A Strange Wish to Take Him as His Foster Father

First level of the sea.

The prison gate, over ten meters tall, had shattered across the ground, its cuts incomparably clean.

It had clearly been Shiryu's doing.

Bullet walked step by step toward Impel Down's exit.

As he walked, his ears suddenly twitched.

Then an inexplicable smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"The experiment was ultimately a success."

"Then next, let me wait and see who truly holds this world's destiny!"

Excitement gleamed in his eyes.

A deep, booming laugh then erupted from his mouth, echoing far into the surroundings.

"Hahahaha!"

"Zehahahaha!"

"A new era has arrived!"

From his mountain-like, burly body, an unrivaled Haki surged into the sky.

Behind him, Teach's expression turned even uglier.

What exactly did he have to do to escape this guy's control?

Did he have to stay by Bullet's side like he had with the Whitebeard Pirates, waiting for him to die of old age?

But that bastard monster seemed to be only forty-three years old, didn't he?

If Douglas Bullet were sixty-three now instead of forty-three,

then Teach might not have minded swallowing his pride once more and recognizing another godfather—his foster father.

"Ugh! This is driving me crazy!"

Bullet crossed the shattered gate, and an endless expanse of sea came into view.

The sea here appeared calm, with no great winds or waves.

That was because this stretch of sea belonged to the Calm Belt, an extremely special region within the Grand Line.

But although the surface was still and seemed safe,

countless gigantic Sea Kings lurked beneath those calm waters!

Sea Kings hundreds, thousands, even several thousand meters long—and there were enormous numbers of them.

In such a terrifying sea region, almost no ship could safely sail through.

The reason Marine Headquarters warships could travel safely through the Calm Belt

was because large quantities of Sea-Prism Stone had been embedded into their hulls.

Sea-Prism Stone was a special mineral produced only in certain sea regions.

It was equivalent to the crystallization of the sea. Its composition resembled seawater, and it could be called the sea's solid form.

Warships inlaid with Sea-Prism Stone would be ignored by Sea Kings as ordinary seawater.

Sea-Prism Stone itself was also a powerful item for restraining Devil Fruit users.

From here, tiny, blurry shadows of warships could be seen far out on the sea.

Clearly, the ten warships originally ordered to guard outside Impel Down had later received Magellan's orders and withdrawn far away, preventing pirates from seizing warships to escape.

With no ships nearby, who knew how Shiryu, Shot, and the others had crossed the sea to seize a warship.

Bullet raised his right hand, activating the Combine-Combine Fruit.

The ground outside Impel Down—the port made of thick wooden planks and stone blocks—rapidly broke apart and began undergoing dazzling reconstruction.

In less than three seconds, a small sail-less boat floated on the sea.

Bullet leaped aboard.

Before Teach could get on, he swiftly struck his palm toward the water behind the stern.

Boom!!

The sea surface caved diagonally downward by more than ten meters before exploding with a thunderous blast, throwing up water into the sky.

A mighty reverse repulsive force surged out. The small boat beneath Bullet's feet instantly became an arrow, carving a white trail across the sea and vanishing from Teach's sight in the blink of an eye.

Only then did the water raining from the sky come crashing down, drenching Teach like a soaked rat.

He spread his hands in bewilderment.

"Hey! I haven't gotten on the boat yet! I haven't gotten on the boat yet!"

Teach blinked in a daze.

That demon Bullet had just left like that?

Wait.

If he had left, didn't that mean he was free?

But...

Staring at the empty port, Teach fell into deep thought.

Without a boat, how was he supposed to leave?

Perhaps he should run immediately.

Even crossing the dangerous Calm Belt on a plank of wood would be safer than staying beside that guy.

Boom!

The sea exploded once more, raising monstrous waves and sending Bullet's little boat hurtling forward even faster.

The tremendous commotion quickly attracted the Sea Kings lurking beneath the Calm Belt's surface.

Bullet stood firmly at the bow, coldly watching a massive black shadow over a hundred meters long flash past beneath the water below the boat.

Splash, splash.

Ripples began spreading across the calm sea.

The waves started churning like rising crests.

Suddenly!

The sea ahead of the boat violently exploded.

Water sprayed in every direction.

A ferocious mouth even larger than Impel Down's exit let out a terrifying roar and swallowed toward Bullet's boat!

"Roar!!"

Whoosh!

Bullet's figure instantly vanished from the rocking boat.

When he appeared again the next second, he was already in midair, his right fist raised as he smashed it toward the nearby Sea King.

His fist descended lightly, without the slightest killing intent.

"Pop!"

His fist touched the enormous fang of the Sea King, which resembled a giant carp, with a soft sound.

Human-like terror suddenly appeared in the Sea King's gray-white, dead fish eyes.

"Pop, pop, pop!"

A series of crisp bursting sounds rang out.

A horrifying sight appeared.

The Sea King's flesh and skin drifted lightly from its skeleton like willow catkins.

Then they exploded in every direction amid the violent wind pressure.

Rumble!

The snow-white skeleton, over a hundred meters long, fell into the sea without a trace of blood on it.

Thud.

The boat trembled slightly as Bullet landed back on the bow.

The seawater churned noisily, and the waves grew even more violent.

Faintly, enormous, terrifying black shadows began appearing beneath the sea within a radius of hundreds and thousands of meters.

Bullet's brow furrowed slightly.

He had already tried to keep his movements as gentle as possible.

Yet he had still drawn all the Sea Kings nearby.

The water rose higher and higher, its currents growing ever more turbulent.

The colossal creatures beneath the waves were about to leap out one after another!

Bullet's eyes narrowed. A huge mass of azure energy burst from his burly body and swept across hundreds and thousands of meters in an instant!

Conqueror's Haki!

Rumble, rumble, rumble!

The wind howled between heaven and earth, and muffled thunder rolled.

The terrifying Conqueror's Haki ravaged the sea, releasing an overbearing aura that filled all things with fear!

This was the formidable presence possessed only by the most supreme rulers!

This presence was innate, yet it had become even stronger through magnificent and tumultuous experiences!

In an instant.

Centered on Bullet's boat, the massive forms of Sea Kings beneath the sea suddenly froze in place.

As if someone had pressed a pause button.

Only a faint breeze remained over the sea.

After a brief silence, the waves began heaving and shaking wildly, and raised crests appeared across the surface.

The huge black shadows, as though terrified, began rapidly retreating.

The sea churned as the small boat shot through the waves like an arrow.