Bullet hadn't expected Luo Xing to treat him like he was nothing.
The moment the fight began, Luo Xing opened with Conqueror's Haki coating—a top-tier finisher-level move—and then followed it with a second attack even more brutal. They had barely exchanged blows, and Bullet was already badly injured.
It made him recall the scene from years ago, when he challenged the Pirate King Roger.
Roger wasn't a Devil Fruit user either. What he cultivated was Haki and swordsmanship.
Back then, Roger had done almost the same thing Luo Xing just did—casually swinging out a few slashes and defeating Bullet with humiliating ease.
"Damn it… am I still inferior to Roger?!"
"No—impossible!"
"I've never stopped training for decades. I'm clearly stronger now!"
"I'm the one who stands at the very top of this world!"
Bullet, drenched in blood, suddenly erupted with a strange, foglike surge of force.
His eyes turned crimson. His skin flushed a deep, violent red.
Gurgle… gurgle…
The ground began to shake and destabilize.
Even the sea started churning, waves rising into towering swells.
Luo Xing's brows tightened.
He could already guess what Bullet was about to do.
Bullet was the Clank-Clank Fruit user, and he had awakened it—meaning he could fuse massive structures into himself.
He could even fuse an entire island.
And Impel Down's scale… was practically an island.
Bullet clearly intended to fuse with the whole of Impel Down, turning into the towering behemoth from that "frenzied operation"—a giant that scraped the clouds.
Luo Xing flicked a glance toward Redfield's battlefield.
Redfield was old, and he hadn't yet obtained the Bat-Bat Fruit, Mythical Zoan model. Under the assault of eight monsters, he was already failing.
He would be brought down within a minute or two.
So Luo Xing pulled out several Anywhere Doors and spoke to the thousand-plus newly recruited subordinates behind him:
"Go in one by one. Once you reach Sabaody—Marines and pirates alike can be eliminated."
"But don't go stirring trouble for ordinary civilians without reason."
Truthfully, Sabaody didn't have many "ordinary civilians" to begin with.
It was the gateway to the New World—pirates passed through it constantly. It was also a place where Celestial Dragons frequently committed atrocities. What normal person would choose to live there if they could avoid it?
Except people like "Dark King" Rayleigh—an elderly man who somehow still liked staying put.
Sabaody was mostly filled with underground strongholds: bars, casinos, black-market hubs—bases built by kings of the shadow world.
Like the slave auction house once affiliated with Doflamingo.
If Luo Xing wanted to occupy Sabaody, he had to purge the eyes and hands of those forces.
The prisoner army had their lives and futures in Luo Xing's grasp.
And after witnessing Luo Xing end "World Destroyer" Bondi Waldo in a single strike, and then severely injure Bullet with only two slashes…
they were terrified of him to the bone.
None dared disobey.
They filed into the doors obediently.
Then—
they were stunned.
On the other side of the doors… was the breathtakingly beautiful Sabaody Archipelago.
It was like stepping out of hell and into heaven in a single instant.
The criminals didn't just fear Luo Xing now—
they admired him. Revered him. Worshiped him.
A man who could invent a door that crossed space in an instant…
was practically divine.
On Sabaody, Rayleigh and his partner Shakky were also shocked.
They'd originally been preparing to leave.
But then several doors appeared out of nowhere, and one vicious-looking prisoner after another poured out—faces fierce, bodies scarred, all wearing prison uniforms.
They looked like Impel Down inmates.
Rayleigh's eyes widened.
Impel Down was supposed to be an iron fortress. How could so many prisoners escape at once?
Then his expression changed.
Because through one of the open doors, he saw a familiar figure—
Luo Xing.
Rayleigh's mind shook.
"It's that man again… he actually went to Impel Down!"
"And he even recruited Impel Down's prisoners!"
"This door must be a new invention… but why send them to Sabaody?"
Rayleigh's pupils contracted sharply.
"Don't tell me…"
"He intends to take the entire Sabaody Archipelago?!"
The thought was so outrageous it left Rayleigh momentarily dizzy.
