Douglas Bullet and King had absolutely no interest in the sudden enemy attack on the harbor. They weren't heroes, and they certainly weren't Marines. After leaving the crumbling backstage lounge, they headed straight through the rubble toward the subterranean treasury where the arena's grand prizes were securely stored.
There, past the shattered vault doors, they successfully found two intricately carved wooden boxes containing Devil Fruits.
Both of them were slightly surprised by this discovery.
"Why are there two?" King asked, his hands in his pockets.
"Is finding two a bad thing?" Bullet grinned, picking up one of the boxes.
The two Vanguards exchanged a calculating glance and finally agreed to put away the two Devil Fruits for now. Whether they ate them or not could easily be decided later.
Of the two Devil Fruits, only one had been officially introduced by the flamboyant host earlier as the Paramecia-type Gasha Gasha no Mi (Clank-Clank Fruit); they had absolutely no idea what the ability of the second, unannounced fruit was.
Although Bullet desperately wanted a Devil Fruit ability to enhance his monstrous physical strength, he felt entirely unwilling to simply eat the Gasha Gasha no Mi before knowing the exact ability of the second fruit. At the very least, he needed to know what the second one did before weighing the tactical pros and cons and making a final choice.
However, shortly after the two teenagers put away the Devil Fruits, a massive, deafening explosion occurred directly at the treasury door.
A burly, towering man with thick arms, wearing a spiked Viking helmet, sporting a wild W-shaped beard, and having relatively short, thin legs, appeared amidst the smoke outside the treasury.
He squinted his crazed eyes at Bullet and King standing inside the vault and commanded in a deep, booming voice, "Hand over absolutely everything you've hidden in there! This treasury and everything in it now belongs to me... Byrnndi World!!"
"Byrnndi World?"
Bullet murmured the name, then his eyes widened slightly as he remembered the Underworld dossiers. "I know you! The 'World Destroyer'! The legendary lunatic from the old era who only knows how to violently destroy everything he encounters!"
Upon hearing this, King also squinted, looking coldly at the massive pirate. "For a supposed madman, you're actually interested in pocketing some treasure?"
"Hmph! I am a Pirate! It is only natural to want treasure to fund my wars!!"
World snorted coldly. Having lost the patience to continue talking to two nameless brats, he instantly slammed his foot violently onto the ground.
Activating Soru (Shave)—one of the Marine Six Powers he had casually learned just by observing his enemies—his massive body vanished in a blur and reappeared instantly in front of Bullet and King.
"Moa Moa: 10x Speed!!"
Huge, devastating fists, wrapped entirely in dense, black Armament Haki, struck out left and right towards the two teenagers.
The Observation Haki of these two youngsters—King and Bullet—naturally couldn't even remotely compare to World's current, terrifying peak state, so both were violently caught off guard and sent flying backward.
BOOM!!
Two large craters were smashed directly into the reinforced treasury wall, and King and Bullet tumbled violently outside into the arena ruins.
Although their current Observation Haki still couldn't accurately track World's enhanced movements, their inherently monstrous, powerful physical constitutions prevented them from sustaining any significant, lethal injury from his initial attack.
King merely had slightly dusty clothes; the blazing, natural flames burning behind his head gave his Lunarian body an absolute defensive capability that essentially immunized him against blunt-force attacks—unless they were infused with Advanced Conqueror's Haki.
Bullet, however, felt a dull, throbbing pain in his chest, but it wasn't remotely enough to count as a serious injury for his iron-like physique.
"This arrogant bastard!!" Bullet rubbed his chest while quietly cursing. "He attacks a vault without a word! He really is a rabid lunatic!"
King slowly drew his longsword from its scabbard, a fierce, predatory look appearing on his face beneath his mask.
"This grudge has been settled! Bullet, let's teach this old ghost a lesson together!!"
Bullet was stunned for a brief moment, then nodded in vicious agreement almost without hesitation. "Let's crack his skull! We are the Vanguards of the Crimson Empire!!"
With that, Bullet was the first to violently charge back through the massive hole he had just smashed in the wall. King followed closely behind, flying back through the gap with his wings extended.
"Prepare to die, World!!"
Bullet clenched his massive left fist, instantly wrapping it in dense, jet-black Armament Haki.
