Roa sized up the boy standing before him.
His first impression was: Why is he so tall?
They were clearly the same age, yet the boy was almost one and a half times Roa's height.
He wore a tattered, ill-fitting military uniform. His blond hair had not been washed in ages, and blood had matted it into clumps.
He stood ramrod straight like a javelin. Despite the numerous wounds covering his body, he was brimming with vitality.
At the same time, Bullet was sizing up Roa as well.
He had seen many children in the army, but never one like this.
Clean and fair, cute as could be, dressed in exquisite clothes, with an innocent smile.
"Commander?"
Bullet looked at his commander, Gray, in confusion. He did not understand what the child in front of him meant.
What did he mean by saying Bullet would be following him from now on?
"Ahem."
Douglas Gray, commander of the boy soldiers, wiped the sweat from his forehead and coughed. He carefully glanced at Roa, then straightened his chest again in front of Bullet. "Bullet, I've seen your performance! It was outstanding! So I've decided to award you this year's medal!"
"Really?"
Young Bullet's eyes lit up instantly. His gaunt face was completely covered in delight, and even his voice became stammering. "Commander, I—I really can?"
"Of course! Bullet! Hold your head high! You're the soldier I'm most proud of!"
Bullet instinctively thrust out his chest and raised his head. Gray stepped forward and hung a medal on his chest.
The medal's workmanship was difficult to call exquisite. It was barely up to the standard of a child's toy.
But Bullet's eyes filled with tears of excitement.
The young general who was peerless on the battlefield and seldom met an opponent finally revealed his childish side. He wanted to reach out and touch the medal, but he was afraid his filthy hands would soil it, so he merely sniffed and stared down at it.
He had arrived at just the right time.
Seeing how moved the boy was, Roa's smile widened.
Bullet only became insane after suffering three enormous setbacks.
The first came when he was eight, just as he was about to obtain the medal he had dreamed of. His companion betrayed him, stealing the medal and even trying to kill him.
The second came when he was fourteen. Gray promised that if Bullet destroyed the enemy nation, he would restore Bullet's freedom. But after Bullet destroyed the enemy army, Gray betrayed him.
The third came aboard Roger's ship. After finally being influenced by the Pirate Succubus, Bullet gradually began adapting to life with companions. But Roger contracted a terminal illness, making it impossible for Bullet to ever see a chance of defeating him again.
After Roger's death, Bullet finally sank completely into madness.
Roger, you bastard! A beauty is a calamity! Repent!
Still, before suffering those setbacks, Bullet really had been a model soldier.
"Bullet!"
Gray suddenly shouted sharply.
"Yes, Commander!"
Bullet instinctively stood at attention.
"Now that you've received your medal, I'm entrusting you with a mission that only you can carry out!"
Gray's voice was solemn.
But inwardly, he could not stop sighing.
He knew better than anyone that the reason his boy-soldier unit had risen to fame was entirely because of Bullet, a born monster.
"Yes!"
Bullet did not hesitate in the slightest. Pride showed on his face.
"Listen carefully, Bullet."
Gray pointed at Roa. "From today onward, you are Lord Roa's guard! You must obey his orders absolutely! Other than him, you are to ignore every other person's orders! Mine included! You are to protect his safety with your life!"
Confusion filled Bullet's eyes, but the education he had received since childhood taught him to obey orders, so—
"Yes!"
The boy's reply was clear and firm, without the slightest hesitation.
"Very good."
Gray nodded with feigned satisfaction. Only then did he cautiously look toward Roa. "Lord Roa, what do you think...?"
Why had a remnant of the Rocks Pirates come to visit this godforsaken country, anyway?
When his superior had brought this boy over, Gray had nearly died of fright.
He might have been a child, but he was also an officer of the Rocks Pirates. How could Gray possibly afford to provoke him?
All he could do was obediently hand Bullet over to him.
"Bullet."
Roa smiled and raised a hand, pointing at Gray. "Beat him up with all your strength."
Bullet hesitated for a moment and instinctively looked at Gray.
He obeyed orders, but this kind of order...
Gray instantly broke into a cold sweat under Bullet's gaze. "Bullet! Have you forgotten what I taught you? Obey orders!"
Bullet nodded heavily. Then he stepped forward, swung his right fist back, twisted his waist, and suddenly hurled the punch forward.
The seven-year-old boy's fist slammed into Gray's stomach.
Gray was struck directly into the shape of a shrimp. His eyes bulged, blood sprayed from his mouth, and his entire body flew away like a cannonball.
You little brat!
