...
Luffy was not discouraged by being knocked flying once again; instead, it was as if he was confirming something—or perhaps brewing something.
Just as Gaban had predicted, Bullet also noticed that the group of "rabble" below had begun coordinated action.
But he merely let out a cold snort, his eyes filled with unconcealed contempt and disdain.
A bunch of ants—no matter how tightly they clustered—were still just a slightly larger anthill.
He couldn't even be bothered to analyze these people's abilities, coordination, or potential threats.
Absolute confidence—or rather arrogance—had caused him to lose even the most basic vigilance.
"Let's go! Marines—"
"Don't order me around!"
Smoker and Sabo exchanged a glance, then simultaneously transformed into smoke and flames, charging toward the Bullet giant first in an attempt to harass and pin him down from both sides.
Law had originally intended to follow, but his gaze involuntarily flicked toward Crocodile standing in the shadow of nearby ruins, arms crossed, expression gloomy.
This former Warlord, an old-generation powerhouse, had suddenly appeared and seemed to have his own calculations regarding the current chaos.
"Really dragging this out… bunch of useless brats."
Crocodile's hoarse voice carried impatience and mockery.
Law paid no mind to his sarcasm and was about to say something.
At that moment…
"This Queen… has had enough!!"
A furious, feminine shout rang out! Boa Hancock's peerlessly beautiful face was covered in icy killing intent; those eyes that always carried arrogance and allure!
Now held only heartache for Luffy and towering rage toward Bullet!
"Again and again… daring to hurt this Queen's beloved man like this… unforgivable!!!"
The Empress who disdained all other men and treated them like trash poured all her tenderness and attention solely into Luffy.
Seeing him knocked flying over and over, covered in wounds, the fury in her heart finally erupted!
"Pistol Kiss!"
Her long, beautiful leg turned into an afterimage, wrapped in powerful Haki and the power of her fruit; the physical impact was not to be underestimated!
Hancock shot forward at astonishing speed and delivered a ferocious kick straight to the Bullet giant's abdomen, formed from countless pieces of metal!
"Boom!!"
A dull, heavy crash!
The massive body of Bullet actually staggered backward slightly from the kick!
Though he steadied himself immediately, the momentary stiffness was clearly visible!
The full-force strike fueled by Hancock's rage carried far greater power than anyone could imagine!
This blow left even the powerhouses in God Valley in awe—to think it could generate such impact against a body of that enormous size…
Boa Hancock's title as the Pirate Empress was truly well-earned!
"That strike packed quite a punch. As expected of my 'daughter'!"
Gloriosa started claiming family ties again, proudly showing off with an expression full of pride.
No one around refuted her—after all, from the previous scenes, they knew the future Gloriosa had genuinely treated the Hancock sisters well!
If the future Gloriosa had no biological children, then Hancock could indeed be considered her "daughter"!
"Mamama~ This little girl really is impressive, and she's gorgeous too. If the eras lined up, I'd seriously want my son to marry her~"
Though the current Big Mom still retained her charm, she knew she couldn't compare; Hancock's beauty was truly otherworldly!
"Hey hey hey, Linlin, don't talk nonsense now. Haven't you seen that Hancock likes Garp's grandson? If you go matchmaking like that, even if I agreed, Garp probably wouldn't!"
Gloriosa, hearing Big Mom's words, grinned mischievously and pointed at Garp across from her—who was pretending to look gloomy. Sure enough, the moment Linlin met Garp's gaze, she immediately "softened."
She had no desire to become "in-laws" with Garp—that would just be too weird!
Shakky watched Gloriosa's expression and smiled indulgently. Little Shamrock seemed to really like Shakky; seeing her smile, the child's little face broke into a grin too.
[Scene returns to the light screen]
"Nice one, Empress Captain!!"
Law's eyes lit up as he shouted in praise.
This was exactly what they needed—an attack powerful enough to draw Bullet's attention and even briefly stall his movements!
Crocodile also seized this fleeting opening!
"Desert Spada!"
"Sandstorm!"
A massive sandstorm tore across the ground, carrying an overwhelming momentum as it slammed viciously toward the Bullet giant!
"Hm?"
Bullet clearly hadn't expected such force and timing from among these "small fry."
Though the sandstorm couldn't breach his top-tier Armament Haki coating, the sheer impact force and the erosive sand grains clinging to it still caused him slight discomfort!
His movements showed another minuscule lag.
Bullet's "gaze" finally turned fully toward the cigarette-smoking, grim-faced Crocodile below.
"Crocodile?"
"It's been decades, you combining freak!"
Crocodile said coldly—clearly they had crossed paths in the past!
"Another one coming to die? Excellent!"
Bullet laughed instead of getting angry: "Then I'll kill you too… along with the rest!"
Seemingly provoked by the repeated "taunts," he finally showed a trace of real battle intent—no longer content with casual slaps!
Bullet began controlling the giant, preparing a wide-range, powerful attack to wipe out these annoying flies once and for all!
The giant's arms started gathering even more massive amounts of metal debris and energy—preparing for a major move!
This act of concentrating for a large-scale combination and charge played right into Law's hands!
"Now!!"
Law endured the excruciating pain of overusing his ability and the weakness in his body; a resolute light burst from his eyes!
What he had been waiting for was exactly this "instant"—when Bullet focused his attention on attack preparation, internal energy flow intensified, and external defenses might show the slightest fluctuation!
"ROOM… Slaughterhouse!!"
The pale-blue surgical space instantly expanded, enveloping more than half of the Bullet giant's body!
