"You are still too early."
"Bullet, I am not trying to discourage you."
"At your current growth rate, maybe in a few years you will qualify to challenge Whitebeard."
Rayleigh shook his head.
"Right now, you do not."
The words were heavy.
But Bullet did not argue. He was not blindly arrogant. He understood there was a gulf in strength.
"I need to know exactly how strong he is," he said.
Roger and Rayleigh exchanged a glance.
"Alright," Rayleigh said at last.
He went back to the table, pulled out a blank sheet of paper, and began to sketch.
"First, destructive power."
"A few years ago, there was a lunatic pirate in the New World who detonated a volcano, trying to drag an entire island down with him."
"To save the civilians living there, Whitebeard struck the ground with a single punch."
Rayleigh drew a rough outline of an island, then marked a dot at its center.
"The shock from that one punch split the entire island clean in two, but the fissure perfectly avoided every town."
"The resulting tsunami rose a hundred meters high, but its direction was precisely controlled and rolled only toward the open sea."
Rayleigh looked up.
"Can you do that?"
Bullet thought for a moment, then shook his head.
"Not now," he said.
"But I can in the future."
"Good. Honest answer."
Rayleigh continued.
"Second, durability."
"Whitebeard is not a pure defense specialist, but his physical toughness is terrifying."
Bullet quietly committed every detail to memory.
Destructive power: island splitting.
Durability: extreme.
"Third, the nature of his ability," Rayleigh said.
"The horror of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit lies in its transmission."
"Normal attacks can be blocked or dodged as long as you deal with the point of contact."
"But a shock attack travels through a medium."
"Your Black Scale Armament can guard against external blows, but it cannot stop a vibration that is triggered directly inside your body."
Bullet's pupils narrowed slightly.
He thought of his current weakness in internal defense. He had started training inner reinforcement, but the level needed to withstand Whitebeard's kind of quake was still a long way off.
"Fourth, Haki," Roger took over.
"Newgate's Haki is among the strongest I have ever seen."
"He can fuse his quakes with Haki."
"When he attacks, it is not just a physical impact. His Haki rides the vibration straight into your organs."
Roger looked at Bullet.
"Your Black Scale Armament is a clever idea, but against Whitebeard, its effectiveness will be greatly reduced."
Silence settled over the room for a moment.
Bullet digested the information.
Every point was telling him the same thing: as he was now, he truly was not qualified to challenge Whitebeard.
Strangely, he did not feel discouraged.
Instead, a clear target rose up in his heart.
"I understand," Bullet said.
"So what I should do is not rush to him now, but first reach the threshold where I can challenge him."
"Smart," Rayleigh nodded in approval.
"Step one, train your internal defenses until you can withstand Whitebeard's attacks."
"Step two, develop a method specifically to counter shock transmission."
"Step three, raise your Haki to the point where it can go head on with his."
"How long will that take?" Bullet asked.
Rayleigh thought it over.
"At your speed of growth... if everything goes smoothly, five to eight years."
"Too long," Bullet said.
"I will do it in three."
Roger and Rayleigh both froze.
"Three years?"
Roger frowned.
"Kid, I know you are a prodigy, but to go from your current level to where you can challenge Whitebeard in three years..."
Bullet cut him off.
"As long as I find enough high quality food, my rate of growth can increase."
He looked out at the sea through the window.
"The New World is full of strong fighters, full of abilities I have not seen, full of things that can push my evolution."
Rayleigh stared at him for a long moment, then smiled.
"Alright. Since you are that confident, I will set you a milestone."
He raised one finger.
"Within one year, develop a technique that can effectively defend against shock transmission."
Bullet carved that goal into his heart.
"I accept."
Roger laughed loudly and slapped Bullet on the back.
"Now that is ambition!"
"In that case, we had better find you some proper food."
"On our upcoming route, there should be quite a few opponents with enough weight."
Roger grinned.
"Bullet, interested?"
A crimson glint flashed in Bullet's eyes.
"If they are strong, I am interested."
"Then it is decided!"
Roger swept his arm in a big arc.
"Just do not get scared when you see what shows up!"
...
The meeting ended.
When Bullet stepped out of the cabin, the sunset had dyed the sea blood red.
He leaned against the rail and watched the sun sink slowly toward the horizon, Whitebeard's information echoing through his mind.
The strongest man in the world.
Shatterer of islands.
"Edward Newgate..."
Bullet murmured the name under his breath, his right hand unconsciously clenching into a fist.
Beneath the skin, dark golden patterns surfaced briefly, then faded again.
Not enough.
He was still far from enough.
But one day.
He would stand before that man and use Nidhogg's claws to tear apart the myth of the world's strongest.
On that day, the name of the Black Dragon would thunder across the entire sea.
"Mr. Bullet!" Shanks's voice rang out from the deck.
"Come spar!"
"I have a new move today!"
Bullet turned and walked toward the training area.
With every step, his resolve grew firmer.