"Three of them…"
From within the drifting sand and smoke on the beach, Douglas Bullet slowly stood back up.
That kick from earlier had been heavy—but far from enough to take him out of the fight.
"Looks like this escort mission… won't be boring after all!"
He rolled his neck lazily.
Crack—crack.
The sharp popping of bones echoed unpleasantly in the air.
Instead of anger, a near-manic grin spread across his face—wild, excited, almost feral.
"The World Government's watchdogs finally decided to come out and bite, huh?"
"Tch."
Standing atop the battleship's railing, Saint Shepherd Somaz let out a dismissive snort. His orange-yellow curls swayed in the ocean wind.
"A washed-up pirate relic discarded by the era… a failed product tamed by Ten-Shen… and you dare spout nonsense in front of the God's Knights—"
He never finished the sentence.
WHOOSH!
Bullet vanished from where he stood.
No trick.
No ability.
Just pure, terrifying explosive power from his physical body.
His sudden burst of speed was so fast that an afterimage remained where he had been standing.
At almost the exact instant Bullet moved, Somaz reacted as well.
His reflexes were incredibly sharp.
Both arms swung forward violently.
"Thorns—Piercing Barrage!"
From beneath his skin, countless black, hardened thorns burst outward, each one gleaming with the sheen of Armament Haki.
The thorns grew wildly, intertwining and multiplying.
Within a breath, they formed an impenetrable wall of razor-sharp spikes that shot toward Bullet's charging path like a deadly forest exploding forward.
"Sorry…!"
Bullet's roar arrived at the same time as his fist.
"I hate watching magic tricks!!!"
He didn't dodge.
Didn't slow down.
His right fist clenched tightly, coated in condensed dark Armament Haki.
No flourish.
No technique.
Just a brutally direct punch.
BOOOOOOM!!!!!!
The force of the blow detonated outward.
The dense forest of Haki-reinforced thorns shattered the instant they met his fist.
Starting from the very front—
They cracked.
Collapsed.
Exploded apart piece by piece.
Fragments of shattered thorns flew everywhere, mixed with sparks of crackling Haki lightning.
And Bullet's punch didn't stop there.
The momentum tore through the collapsing thorns and slammed directly into Somaz's crossed arms.
BANG!!!
Both were defending—
But the results couldn't have been more different.
Somaz felt a surge of searing pain explode through his arms.
Crack.
The sound of bone straining echoed faintly.
The overwhelming force blasted him straight off the ship's railing and hurled him high into the sky.
"Damn it?!"
Shock flashed across Somaz's mind.
The sheer physical strength of his opponent had far exceeded expectations.
But before the curse even finished forming—
Bullet was already pursuing him.
The beach beneath Bullet's feet exploded into a massive crater as he launched himself vertically into the air.
In an instant he caught up to the airborne Somaz.
His hand shot forward—
And grabbed the old man by the head, gripping the braided hair tied behind it.
"You old bastard. Talking that big."
Bullet grinned viciously as he yanked Somaz's head closer.
"You trying to say… you're stronger than Gern?!"
He didn't wait for an answer.
Didn't care for one.
The muscles in his arm swelled violently as he swung Somaz's entire body overhead.
"If that's true…"
"Then you'd better prove it to me!!!"
Bullet mimicked a move burned deep into his memory—the technique Garp once used to instantly defeat him in a duel.
Pouring every ounce of strength in his body into his arm—
He hurled Somaz straight downward toward the solid ground.
"Abyssal Drop (Garp-style imitation)!!"
BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!
A thunderous explosion shook the island.
Somaz's entire body was smashed into the earth.
A gigantic crater more than ten meters across erupted instantly.
Violent shockwaves spread outward in a circular blast, uprooting trees and hurling nearby boulders through the air.
The entire island seemed to tremble.
Dust and debris surged upward like a rising mushroom cloud.
Meanwhile—
On the other side of the battlefield.
Bartholomew Kuma's calm intelligence revealed itself perfectly in that instant.