"Attack!!!"
Law roared, pouring every ounce of strength into activating his ability in an attempt to disrupt and sever Bullet's energy conduction and combination structure from the inside!
At the same time, on the other side, Luffy was not idle.
He saw everyone's efforts; he saw the opportunity Law had created.
He no longer charged blindly. Instead, he stood in place, took a deep breath, drew massive amounts of air into his lungs, then compressed it into his right arm!
"Bone Balloon!"
His right arm inflated rapidly like a balloon, swelling to the thickness of a Giant's arm!
Immediately after, dense, pitch-black-to-red Armament Haki wrapped around the enormous fist like liquid, constantly compressing and condensing!
"Not enough yet…"
Luffy gritted his teeth, continuing to pump more air and Haki into the fist. It swelled further; unstable energy ripples even appeared on the surface!
Seeing the disruption opportunity Law created, Smoker, Sabo, and Hancock unleashed their strongest ranged attacks—
Smoke impact, Flame Dragon Fist, Slave Arrow barrage—bombarding the Bullet giant!
This time, the combined force of everyone's attacks was finally not in vain!
"Boom boom boom!!!"
Violent explosions detonated across the Bullet giant!
Law's internal ROOM interference combined with the external onslaught tore open a crack in that seemingly indestructible combined armor and caused a small-scale internal energy disturbance!
"It worked?!" Sabo exclaimed in delight.
But Bullet's reaction was frighteningly fast!
The rage of having his attack interrupted caused him to instantly shift most of his attention to repairing the damage and counterattacking!
He forcibly stabilized his body, ignoring the giant's minor injuries, and swept his massive arms horizontally—sending the nearby Smoker, Sabo, and Law (who hadn't fully escaped the ROOM range) flying brutally!
Hancock and Crocodile hurriedly retreated to avoid the devastating sweep.
However, their diversion and sacrifice had already paved the way for the final strike!
"Bullet!!"
Luffy's roar echoed through the heavens!
His fist—swollen to the limit and wrapped in the most compressed pitch-black Haki—shot forward like a launched meteor, carrying an indomitable will!
It aimed straight for the crack the combined efforts of everyone had just torn open in the Bullet giant!
This strike condensed all of Luffy's power, Haki, and the single opportunity created by his crewmates' blood and effort!
"Rabble!!!"
Their roars clashed in midair!
Luffy's giant fist—imbued with the belief of "I won't lose"—collided head-on in midair with Bullet's hastily condensed "strongest strike" right fist!
"Boom!!"
An indescribable roar!
As if two asteroids had smashed together!
A terrifying spherical shockwave exploded outward, blasting away surrounding smoke, flames, and even shattered building debris!
The sky itself seemed to twist for a moment!
Under everyone's incredulous gazes, Luffy's fist actually held firm against Bullet's mountain-like punch!
And after a mere instant of deadlock—
"Crack… BOOM!!!"
Starting from the fist, spiderweb-like cracks spread across the Bullet giant's right arm—formed from countless metals, rocks, and warship wreckage—before it shattered completely!
The explosion raced up the arm, ultimately reaching the chest and part of the torso!
The colossal combined giant—like a fortress detonated from within—had its upper body completely disintegrate and collapse amid blinding firelight and scattering fragments!
Losing upper-body support, the lower half crashed to the ground as well, kicking up clouds of dust.
In the smoke and dust, the previous mecha-form Bullet reappeared.
Just as he prepared to attack Luffy, several seeds seemed to sense something—they rapidly grew, finally wrapping around Bullet's mecha form and snapping it apart!
"Finishing move… Green Star: Devil!"
At that moment, the weak yet triumphant voice came from Usopp, who was being carried by Brook.
A sniper's role had never been limited to long-range attacks.
Setting traps, controlling the field, and delivering that critical "god assist" at the decisive moment—that was Usopp's true value!
Just as he believed: a true strong person isn't someone who knows no fear, but someone who understands what fear is, knows how to overcome it, and uses every possible means to achieve victory!
Bullet paid a heavy price for completely ignoring Usopp—the "long-nosed weakling"—from beginning to end!
This brief binding became the final straw that broke the camel's back.
Finally, a direct confrontation with Luffy!
"A person cannot survive on this sea alone!"
This truth wasn't understood only by Luffy!
Even Kaido and Big Mom built their own forces—there were always things one person couldn't accomplish alone on this sea!
In their final fist-to-fist showdown, after hearing Luffy's words, scenes of meeting Roger surfaced in Bullet's mind!
The young Bullet had been knocked flying by a single strike—and the one who defeated him was the future Roger!
"So strong… but one day I'll surpass you and become the strongest man in the world… Roger!"
"You're strong! Come at me anytime, Bullet!"
The vision ended. Under an unknown BGM, Luffy's punches rained down on Bullet's body—striking also at his twisted ideology…
Each blow landed on Bullet's gradually defenseless form like rain.
Every one of Luffy's fists was slowly beating this obsessive, lonely "demon" shrouded in betrayal back into human shape.
Finally, Bullet could no longer hold on. He fell from the sky to the ground, staring blankly at the smoke-filled sky, murmuring unconsciously: "Roger… Pirate King… comrades… I…"
"Who the hell are you?!"
Bullet shouted those words, and Luffy answered him with that classic line!
"I… am the man who will become the Pirate King!"
Seeing Luffy successfully defeat Bullet on the light screen, intense discussion erupted in God Valley.
The happiest among them was Garp—he began bragging to Sengoku, Zephyr, and Tsuru about how strong his grandson was!
...