Finally Meeting You

"Waaah!"

Teach let out a scream as Bullet tossed him like a sack of trash into the thickest part of the poisonous fog.

The moment he landed, he saw the air before him filled with dense dark-red poison mist.

The instant his body came into contact with the fog,

his skin began to go numb and itch.

"Bullet! You madman!"

"And Magellan, that diarrhea-ridden bastard—has he gone insane? Releasing this much poison? Isn't he afraid of poisoning himself to death?"

Trembling all over in fright, Teach immediately spread his left hand and used the power of the Dark-Dark Fruit.

A black vortex spun in his palm, giving off a powerful suction that drew in the surrounding poisonous mist.

"Dark Water! Dark Vortex!"

As Teach desperately increased the force, the radius of the black vortex expanded with it.

His left hand seemed to have become the eye of a storm.

And he himself became a high-powered exhaust fan, rapidly sucking in the poison clouds and toxic mist around him.

Strands of dark-red mist were drawn over like rust-colored ribbons, continuously pouring into the Dark Vortex space created by Teach.

Smelling the fiery, pungent stench in the air, Teach secretly wiped the cold sweat beading on his forehead.

"Whew! That bastard Bullet almost got me killed!"

Then he looked at the dark space before him and muttered,

"Luckily, I released the prisoners inside on the lower floors beforehand. Otherwise, if I sucked in this poisonous fog, everyone in there would be dead."

On the way up, Teach had been ordered by Bullet to release all several hundred prisoners he had previously stored inside the Dark Vortex space.

This made Teach, who had intended to release those prisoners at the right moment to create chaos and escape, groan inwardly.

It also made him even more wary and afraid of Bullet.

Combined with Bullet exposing his secret earlier,

Teach had become somewhat paranoid. He always felt as though Bullet could see through people's hearts and knew what he was thinking.

The Dark-Dark Fruit's suction was extremely powerful. In less than twenty seconds, the poison fog on the corridor bridge where Magellan stood, so dense that one could not see a hand in front of one's face, had completely vanished.

Seeing several people suddenly appear before him, Magellan's pupils contracted sharply from within the poison giant.

He stared fixedly at one person behind Bullet and barked,

"Shiryu! You traitor!"

"Heh."

Shiryu raised his head, his face cold as he looked at the towering poison giant.

"I quit, Magellan."

"You can have this boring prison."

Magellan then looked toward the most conspicuous figure, Bullet, and his heart sank even further.

"Douglas Bullet!"

"Has the most vicious criminal of Infinite Hell been released as well?"

Magellan abruptly turned around, and the poison giant over ten meters tall glared viciously at Teach to the side.

"Blackbeard! You idiot, do you have any idea what kind of mad monster you've released?!"

Teach's mouth twitched at Magellan's words. He could not help touching his head, which still throbbed with splitting pain, and muttered inwardly,

No... I know very well.

Then he stole another glance at Bullet. But that terrifying bastard wasn't released by me!

"Bullet! So it really was you!"

At that moment, Crocodile, who had regained a little strength after the thick poison fog vanished, looked at Bullet with an extremely ugly expression.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

A huge wave of yellow sand swept up from the ground. Crocodile's body scattered apart, turning into a yellow sand tornado that charged fiercely toward Bullet.

Seeing an old acquaintance, the corners of Bullet's mouth lifted slightly.

"Oh? It's you, little Crocodile."

The yellow sand came crashing down over him, but Bullet stood where he was without retreating or dodging.

Whoosh!

A crimson curtain of light poured out like a waterfall, sweeping through the air and cutting the howling sand tornado cleanly in half.

Clang!

Only then did the crisp ring of a blade echo through the entire Red Lotus Hell level.

Thud!

The sand tornado collapsed.

Crocodile's figure was revealed.

"Pfft!"

His face was pale as he spat out a mouthful of blood. A bone-deep wound had appeared across his chest.

"Shiryu of the Rain! As the warden, you actually helped prisoners. No... didn't you join the Blackbeard Pirates?"

He swept his gaze around.

First, he looked at Bullet, then at Shiryu, Vasco Shot, and Devon behind him.

Finally, his gaze fell on Teach.

"Could it be that you actually got Bullet to join your pirate crew as well? Blackbeard, Marshall D. Teach!"

Teach: "..."

"If I had that kind of ability, would I have needed to endure all those years on Whitebeard's ship?"

"Are you fucking blind, Sand Crocodile?"

"Can't you see the injuries on me?"

"Burgess and Lafitte still don't know whether they're alive or dead."

Ugh... how did my plan turn into this??

Teach sighed inwardly.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

Bullet clapped his hands, drawing everyone's attention.

"Alright, enough small talk, everyone."

The corners of his mouth curled up, revealing a slightly crazed smile.

"Next, I need you all to stay quiet. I have something to do."

Bullet glanced at the dark-faced Magellan, the pale Crocodile, and Jinbe, who was slowly approaching.

"What do you say, everyone?"

"What do you want to do, Douglas Bullet?"

Watching Bullet smile lightly, Magellan frowned deeply.

His current condition was already nearing his body's limit.

Excessive use of the Venom-Venom Fruit's power had pushed his body to the brink of collapse.

Maintaining this Venom Demon in particular had drained him physically and mentally.

Magellan knew perfectly well that in his current state, he absolutely could not stop a monster like Bullet from breaking out of Impel Down.

If that was the case, why was Bullet not leaving immediately? What was he still doing here?

Bullet chuckled and turned to look beneath the distant wall.

Several people were lying sprawled on the ground there.

Perhaps because he sensed Bullet's gaze,

Luffy, whose mind was still somewhat hazy, forced himself up from the ground.

His eyes were empty as he looked around blankly, muttering,

"What happened? The poison fog... dispersed."

He turned his head and met Bullet's gaze.

In an instant, as though he had been intensely provoked,

Luffy's hair stood on end as if he had been startled.

"A dangerous person!"

He formed a clear assessment of Bullet in his heart.

Then Luffy spotted the dejected Teach, and a trace of anger surfaced in his eyes.

"Blackbeard! The bastard who did this to Ace!"

He wiped away the nosebleed running from his nose, clenched his fists, and walked over to the others.

"Zehahahaha! Straw Hat Luffy, Monkey D. Luffy, I've finally met you."

Bullet threw back his head and laughed, exposing his stark white teeth.

Luffy froze, picked his nose, and said, "Who are you? I don't know you."

Bullet paused, then laughed even louder.

"Zehahahahaha!"

"Just as expected of that bastard Garp's grandson. You're exactly like him."

"Let me introduce myself. I am—"

"Douglas Bullet."