"Got you!" Barrett grinned fiercely, tightening the chains, trying to crush Rhett completely.
But the "Rhett" wrapped in chains looked up and gave him a strange smile. Then the "Rhett's" body suddenly expanded.
BOOM!!!
"Steam Explosion!"
A violent explosion! The highly compressed blood mist energy erupted, shattering the solid chains into pieces!
Barrett was forced back by the sudden explosion. Cracks appeared on his arm armor. Even though his armor had been specially reinforced.
But Rhett's explosion wasn't just a simple explosion. It corroded first, then exploded. That maximized the damage.
From the smoke, Rhett's calm voice came from behind him. "Good power. Bad aim. A few years in Impel Down, and your Observation Haki hasn't improved much, Barrett."
Barrett spun around. He tilted his head and looked at Rhett. There was assessment in his eyes. And... disappointment?
Disappointment? That was the one thing Barrett couldn't accept. He could accept defeat. He could never accept being looked down on by Rhett.
A different version of Shiki and Roger? Interesting~
"AAAAAHHH! I'll tear you apart!" Barrett's reason was completely consumed by rage. His black Haki erupted again without holding back.
Rhett watched Barrett completely lose control. He shook his head slightly.
"Your power has increased. But your mind is clouded... Still just relying on instinct, aren't you?"
He slowly raised both hands. The blood-colored mist gathered with unprecedented speed and concentration.
"The farce is over, Barrett." Rhett's voice was calm but carried unshakable authority. "Since you crave battle so much, come into my world... and fight to your heart's content."
"Blood Prison Scroll."
HUM—!!!
The dark red vortex suddenly expanded. It swallowed Barrett's ferocious charging figure in an instant! Along with all his erupting Haki, his roars, and his destructive momentum. All swallowed up!
The people on the Golden City plaza only saw the black light of Barrett crashing into the strange blood gate. And then —
Everything stopped.
The blood gate and Rhett's figure slowly faded. Only the lonely five-billion-berry treasure chest remained in the center of the plaza. And the crater on the distant island that proved what had just happened wasn't an illusion.
Ace: What if I quietly take this treasure chest?
"THWACK!"
It was Sabo!!!
Ace: I'm sorry.
---
Inside the Blood Prison Scroll.
Barrett crashed heavily to the ground. He looked up. It wasn't the Golden City anymore. It was a world of overwhelming pressure.
A broken blood moon hung in the dark red sky. Twisted light stained the earth crimson.
The air was thick with an unshakeable smell of rust and decay.
"Where... is this?!" Barrett looked around. The madness in his eyes faded slightly, replaced by intense caution and doubt. He could feel that this space was filled with Rhett's disgusting presence. Everywhere.
"Welcome to my world, Barrett." Rhett's voice came from all directions, calm and steady. "Here, I make the rules. You wanted a fight? There's no shortage of opponents here."
As Rhett spoke, the piles of corpses around them began to move and reassemble. Skeleton warriors made of bone and rusted metal struggled to their feet, surging toward Barrett like a tide.
"Hmph! Cheap tricks!" Barrett roared. His armored fist slammed into the ground.
"Combine · Shockwave!"
BOOM! The ground shook violently. A powerful shockwave shattered the first hundred skeleton warriors into pieces.
But the broken bone fragments and metal hadn't even hit the ground before they were absorbed by the blood mist in the air. The next moment, even more, even more complete skeleton warriors emerged from the mist and attacked again. Seemingly endless!
"Useless, Barrett."
"Damn it! Come out! Rhett! Fight me face to face!" Barrett roared as he madly destroyed the endless tide of skeletons. His attacks grew more violent.
But as Rhett had said, the speed of destruction was far slower than the speed of regeneration. He seemed trapped in an endless quagmire of slaughter.
His breathing grew heavier. More scratches appeared on his armor.
Rhett, hidden in the blood mist at the heart of this world, calmly observed everything. He watched Barrett slowly showing signs of fatigue.
"Just as I thought... Still the same. All strength, no real calm or insight into the battle..." Rhett assessed him internally. That flicker of disappointment seemed confirmed.
But just as Rhett thought Barrett's reason had been completely drowned by rage and the endless horde of minions —
Something unexpected happened.
Barrett, who had been attacking madly and seemed to have completely lost his mind, suddenly paused. It was an extremely brief, almost imperceptible hesitation. The madness in his eyes, hidden behind his helmet, suddenly faded. It was replaced by an incredibly calm gaze.
Now!
"Super Combine · World-Breaking Fist!"
Barrett's entire armor let out a piercing whine of overload.
The armor on his right fist even started to melt from the strain of the power!
Then he suddenly twisted his body and threw a punch at a seemingly empty spot. It was a strike that contained all his power.
"Found you, Rhett!!!"
This punch wasn't blind anger.
Most of his earlier madness... was an act!
BOOOOOOM—!!!!
Rhett: You want to cosplay Whitebeard? I fell for that once. I won't fall for it again. Is that you, Barrettbeard?
BOOOOOOM—!!!!
A terrifying explosion swept through the Blood Prison Scroll! Barrett's world-breaking fist, with all his power, even at the cost of overloading and melting his armor, had hit its target!
The blood mist was instantly evaporated and dispersed by the violent energy. Behind it —
BOOOOOOM—!!!!
It worked?! A flash of joy appeared in Barrett's eyes!
But the next second, the joy froze on his face.
The feeling from his fist... was wrong!
It wasn't the weight of hitting something solid. Instead, it felt like breaking through a thin barrier. The image of "Rhett" that had been scattered rippled like a reflection in water. Then it exploded into even thicker blood mist.
"Wh...?!" Barrett's pupils contracted.
"Nice try, Barrett." Rhett's calm voice came from all directions again, as if he had never left. "Pretending to be crazy, looking for my real body... Those years in Impel Down, you learned to use your brain."
"But..."
Rhett's voice suddenly turned cold.