Following Sengoku's command, the surrounding Marines formed a four-sided encirclement, unleashing cannon fire upon Laken Gado Island, with a sky-darkening barrage.
Garp was shocked:
"Sengoku! You bastard!"
He immediately disregarded Bullet and rushed towards the direction where the cannon fire was weakest.
Bullet, however, looked at the barrage flying through the sky and grinned.
"Combine!"
As his Devil Fruit ability activated, materials continuously surged towards Bullet from the island's shattered buildings, instantly covering him in the shape of a metal giant.
Facing the overwhelming cannon fire, Bullet neither dodged nor flinched.
The moment the cannonballs touched the metal giant, they melted like ice and snow, gradually fusing into the giant's body, making his form even more colossal.
"Sengoku!"
Garp burst out from the barrage, unharmed but looking somewhat disheveled.
He grabbed Sengoku by the collar and roared, spitting all over Sengoku's face.
Sengoku was a bit embarrassed; after all, this move not only hurt his teammate but also buffed his opponent, truly making him the best sixth man.
Seeing Garp's relentless demeanor, Sengoku immediately changed the subject:
"Now is not the time for this. Let's team up and defeat this guy first!"
With that, Sengoku, ignoring Garp's reaction, transformed into his Great Buddha form and descended towards Bullet.
"Buddha Palm Shock!"
Seeing that Sengoku had already charged forward, Garp, with a belly full of unvented anger, could only follow suit and charge in.
The three of them once again began a fierce battle.
But in this world's battles, the most taboo thing is facing a siege.
Even a powerhouse like Rocks, who single-handedly broke into Mary Geoise, made it all the way to the Room of Flowers, and even managed to take down an Admiral on his retreat, still fell when facing the combined assault of Garp and Roger, let alone Bullet, who had not yet reached his peak.
It must be said that the 22-year-old Bullet's strength was truly terrifying; even against the combined forces of Sengoku and Garp, he still held out for several hours before finally being defeated.
He was handcuffed with Sea Stone while unconscious, locked in a cell in the ship's hold, ready to be directly escorted to Impel Down... The situation on the sea did not affect Blake's life; he was still under house arrest.
The impact of Bullet's capture was smaller than the World Government and Marine had anticipated, and it even had some counter-effects.
To many great pirates, Bullet was just a twenty-something kid.
Although rumors claimed that when he was on Roger's ship, Bullet could fight Rayleigh to a draw.
But this rumor had always been passed down by word of mouth, without any concrete evidence, and it was unknown how much effort Rayleigh had put in at the time.
Bullet's truly known achievement was fighting Crocodile to a draw.
This immediately lowered the prestige of the name Bullet.
Crocodile?
Isn't that just a small pirate who was defeated by Whitebeard in a few moves?
Is that your level, Bullet?
I could do that too!
The Marine actually needed to deploy an Admiral and a Marine Hero, both teaming up, to take down such a character.
It seems the Marine is really declining!
Under this line of thought, the situation on the sea not only did not calm down but instead escalated.
The Celestial Dragons naturally could not be released at this time.
What if some ignorant pirate killed them?
But it wasn't entirely without good news.
Robin and Perona had completely adapted to life in Mary Geoise, gradually developing some of the awareness of the upper class... Time flew by, and another three months passed in the blink of an eye.
The time had already reached year 1500 of the Sea Calendar.
In the System Space, Blake clenched his fists, Armament Haki attached to them.
Unlike before, this time, the Armament Haki seemed to have dark Blake energy surging within it, and a buzzing sound came from his fists.
This was the advanced application of Armament Haki—Internal Destruction.
Over three months, Blake's luck with card draws was quite good, pulling three elite Vice Admirals.
They were Momonga, Doberman, and Onigumo.
Momonga and Doberman's ability cards were both Armament Haki, which allowed Blake's Armament Haki to reach the level of Internal Destruction.
Onigumo, on the other hand, dropped his most proficient sword skill.
Blake didn't plan to wield eight swords with his hair, but Onigumo's understanding of swordsmanship could be assimilated as Blake's nourishment.
Successfully elevating his swordsmanship to a level considered strong even among master swordsmen.
In mid-January, Aramaki, whom Blake had sent to the East Blue, finally returned.
Looking at the Devil Fruit in his hand, which resembled a burning dragon fruit, Blake was quite satisfied.
Not only because he had obtained a Logia-type Devil Fruit, but also because Aramaki had successfully passed his test and could now be entrusted with important tasks.
"Aramaki, you did well this time."
Blake lay by the fishbowls (helmets), teasing the mermaid Ada while being fed by Stella, looking utterly relaxed.
Aramaki stood quietly to the side:
"Your Highness's information was very accurate; this operation went smoothly, and your subordinate dares not claim credit."
Blake smiled:
"What's yours is yours. I will record it for you, and when the time is right, you will receive your due reward."
Blake's overall strength had now reached the top tier below Admirals and Emperors, and the ability cards from New World fodder pirates were becoming increasingly limited in their benefit to him.
He had decided that any future ability cards of the mob-level would be used to cultivate subordinates.
However, while Aramaki's abilities had been confirmed, his loyalty still needed observation.
After all, this guy's fundamental character was to uphold the rule of the World Government and the Celestial Dragons.
It was hard to say whether Aramaki would maintain his loyalty to him when facing other Celestial Dragons, or even the Gorosei.
Blake naturally couldn't let him access core secrets so quickly.
However, some ordinary secrets could already be entrusted to Aramaki.
"I plan to send you out to sea to select promising young people and form a CP-like team to serve as my exclusive intelligence agency."
Blake still lay on the lounge chair, as if nothing bothered him.
However, Aramaki's heart raced.
"What does Your Highness mean by this?"
"To form a CP-like organization independently?"
"If so, why not just use CP directly?"
"Unless... Your Highness has secrets that cannot be known to the World Government..."
"That's right, the intelligence about this Devil Fruit certainly wasn't brought back by CP. Your Highness definitely has other sources of information."
"What should I do next? Should I tell the World Government?"
"But Your Highness is a Celestial Dragon after all. What if I misunderstood?"
For a moment, Aramaki's thoughts churned endlessly.