"Old man, this time, I feel like I can win—and the feeling is strong!"
Bullet raised his chin into the blowing wind and laughed without restraint.
He seemed completely unconcerned about his four previous defeats, caring only about victory in the battle before him.
And Bullet was not merely being overconfident.
He had his reasons.
After reviewing the experiences of the previous four battles,
Bullet realized that Garp's strength had not been increasing very quickly.
The pressure Garp gave him in the last battle had been almost identical to the one before that.
Meanwhile, Bullet's strength had improved significantly every year.
Not only could he last longer and longer, but he also inflicted increasingly greater damage on Garp.
Especially with the Gravity Training Field that had been created last year.
For someone with physical talent monstrous enough to be called inhuman, every training session let gravity squeeze out his potential like water.
This rapidly brought Bullet's overall physical abilities closer to those of his original self nineteen years later.
Honestly, his current strength
might truly have been about equal to Garp's strength from last year, just as he believed.
There was also another point: in the previous four battles, Bullet had deliberately avoided using the Clank-Clank Fruit's powers.
Because the Clank-Clank Fruit was not all that useful in battle.
At most, he could fuse with the soil on the island and create a thick layer of "earth armor" around himself.
But that kind of thing was utterly worthless against Garp's fists and severely hindered his agility.
If he coated it with Haki for defense, it would consume even more Haki.
So every time, Bullet had fought Garp head-on using only Physical Arts and Haki.
Some people had actually suggested that he bring a Great Grade Sword and fuse with it