World noticed his aggressive surprise attack. He scoffed, casually wrapped Haki around his own arm, and easily blocked Bullet's devastating punch with a slight, almost lazy lift of his hand.
"Brat! Do you desperately want to die?!"
"You are the one who should die!!"
King flew in rapidly from the other side, raising his longsword high above his head for a powerful, lethal downward strike aimed at World's neck.
World snorted coldly again. He used kinetic force with his left hand holding back Bullet to violently blast the boy away. Then, with his right fist, he struck King brutally in the abdomen, beating the swordsman to the punch.
Both teenagers were sent violently flying backward once more. However, the result was the exact same as before: they crashed into the rubble, shook off the dust, and rushed back into the fight again, virtually unharmed.
World frowned slightly and couldn't help but curse, "You two convict brats! If you want to die that badly, I'll happily grant your wish!!"
"Moa Moa: 30x Speed!!"
World's figure vanished completely. The very next moment, he suddenly appeared directly behind Bullet in mid-air.
His massive right fist, wrapped in thick, suffocating Armament Haki, slammed devastatingly into the center of Bullet's spine, driving him violently into the ground like a nail.
With a dull, sickening crash, a shallow, spiderweb pit was smashed into the bedrock, and Bullet lay prone inside it.
The next moment, World appeared directly beside King and struck him squarely in the face with a brutal punch, sending the Lunarian flying out of the vault like a cannonball.
BOOM!!
Another massive hole appeared in the treasury wall. However, only a few agonizing seconds later, King flew back through the dust once again.
"Have you even eaten today, World?! Your punches are incredibly weak!!"
The flames behind King's head blazed fiercely. While continuing to aggressively swing his sword in an attempt to strike the pirate, he spat out arrogant trash talk, deliberately trying to distract World.
At the exact same time, Bullet also climbed up from the crater again. The devastating punch from World had caused him to accidentally bite the inside of his cheek with his teeth. After spitting out a mouthful of bloody saliva, he roared and charged toward World again.
"They're still not dead?!"
World was genuinely startled and deeply enraged. He stopped holding back completely.
"Moa Moa: 100x Speed!!"
His movements could absolutely no longer be tracked using ordinary Observation Haki. Bullet and King were simultaneously subjected to dozens, even hundreds, of his devastating, high-speed punches in the span of seconds.
The two teenagers were violently pinned in the air by the sheer kinetic force of World's barrage, completely unable to land or counterattack.
But... after World finished his apocalyptic burst of attacks and the dust settled, the two of them were still not significantly harmed.
Bullet blocked the vast majority of the damage using Full-Body Armament Haki, and aside from spitting a few mouthfuls of blood from the internal concussions, he was still full of aggressive vigor.
King, relying purely on his absolute Lunarian defense, took the damage head-on without flinching, not even spitting up a drop of blood.
"What kind of unholy monsters are these two brats?!" World gasped, genuinely astonished now.
Bullet looked to be only a teenager, yet he had already miraculously mastered Full-Body Armament Haki. King, furthermore, used absolutely no visible defensive techniques or Haki at all, simply taking his 100x Speed punches head-on with his raw flesh.
If these two brats didn't have special, Emperor-level backing, World would twist his own head off right there!
Thinking this, his attitude was no longer dismissive, and he asked sternly, "State your names! Brats! Who exactly are you?!"
Bullet took a deep, rattling breath, easing the pain from the earlier blows. Although he had mastered Full-Body Armament Haki at this stage, his Haki intensity still severely lagged behind a veteran like World's, so the bruising pain was still intense.
Hearing World's question, he and King answered proudly, almost simultaneously:
"I am Douglas Bullet!!"
"I am King!!"
"We are the Vanguards of the Crimson Empire!!" (x2)
World's heart tightened violently in his chest.
"The Crimson Empire?!"
He certainly knew about this rising Pirate Crew. The Captain, Atlas D. York, was rumored to have been a highly lethal member of the Rocks Pirates. That was nothing, really; World wasn't afraid of Rocks remnants.
The crucial point was the current geopolitical reality! Currently, almost the entire Underworld was actively spreading the terrifying rumor that York was the second generation "World's Strongest" after Rocks D. Xebec's fall!!
