Bullet's Target

"Where is this?"

Shirakawa groggily opened his eyes and found that the sky had already darkened. Beside him came the crackling sound of a fire.

Hearing the noise, Shirakawa turned his head and saw Bullet, which put him at ease.

"Awake, kid?"

Hearing Bullet address him like that, Shirakawa felt very uncomfortable. "Kid? You seem about the same age as me, maybe even younger."

More than twenty years later, during the Stampede incident, Bullet would only be a little over forty. Right now, he was probably around eighteen or nineteen, while Shirakawa was about twenty.

"But I'm stronger than you. A lot stronger."

"Yeah, at this age, you're the only one with this kind of strength." Shirakawa sat up as he spoke, sighing with admiration, a hint of envy in his tone.

Bullet was an exceptionally gifted person. He had always taken Roger as his goal and trained with extreme diligence. It could be said that on the current Roger Pirates, aside from the Captain, Roger himself, no one dared to claim they could firmly suppress Bullet.

"By the way, how did you get here?"

"You could say you were lucky not to die. I happened to be nearby when you were fighting. That sword of yours is way too conspicuous."

"True." Thinking of his Sword of Damocles, Shirakawa nodded in agreement. "But how did you know we couldn't win?"

"Because I felt the clash of Conqueror's Haki."

As he said this, Bullet's lips curled into a sneer. "Right now, you can't beat anyone who has mastered Conqueror's Haki."

"Heh, you really don't mince words." Shirakawa gave a helpless smile, but what Bullet said was the truth.

Even those with a King's Disposition, aside from occasional bursts of Conqueror's Haki, first mastered Armament Haki and Observation Haki.

Someone like Shirakawa, who grasped Conqueror's Haki first, was extremely rare.

"Thanks for saving my life." Shirakawa sat down by the fire, warming his body.

"No need to thank me. As long as I'm still on the Roger Pirates, I won't leave you to die."

"So you're planning to leave the crew?" Shirakawa picked up on another layer of meaning from Bullet's words.

Bullet didn't speak, but his silence confirmed Shirakawa's guess.

"I heard about how you boarded the ship. You came as a challenger, always wanting to challenge Roger and become the strongest in the world."

Bullet remained silent, listening, and Shirakawa continued.

"But finding out Roger had an incurable disease hit you hard, didn't it?"

Hearing this, Bullet clenched his fists.

"It also made you think Roger wasn't invincible. Am I right?"

"Yeah, you're right." After a moment of heavy emotion, Bullet slowly relaxed. "I started soldiering as a child. By fourteen, I was already my country's hero. Until I was fifteen, I never lost a single fight. I always thought I was invincible—until I met Roger."

"He shattered your undefeated myth."

"That's right. That fight with Roger was my first defeat. After that, I challenged him many times, but I always lost. Even though I always aimed for Roger, in my heart, he was always invincible—until he got that disease."

"So the image of Roger's invincibility in your mind collapsed?"

"From the moment he got sick, he was no longer an invincible person. An invincible person doesn't get sick."

When he said the last part, Bullet's tone suddenly became intense, startling Shirakawa.

"Bullet, your thinking is extreme and very wrong. No one is immune to illness." Except for me, of course—Shirakawa wouldn't say that out loud now.

"But he's Roger!"

"So what if he's Roger? He's still a person. People are born, age, get sick, and die." As he spoke, Shirakawa felt something was off—why did it sound like he himself wasn't human?

"Can you guarantee you'll never get sick or die in your life?"

"I won't die."

Hearing Bullet's extreme words, Shirakawa didn't know what to say. Did he think he was like me?

"There's a legendary fruit that can grant you immortality. Until I get that fruit, I won't die."

"What fruit?"

"The Paramecia Op-Op Fruit."

"But haven't you already eaten a Devil Fruit?"

"I can find it, have someone else eat it, and then have them perform the Immortality Surgery on me. But you should be glad I ate a Devil Fruit."

"Why?" Shirakawa was puzzled.

"Because I'm very interested in your ability." Bullet's smile suddenly turned vicious.

It made Shirakawa shiver involuntarily.

In other words, if he hadn't eaten a Devil Fruit, he might have killed Shirakawa, waited for his "fruit" to respawn somewhere, and then taken it.

"Then I really should thank you for letting me off."

"By the way, what were you planning to do coming here?" Shirakawa believed Bullet wouldn't have come to this island without reason.

"I heard there's a place on this island that's always been a battlefield, so I wanted to go check it out. But since the strongest people here are all that kind of trash, I've lost interest in that battlefield too."

"So what about that so-called Great General? Dead, right?"

"Of course. When I strike, I don't leave survivors."

"Heh, you really are ruthless."

"Ruthless? No, this is perfectly normal pirate conduct. If you show mercy to your enemies, that's cruelty to yourself. You should know about Marine Admiral Black Arm Zephyr—I don't need to tell you how he ended up."

"Because of his mercy, he got the cruelest punishment. Alright, I'm done talking. I'm leaving."

"Leaving? Where to?"

"Don't know. Maybe I'll challenge the various strong fighters on this island."

"Well then, good luck."

Shirakawa didn't try to keep Bullet, because he knew that someone with Bullet's personality couldn't be held back—unless his own strength surpassed the other's.

After a while, Shirakawa's stomach growled, "Grr~ grr~."

"Looks like I used up too much stamina today. But leaving them here is dangerous." Shirakawa glanced at the three still sound asleep.

"And Bullet, really—why didn't he leave me any food?"

Shirakawa walked straight up to Buggy and Shanks and slapped each of them once across the face. That jolt woke the two, who had already rested enough, right up.

"What's going on? Who hit me?" As soon as he woke, Buggy started yelling.

"Huh? Shirakawa, why'd you hit me?" Shanks, just waking up, was still dazed, as if he'd forgotten what happened before he passed out.

But in less than half a minute, Buggy and Shanks suddenly remembered something. "What about that Great General? Shirakawa, are you okay?"

"Don't worry. Someone else saved us."

"Saved us? Who?"

"Bullet."

"Bullet, huh. No surprise he could beat that Rogue. So where is he?" Shanks looked around but didn't see Bullet anywhere.

"He's already left."

"I see. I wanted to say a proper hello to him. Since the danger's dealt with and it's already this dark, why'd you call us two over?"

"Why? To get me some food, of course. Go see what's left to eat in this hideout. You think it was easy for me stalling for time?"

"Alright, fine." As it happened, they were a bit hungry too.