"These people,"
Bullet spoke, his voice terrifyingly calm,
"are mine."
He turned and looked at Anna.
His gaze lingered on her face, finally stopping at the small mole on her left earlobe.
"Anna Oliventa?"
Anna froze.
How did he know her name?
The next second, she understood.
This man was not a CP agent.
A CP operative would not speak with that kind of tone, and would never possess this kind of inhuman pressure.
"You..."
Her voice trembled.
"Who are you?"
"Bullet."
Bullet answered simply.
"Douglas Bullet."
"Rayleigh sent me to find you."
Rayleigh?
In Anna's mind, the image of that blond man from years ago surfaced.
The man who had sat with her an entire night, talking about ancient scripts.
When he left, he had said,
"If you ever need help one day, you can come to me."
Had he really sent someone?
No, something felt off.
Anna looked at Bullet's eyes, at the dark golden lines rippling slowly across his skin, at the posture that was already far removed from a normal human.
This man was not an ordinary "helper".
But right now, she had no choice.
From the direction of the cliff, three agents had already climbed up.
From the mansion, two more had burst out of the smoke.
Five against one, yet the agents' expressions were taut with caution.
They could sense that this newcomer was far more dangerous than any opponent they had faced so far.
Bullet stepped forward.
Then, a terrifying aura spread outward.
All five agents stiffened at once.
They were not stunned by fear, they were being forced down by sheer pressure.
It felt like a small fish in the deep sea suddenly encountering a whale. The difference in life level made their bodies instinctively refuse to move.
"Leave,"
Bullet said,
"or die."
The five agents exchanged a glance.
Then they moved together.
They were CP operatives, the World Government's most elite assassination force.
Fear could be overcome. Orders had to be carried out.
They split into two teams.
Three lunged at Bullet. Two circled around, heading straight for Anna.
Their primary target was still the surviving members of the Oliventa family.
The three charging Bullet moved in perfect sync.
One leapt high, slashing down from above, his blade wrapped in pitch black Armament Haki.
One slid low along the ground, his short knife stabbing toward Bullet's Achilles tendon.
The third stayed where he was, his hands forming rapid seals as he chanted obscure syllables under his breath.
A Devil Fruit user, preparing to activate some kind of ability.
A flawless combination.
To Bullet, it was still too slow.
Within the analytical field of his Observation Haki, the trio's movements split into countless frozen moments.
The order in which their muscles engaged, the paths their Haki flowed along, the telltale signs of an ability about to trigger...
He lifted his right hand. Partial dragonization completed in an instant.
A black dragon claw shot forward, meeting the descending slash.
Clang.
A deafening metallic crash.
The agent's sword was caught in the dragon's grip and then crushed.
Not snapped.
Crushed, like a biscuit being squeezed to crumbs.
His Armament Haki was as fragile as paper before that dragon claw.
The agent in midair turned pale and tried to pull back.
Bullet's left claw was already swinging.
A tearing sound split the air.
Five deep gashes opened across the agent's chest, bones visible, blood spraying.
His body flew backward, slammed into the stone railing of the dried well, and went limp.
At the same time, the agent sliding along the ground had already closed in.
His short blade stabbed toward Bullet's right heel tendon, one of the most vulnerable spots on most living beings.
The tip of the knife stopped three centimeters away from the skin.
It was not that Bullet had blocked it.
The blade simply could not go any further.
Black scaled Armament activated on its own.
Dragon scales covered all of Bullet's skin, including his ankles.
The short knife scraped against the scales with a harsh metallic screech, then the blade bent and snapped.
The agent's eyes widened in disbelief.
Bullet lowered his head and glanced at him, then lifted his foot.
A simple stomp.
The power behind it was anything but simple. The ground caved in to form a shallow pit.
The agent was crushed into the depression; his ribcage shattered, blood burst from his mouth, and his life was snuffed out.
The third agent's ability finally activated.