Douglas Barrett

Year 1520 of the Sea Circle Calendar.

The Undersea Prison, Level 6, Infinite Hell.

Damp, gloomy cells either jutted out from the dusty, mottled ground or were embedded chaotically into the ancient walls.

Like tumors grown in the belly of a hideous giant, they wantonly radiated a cold, freezing, and evil aura.

Under the gaze of those venomous and ferocious eyes peering from within the cells.

The newly appointed member of the Seven Warlords and former Whitebeard Pirates crewmate, Blackbeard Marshall D. Teach, leisurely arrived in the center of the dim prison block with his companions.

Sweeping his gaze around and sensing the cruel, tyrannical, powerful, and heavy auras leaking from the surrounding cells, Teach's mouth gradually split into a grin.

He abruptly spread his arms, as if embracing his world, and let out a wild, frenzied laugh toward these fierce beasts trapped within Infinite Hell.

"Zehahaha, zehahahaha!"

"Hello, everyone! You prisoners who will spend your lives in cages without dreams!"

"Anyway, the latter half of your lives is nothing more than waiting to die."

"Since that's the case, why not slaughter each other to your heart's content in this sunless hell!"

"Those who survive will become my comrades and regain their freedom!"

The frantic laughter echoed through the empty, dim space, reaching every single cell in Infinite Hell.

In the dark, there was first a dead silence.

Then, the entire Infinite Hell boiled over instantly, like a pot of hot oil that had been kicked over!

"Really? Shihahahaha! I've been yearning for that sea for a long time!!"

"Kid! You'd better not lie to me, or else I'll twist your head off and shove it up your ass!!"

"Great!! Fire Fist Ace is about to be executed, and that old bastard Whitebeard will definitely come. I'm going to Marineford to take his head!!"

Excited, crazed laughter came from the surrounding cells.

Following that, violent brawls and shrill screams rang out one after another.

Teach, Burgess, and the others exchanged glances, their faces all revealing looks of great anticipation.

Suddenly,

Burgess's expression froze.

He noticed that, stimulated by this frantic atmosphere, a few cells remained completely silent.

"Hmm?"

Burgess walked up curiously, holding a bunch of prison keys in his hand, and looked inside through the rusted iron bars mixed with Sea-Prism Stone.

In the dim light, several prisoners with emaciated, withered bodies lowered their gazes and crouched quietly on the ground.

This cell was very large.

Yet these prisoners shrank into the corners one by one.

Either pressing close against the dusty wall.

Or curling up beside the rusty barred door.

It was as if they were trying their best to stay away from the central area of the cell.

Burgess narrowed his eyes.

He saw a mountain-like, robust figure sitting squarely in the center of the vast cell, revealing a vague outline in the darkness.

Although its physique seemed insignificant compared to some of the giants in Infinite Hell.

And appeared even more negligible in front of the 180-meter-tall pirate known as the Battleship, Sanjuan Wolf.

Yet the aura emanating from it was like a primordial fierce beast.

Like a vicious beast hiding its massive body in boundless darkness.

The instant he saw that figure, Burgess felt as if he had suddenly arrived at the foot of a towering giant peak, covered and swallowed by the shadow cast by that massive mass.

"You'd better leave that guy alone!"

A cautious voice came over.

Burgess turned his head and saw his captain, the ambition-ridden Blackbeard Teach, whose face now bore a thick trace of dread.

No.

It wasn't just dread.

He even saw Teach's body trembling slightly.

That was irrepressible disbelief and fear!

"To think that a guy like you is still alive, the man they call the Heir of the Demon—"

"Douglas Barrett!!"

Buzz!

As Teach's slightly trembling voice fell, deep within the dark cell, a pair of blood-red pupils snapped open!

Rumble!

In an instant,

terrifying killing intent and tyranny poured out from the darkness like a breached flood, overwhelming the area with the force of a landslide!

The substantive killing intent formed monstrous, bloody waves in the eyes of Teach and the others, roaring and overturning toward them!

Thud, thud, thud!!

Burgess's scalp tingled, scared into taking several steps back until he fell straight onto his backside on the ground.

"Devil!!"

Teach's face also turned completely pale, and he swallowed hard, moving away from this abyss-like, terrifying place.

He didn't dare get too close.

Even though,

that man was still inside the cell, locked in Sea-Prism Stone shackles.

In the dim prison, Barrett opened his eyes.

Clatter, clatter...

Heavy chains scraped against the ground.

Under the reverent and fearful gazes of the few emaciated prisoners inside the cell, he slowly stood up, took a stride, and came to the area near the iron bars.

Palms covered in thick calluses and large knuckles.

