All Suppressed

"Douglas Bar what? Never heard of him."

Luffy scratched his head. "I'm Monkey D. Luffy, the man who's going to become the One Piece!"

The smile on Bullet's face grew wider.

"Just as I remembered."

"Always going on about his dream of becoming the One Piece."

He suddenly raised a finger and pointed at the Straw Hat hanging around Luffy's neck.

"Roger's hat. I remembered he left it to Shanks. Back then, we all thought the person he said he was waiting for would be Shanks."

"But who would've thought that the one he was waiting for was the grandson of his old rival, the Marine hero Garp?"

Bullet spread his arms and burst into laughter.

"Hahaha! His grandfather is a pillar of the Marines, his father is the leader of the Revolutionary Army, and Shanks became his guide..."

"Oh, right. That brat Shanks seems to have become one of the 'Four Emperors' now?"

As he listened to Bullet, Luffy's gaze slowly sharpened and his brow gradually furrowed.

Teach's body trembled for no apparent reason.

"Zehahaha, what the hell? So Straw Hat Luffy has such a huge background."

"I nearly went to Mock Town to intercept him back then!"

"Vice Admiral Garp's grandson..." Magellan's expression stiffened.

He couldn't understand it.

Why would Vice Admiral Garp, who hated evil so fiercely, allow his own grandson to become a pirate?

And not just any pirate, but a lawless one who had dared storm Impel Down, cause havoc, and release countless vicious criminals.

"Wait! What did Bullet say? The leader of the Revolutionary Army is Straw Hat Luffy's father?"

At that thought, Magellan let out a muffled grunt. His mentality nearly exploded, and he almost failed to maintain his Venom Demon form.

"Straw Hat Luffy, your background is immense, spanning the world's three greatest powers."

"Across the entire sea, your relatives are everywhere."

"And yet, even with all that, you're still supposedly the child of destiny, fate's favored one."

A few meters in front of Luffy, Bullet looked down at him from on high.

Luffy clenched his fists tightly, looked up into Bullet's eyes, and said word by word:

"What do you want?"

He had yet to awaken Observation Haki.

But he was exceptionally sensitive to hostility.

From Bullet, Luffy sensed an intense threat.

His instincts were warning him.

This man he had never met was dangerous!

The smile on Bullet's face slowly vanished, and his voice became calm and still.

"I want to see whether man can triumph over heaven!"

"I have an interesting idea that requires your cooperation."

"I want to know what this so-called destiny really is."

"Is it you, Monkey D. Luffy?"

"Or is it that so-called Nika Fruit?"

Luffy gritted his teeth and let out a beastlike growl. Wisps of white steam rose from his body as he glared furiously at Bullet.

"I don't understand what you're talking about!"

"But if you're here to stop me from saving Ace too, then bring it on!"

"Second Gear!"

Bullet rolled his thick neck and said softly, "No. I'm merely... curious!"

As he spoke, his right hand slowly opened.

"Move!"

Crocodile roared as the golden hook on his hand smashed heavily toward Bullet.

Jinbe attacked at the same instant!

His blue fist tore through the air and drove straight toward Bullet's chest.

"Fish-Man Karate! Five Thousand Brick Fist!"

Shot and Devon stood behind Bullet, watching the battle on the verge of erupting.

The two exchanged glances. Just as they wondered whether they should lend Bullet a hand, they saw Shiryu standing calmly to one side with his long sword in hand, completely unmoved by the sudden outbreak of battle.

So, they dismissed the thought of intervening.

After all...

It probably wasn't necessary.

The sky darkened as overwhelming wind pressure bore down.

A gigantic dark-red hand descended like a black cloud blotting out the sky, engulfing Bullet, Luffy, Jinbe, and everyone else beneath it.

It was Magellan.

Relying on the terrifying lethality of the Venom-Venom Fruit, he actually intended to deal with everyone present at once.

"As long as their bodies touch the venom..."

That thought had barely arisen in Magellan's mind.

When Bullet slapped down with one hand, pressing Jinbe's incoming fist against Jinbe's own chest.

Bang!

A dull thunderclap rang out.

A burst of white air exploded through the air.

Jinbe's body became like a baseball hurled by a bat. He shot more than a hundred meters away and crashed into the black wall of Red Lotus Hell with a deafening boom.

His body was embedded in the wall, and a deep palm print had appeared in the center of his chest.

His skin and muscles had been crushed into pulp by the terrifying force of that palm strike.

The ribs and sternum beneath them had shattered beyond count.

His internal organs had also suffered an incredibly severe impact.

Jinbe's eyes lost focus, and that single slap nearly knocked him unconscious.

The violent wind pressure swept outward in all directions, even slowing Magellan's descending giant hand by a fraction.

Bullet's expression remained indifferent, as though he had done something utterly insignificant.

"Jinbe!"

Seeing Jinbe sent flying by Bullet, Luffy felt no fear—only anger.

With white steam coiling around him and his skin turning scorching hot and red, he threw his right fist at Bullet.

"Second Gear! Jet Pistol!"

Whoosh!

Bullet's mountain-like figure vanished from the air.

Luffy's fist struck nothing.

Then, darkness fell before his eyes. An inescapable giant hand seized his face and gave it a light squeeze!

Crack! Crack!

Luffy's eyes immediately rolled back, and he cleanly lost consciousness.

At that moment, the golden hook on Crocodile's hand abruptly shattered into countless tiny particles, which then wove themselves into long, thin golden threads.

The golden threads formed a vast net, turning around to envelop Crocodile's body.

Crocodile's heart jolted. He hurriedly turned his body into sand, attempting to slip through the gaps in the golden threads.

However.

The gaps between the threads were covered with an invisible, formless layer of armor, preventing the countless grains of sand from escaping.

"Damn it!"

"Armament Haki!"

Panic rose in Crocodile's heart.

The sand that formed his body turned into sharp spikes, trying to pierce through the Armament Haki armor.

But it was futile.

When the golden threads tightened into his body, his elemental form was forced to condense again.

Then, Crocodile was tied up by the web of golden threads in utter humiliation, collapsing onto the ground like a wooden post.

All of this happened in the blink of an eye.

Bullet's movements were impossibly fast.

A palm strike, a grab, activation of his power.

Unmatched combat strength, combined with formidable battle awareness and skill, resulted in such a one-sided crushing defeat.

Only then.

Did Magellan's dark-red poisonous hand finally arrive!

Bullet raised his right hand and made a one-handed table-flipping motion.

Crack!!

The ground across a radius of more than a hundred meters split apart, forming a massive square stone slab.

The slab flipped upward, and Magellan's Venom Demon stood in its center like a fish on a chopping board.

The stone slab rose with a thunderous rumble, then turned over.

Under the stunned gazes of Teach, Shot, and the others, the dark-red Venom Demon vanished in the blink of an eye.