World was slightly interested in this arrogant title.
"Wahaha! So you're the Flame Emperor's little brats! Is your Captain currently on this island?!"
King lifted his chin disdainfully beneath his mask. "So what if he is?! Do you actually have the guts to challenge him?!"
"Wahaha! Everyone on the seas is claiming he's the strongest in the world, but I've personally never seen his combat record! This time, I'll just brutally capture you two and use you to lure him out!!"
World cracked his knuckles confidently. "I want to see exactly how much of this 'World's Strongest' title is just empty hype compared to the old days of Rocks!!"
Bullet snorted coldly and sneered, "You? Our Captain won't even need to lift a finger! The two of us can absolutely handle an old ghost like you!!"
"Arrogant brats!!"
World's expression darkened, and he attacked Bullet and King once more.
Although King and Bullet couldn't even remotely match World's enhanced speed, relying entirely on their powerful, anomalous physiques and their early mastery of Haki, they genuinely managed to hold their ground against the legendary pirate for a time in a grueling battle of attrition.
In the distance, standing atop the ruined bleachers, Charlotte Katakuri observed the brutal battlefield, hesitating whether to actively join in.
Just then, a massive, towering figure suddenly descended from the sky like a meteor, cracking the arena floor. Whitebeard had arrived.
Charlotte Linlin, stepping lazily on the thunder cloud Zeus, arrived immediately afterward, floating down beside Newgate.
Their sudden, overwhelming arrival hadn't yet alerted Byrnndi World, who was entirely focused on the brats, but Sakazuki, who had been calmly watching the show from a high platform, instantly stood up in shock.
"Whitebeard!! BIG MOM!!"
Sakazuki hissed their titles, instinctively reaching for his magma abilities, but after standing up, he didn't know what to do next. Engaging two Emperors simultaneously was absolute suicide.
Whitebeard and Big Mom paid absolutely no attention to the disguised Marine bystander; their focus immediately went entirely to World's chaotic battlefield.
"Are those two stubborn children... the brats under York's command?" Both Emperors were slightly surprised.
"To actually be able to fight Byrnndi World head-on without instantly dying... that York fellow is truly lucky to have found such talent!" Whitebeard rumbled, stroking his mustache.
Whitebeard then raised his massive head, looking toward the distant sea. Through his advanced Observation Haki perception, Marco seemed to be fiercely fighting someone on the docks, while Vista was calmly watching the battle. Not far from Vista, Rayleigh's relaxed presence could also be easily sensed.
Given this setup, there was a very high probability that his ship had absolutely not been destroyed; otherwise, Vista would certainly not be so calm, and Marco would be fighting with much more desperation.
Since the most pressing crisis regarding his family was absent, the tense expression on Whitebeard's face softened entirely. He started walking, slowly yet steadily, toward the docks.
"I'm going to go watch my son fight," Whitebeard said this casually to Charlotte Linlin, explaining his reason for leaving the arena.
Charlotte Linlin, floating on Zeus, flew next to Katakuri and asked with slight, maternal concern, "Are you alright, Katakuri?"
Katakuri shook his head slightly. "I am perfectly fine, Mama."
After a brief hesitation, he continued, his eyes locked on King and Bullet. "Mama... I would like to request permission to join that battle."
Charlotte Linlin looked down at him with an expression of doubt.
Katakuri explained his reasoning. "I am your absolute greatest masterpiece. And those two boys are undeniably my future competitors for the top! I absolutely should not fear an enemy from the old era that they actively dare to face!"
Hearing this proud declaration, Charlotte Linlin smiled with profound, terrifying satisfaction.
"Ma-ma-ma-ma! It's rare for you to show such fierce resolve!" Linlin laughed. "Katakuri, if you want to go, then go!! You are my greatest masterpiece! It's absolutely impossible for you to lose to anyone!!"
Having received his mother's permission, Katakuri finally stopped hesitating. He picked up his personal, heavy weapon, the Mogura (Mole Trident), and ran directly toward World's battlefield.
"I won't let you interfere with Captain World's fight!!"
On his way to the crater, the massive Wotan, Sebastian, suddenly appeared from the rubble to intercept him. But Katakuri completely ignored the Fishman Giant.
