Bullet Battles Garp!

Bullet was, of course, very familiar with Garp.

During his years with the Roger Pirates, whenever they encountered a fleet led by Garp, they would inevitably fight while retreating. Especially that terrifying strength capable of rivaling Roger—it had left an extremely deep impression on him.

Though he was confident that given a few more years, his strength would surely be able to contend with Garp's, and in another ten years, forget Garp—even if Roger came back to life, he should be able to defeat him in battle.

After all, both Garp and Roger were far older than he was.

The problem was that at this stage, he knew the other man was still stronger.

But so what?

Bullet's gaze sharpened, and his aura and fighting spirit blazed like blue flames.

"Even if it's you, Garp, you'll have to pay a price if you want to defeat me!" He rolled his thick neck and sneered.

"Hahahaha, not bad spirit. What a shame you became a pirate. You were once a kingdom's general, a soldier by background—so how did you end up aboard that bastard Roger's pirate ship?"

Garp looked at Bullet with clear appreciation for his talent, then continued,

"And you even ate some lousy fruit. What the hell is that thing good for you? That bastard Roger didn't even stop you!"

Hearing Garp call Roger a bastard again and again, Bullet grew even angrier.

Roger had been his captain, after all, and the goal he had chased throughout his life.

How could he allow someone else to insult him like that?

"I don't regret joining Roger's crew!"

"If it weren't for this Clank-Clank Fruit, I would have died long ago in that country where the war never ended!"

The moment he finished speaking, a surging dark-blue blast of energy erupted from Bullet, sweeping wildly in every direction.

Garp calmly allowed the blast to wash over him. Aside from the Justice Cloak behind him flapping loudly in the wind, his body remained as steady as a mountain.

"You can already freely control Conqueror's Haki? Not bad. You've gotten much stronger since the last time I saw you," Garp remarked casually.

"But you've caused too much trouble this time, kid. I'm definitely taking you to Impel Down, so cherish the coming battle. Because for the long years afterward, you'll only be able to stay in a dark cage."

"Old bastard! Don't look down on me!"

Murderous fury filled Bullet's eyes as he struck first. Wrapped in a layer of dark-blue aura, he shot forward like a violent comet crashing across the ground. The earth beneath his path shattered and sank layer by layer.

"Die!"

The distance of over two hundred meters was crossed in nearly the blink of an eye. His dark fists, glowing blue, were stacked together and raised high above his head. Like a battering ram, they came down on Garp with a sonic boom!

[Dong----]

A smaller black Iron Fist rose from below to meet the attack, followed by a deafening metallic clash.

Ring after ring of translucent, rippling shockwaves spread outward from where the fists collided.

The ground within a hundred-meter radius beneath Garp completely cracked apart, while vast stretches of nearby buildings were lifted and toppled by the gale.

"How is that possible?!"

Bullet's eyes nearly split open, because he discovered that the combined force of both his fists could not shake that "tiny" black Iron Fist in the slightest.

[Bang!]

The next instant, intense pain erupted in his abdomen. Garp's other Iron Fist had slammed fiercely into it.

[Boom!]

As terrifying fist force exploded in his stomach, Bullet flew backward even faster than he had come, finally smashing hard into the rocky hillside behind him and kicking up a massive cloud of dust.

"You brat, if you want to beat this old man's Iron Fist, you'll need another hundred years of training!" Garp laughed boldly.

At the same time, he thought that the rumors of Bullet drawing with Rayleigh were indeed unreliable—or perhaps Rayleigh had deliberately held back.

Judging from the strength Bullet had just displayed, he had yet to step through the threshold of the world's top powerhouses.

Meanwhile, the boulders burying Bullet began to tremble. The area of trembling rapidly spread and swelled.

In barely ten seconds, a Rock Giant, visibly over thirty meters tall, stood before Garp.

But it wasn't over yet!

A layer of blue-black substance swiftly coated the Rock Giant from head to toe like liquid paint.

In an instant, the giant's original earthy-yellow body transformed into a blue-black form with a metallic sheen.

He was so enormous that even the Marines aboard the Warships standing guard beyond the island could spot him at a glance, prompting no small amount of alarmed cries.

Yet at the sight of Bullet's transformation, Garp merely picked his nose with a bored expression and curled his lip disdainfully. "It only looks impressive. It's completely useless!"

On this planet, size meant nothing to experts who had mastered Haki.

So what if a Sea King was over a thousand meters long and nearly a hundred meters tall? Wouldn't it still be chopped apart by a Vice Admiral and turned into rations?

But if a Giant also mastered the power of Haki, that was another matter. This was why Elbaf was known as the world's strongest nation. Among Haki users of the same level, the Giants truly held a far greater advantage in strength.

"Come on, Garp!"

"Let's tear this place apart!"

Bullet, transformed into a blue-black giant, threw back his head and roared. His two massive, thick arms swung wildly, tearing sharp sonic booms through the air as they became a sky-filling barrage of fists that hammered down upon Garp.

"Gatling—Heavy Cannon—"

[Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!]

A relentless barrage of heavy fists instantly swallowed Garp whole. All that could be seen was the ground continuously sinking and shattering, while dense clouds of smoke so thick one could not see their hand before their face surged into the sky.

Madness filled Bullet's eyes. At that moment, Roger's image appeared in his mind.

Why?

Why did a man as unimaginably powerful as you die just like that?!

I told you before—only the weak! Only the weak die so easily!

Even now, he clearly remembered his agreement to fight Roger.

What was he supposed to do now? Who was he meant to surpass? Who was he meant to defeat to become the true strongest in the world?

"Kid, focus when you're fighting!"

Just then, Bullet, still swinging his giant fists, suddenly heard a voice from behind him.

Garp had somehow appeared there!

Just as he was about to turn around, a black Iron Fist, tiny compared to his massive body, smashed fiercely into his cheek. The tremendous force within it twisted and stretched his neck, dragging his huge body down with a thunderous crash.

Pain!

Unbearable pain!

Bullet had never expected Garp's fist to inflict such agony. His body was not only wrapped in a massive amount of rock, but also covered in the Armament Haki he took such pride in.

Yet this tiny fist seemed to contain a strange force. It ignored every defense on the surface of his body and drilled into him like a nail.

"Kid, you're very lonely, aren't you?"

Updates are currently at 12:10 a.m. and noon. I'm considering whether to move the second chapter's update time to around seven or eight in the evening.