Strongest Collision

Sabaody Archipelago.

On the enormous projection screen, the chaotic and intense slaughter on the battlefield of Marineford was playing.

The gathered crowds below watched as though they were there themselves, feeling the suffocating, frenzied atmosphere.

Their eyes were filled with fear toward those powerful pirates.

"The Marines have to win! Otherwise, this world will fall completely into chaos!"

"That's right! It would be best to kill every last one of the Whitebeard Pirates and this Demon God Pirates crew that suddenly appeared!"

On a distant hillside.

Rayleigh held a bottle of Hero Whiskey, silently drinking as familiar figures flickered across the screen.

"Aren't you going, Rayleigh?"

Shakky's voice came from behind him.

Rayleigh lowered his head to look at the grass, his voice low. "The Roger Pirates disbanded long ago. I retired long ago too, and stopped involving myself in worldly affairs. The younger generation has their own adventures and journeys. Whatever outcome awaits them is something they must bear themselves."

"When Roger turned himself in, I didn't even go to see him off."

Shakky walked over and sat beside him, took the liquor from his hand, and drank a mouthful.

"But even Bullet has gone to save Ace. You..."

Rayleigh shook his head. "You don't understand Bullet. With his personality, he would never do something like saving someone."

"Maybe he changed?"

Shakky brushed back the short hair by her ear and placed a cigarette between her red lips, lighting it.

"After all, even someone as prideful as him has formed a pirate crew."

Rayleigh sighed and fell silent.

"The ship has already been coated. It's parked behind the bar. Whether you go or not is up to you."

Above the ice in the inner bay, Marco saw Bullet soar into the air and shoot straight toward Whitebeard.

Without the slightest hesitation, the blue-flamed wings his hands had transformed into flapped, and he shot upward to meet him.

"Bullet! It's been a long time!"

Seeing Marco wreathed in rolling blue flames, Bullet grinned and threw a punch.

"Marco, you're a doctor. Don't overestimate yourself."

Boom!

Mighty Armament Haki coiled around the surface of his enormous fist. Like a terrifying giant hammer falling from the heavens, it sent the oncoming Marco flying with a single blow.

Boom!

In the distance, a massive chunk of floating ice shattered, spraying countless ice fragments.

Marco clutched his chest as he crawled out of the icy crater, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

Then blue flames surged, and the large wound across his chest vanished.

"This guy is even stronger than he was back then."

After sending Marco flying with one punch, Bullet did not slow down in the slightest.

His massive fist clenched again as he descended from the sky, hammering down at Whitebeard below.

"Brat, don't get too cocky!"

"Air Quake!!"

Whitebeard lowered his stance and bent his elbow, clenching his right fist before punching the air above him.

Crack, crack, crack, crack!

Clear cracks spread outward at high speed like a spiderweb.

Then a crisp bursting sound rang through the air.

Following that explosive sound came a vast shockwave shooting into the sky.

An enormous fist wrapped in Armament Haki smashed down through the air.

Bullet was in midair, while Whitebeard stood atop a floating chunk of ice.

More than ten meters separated them as they exchanged blows.

The collision of terrifying power instantly stirred up a violent gale across the inner bay.

Rumble!!

A heaven-shaking explosion erupted in the air between them.

The violent wind pressure swept in all directions, shattering massive chunks of ice across the sea.

Even the seawater beneath the ice was forced into waves and depressions by the surging airflow.

Crack!

The ice beneath Whitebeard's feet cracked, gradually breaking apart.

Whoosh!

His figure flashed and vanished from the spot.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

White blasts of air appeared one after another.

Whitebeard stepped on the air, using a technique similar to Geppo. Gripping his massive bisento with both hands, he slashed toward Bullet, who was also in midair.

Although Bullet was empty-handed, he was utterly fearless. His fists were coated in Armament Haki as he punched directly at the descending bisento.

"Clang!"

"Clang!"

The bisento's blade struck the surface of his fists, throwing off a shower of sparks before his immense strength knocked it high into the air.

Whitebeard's slashes came like the wind, churning the air into a chaotic torrent.

"Whitebeard, I said you were old, and you still refuse to admit it? In your current condition, you probably can't even use Conqueror's Coating anymore, can you?"

With one punch, Bullet knocked Whitebeard's bisento aside.

He stomped the air beneath his feet and twisted his waist.

His burly body spun like a tornado, yet his speed was unbelievably fast.

He nearly became a blurred afterimage as his bent elbow blasted toward Whitebeard's face.

"Demon God Elbow Strike!"

His steel-forged muscles bulged as his elbow tore through the air. It exceeded the speed of sound, broke the sound barrier, and punched out a mass of white airwaves.

Layer upon layer of air compressed, forming a concentrated air cannon.

Whitebeard's eyes narrowed. He clenched his right fist, and a white spherical air shield appeared around it. Shockwaves compressed and gathered within before he smashed it into Bullet's elbow at point-blank range.

"Air Quake!"

Boom!!

A world-shattering blast erupted again dozens of meters above the ground.

The terrifying impact from their clash sent everyone within several hundred meters sprawling, screaming as they vomited blood and were flung away.

"Get away! Get away from here!"

"Don't get close to Pops' fighting range!"

"With power this terrifying, are those two monsters?"

Splash!

A white wave split across the sea, and Jinbe's figure flashed through it, so fast he was little more than a fleeting glimpse.

In the blink of an eye, he had swum directly beneath Bullet and Whitebeard.

Anxious, Jinbe raised his head and shouted at the two fighting above:

"Pops! Captain Bullet!"

"Please stop fighting! We have a common enemy now—the Marines!"

Boom!

Another massive burst of air exploded in midair. Violent wind pressure crashed downward, pressing the sea more than ten meters lower and forming a sunken basin.

Jinbe groaned as the wound on his chest tore open, and he was forced beneath the waves.

"Even if I can't use Conqueror's Coating attacks, I can still teach an ill-mannered brat like you a lesson."

In midair, Whitebeard used a violent shockwave to knock aside Bullet's incoming giant fist and gripped his long bisento with both hands.

The muscles in both arms knotted and coiled, veins bulging as boundless strength erupted from him.

Gripping the bisento with both hands, he swung it viciously.

A pale, spherical shockwave shield wrapped around the blade.

The vast shockwave split the heavens and earth as it smashed fiercely into Bullet's fists.

Rumble!!

The quake wave erupted in full, swallowing Bullet's figure.

Boom!

Bullet's body was blasted backward, crashing into the warship behind him.

The ship's hull, made from steel and massive stones, was like papier-mâché beneath that violent impact.

Bullet smashed straight through the Hell Battleship and flew out the other side of its hull.

"What an opportunity!"

On the ground nearby, Jozu, who was fighting several Infinite Hell prisoners, saw Bullet flying toward him and his eyes immediately lit up.

His powerful body instantly transformed into glittering diamond.

He brutally rammed aside the prisoners blocking his path, transforming into a shining phantom as his speed surged to its limit and he charged at Bullet.

"Flash Collision!!"