Couldn't you hold back just a little?!
"Excellent! Very spirited!"
Roa was finally satisfied.
Now that's a good boy.
Dylan, who had been quietly following behind Roa, was also somewhat astonished as he watched Bullet.
That kind of strength was not something an ordinary child possessed.
Like Lord Roa, he was a naturally gifted individual!
As expected of Lord Roa. He had actually discovered such an unpolished gem in this backwater.
"From now on, just do as you did just now. All you need to do is obey my orders."
Roa jumped up and patted Bullet on the shoulder.
There were simply too many tall people in this world!
"Yes, Lord Roa!"
Bullet no longer had any hesitation.
Just like before, he did not need to think too much. All he needed to do was obey orders!
The only difference was that from now on, he would obey Lord Roa's orders!
"Good boy. As a reward..."
Roa reached into his pocket and rummaged around before taking out the Devil Fruit he had snatched from God Valley and handing it to Bullet. "Eat it."
Although he did not know exactly what ability this fruit possessed, it was surely much stronger than the Combination Fruit.
The awakened Combination Fruit certainly looked intimidating, but when one thought about it carefully, it had far too many restrictions.
First, it relied too heavily on external objects. In the original story, Bullet only reached the size of Giant Bullet after absorbing the fleet of the Buster Call and the city on an island. Under normal circumstances, that was simply impossible.
Second, when the combined matter was damaged, the ability user himself would also be injured. That was ridiculous. It was even inferior to Pica's Stone-Stone Fruit.
Finally, without Bullet's Haki, the monster created through combination would be extremely fragile. Usopp's plants alone could destroy it.
Ultimately, Bullet was the strong one, with a rating of 13.0, while the Combination Fruit was nothing but a freeloader.
So Roa would give him a different fruit.
"Yes!"
Bullet did not hesitate in the slightest. He opened his mouth and swallowed the fist-sized fruit in one bite.
Devil Fruits were naturally disgusting, but the boy soldier showed no reaction. He had eaten far too many things worse than this.
"Do you feel anything?"
Roa asked curiously.
How could he not be curious? What kind of ability did a fruit that could be placed alongside the Azure Dragon Fruit and Paw-Paw Fruit possess?
"Reporting! Nothing—"
Bullet was in the middle of reporting when his eyes suddenly focused. "I feel something!"
Almost instinctively, the power hidden within his body was triggered.
Roa watched as Bullet's body lost its color, instantly transforming into a silver humanoid.
His body was composed of a liquid that shimmered with silver light. Large masses dripped from him onto the ground, becoming silver beads one after another.
"Careful, Lord Roa!"
Dylan instantly stepped in front of Roa and shielded him with his body. "That form should be mercury!"
"Huh? Mercury? A Logia?"
Roa sighed in great disappointment.
Before the Haki update, Logias were naturally invincible.
But after the version update, Mythical Zoans were the powerful class.
Besides, mercury was nowhere near as impressive as the top-tier Logias.
"I think I can change again."
Bullet spoke as his silver body transformed once more. The liquid evaporated and became a hazy gas.
"It's hot!"
Roa felt a wave of heat rushing toward him and was quite surprised. "There's a second form of elementalization? You turned into mercury vapor?"
The temperature of mercury vapor was astonishingly high.
And the stuff was also highly poisonous!
Now this was interesting.
Liquid mercury was 1.7 times as dense as iron. That alone made it perfectly compatible with martial arts. It could absolutely be compared to Katakuri's abilities. A mercury giant fist dozens of meters in size and weighing hundreds of thousands of tons, combined with Bullet's strength and Haki—who wouldn't be terrified?
Gaseous mercury was even more interesting. It possessed temperatures comparable to the Flame-Flame Fruit, along with its poisonous properties. It was also extremely powerful, a superior version of the Smoke-Smoke Fruit in every respect.
Smoker, why don't you just skip the Smoke-Smoke Fruit? It's completely outclassed.
Wait. Poison?
"Bullet, change back quickly."
Roa hurriedly spoke.
He himself was fine. Even if he inhaled some black energy, he would recover.
But Dylan was an ordinary person.
"Yes!"
Bullet immediately returned to his original form.
Roa appreciated the boy even more.
When King Luffy had just become a rubber man, he had still struggled to control his ability.
"Do you like it?"
Roa asked with a smile.
"Reporting, Lord Roa! I like it very much!"
Bullet was indeed beaming with joy.
He did not know what a Devil Fruit was, but he knew that he now possessed an incredibly powerful ability!
"Then, do you want to try out your ability?"
Before you continue