The instant Bullet spread the rubbing open, the moonlight washed over it.
On the leather paper, the writing gave off a faint sheen, as if the words themselves were alive. Those ancient letterforms, lines, and symbols, in Anna Oliventa's eyes, were not merely text.
They were prophecy. They were warning. They were taboo knowledge that her family had studied for generations, yet never truly dared to believe in all the way.
"When darkness devours light, when the roots of the tree begin to rot, the Gnawer shall return from the abyss."
With a trembling voice, Anna read the first line from the rubbing.
"It feeds on stars, it drinks the moon, it offers gods as sacrifices."
"It's name is… Nidhogg."
She lifted her head and stared into Bullet's scarlet, vertical pupils.
"And you… are the Gnawer?"
"I am the Devourer."
Bullet corrected her calmly, as if he were adjusting a minor mistake in phrasing.
"Nidhogg's inheritor."
The words hit like a hammer, smashing the last thread of hope Anna had been clinging to.
Those chapters in her family's ancient books that were listed as the highest taboo, those records treated as myths and legends, those existences deemed impossible to ever appear in reality.
Now stood right in front of her.
A walking doomsday prophecy.
"Why…"
Her voice quivered.
"Why would Mr. Rayleigh send you to find me?"
"Because I can protect you."
Bullet folded the rubbing away.
"And you can decipher more writing like this."
"This is a transaction."
"And if I refuse?"
"Then I leave."
Bullet rose to his feet.
"But those CP agents won't."
"The next group might not be this level."
He glanced around at the dead agents scattered through the courtyard.
"These were only a reconnaissance team."
"The real elites are still behind them."
"How long do you think you and your severely wounded grandfather can hold out?"
Anna fell silent.
She knew Bullet was stating facts.
For the past few years, she and her grandfather had been running and hiding, fleeing from the South Blue to the Grand Line, and finally slipping back beneath their ancestral estate, into the basement under the dry well.
But the World Government had never stopped hunting them.
This reconnaissance team alone had forced her to burn through every last card she had. If someone stronger came…
"You need me to do what?" she asked at last.
"Decipher every piece of ancient writing you've ever seen," Bullet said.
"Especially anything about the Void Century and the Ancient Weapons."
"In exchange, I'll keep you safe until you find a new hiding place."
"Or until I get all the information I want."
It was a naked deal, stripped of warmth, stripped of gentleness.
Yet oddly, Anna felt calmer.
A clear exchange was more reliable than vague promises.
"My grandfather needs treatment," she said. "His injury has dragged on for three years. Ordinary doctors can't fix it."
"I'll find someone to heal him," Bullet replied with a nod.
"Anything else?"
Anna drew a deep breath.
"One last question."
"You… will you devour this world, like the prophecy says?"
Bullet looked at her. In those scarlet slit pupils, there was no attempt to hide anything.
"If that's the road I must take to reach the summit," he said, "then yes."
The honesty was terrifying.
But it was precisely because he was so terrifyingly honest that Anna made her decision.
"Fine."
She stood, brushing dust off her researcher's coat.
"I accept the transaction."
"But I have two conditions."
"Speak."
"First, you heal my grandfather's injury."
"Second, during the deciphering, if I discover certain information that could lead to the world's destruction… I have the right to withhold it."
Bullet was silent for a moment.
"Agreed," he said.
"But the premise of withholding it is that you are capable of withholding it in front of me."
It was consent, and it was also a warning.
Anna understood.
Before a monster like this, she had no real bargaining power. To get these two promises was already the limit of what she could wrest from him.
"Then…"
She was about to continue, when her expression suddenly changed.
Bullet turned at the same time.
Both of them felt it.
More presences were approaching.
Not from the landward side, but from the sea.
And not just one.
Each aura was far stronger than the agents from before.
"Reinforcements…" Anna's voice turned bitter. "They came fast."
Bullet narrowed his eyes.
Within his Observation Haki, those presences were landing rapidly, sweeping in from the coastline to encircle the estate. Their speed made one thing obvious.
They had been positioned in advance, simply waiting for the reconnaissance team to send a signal, or to fall silent.
"Go back to the basement," Bullet said. "Lock the door. Take care of your grandfather."
"Then you…"
"These little fry," Bullet cut her off, "I'll handle them."
Anna froze for a heartbeat, then remembered what she had just witnessed, Bullet devouring that Devil Fruit user alive. She didn't know what, exactly, he had gained, but she could feel it.
The monster in front of her seemed a little stronger than before.
She didn't dare ask. She spun around and ran for the dry well, slipping down the shaft and returning to the basement.
Bullet remained alone in the courtyard.
Ten figures appeared at the edges of the grounds from different directions.
They wore identical black suits, their faces expressionless.
Each of them carried Seastone handcuffs and specialized weapons at their waist. On their chests was a small emblem.
The insignia of the World Government's direct intelligence agency, Cipher Pol.
Not ordinary CP agents.
CP0, the Celestial Dragons' strongest shield and sword.
"Confirm the target."
At the front stood a white-haired middle-aged man, his voice colder than the moonlight itself: