"An Eternal Pose to Laugh Tale!?"
The moment Bullet revealed the so-called treasure of Roger, it was as if the eyes of the entire world converged on the unremarkable chest resting in his palm.
At the same time, news of the appearance of the final island, Laugh Tale, rapidly spread across the world through Festa's live broadcast.
"How bold of them~ To openly display such a treasure without the slightest concealment."
"Those two bastards actually think they can pull this off!?"
Aboard the Navy warships approaching Delta Island, Smoker—who had also received the news—widened his eyes in shock and stared grimly at the island they were about to reach.
But just then, Issho's calm laughter suddenly rang out beside him.
"Heh heh… with strength on that level alone, of course it would be impossible!"
"But if they have some other trick prepared, then that is another matter entirely!"
The moment he finished speaking, Fujitora abruptly raised the sword cane at his waist.
This sword cane had been specially prepared for him after he joined the Navy, using the resources of both the Navy and the World Government—a weapon befitting a Navy Admiral…
One of the Twelve Supreme Grade Meito.
Its name was: Gambler's Fireline!!!
Shing~
As the bright white blade slowly slid free from its sheath, an invisible ripple suddenly surged forth from Fujitora's body.
In the blink of an eye, that power crossed the entire island and poured into every Navy warship surrounding Delta Island.
The next moment—
Rumble, rumble, rumble…
The sea, which had never been all that calm to begin with, suddenly let out a low, resonant hum.
And the Navy warships shrouded in Fujitora's Devil Fruit power abruptly lifted away from the ocean's surface, floating high into the sky.
"A-Admiral Issho, this is!?"
Smoker, standing beside Fujitora, immediately showed a look of astonishment.
But at that exact moment, Bullet—fighting in the center of Delta Island—spoke again:
"The time… is about right!!!"
"Then… let the signal smoke rise!!!"
As soon as his words fell, Bullet turned his gaze back toward Luffy and let out a crazed laugh.
"Brat! That form of yours should be some kind of weird Zoan awakening, right!?"
"Heh!" He sneered.
"Good! Then let me show you my Devil Fruit awakening too!!!"
As he spoke, a huge mass of bizarre purple ripples suddenly burst from Bullet's body, surging outward in all directions like a raging flood.
"It's starting! Merry, get airborne now!"
Seeing this, the Straw Hats—already prepared—hurried to the Going Merry's side and escorted the ship up into the sky, avoiding the invasion of that eerie power.
But the other pirate ships on the island were not so fortunate.
For this Pirate Festival, thousands of pirates had come to Delta Island.
Naturally, that also meant thousands of pirate ships.
And any ship capable of sailing the brutal seas of the New World was naturally a top-class vessel, worth a fortune.
Yet under Bullet's Devil Fruit power, all those ships docked in the harbor were enveloped by his ability and transformed into fluid-like matter, rushing toward his body.
"Th-this is!?"
Watching his Beautiful Horse vanish right before his eyes, Cavendish and every member of the Beautiful Pirates froze in place as if turned to stone.
And there were plenty of other pirates in the exact same state.
But with strength as weak as theirs, all they could do was watch helplessly as that bizarre power devoured the pirate ships and then continued spreading outward.
The town's buildings, the solid mountains, the trees along the ճանապարհ…
In the blink of an eye, the entirety of Delta Island was "swallowed" by Bullet's ability, reduced to its most basic matter and drawn toward him, rapidly condensing into an even larger and more terrifying steel beast.
But just then…
"Hm!?"
Bullet, who had been laughing wildly, suddenly froze.
Because the scene he had imagined—his ability crossing the sea and swallowing up every Navy warship—did not happen!
That's right!
Bullet had already developed his Devil Fruit to such an extent that he no longer feared seawater. Even across a small stretch of ocean, he could still fuse nearby inorganic matter.
But right at the instant his power was about to spread out to sea, he absurdly saw that all hundred-plus Navy warships had floated into the air, perfectly dodging his ability.
It was true that an awakened Paramecia could affect the surrounding environment.
But it still could not affect things out of thin air without any medium making contact.
"Damn it! Have they figured it out!?"
Bullet cursed inwardly.
Their original plan had been to gather a massive number of pirates and Marines around Delta Island, then use the power of the Gasha Gasha no Mi's awakening to absorb all their ships and weapons, creating the ultimate force with which to dominate the world!
