"Got you."
A cruel smile spread across Bullet's face as he tightened the chains with all his strength, intending to crush Reid completely.
But the "Reid" bound by iron chains slowly lifted his head and revealed a strange, unsettling smile. In the next instant, his body suddenly swelled.
Boom!!!
"Steam Explosion."
A deafening blast erupted. The highly compressed blood mist detonated from within, shattering the solid chains into fragments!
Bullet was thrown off balance by the sudden self-destruction. He staggered backward several steps, cracks spreading across the armor on his arms. Even though this armor had been specially reinforced by him, it still could not withstand that violent eruption.
Reid's ability was not a simple explosion. It corroded first, then detonated, maximizing destructive power.
From within the smoke and dust, Reid's calm voice came from behind him.
"Your power is decent, but your accuracy is lacking. After all those years in Impel Down, your Observation Haki does not seem to have improved much, Barrett."
Bullet spun around sharply, tilting his head as he stared at Reid. There was scrutiny in his eyes, and something else.
Disappointment.
Disappointment was the one thing Bullet could never tolerate. He could accept defeat, but he could never accept being looked down on by Reid.
Another version of Golden Lion and Roger. Interesting.
"Aaaargh! I will tear you apart!"
Barrett's reason was completely devoured by rage. His dark Haki erupted once more without restraint.
Reid looked at the fully unhinged Bullet and gently shook his head.
"His power has grown, but his mind is in chaos. As expected, he is still relying on instinct alone."
He slowly raised both hands. Scarlet mist gathered at an unprecedented speed and density.
"This farce ends here, Bullet," Reid said calmly, his voice carrying unquestionable authority. "Since you crave battle so much, come to my world and fight to your heart's content."
"Blood Hell Scroll."
Buzz!
The dark red vortex gate suddenly expanded and swallowed Barrett's charging figure in an instant. Along with him went his raging Haki, his roar, and the terrifying momentum of his charge. Everything was devoured.
The people in the Golden City square only saw Bullet turn into a streak of black light that slammed into the eerie blood-red gate, and then everything stopped.
The crimson gate vanished along with Reid's figure. All that remained in the center of the square was the lonely treasure chest worth five billion Berries, and the massive crater Bullet had carved into a distant island, proof that none of this had been an illusion.
Ace whispered, "Should I quietly take that chest?"
"Pinned down!"
Sabo.
Ace said awkwardly, "Sorry."
Inside the Blood Hell Scroll
Bullet slammed heavily into the ground.
He lifted his head sharply. What greeted him was no longer the Golden City, but an oppressive, suffocating world.
A dark red sky hung overhead, with a shattered blood moon suspended in it. Twisted light dyed the land in deep crimson.
The air was thick with the stench of rust and rot.
"Where… where is this place?"
The madness in Bullet's eyes receded slightly, replaced by intense vigilance and shock. He could feel it clearly. This entire space was saturated with Reid's repulsive presence, everywhere and nowhere at once.
"Welcome to my world, Bullet," Reid's voice echoed from all directions, calm and steady. "Here, I make the rules. Do you not crave battle? There are countless opponents waiting for you here."
As Reid spoke, the mountains of corpses around them began to writhe and reassemble. Skeleton warriors formed from bones and rusted metal struggled to their feet, surging toward Bullet like a tide.
"Tch. Cheap tricks!"
Bullet roared and slammed his fist into the ground.
"Combination Impact Wave!"
Boom!
The earth shook violently. A powerful shockwave obliterated hundreds of skeleton warriors at the front line.
But before the shattered bones and metal could even hit the ground, they were absorbed by the blood mist filling the air. In the next moment, more complete skeleton warriors emerged from the mist and charged again. Endless. Relentless.
"It is useless, Bullet."
"Bastard! Come out, Reid! Face me head-on!"
Bullet roared as he tore through the endless sea of skeletons. His attacks grew fiercer and more violent.
Yet just as Reid had said, the rate of destruction could not keep up with the rate of regeneration. He was sinking into an endless mire of slaughter.
His breathing grew heavier. More scratches appeared across his armor.
Hidden within the blood mist that formed the core of this world, Reid calmly observed everything. He watched as fatigue began to show on Bullet's body.
"As expected. Immense power, but no true composure or battlefield awareness."
The trace of disappointment in Reid's heart seemed to be confirmed.
But just as Reid believed that Bullet had been completely consumed by rage and the endless cannon fodder, losing all reason, something abnormal happened.
The seemingly frenzied Bullet suddenly paused for an instant. The madness beneath his helmet vanished, replaced by a gaze of absolute calm.
Now.
"Super Combination. Heaven-Shattering Punch!"
Bullet's entire suit of armor let out a deafening hum, as if it were overloaded.
The armor around his right fist even began to melt, unable to withstand the power surging through it.
He twisted his body sharply, aimed at a spot that looked completely empty, and unleashed a punch containing every ounce of his strength, roaring with savage fury.
"I found you, Reid!"
This punch was no longer blind.
More than half of his previous madness had been an act.
Boom!!!
"Trying to cosplay Whitebeard? I learned my lesson once. I will not make the same mistake again. Are you some kind of Blairbeard?"
Boom!!!
A catastrophic explosion swept through the entire Blood Hell Scroll. The punch that Bullet had condensed with all his power, even to the point of melting his own armor, struck its target head-on.
The blood mist was instantly vaporized, revealing what lay behind it.
Boom!!!
He succeeded?
A flash of wild joy surged through Bullet's eyes.
But in the next second, that joy froze on his face.
The sensation from his fist was wrong.
It was not the heavy impact of striking solid flesh. It felt more like breaking through a thin barrier. The "Reid" that had been blasted away rippled like a reflection on water, then burst apart into even denser blood mist.
"What?!"
Bullet's pupils contracted violently.
"Good plan, Barrett," Reid's calm voice echoed once more from all directions, as if he had never been hit at all. "Pretending to lose control, waiting for the chance to locate my true body. It seems your years in Impel Down taught you how to use your head."
"But…"
Reid's voice suddenly turned cold.