Douglas Bullet had already determined from the sound of only one returning footstep.
Patrick Redfield had fallen in battle.
In other words, it was his turn next.
Douglas Bullet showed no fear or unease toward the upcoming fight. Instead, there was a long-lost excitement in his expression. Whether he killed Rosen or was killed by Rosen, it would be the perfect end for someone like him — a prisoner who devoted his entire existence to pursuing the title of the strongest.
At the very least, it was far better than rotting away in this dark cell until death.
"You don't seem surprised at all."
"No."
"It should be said that you already knew Redfield was dead, yet you don't look scared in the slightest."
Magellan walked slowly toward the cell holding Douglas Bullet, noticing that the man inside was smiling with excitement. For a moment, it seemed as though he was looking at a devil grinning back at him.
"Fear?"
"I threw that away back when I was still a young soldier."
"Besides, who would be afraid when facing the thing they want most?"
Douglas Bullet stood and stared directly at Magellan through the bars.
"Let me out."
"There won't be any trouble until I see Rosen."
"And you should know, I'm a Devil Fruit user. You don't need to poison me and drag me out like you did with Redfield."
His face twisted into an eager smile.
"Does death also make you so eager to face it?" Magellan asked, unable to quite understand the man before him.
"Death?"
"Hahahaha! That doesn't even exist for me."
"I only see someone challenging me for the strongest position."
Douglas Bullet sneered, his voice dripping with the lust for battle and complete contempt for death.
"No wonder they call you the Demon's Heir."
Magellan gave him a deep look. Then, unlike with Patrick Redfield, he didn't use the powers of the Venom-Venom Fruit to subdue him. Instead, he simply unlocked the cell and released him.
As the Chief Warden of Impel Down, Magellan was not the type to be swayed by a prisoner's words. The reason he freed Douglas Bullet so directly was because of his confidence in his own strength — and because Bullet was right. He was a Devil Fruit user. A set of seastone cuffs was enough to keep him under control.
"Let's go."
Magellan said this and walked ahead.
Douglas Bullet suppressed the ferocity and killing intent boiling inside him. He didn't charge off like a beast freed from its cage; instead, he followed Magellan obediently. Together, they left Eternal Hell, exited Impel Down, and boarded the warship waiting outside.
Not long after—
On the vast ocean, an island shrouded in heavy treetops came into Douglas Bullet's view.
As the warship drew closer, he spotted another Navy ship anchored along the coastline — and several familiar faces standing upon its deck.
"It's been too long."
"Garp… and Sengoku."
"Today is truly a great day. Not only do I get to return to the sea, but I get to see so many 'old friends' all at once."
Though seastone shackles bound his wrists and ankles, the moment Douglas Bullet saw Garp and Sengoku — the two men who had once captured and imprisoned him — he straightened his neck and gave a proud, defiant grin. Even as a prisoner, he carried himself like a king inspecting his domain.
"It is a good day — a good day to send you to your death," Garp replied casually while picking his nose.
"Tell me, could you find anyone else in this ocean to give you such a send-off?"
"The Roger Pirates?" Sengoku sneered. "I doubt anyone besides Gol D. Roger himself would even consider you part of their crew."
Douglas Bullet's expression darkened slightly.
Crew.
Companions.
He had long since discarded those things. Perhaps, at one point, there had been a fleeting thought to protect his comrades, but he had abandoned it quickly.
From the moment he left Roger's Pirates, he had severed all ties with them.
"Only the weak travel in companionship; the strong travel alone."
"What are Roger Pirates? What companions? What crew?"
"I don't need any of that."
Douglas Bullet's gaze turned sharp and cold as he spoke, as though trying to prove his choice right. Without even realizing it, his Conqueror's Haki erupted, surging skyward.
The so-called Demon's Heir was indeed gifted — especially in Haki.
Though not at the advanced level of the late Roger or the future Red-Haired Shanks, his Conqueror's Haki, his Armament Haki, and his natural reserves of spiritual energy were all formidable.
When his Conqueror's Haki burst forth, it could shake an entire island.
When his Armament Haki surged, it rolled out like a tsunami, covering vast areas in an instant.
"Other than the strongest, nothing in this sea holds my interest anymore."
Douglas Bullet turned toward the island's center. A faint red light flashed in his eyes, and he clearly locked onto Rosen's presence.
What made him even more excited was that Rosen's aura had grown stronger than it had been when he left Impel Down.
"Take these off."
"I won't leave this place until I've fought the man in there."
"So you don't need to worry about me running."
Douglas Bullet looked back at Sengoku and Garp, lifting the seastone shackles in his hands.
Impel Down had sent Magellan.
The Navy Headquarters had sent both the Admiral of the Fleet and the Hero of the Marines.
That was the kind of weight the Demon's Heir carried.
And Bullet understood perfectly well — these three were here to ensure he couldn't escape.
"You're a pirate. Who would believe a word you say?" Sengoku scoffed, but still motioned for Magellan to unlock the cuffs.
He knew Bullet's condition — the man's meals in Impel Down had improved recently, and his body had returned to peak physical form. But so what?
In over ten years, Bullet had not progressed.
Meanwhile, Sengoku and Garp had not only maintained their prime but had grown even stronger over the years. Against a relic of the old era, a has-been king who had rotted in prison for more than a decade, they had no fear.
Clang,
Clang.
The sound of shackles hitting the deck echoed. But instead of confronting Sengoku head-on, Douglas Bullet stamped down on the deck, his body shooting upward like a massive roc taking flight. Air exploded around him, and in a heartbeat, he soared thousands of meters toward the center of the island.
"Rosen!"
"I, Douglas Bullet, have returned to the sea!"
"I'm here to fight you!"
His roar shook the heavens, and with it, a torrent of Conqueror's Haki poured down like a mighty river, flooding every corner of the island.
At the same moment—
Rosen, seated cross-legged on a boulder in the island's center, suddenly opened his eyes. In his pupils, a chilling scarlet light flickered.
...
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