Because the very next second, a massive, apocalyptic lightning bolt struck down from the sky, hitting Sebastian directly and frying the massive pirate until he was completely crispy on the outside and smoking on the inside.
"My son wants to challenge World, and trash like you dares to block his path?! You are simply courting death!!"
Charlotte Linlin's gloomy, terrifying reprimand rang out from the sky. Powerful, suffocating Conqueror's Haki erupted violently from her body, causing the dark storm clouds in the sky to churn and roar because of it.
Nightin, the ship's doctor who had originally intended to leap in and intercept Katakuri alongside Sebastian, stopped dead in her tracks upon seeing this. This was her absolute first time experiencing the oppressive, world-ending Haki of a powerhouse at Big Mom's level, and her heart felt incredibly heavy with terror.
However, just like the blind, fanatical trust most crew members had in their Captain, she absolutely didn't believe that a mere rookie like Katakuri joining the battlefield could cause Byrnndi World any real trouble. In comparison, physically blocking Charlotte Linlin here and preventing the Emperor from actively participating might be far more important for World's survival.
Looking down at Nightin—whose expression was serious and who seemed subtly, foolishly opposed to her—Charlotte Linlin suddenly began sizing up the doctor's figure for absolutely no reason.
She was highly curvaceous, with a slender waist and fair skin. Although sensing her through the Soru Soru no Mi (Soul-Soul Fruit) indicated she was an old woman rapidly approaching fifty, she was unexpectedly, miraculously well-preserved due to her medicinal arts, looking nearly the exact same as a beautiful thirty-year-old woman.
More importantly to Linlin, she had no complex soul aura around her, meaning she might still be unmarried.
Charlotte Linlin couldn't help but chuckle softly to herself. 'Ma-ma-ma-ma! That lecher York might actually like her!'
Of course, she had absolutely no interest in actively pimping for York. After all, two of her own daughters were already officially engaged to the Emperor, and she had zero reason to add more competitors to her daughters' political standing. Furthermore, even if she did want to throw another woman at York to secure their alliance, wouldn't it be far better to choose from her remaining daughters? Why deeply benefit an outsider like this?!
Boom! Boom! Boom!!
Meanwhile, the brutal, high-speed battle between World, King, and Bullet was gradually intensifying, shattering the arena to its bedrock.
Just then, an unfamiliar, powerful presence rapidly approached the crater.
Katakuri stood tall on a high point of rubble and shouted loudly to the legendary pirate. "Destroyer of the World! My name is Charlotte Katakuri! I challenge you as well!!"
World violently punched King and Bullet away one by one, then turned to look at the towering Katakuri.
"A brat from Linlin's family?" World scoffed. "Wahaha! If you're not afraid of an agonizing death, then come!! Today, I will brutally suppress all you arrogant brats of the new era!!"
Hearing this, Katakuri knew World had officially accepted his challenge. He brandished his Mogura trident and leaped down into the crater.
BOOM!!
However, World gave him absolutely no chance to land. Leaping up from below with blinding speed, World struck first despite moving later, hitting Katakuri directly in the stomach with a devastating, Haki-infused punch that nearly curled his massive body into a shrimp.
"Such... such a heavy punch..." Katakuri spat out sour fluid behind his scarf, experiencing the terrifying, enhanced strength of Byrnndi World for the very first time.
"But... I absolutely won't lose just like this!!"
In that instant of agonizing pain, the scene of King and Bullet being violently beaten moments ago flashed automatically in Katakuri's analytical mind. Although they had been constantly, physically disadvantaged, the two Crimson Empire rookies had always been able to stand back up and withstand World's punches.
He would be their direct geopolitical competitor in the future; there was absolutely no reason he couldn't withstand the exact same punches that they could endure!!
With a low, demonic roar, Katakuri's body began to undergo drastic, terrifying changes.
His body was rapidly covered in thick, dark fur. His snout violently jutted out from the cover of his scarf, revealing ferocious, curved tusks, and the scarf immediately transformed into a savage, bristling collar of fur.
"AWOOO!!"
With a terrifying, blood-curdling howl, Katakuri proudly revealed his Mythical Zoan Human-Beast form.
.....
.....
.....
Give me powerstones.
Support me and read advance chapters on patreon.com/ImmortalDaoWriter