you can turn into a giant…" He straightened, gaze locking on Whitebeard. "What happens if we combine that with my power?"
Darren hesitated, stunned. Combine… with your power? The notion hit him like lightning. For a heartbeat he could only stare as a ridiculous, thrilling possibility flashed through his mind.
To be continued...