Chapter 222: Divine Departure
"That actually... pisses me off quite a bit."
He squeezed his fist, and a series of sharp, cracking pops echoed out.
Although Nereus made absolutely no attempt to hide his contempt, Bullet did not allow himself to become careless because of it.
Looking across his entire life, Roger was the single most exceptional existence.
The only reason Bullet made this choice, the only reason he believed Nereus was an opponent worthy of fighting, was entirely due to Roger's words.
Seeing Nereus standing there completely unguarded with his center wide open, Bullet didn't wait for him to get ready like some traditional duelist. The moment he stood up, he launched his attack.
Bullet stomped heavily on the ground, his massive frame exploding forward. Under the influence of Haki, both his arms had turned completely blue, and the hue even began creeping up onto his face.
This unique manifestation of Haki made him look like an azure demon, which was the very origin of his epithet: the "Demon Heir."
"Ultimate Ballista!"
Although Bullet's entire upper body was enveloped in Haki, it was clear that the vast majority of it was being densely channeled into his right arm.
No matter who it was, the amount of Haki within a person's body was a finite, constant amount. Once depleted, it took time to recover.
In the original timeline, after awakening his Devil Fruit, Bullet mastered several unique techniques. The colossal giant he formed by assimilating the island was genuinely effective against wide-range assaults like a Marine Buster Call.
No matter how vast their numbers were, weak fodder could never hope to match a giant monster like that.
But in a battle between top-tier powerhouses of the same caliber, that massive, lumbering body was nothing more than a pure liability.
The colossal size might look terrifying, but it forced his Haki to spread out over an unimaginably vast area. Even if Bullet's total Haki reserves were massive, spreading them across a giant of that scale drastically reduced his overall defense.
The current Bullet had not yet awakened his Devil Fruit, so he naturally couldn't pull off that kind of stunt. But in truth, that was a good thing.
If he actually entered that form, he would only be defeated even faster.
Under these circumstances, Bullet in his base form could actually hold out against Nereus a little longer.
Even though it was just the opening punch, Bullet didn't test the waters; he swung with absolutely everything he had.
Nereus maintained his completely unguarded posture. He even let out a bored yawn.
None of this affected the fist Bullet threw. He firmly believed that once this punch landed, it would shatter his opponent's contempt and teach him exactly what carelessness brought.
Back on the battlefield, he had encountered countless arrogant opponents just like this—so many he couldn't even count them. Some were enemies, and others were comrades and commanding officers who had betrayed him.
And the result? Every single one of those arrogant fools died, while he remained alive.
BOOM!
The punch, loaded with Bullet's absolute confidence, struck forward. Accompanied by an explosive boom, the ground beneath them shattered and cracked, and the wind pressure from the collision blasted outward in all directions.
The sensation at the front of his fist told Bullet that he had successfully struck his target. Right until the very end, Nereus made no attempt to dodge.
However, within the perception of his Observation Haki, there was absolutely no one standing in front of him. This alone proved that his opponent's Observation Haki was superior to his own.
Those with stronger Observation Haki could entirely mask their presence, completely evading the perception of a weaker user's Observation Haki.
Then there was the unique case of Red-Haired Shanks, whose "Observation Killing"—derived from Conqueror's Haki—could directly disable an opponent's Observation Haki, rendering them entirely unable to sense their target.
When Observation Haki was rendered useless, one could only rely on their basic physical senses. And while his fist had definitely hit something, his opponent hadn't taken a single step back.
Only as the dust began to settle did Bullet clearly see the scene before him.
An invisible barrier separated the two of them. The ground on Bullet's side was completely shattered, yet the earth behind Nereus was completely untouched by the dust.
Even a fragile, fallen leaf rested perfectly undisturbed on the ground.
"You can't pierce a Conqueror's Haki defense with Armament Haki alone," Nereus said smoothly. "If your impression of that guy Roger is so profound... then let me use something you're familiar with."
Before Bullet could process the meaning behind Nereus's words, Nereus flattened his hand into a blade and swung it horizontally toward Bullet.
He held no weapon, yet the movement triggered an indescribable, agonizingly familiar sensation in Bullet.
Whoosh!
As the palm strike swept toward him, Bullet instinctively crossed his arms over his chest. Every ounce of Armament Haki in his body desperately converged onto his arms.
The black-blue Haki condensed into a solid mass, while the emitted Haki formed a thick, heavy shield in front of him.
But none of it mattered.
Crack... shatter...
The very instant Nereus's attack made contact, Bullet's absolute defense shattered like fragile glass. It couldn't even hold for a single second.
In the next moment, Bullet's body was sent flying backward. He desperately tried to regain control of his body in mid-air, but it was completely useless.
The terrifying force felt as though it was trying to rip him apart. It wasn't until he crashed into the shallows, his calves sinking deep into the muddy water, that he finally came to a halt.
Bullet knew perfectly well that he hadn't "endured" the hit. Nereus had simply wanted to blast him to this exact spot.
To be blasted away in a single strike by a top-tier Fish-Man powerhouse—who wasn't even utilizing the environmental advantage of water—was a reality Bullet understood all too clearly. The man hadn't even activated his Devil Fruit ability.
The greatest strength of a Zoan user lay in their Hybrid Form. The comprehensive physical enhancements granted by beastification caused a qualitative evolution in power. This single strike cleanly demonstrated the insurmountable gap between them.
But the most crucial part was...
"Kamusari..." (Divine Departure)
Merely having his calves submerged in seawater wasn't enough to drain Bullet of all his strength. But the hand-blade Nereus had just unleashed was unmistakably Roger's Divine Departure.
For Bullet, who had challenged Roger repeatedly over the years, this technique was burned into his very soul.
"How the hell do you know that technique?!"
Bullet was equally shocked that Nereus could use Roger's signature move and infuriated that he chose to use it.
He was shocked because, over all these years, this was an exclusive technique belonging solely to Roger. Very few people on the sea could ever hope to learn it.
He was infuriated because Nereus clearly wasn't proficient with it. It looked more like a casual, improvised swing. Yet, even this casual swing had rendered him completely powerless to defend himself.
"I have no obligation to explain anything to you," Nereus replied coldly. "You lost. Do you accept it?"
The reason Nereus knew this move was incredibly simple: Roger's soul.
To be precise, it wasn't just Roger's technique. Whether it was Rocks or anyone else, the skills and abilities possessed by any soul that entered the River of Death were entirely accessible to Nereus.
However, the sheer number of souls in the River of Death was staggering. Under normal circumstances, Nereus had absolutely no interest in meticulously studying every single one of them.
Even Roger's Divine Departure was something he had literally just learned on the spot. He had his own combat style and felt no need to forcefully adopt someone else's.
The only reason he used Divine Departure here was simply because Roger's techniques had a built-in "super-effective" psychological multiplier against Bullet.
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