Arms thicker than the waist of an ordinary prisoner.

A solid chest like a heavy city wall.

Beneath the ragged black-and-white prison uniform, knotted muscles like entwining giant pythons were exposed.

His five fingers clenched slightly.

Crack, snap, pop!

A succession of teeth-grating bone-popping sounds rang out.

Accompanied by the ripping sound of tearing fabric,

those muscles, bulging high like chunks of lava, burst through the prison uniform covering his robust body, revealing a sturdy chest covered in burn scars.

Pop! Pop! Pop!

Thick tendons tightened and contracted, pumping the terrifying, landslide-and-tsunami-like power hidden within this shell!

Whoosh!!

A violent gale suddenly whipped up out of thin air around the burly physique.

Barrett stood quietly in front of the iron bars, gazing coldly outside.

Outside the cell were rows of open prison doors.

Ferocious criminals wearing black-and-white prison uniforms swarmed out with excited expressions.

Some criminals who loved chaos held the keys dropped by Blackbeard before he left, continuously unlocking one cell after another.

Every single prisoner locked in Level 6 of Impel Down was a heinous, blood-stained thug.

Release just about anyone from here, and they could stir up bloody storms in the outside world and plunge a country into chaos.

Yet.

As time ticked by, not a single prisoner dared to approach Barrett's cell.

"It's time to go out and participate in that grandest of wars."

Barrett's mouth gradually split open, revealing white teeth, his eyes rippling with a bloodthirsty red glow. "I can hardly wait."

He was Douglas Barrett.

Yet he was not merely that terrifying madman who could rival Dark King Rayleigh at the age of 15, known as the Devil's Heir.

Roughly half a year ago.

A soul from 21st-century Earth, obsessed with the One Piece manga, transmigrated here, burrowing into his shell in an attempt to usurp the original owner and be reborn by possessing the body.

Yet how firm was Barrett's soul and willpower?

With almost effortless ease, he crushed this uninvited guest.

Having integrated the other party's memories,

Barrett saw another magnificent world and learned a lot of strange knowledge.

...and even saw his own future.

If nothing went wrong, he would be defeated by a boy named Monkey D. Luffy shortly after this prison break.

Furthermore, he would only appear as a paranoid, major villain boss in a theatrical film outside the main manga plotline.

This felt somewhat absurd to Bullet.

Yet it also felt quite interesting.

At first.

He merely thought he was having a ridiculous dream.

The prisoner life in Infinite Hell was far too oppressive.

Although his spirit had always remained sufficiently steadfast.

Yet the prolonged imprisonment, alongside the dry and monotonous training and cultivation.

Had likewise brought fatigue upon himself.

Until a few days ago, Fire Fist Ace was locked up in Impel Down.

Following closely after that, from the guards' mouths, came the explosive news that the world's strongest man, Edward Newgate, was going to high-profile attack Marine Headquarters.

Only then did Bullet untangle a clear thread from his jumbled and chaotic memories.

He was not dreaming!

Everything was real!

And if the memories of that otherworldly visitor were true.

Then the present himself could be considered to have known in advance a certain trajectory of this world's future.

That boy who defeated him, Monkey D. Luffy.

The destined protagonist of this world.

His grandfather was a marine hero.

His father was the revolutionary army commander.

His guide was a maritime overlord of the Four Emperors.

Even the Devil Fruit he ate.

Seemed ordinary and common, but suddenly turned out to be the Mythical Zoan, Sun God Nika model.

He himself was even the child of destiny, the liberator Joy Boy whom countless people in this world had eagerly looked forward to and waited for eight hundred years.

How could someone alone survive by himself on this vast sea?!

After defeating him, the other party would also leave behind such a sentence.

Subsequently, he would suddenly see the light and comprehend the true meaning of life.

That was, without companions who needed protecting, one could not become the strongest...

Destiny, is it?

Veins bulged one by one on his forehead, and Bullet gritted his teeth and low-roared, the red glow leaping in his eyes growing even more intense.

If everything belongs to the return of destiny, then wouldn't my training day and night over these past decades, and the countless life-or-death battles I once experienced, be asking for humiliation?

What a joke!!!

His two fists clenched tightly, and on his two giant arms as thick as stone pillars, muscle after muscle throbbed, wrapping with a layer of dark, cyan-blue Armament Haki.

An aura of ultimate wildness and domineering madness gradually surged out from his mountain-like, robust body.

Bullet extended two huge palms the size of winnowing baskets, grabbing his left foot shackled by Sea-Prism Stone.

Then, amidst the horrified gazes of a few cellmates inside the cell, his hands abruptly squeezed!

Crack, crack, crack!