"But…"
Reed's voice suddenly turned cold.
The blood mist that filled the space violently converged into a single point, condensing into Reed's complete form not far in front of Bullet. He no longer looked casual or lazy. A suffocating pressure radiated from his entire body, as if the world itself were being forced to bow.
Reed looked at Bullet.
After missing with his full-power strike, Bullet instantly returned to a combat stance and slowly raised his left hand.
"I saw your growth."
"I felt your resolve."
"So, as a reward for your stubborn persistence…"
Reed spread the five fingers of his left hand, palm facing Bullet. His thumb curled inward. His index and middle fingers aligned together. His ring finger and little finger bent inward, forming an ancient and eerie hand seal. He slowly raised the seal before his left eye. Through the narrow gap between his fingers, his blood-red gaze locked onto Bullet with icy calm.
"For challenging me so recklessly…"
The blood mist swirling around Reed began to gather toward the hand seal at an unprecedented speed. It compressed and solidified, releasing a deep, vibrating hum that made the air tremble.
"Let us end this."
"Devour."
Roar!
A dragon's roar shook the entire Blood Prison Realm.
The highly compressed blood mist transformed into the ferocious head of an Eastern blood dragon. Its twisted horns coiled backward. Its eyes burned with crimson flames. Within its gaping jaws spun a bottomless vortex of annihilation.
The dragon's head filled Bullet's vision completely.
Every cell in his body screamed the same warning. Running would only mean death.
But running had never been Bullet's way.
He roared and forced his Haki to surge once more, crossing his arms in front of his chest. He pushed the power of his fusion ability to its limit, hardening his armor to the extreme. He even attempted to synchronize with the dragon's pressure itself, as if trying to overwhelm it head-on.
It was already too late.
The blood dragon's head crashed down with terrifying speed and swallowed him whole.
There was no explosion.
No impact.
Only consumption.
Bullet's figure, the shock on his face mixed with unwillingness and defiant resolve, vanished instantly into the dragon's maw.
It felt as if he had been thrown into a dimension made entirely of blood mist. Sound, light, and sensation were completely cut off, devoured, erased.
After finishing its feast, the blood dragon let out a low, satisfied rumble. Then it dissolved dramatically back into drifting crimson mist, slowly merging into the surrounding space.
Reed lowered his hand.
He quietly stared at the place where Bullet had vanished. There was nothing there now, as if Bullet had never existed at all.
The blood-red world receded like a tide.
Reed's figure reappeared before the throne. He casually brushed off imaginary dust from his clothes and yawned.
"Man… that was exhausting."
"Where's Bullet?" Whitebeard asked casually.
As one of the people who had helped refine this technique, he knew how strange it became as Reed grew stronger. He had never believed Reed would lose. He had even said before that this move was carefully selected by two Emperors.
Reed glanced at him, then lazily leaned back against the throne. He picked up the half-finished juice on the table beside him, took a sip, and replied casually,
"He's dead."
Those two calm words plunged the entire plaza into silence.
Dead?
Douglas Bullet, the so-called heir to the demon king, who had just challenged four top-tier monsters alone with overwhelming force… was he really gone just like that?
"That's impossible!" Akainu, Sakazuki, stepped forward. "A monster of that level cannot die so quietly. And you were once crewmates. That twisted bond…"
His words were cut off.
Bang.
Akainu was sent flying.
He staggered back to his feet and looked at Reed.
This was no longer playful teasing like with Garp.
No longer the equal footing he showed Whitebeard.
No longer the indulgent tolerance he gave to children.
This was pure indifference.
Reed did not even change his posture. He only tilted his head slightly, his blood-red eyes fixing on Akainu.
"Sakazuki," Reed said calmly, "are you questioning me with that magma-scorched brain of yours… or judging me?"
Akainu's pupils shrank violently. The magma around his body surged, but he was pinned in place by Reed's gaze. His instincts screamed at him that if he said another word, real death would follow.
Reed slowly set down his juice. He leaned forward slightly. He was still seated, but the oppressive weight in the air deepened.
"Or do you think that being an Admiral makes you immune to death in front of me?"
His voice dropped lower.
"Do you want to die?"
"Hey, hey, Reed, I cannot pretend I did not hear that," Garp cut in.
Reed relaxed again.
"Come on, Garp. What do you think? As a sponsor of the Navy, maybe I should transfer Sakazuki to my territory to hunt pirates for me. Or give him a reason to reassign him to logistics. Let him manage warehouses forever. How does that sound?"
Akainu broke into a cold sweat.
That was worse than death.
Silence fell again.
Absolute silence.
Everyone present could feel it.
Reed was not joking.
He was genuinely considering whether to turn an Admiral into a corpse, or something even worse.
Akainu's face flushed red with rage and humiliation, but his throat locked up. His Observation Haki was screaming at him. One more word, and the next moment could be his end.
"Forget it. Come compete with me in a ten-day, ten-night donut-eating contest. No sleeping allowed. I guarantee you cannot eat more than me," Garp said casually.
From Navy Headquarters, Fleet Admiral Sengoku watched everything through the Den Den Mushi and felt a headache coming on. Still, he was not worried about Garp. Ever since Ace was born, he had known about Garp's relationship with Reed. He used to think Garp was just provoking him for fun. Now it seemed Garp had always been painfully aware of what Reed was capable of.
"Tch. You brat. You think you can out-eat me?" Reed finally withdrew that terrifying gaze and slouched back against the throne. The blood mist dispersed, as if none of it had ever happened. He waved his hand dismissively.
"Boring."
With a snap of his fingers, fresh donuts formed out of the blood mist.
"Come on. Let's compete."