Douglas Bullet slowly turned around.
There was no anger on his face. Instead, a savage grin spread across his lips, his white teeth glaring sharply against his crimson skin.
He ignored the other man's evaluation entirely.
Instead, he lifted his thumb and pointed toward an old scar on the lower left side of his waist.
His gaze locked onto Shamrock's face—the face that looked so damn similar to someone else.
"Hey… you and that red-haired bastard, Shanks…"
Bullet slowly licked his lips. A fierce flame ignited in his eyes.
"What exactly is your relationship?"
His grin widened.
"Seeing your face… the one that pisses me off so much…"
"…makes this scar of mine start aching again."
That scar had been left years ago.
A souvenir from the brutal battle he once fought against Red-Haired Shanks.
The very battle in which Shanks first stepped onto the stage as one of the Four Emperors.
Hearing this, the sneer on Shamrock's face deepened.
A trace of disdain crept into his expression.
"Oh?"
He casually flicked imaginary dust from his rapier, his tone dripping with mockery.
"So that means…"
"My younger brother—the fool who became obsessed with the so-called freedom and friendship of the lower world… who abandoned his noble birth and sacred duty…"
"…and ran off to become some pirate emperor…"
Shamrock slowly raised his sword, pointing the tip directly at Bullet.
"…left you with quite the memorable impression."
Younger brother?!
Red-Haired Shanks…
…was the younger brother of Saint Figarland Shamrock, a member of the God's Knights?
Which meant—
Shanks was born a Celestial Dragon as well?!
Even Bullet froze for a brief moment.
Then—
His grin exploded into wild, unrestrained laughter.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
"Interesting! This is too damn interesting!"
Bullet roared with laughter.
"No wonder!"
"No wonder that guy always felt different from those garbage Celestial Dragons!"
"But at the same time…"
"…he still had that annoying air of 'nobility' about him."
"Like some self-righteous savior."
Bullet slowly clenched his fists.
Crack—CRACK—
His bones popped violently as Haki surged through his body once more.
"But I wonder…"
His eyes gleamed with feral excitement.
"If I kill the big brother…"
"…will that little brother come stomping over here in rage to take revenge on me?"
His aura erupted violently, crushing the surrounding trees and bending them outward.
"Come on then!"
"God's Knights' big brother!"
Bullet's grin stretched wider.
"Let me see whether you… or the little brother who gave me this scar…"
"…is the one with the bigger bite!!!"
The collision of their overwhelming auras bent the nearby forest like a storm had descended.
"As you wish."
Shamrock's voice dropped coldly.
"I'll finish you… as quickly as possible."
His eyes flashed.
In the next instant, both his body and rapier transformed into a streak of crimson light, shooting forward to meet Bullet's charge head-on.
CLANG!!!
The blade and Bullet's fist—coated in top-tier Armament Haki—collided violently.
A piercing metallic shriek rang out.
Sparks exploded into the air.
But in that very first clash of raw strength—
Shamrock immediately suffered the disadvantage.
He had severely underestimated Bullet's physical power.
Bullet's body had been forged through the power of the Fusion Fruit and decades of insane training.
It was nothing short of monstrous.
A brutal surge of force traveled through the blade.
Shamrock's arm trembled violently.
His grip went numb.
The rapier was blasted from his hand by the punch, spinning through the air in a wide arc.
THUD.
The sword stabbed diagonally into the ground over ten meters away, its blade still vibrating with a humming tremor.
"Tch… damn it."
Shamrock reacted instantly despite the numbness in his arm.
Using the recoil of the impact, he lowered his center of gravity and slid backward.
In one smooth retreat, he reached the point where the sword had landed.
Without even looking—
His left heel struck the pommel of the embedded rapier with perfect precision.
CLANG!
The sword bounced upward into the air.
Shamrock reached out with his right hand and caught it mid-spin.
In one fluid motion, he redirected the momentum and brought the blade horizontally before him.
The entire sequence happened seamlessly.
But Bullet wasn't the kind of opponent who gave anyone breathing room.
The ground beneath his feet exploded as he launched forward again.
His fist shot straight toward Shamrock's face.
Shamrock's eyes sharpened.
Instead of retreating—
He advanced.
His legs exploded with force as he leapt upward.
Using gravity and his falling momentum, he gripped the sword with both hands and poured his full strength and Haki into the blade.
Then—
He unleashed a massive downward slash aimed directly at Bullet's incoming fist.
"Trying to die?!"
A savage light erupted in Bullet's eyes.
To a master of hand-to-hand combat like him, an opponent attacking while airborne—especially with a heavy downward strike that required a wind-up—was a massive mistake.
Because being airborne meant limited mobility.
And worse—
A dangerous moment of vulnerability upon landing.
Bullet's right fist continued forward.
But his left hand moved first.
His fingers spread wide.
Then—
He grabbed the falling blade with his bare hand.
The sword edge screeched against his Haki-coated palm, sparks flying as metal scraped violently.
Yet it could not move an inch further.
At the same time—
His right fist, already fully prepared, blasted toward Shamrock's exposed midsection.
Because the moment his sword was seized—
Shamrock's body stalled briefly in midair.
If that punch landed—
It would blast Shamrock straight into the "immortal state" of the God's Knights.
Realizing this, Shamrock's pupils shrank sharply.
Without hesitation, he abandoned the struggle for the sword.
He twisted his waist violently midair.
His right leg, originally meant to stabilize his landing, snapped upward.
Armament Haki coated the limb as he kicked directly at Bullet's punching wrist.
BANG!!
Leg and fist collided with a thunderous impact.
Using the rebound force from the clash, Shamrock tore free from Bullet's grip.
But the maneuver cost him his balance.
His body dropped rapidly toward the ground.
Bullet's battle instincts were no less sharp.
The moment Shamrock landed—
Bullet's body dropped low.
His right leg swept toward Shamrock's just-planted footing.
Shamrock had barely stabilized himself.
Seeing the sweeping attack, his core muscles tightened violently.
His rapier couldn't fully reposition in time.
So he flicked his wrist, converting the downward slash into a rising counter-cut.
The blade flashed upward in an attempt to force Bullet back.
CLANG!
The edge scraped across Bullet's Haki-coated shin, throwing off sparks.
But—
Bullet's sliding sweep had been a feint.
The instant Shamrock committed to the defensive strike—
Bullet's sweeping leg slammed into the ground.
Using astonishing core strength, he twisted his entire body.
Like a spinning top driven by explosive torque.
Using the centrifugal force of that rotation—
His fully charged left fist smashed sideways toward the opening in Shamrock's chest created by the upward slash.
Shamrock had no choice.
He forcibly halted the rising blade.
Then shifted it into a horizontal guard.
Barely—just barely—blocking Bullet's crushing punch.
BOOOOOOM!!!!!!
Fist and sword collided again.
This time it was a pure, head-on clash of raw power and Haki.
A terrifying shockwave erupted outward from the two fighters.
The surrounding ground was blasted apart, forming a shallow crater.
"—!"
"—Hmph!"
Both men let out muffled grunts.
The enormous recoil forced them apart.
They staggered backward several steps, creating a distance of several meters between them once more.