Because Sabaody's location was right beneath the Red Line—so close to Marine Headquarters and the Holy Land Mariejois that it was practically within arm's reach.
If the Beasts Pirates truly occupied Sabaody…
it would be like holding a blade to the World Government's chest.
A blade that could pierce the heart at any time.
The Navy and World Government would never tolerate that.
They would go mad. They would mobilize everything they had to take Sabaody back.
Was Fifth Emperor Luo Xing…
ready to face the full might of the World Government head-on?
Even the Roger Pirates at their peak couldn't do that.
No force on the sea could.
That was what made Rayleigh feel such disbelief.
And yet Luo Xing didn't strike Rayleigh as a foolish man.
If he dared do this, he must have his own confidence.
Rayleigh took a slow breath, a deep unease blooming in his chest.
It felt like the entire world was about to descend into chaos.
Compared to that kind of chaos…
even the Summit War between Whitebeard and the Navy suddenly felt less overwhelming.
Rayleigh turned to Shakky.
"We need to leave immediately."
"Once Fifth Emperor Luo Xing arrives… with the way that man handles things, there's no guarantee he'll let us walk away peacefully."
Even without this prisoner army appearing, Rayleigh had already planned to leave.
He intended to head for the Revolutionary Army's base.
Back when Bartholomew Kuma sent Luffy flying, he'd used his last strength to tell Rayleigh where Luffy was headed.
The two former Roger Pirates members left without looking back.
...…
Impel Down.
After sending his newly recruited forces through the doors, Luo Xing turned back to face Bullet again.
At this point, Bullet had already fused with most of the Impel Down fortress.
He had become a colossal giant—so huge it looked like it could scrape the sky.
Rumble… rumble…
The earth collapsed. The sea roared.
Bullet threw his head back and laughed wildly.
"I'M the strongest!"
"All of you… die!"
Zoro, Enel, Shiryu, Jinbe, Pizarro, Devon, Vasco Shot, and Sanjuan Wolf finally finished Redfield.
When they turned around and saw Bullet's fused giant form, they all sucked in a cold breath.
"This is… way too big!"
Even Enel—always arrogant—stared with his mouth hanging open.
Sanjuan Wolf, a hundred-meter colossus himself, spoke in disbelief:
"He's a hundred times bigger than me!"
Shiryu bit down on his cigar and said grimly:
"He's developed the Clank-Clank Fruit to an unprecedented level."
"And unlike Redfield, he's in his prime, and never stopped training even in prison."
"He's not an opponent you can underestimate."
"We should go help Lord Luo Xing."
Shiryu had only just joined and wanted to prove himself.
After all, Redfield had been a group kill—his personal "achievement" felt too small.
But Zoro sheathed his swords and said firmly:
"No need."
"Since Lord Luo Xing said Bullet is his, we would only get in the way if we interfere."
Among the eight, Zoro understood Luo Xing best.
Luo Xing never spoke empty words.
If he said it, he would do it. If he chose it, he would make it real.
Zoro believed that with the same certainty he once believed Luffy would become Pirate King.
Now, he believed in Luo Xing.
Shiryu's heart jolted slightly.
He'd exchanged blows with Zoro before and knew how strong this green-haired swordsman was.
And yet even someone like Zoro respected and trusted Luo Xing this deeply…
Lord Luo Xing's authority really was something else.
Shiryu couldn't help feeling a trace of relief at his decision to join the Beasts Pirates.
BOOM—!
A massive, muffled crash echoed out.
Impel Down's foundation was completely destroyed. Every brick and iron plate was dragged into Bullet's body.
Bullet's size continued to swell—
until it reached ten thousand meters.
A ten-thousand-meter behemoth stood upon the sea, its head brushing the clouds.
A casual swing of its arm made the sea heave and the world tremble.
That terrifying silhouette was so enormous that even CP0, Momousagi, and Chaton—still far away on the ocean—could see it clearly.
Momousagi's beautiful eyes widened. She covered her red lips in shock and cried out:
"Th-this… what in the world is that thing?!"
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