At almost the exact moment Bullet launched his attack and Somaz was sent flying—
Kuma moved.
His left hand shot upward.
But instead of striking an enemy—
He struck himself.
Five nearly overlapping pop sounds rang out, almost too faint to hear.
"Pop… pop… pop… pop… pop."
Kuma had activated one of the most absurd abilities of the Paw-Paw Fruit.
Repulsion.
The target—
The very battleship beneath his feet.
The massive vessel carrying the Mother Flame core sample… along with numerous ordinary Marines.
In an instant—
The enormous warship vanished.
Not destroyed.
Not sunk.
Simply gone.
Within a brief distortion of the surrounding air, the entire ship—along with its interior equipment—was repelled away.
With terrifying precision, Kuma had sent it flying hundreds of miles across the sea.
Its destination—
The patrol zone currently monitored by Dracule Mihawk.
A region known to be relatively safe and guarded by a top-tier combatant.
With that single move:
• The Mother Flame was secured.• The ordinary Marines were removed from a battlefield far beyond their ability to survive.
Kuma's instinctive kindness had once again protected everyone present.
And just like that—
The battlefield was completely isolated.
Kuma didn't pause for even a second after finishing.
His calm eyes scanned the battlefield and locked onto the crater where Bullet had just slammed Somaz.
Pop!
He vanished again.
Reappearing instantly beside Bullet, who stood grinning viciously at the crater's edge.
Bullet didn't even look surprised.
It was as if the two already shared a silent understanding.
Kuma placed one massive paw-covered hand gently against Bullet's back.
"If you were going on a trip," Kuma asked calmly, "where would you like to go?"
His action, however, showed no hesitation.
Bullet grinned.
"Wherever you think is best!"
The Paw-Paw power activated.
In an instant, Kuma launched Bullet forward—layering enormous kinetic force onto the repulsion.
Bullet's body shot downward into the crater like a meteor.
His target—
Somaz, who had just begun to struggle back to his feet at the bottom of the pit, still dazed.
BOOOOOOM!!!
The already terrifying momentum was amplified again by Kuma's ability.
Bullet accelerated to absurd speed and smashed down toward Somaz a second time.
The crater detonated with an even more violent explosion of dust and shockwaves.
Caught completely off guard, Somaz let out a muffled groan.
His injuries had clearly worsened.
After delivering that flawless assist, Kuma teleported once more.
He reappeared beside Lipo, who was already standing ready for battle.
Together they faced their remaining opponents.
Ryokugyu—tense and wary.
And Saint Figarland Shamrock, whose expression had grown far more serious.
From the moment Kuma sent the battleship away to assisting Bullet's second devastating strike—
The entire sequence had taken less than thirty seconds.
The level of mastery over his Devil Fruit was terrifying.
"Nice one, Uncle Kuma!" Lipo laughed.
Kuma turned his head slightly.
"Lipo… you're older than me. That title isn't appropriate."
"Bonney might get confused."
"Ah, don't worry about that!" Lipo waved dismissively. "Bonney and I have our own system! Ginny doesn't mind."
She grinned widely, spinning one of her carrot-shaped daggers in a dazzling flourish.
"Right now, we should focus on cleaning up these two!"
"…What kind of insane ability is that?!"
Ryokugyu's face had gone beyond ugly.
It was practically iron green.
He had just watched the warship carrying the Mother Flame vanish into thin air.
Then he saw Kuma treat Bullet like a projectile—perfectly assisting him in crushing Somaz again.
This completely unpredictable spatial manipulation shattered common sense.
Even for a newly empowered Admiral who had just received the blessing of the God's Blades—
It made his scalp tingle with dread.
"We can't drag this out!" Shamrock said sharply.
His grip tightened on the rapier in his hand.
His eyes had turned razor-sharp.
"We need to finish this quickly."
"Once Hawk-Eyes is drawn here by the commotion…"
"And joins the battle…"
His voice dropped.
"…we'll be in serious trouble."