Picked Up Bullet! The Future "Demon Heir" Knelt

A ship burned.

Flames licked the shattered mast, and thick smoke billowed across half the sky. Splintered wood and corpses floated on the sea, and blood stained the water red.

Lin Yuan stepped out of a door and landed on the sloping deck.

Charred planks creaked beneath his feet. The air reeked of blood and scorched flesh.

"Heh heh heh..." Lin Yuan chuckled quietly. "What a mess."

His spatial perception had long since locked onto that life signature—in the lower hold.

Lin Yuan walked to the hatch and peered down. The stairs had burned and collapsed, and flames shot through the gaps in the lower hold.

He raised a hand and opened a door beneath his feet.

Beyond the door was the lower hold.

Two

The lower hold was darker still. Firelight shone through the cracks, flickering on and off.

A boy lay curled up in a corner.

He was covered in wounds, his clothes torn to shreds, and his exposed skin was covered in burns and blade scars. But his eyes were startlingly bright—like a wolf's, a wolf caught in a trap.

Lin Yuan crouched down and met his gaze.

"What's your name?"

The boy said nothing, just stared at him intently.

"Not talking?" Lin Yuan tilted his head. "Then I'm leaving."

He stood up and made as if to open a door.

"Bullet." The boy's voice was hoarse, as if he hadn't had water in a long time. "My name is Bullet."

The corners of Lin Yuan's mouth rose slightly.

Douglas Bullet.

The future "Demon Heir," an apprentice of the Roger Pirates, a monster who would later take on the entire Marine Headquarters single-handedly.

For now, he was just a boy who had fled the battlefield, only to be captured by pirates and sold as a slave.

"Bullet." Lin Yuan repeated the name. "Want to work with me?"

Bullet stared at him, his eyes full of wariness.

"Why should I?"

Lin Yuan didn't answer. He raised a hand and opened a door in front of Bullet.

Beyond the door was the deck. Flames burned outside the doorframe, but the space inside the door was safe.

Bullet's pupils contracted slightly.

"What is that?"

"The Door-Door Fruit. A spatial ability," Lin Yuan said. "I can go anywhere."

Bullet fell silent for a moment.

"What's your goal?"

Lin Yuan stood and looked out at the burning sky.

"The World Government, the Celestial Dragons, the Five Elders." His tone was matter-of-fact, as if he were talking about what to eat that night. "It's time they were all replaced."

Bullet's eyes lit up.

It wasn't hope, but madness.

The boy had seen too much darkness and no longer expected to find light. But he wanted destruction—to destroy this world and everyone who had oppressed him.

"I'll work with you," Bullet said. "But if you lie to me, I'll kill you with my own hands."

"Heh heh heh..." Lin Yuan laughed. "Deal."

Three

Lin Yuan took Bullet out of the lower hold and found a deserted island nearby to set down on.

Calling it a deserted island was generous; it was really just a large reef, without so much as a tree on it.

Bullet leaned against the reef and watched Lin Yuan use the Door-Door Fruit to "fish" supplies out of the sea—food, weapons, and fresh water from shipwrecks.

"That ability of yours is really convenient." Bullet rarely gave compliments.

"Heh." Lin Yuan smiled. "It is convenient, but there's still a lot of room to develop it."

"How?"

Lin Yuan crouched down and drew a circle on the beach.

"The essence of the Door-Door Fruit isn't 'opening doors.' It's 'spatial manipulation.'" He tapped the center of the circle with a finger. "This is where I am now." Then he tapped a point outside the circle. "This is where I want to go."

"And then?"

"Normally, I'd open a door from point A to point B," Lin Yuan said. "But if you imagine space as a sheet of paper..."

He folded the circle in half.

"Points A and B overlap. There's no need to open a door; I only need to 'fold' space."

Bullet frowned, clearly not understanding.

"Put simply, I can make the distance shorter." Lin Yuan stood and walked ten meters away. "For example, I'm here, and you're there."

He raised his hands and brought them together in the air.

Bullet's vision blurred, and Lin Yuan appeared in front of him.

"This is Space Folding," Lin Yuan said. "There's no need to open a door. I just have to 'compress' space."

Bullet was silent for a long time.

"That ability of yours... is seriously broken."

"Heh heh heh..." Lin Yuan laughed. "Thanks for the compliment."

Four

In the days that followed, Lin Yuan and Bullet "made a home" on the reef.

Calling it a home was generous; they were really just staying alive.

Lin Yuan was responsible for finding food, fresh water, and supplies. Bullet was responsible for... smashing things.

Bullet had an astonishing talent for hand-to-hand combat. He had no fruit and relied entirely on Haki and physical strength. One punch was enough to crack the reef.

"How did you train?" Lin Yuan asked.

"On the battlefield." Bullet wiped the blood from his fist. "I went to the battlefield at eight, wiped out a company at ten, and destroyed a country at twelve."

Lin Yuan raised an eyebrow.

"And then?"

"Then?" Bullet sneered. "Then I was betrayed. My country's general was afraid my achievements would overshadow his, so he plotted to sell me."

"So you hate this world."

"I don't hate it," Bullet said. "I just want to destroy it."

Lin Yuan fell silent for a moment.

"What about me? Aren't you afraid I'll betray you too?"

Bullet glanced at him.

"You're different."

"How so?"

"You don't need to betray me," Bullet said. "If you wanted to kill me, you could open a door and throw me into the sea whenever you wanted. There'd be no need for tricks."

"Heh heh heh..." Lin Yuan laughed. "You really are... direct."

"Enough talk." Bullet stood up. "Teach me."

"Teach you what?"

"Your spatial perception," Bullet said. "I want to learn it too."

Lin Yuan shook his head.

"You can't learn that. It's an ability of the Door-Door Fruit, not Haki."

"Then I'll learn Haki."

"I can teach you Haki," Lin Yuan said. "But I'm still training it myself."

"Then we'll train together."

Lin Yuan looked into Bullet's eyes. There was no uncertainty in them, only a determination bordering on obsession.

"All right," Lin Yuan said. "Together."

Five

Half a month later.

A newspaper drifted across the sea.

Lin Yuan fished it out and unfolded it.

The front-page headline read: "Marine rising star defects! Lin Yuan's bounty: 500 million Beli!"

Bullet leaned over and took a look.

"Five hundred million? Aren't the Marines underestimating you?"

"No." Lin Yuan smiled. "They're overestimating me. I've only been in the service for two years, and I haven't even learned all of the Six Powers."

Bullet stared at him for a few seconds, then suddenly laughed.

"Bwahahaha... You're an interesting guy."

Lin Yuan folded the newspaper and put it in his pocket.

"Let's go."

"Where?"

Lin Yuan pointed to a mark on the sea chart.

"Impel Down."

Bullet's pupils contracted slightly.

"Are you crazy?"

"No." Lin Yuan smiled. "There are a lot of people locked up in Impel Down. Some are pirates, some are from the Revolutionary Army, and some are just civilians who didn't obey. What I need isn't their past, but their future."

"You're going to break them out?"

"Not a prison break." Lin Yuan raised a hand and opened a door in the air. "We're going to conduct interviews."

Beyond the door lay the waters around Impel Down.

The sea breeze rushed in, carrying a salty tang.

Bullet looked at the door and was silent for a few seconds before striding through it.

"Bwahahaha... Fine, I'm coming with you."

Lin Yuan followed him through the door.

The door slowly closed.

Silence returned to the reef, broken only by the sound of waves lapping against the shore.

(End of Chapter 5)