But unexpectedly…
The Navy, who were supposed to obediently walk into the trap, had taken precautions a step ahead of time.
In terms of raw numbers, those hundred-plus Navy warships were far fewer than the thousands of pirate ships.
But in terms of material value…
The two sides were not far apart at all. In fact, the Navy warships might even be superior!
After all, the scale of this Navy mobilization was ten times that of a Buster Call!
Every single warship was a steel beast of the sea, and the weapons and ammunition outfitted on them were the sort of things ordinary pirates did not even dare dream about.
The Gasha Gasha no Mi could change the shape of matter, but not its inherent properties.
Now that the plan had been exposed, Bullet's results were far from what he had expected.
But very soon, a fierce gleam flashed in his eyes!
"It doesn't matter! In my current form, I fear no one!"
"I'll kill that Straw Hat brat in front of me first, then knock those Navy warships out of the sky."
"At that point, I will still be the strongest man in the world!!!"
The thought flashed through his mind in an instant, and the several-hundred-meter steel beast that Bullet had become suddenly stomped forward, making the earth let out a pained groan.
"Redfield, how much longer are you going to lie there!?"
"After all those decades in Impel Down, haven't you had enough rest yet!?"
"Idiot!!!"
Suddenly, a figure burst out from underground with a howl and shot straight into the sky.
After reappearing, Redfield first glanced at Red, who had been locking onto him the entire time, then shot Bullet's gigantic monster an annoyed look.
After all, the two of them had similar plans.
Yet Bullet had already completed half of his, while Redfield had not even gotten a chance to act.
With that sort of comparison, how could he possibly laugh?
That's right!
Just like Bullet, Redfield also had a plan to transform himself into a powerful monster through this festival.
And unlike Bullet's, his plan did not conflict with it in the slightest.
That plan was…
To drain dry the blood of every pirate and Marine on the island, then use the power of the Vampire Fruit to convert it into his own strength!
The stronger the original owner of the blood, the greater the boost he would obtain from his Devil Fruit ability.
With the blood of all the New World pirates on this island, along with nearly a hundred pirates worth over a hundred million Beli, Redfield was confident that once his plan succeeded, he would be no weaker than Bullet.
But now, not only had he failed to drink even a single drop of blood, he had also been struck for no apparent reason.
Perhaps because of age, Redfield was not as impulsive as Bullet.
He had originally intended to use the opportunity of being smashed into the ground to calmly think things through, and perhaps ambush a few pirates worth hundreds of millions along the way.
But his Observation Haki kept warning him that the moment he dared reveal himself and move, that same attack from before would strike him again.
Thinking of that, Redfield ultimately suppressed the negative emotions in his heart. After taking a deep breath, he said in an indifferent tone:
"Don't forget our plan, Bullet!"
"Right now, I need you to hold off the strongest members of the Straw Hat Pirates for me!"
"There's something very wrong with that guy named Red! His aura clearly isn't all that strong, yet he can unleash terrifying and bizarre power!"
"Heh~ Sounds to me like that old geezer got hit so hard he's gone senile!"
Although he had failed to reach his ideal state, Bullet was still frighteningly powerful. He let out a light snort, but he did not reject Redfield's request.
The plan had changed.
He really was worried whether his current form could intercept the strength of a Navy Admiral.
So even though he had always fought alone, at this moment he still chose to honor their alliance.
"You two still done talking yet?"
Just then, a voice suddenly interrupted the exchange between Bullet and Redfield.
Red's figure abruptly appeared between the two of them, and with a calm smile, he said:
"If you don't start fighting soon, the audience is going to get impatient."
"Brat!!!"
The moment he saw Red appear, Bullet roared furiously.
The gigantic steel monster suddenly thrust out an arm and grabbed toward Red.
But at that very moment, another voice rang out.
"Gum-Gum… White Giant!!!"
Whoooosh—!!!
Pure white flames suddenly stained the clouds across the entire sky, as if they intended to engulf the whole world.
A white giant suddenly appeared.
It was Luffy, using the power of Nika to enlarge himself until he was as massive as Bullet's steel beast.
"What!?"
Looking at the suddenly appearing gigantic Luffy, Bullet's eyes contracted in alarm.
And the hand that had been reaching toward Red was directly seized in Luffy's grip.
But the next moment, Luffy's brow furrowed slightly, and a clear look of confusion appeared in his eyes.
