"If I beat you, I can challenge Roger?" Bullet asked coldly, his expression disdainful as he watched Zesi step forward.
"Heh, as long as you can beat me!" Zesi said with a curling smile.
"Thirty seconds. I'll beat you within thirty seconds," Bullet said, holding up three fingers.
Bullet tilted his head again and said, "Maybe I won't even need thirty seconds."
As he spoke, an overwhelmingly domineering aura surged out of him and pressed toward Zesi.
"Conqueror's Haki!"
"He has Conqueror's Haki? No wonder he's so arrogant."
"That's some strong Conqueror's Haki!"
Sensing this Haki, the members of the Roger Pirates were slightly surprised.
"Interesting. That's the most interesting thing I've heard today. If you can do it, go ahead and try!" Zesi said, still smiling calmly.
An equally domineering aura burst out of him.
This aura was none other than Zesi's Conqueror's Haki.
Not long after learning Armament Haki and Observation Haki, Zesi had also awakened his Conqueror's Haki during a battle.
Even after joining the Roger Pirates, Zesi had never thought of submitting to anyone.
As a transmigrator, Zesi always had a sense of being in control of everything and standing above others.
He felt that being a transmigrator made him different.
And willpower, ambition, dreams, presence, and potential combined were what was known as Conqueror's Haki.
After obtaining the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, Zesi had ambition, dreams, and willpower alike.
During one battle, Zesi had finally awakened his Conqueror's Haki.
Now, the two bursts of Haki collided, instantly turning the skies turbulent as black lightning appeared.
"Sure enough, the Roger Pirates really are different!"
He saw that not a single member of the Roger Pirates had fainted under his Conqueror's Haki (except for that Red Nose).
Zesi had even released Conqueror's Haki to contend with his own, leaving Bullet slightly surprised too.
As he spoke, Bullet had already shot toward Zesi like a rocket, his fists pounding furiously at him like a machine gun.
"So fast!"
"What a straightforward, ferocious fighting style!"
"No wonder he dares to be so arrogant!"
"He really does have the strength to back it up!"
When they saw Bullet's speed.
And his fierce, straightforward attacks without a single wasted movement.
It was the Roger Pirates' turn to be surprised.
Every member of the Roger Pirates possessed a certain degree of strength.
They had all fought their way through vast ranks of pirates.
Just from seeing Bullet's speed and the way he attacked, they immediately recognized that he was no ordinary fighter.
His fighting skills must have been honed on the battlefield.
Every move brimmed with killing intent, simple yet incredibly effective.
"This fellow is interesting!"
"Unfortunately, his opponent is Zesi!"
Roger and Rayleigh said with smiles as well.
Bullet was fast, and his attacks were straightforward, but every move carried killing intent, making him seem like a killing machine.
But as fast as Bullet was, Zesi was faster.
Although Zesi's combat experience fell short of Bullet's, who had been killing in the army since childhood.
With the help of Observation Haki and vibration-wave detection.
Zesi knew Bullet's attacks like the back of his hand.
And after more than a year of fighting, Zesi was no longer the rookie who had just set out to sea.
Using his incredible speed, he easily dodged every one of Bullet's attacks.
Zesi's method of acceleration shared some similarities with Soru of the Six Powers.
Soru of the Six Powers involved stamping on the ground dozens of times at high speed in an instant, generating an explosive reaction force to move at high speed.
Zesi, meanwhile, used the Tremor-Tremor Fruit's power to create over a hundred vibrations beneath his feet in an instant, using their recoil to increase his speed.
The recoil generated by over a hundred vibrations was like stamping on the ground over a hundred times in an instant.
Thus, this move of Zesi's was also several times faster than Soru.
Zesi called this move Wave-Stepping Flash.
It was this very move that Zesi had used to easily suppress Perospero back then.
And that was far from the limit of Wave-Stepping Flash.
The more vibrations beneath his feet, the greater the recoil, and the faster Zesi would move.
With Zesi's current control over the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, he could instantly produce hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of small vibrations like these.
The question was whether Zesi could control that speed. Moving too fast to remain fully in control was of little benefit in combat.
Then there was whether his body, especially his feet, could withstand the recoil generated by the vibrations.
Wave-Stepping Flash formed from over a hundred vibrations, as he was using now, was Zesi's usual speed, one he could fully control.
If he faced a powerful opponent, he would use Wave-Stepping Flash formed from hundreds or thousands of vibrations.
If he were fighting for his life, he could even use Wave-Stepping Flash formed from tens of thousands of vibrations.
But even Wave-Stepping Flash formed from a hundred vibrations was already incredibly fast.
The instantaneous burst of speed made Zesi look as though he were blinking from place to place.
"Hey, it's been more than thirty seconds now, hasn't it?" Zesi taunted Bullet as he used Wave-Stepping Flash, flickering about to evade all of his attacks.
"That was an oversight on my part. I didn't expect you to be a turtle so good at running away!"
"You know, you're really annoying when you talk, and you've certainly angered me. But the consequences of angering me are very serious!"
Zesi curled his lip in a sneer as he clenched his fist and punched toward Bullet's incoming fist.
Their fists collided in midair.
"Heh!" Zesi raised his head and sneered.
After several years of constant training with the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, he was a match for anyone in physique and strength.
Bullet felt a terrifying force surge through his fist, forcing him to stagger a large step backward.
That was only because Bullet truly was strong. Anyone else would have been sent flying by that force long ago.
Bullet looked at Zesi in shock.
He had never expected someone who seemed only capable of running around to possess such great strength.
"Heh heh heh!" Seeing Bullet's shocked expression, the Roger Pirates couldn't help chuckling.
"Zesi's really strong!"
"That freak Zesi's strength is super terrifying."
Shanks and Buggy said.
"Buggy, it looks like you haven't been training enough. I'll help you double the intensity of your training later!" Zesi said, looking back.
Hearing Zesi's words, Buggy immediately clamped both hands over his mouth, not daring to speak again.
"Come on, use every ability you have. I'll make you accept your defeat wholeheartedly," Zesi said, beckoning to Bullet.
"You think you can?!" Bullet sneered and charged at Zesi again, a frenzied look on his face this time.
"I told you to use your full strength!" Without any visible movement, Zesi flashed like lightning and instantly appeared in front of Bullet.
He raised a fist, and a ball of white light emerged around it.
With that ball of white light, Zesi slammed his fist into Bullet's body.
Crack, crack, crack! The air shattered like a mirror beneath Zesi's punch.
Through the seemingly shattered space, Bullet looked as though he had been shattered too.
Pfft! A mouthful of blood burst from his mouth.
"Hey, hey, is that really necessary?!"
"This kid may be a little arrogant, but you don't need to bring out the Tremor-Tremor Fruit's power, do you?"
"That kid's in for it now."
"If that doesn't kill him, it'll probably leave him seriously injured!"
Seeing Zesi attack with the Tremor-Tremor Fruit's power, all the Roger Pirates were surprised.
After all, they never even saw Zesi use the Tremor-Tremor Fruit against enemy pirates in their usual battles.