"What's going on here!?"
Luffy spoke curiously. In the next instant, he lightly lifted his hand…
And that enormous palm capable of blotting out the sky was directly raised by Luffy.
"So weak…"
Luffy sighed in disbelief, then his arm suddenly stretched out, directly shoving Bullet's massive monster backward again and again in a scene so bizarre it defied reason.
That sight immediately made Bullet, Redfield, and even Festa and the others in the operations room cry out in shock.
"Impossible!!!"
Bullet, who had believed in his own power and strength from beginning to end, had his eyes instantly fill with bloodshot veins.
Red, on the other hand, was not particularly surprised.
After all, even in the original story, Bullet's armored steel form—despite absorbing Navy warships—still had its limbs broken by Usopp's plants and severed by Lucci's Moonwalk slashes…
Not to mention that Bullet's current plan had only succeeded halfway.
Faced with a Pokémon-ized Nika Luffy who could thrash even a Yonko, the gap in their level of strength was as vast as heaven and earth.
Boom!!!
The entire Delta Island suddenly let out an earth-shaking roar.
With a one-handed swing, Luffy directly hoisted the gigantic steel beast into the air and spun it at high speed.
"Gum-Gum… White Shoulder Throw!!!"
Boom!!!
Bullet and his steel armor were hurled viciously into the ground by Luffy, kicking up a towering cloud of dust.
At that moment, everyone on the island was stunned all over again.
That monster which had seemed to them like the coming of the apocalypse had just…
Been beaten flat!?
"Which one of them is the real giant!?"
Hajrudin and the other four giant pirate captains, seeing this kind of "giant battle" with their own eyes for the first time, huddled in a corner far from the battlefield, staring at the scene in front of them as if questioning life itself.
As for Cavendish and the others, there was no need to describe their feelings.
Having now seen just how vast the world truly was, all their former arrogance and pride had vanished. They looked like wilted cucumbers, utterly deflated.
Because no matter how hard they thought about it, they simply could not imagine what kind of training could possibly make someone as strong as Luffy and the others.
"Urgh… pfft…"
Bullet, having suffered a heavy blow, coughed up a mouthful of blood.
But this was only the beginning!
After realizing Bullet's strength had fallen far short of his expectations, Luffy grew displeased. He directly grabbed Bullet's steel body and started smashing him around like the Hulk swinging Loki.
Once, then again.
Each impact made the island tremble violently like an earthquake.
And with every slam, Bullet and the others' ambitions were crushed to pieces.
"H-how is this possible?!"
Festa stood before the desk in the operations room, both hands braced against it, head lowered, his face filled with stunned disbelief.
Meanwhile, the Underworld Emperors connected beside him were now letting out one "That feels good" after another.
After all, Festa had been hopping around so arrogantly just moments ago, proclaiming that he would kill them all and trigger a world-level war.
Now, after seeing the battle unfolding on the field, all they wanted to say were two words:
That's it?
…
…
"Bu-Bullet!?"
At the same time—
Watching his partner being humiliated so thoroughly, Redfield stood there frozen on the spot.
But before he could recover, Red's figure suddenly appeared behind him, and with a soft chuckle, he murmured:
"Senior, the times have changed!"
Boom!!!
The Roar of Time that had long since been condensed blasted toward Redfield's back once more, just like before!
That Roar of Time, capable of interfering even with Observation Haki, landed directly on Redfield again and smashed him flying into the distance.
Redfield was not weak.
But compared to monsters like Roger, he was still a whole tier below.
The reason he could be spoken of in the same breath as Roger and the others was probably because he had retired too early—long before Roger, Whitebeard, the Golden Lion, and the rest had fully matured into their peak selves.
And on top of that, Redfield's Observation Haki truly could be called top-tier in the world, which was why the legends of the seas placed him on equal footing with them.
But in reality, even if he returned to full strength, his true combat power would at best only be Admiral level.
And after the Roar of Time sealed away the power of his Observation Haki, his combat ability would be reduced even further.
"That's why I said… everyone's here to relax and have a good time~"
Looking at Redfield's figure shooting away like a meteor, Red curled his lips into a smile, then flashed forward and chased after him.
Against enemies of this level, there was no need to take the battle too seriously.
But the power of the Vampire Fruit—he really wanted that!!!
(End of Chapter)