In the room where the highest decision-makers of the entire sea openly issued orders, a meeting that had swept through Ohara and was about to influence the world's future was nearing its end.
The Gorosei, having reached a consensus, turned to look at Spandine, who was kneeling on the ground.
"Spandine, this mission is entrusted to you."
"If the outcome does not satisfy us, your head will be the first to be thrown into the garbage bin of the Holy Land."
Spandine's teeth chattered, their grinding clearly audible.
His right hand suddenly twitched convulsively, then quickly returned to its original position, as if fighting some invisible current.
Spandine prostrated himself, hitting his head on the ground:
"This subordinate… will do his utmost!"
…The moment the door closed, Spandine slumped against the corridor wall like a puppet with its strings cut.
The reason for his immense fear was not merely because he had misspoken in front of the Gorosei.
It was also because Nico Olvia, the leader of the Ohara archaeological team, had disappeared.
With the archaeological team members refusing to cooperate, Spandine didn't even know when Olvia had vanished.
To cover up his work blunder, he chose to conceal this information.
In his view, the high-and-mighty power holders like the Gorosei probably didn't even know of the existence of a small fry like Olvia.
And it was true; the Gorosei did not inquire about the archaeological team's situation at all during the meeting.
Spandine staggered out of Pangea Castle.
The CP9 members were already waiting outside for him; seeing Spandine's state, they immediately stepped forward to help him, but Spandine pushed them away.
"You bunch of good-for-nothings! You can't even interrogate a prisoner!"
"Now! Immediately! Draft the Buster Call application!"
"And… contact Marineford for me!"
"Hurry!"
…"Eh? Good luck today!"
Blake looked at the card he had just drawn in the System Space: Douglas Bullet (adult stage).
This was Bullet in his forties, after his prison break in the movie.
If it had been before, drawing a card of this level wouldn't necessarily be considered good luck.
However, the current Blake was no longer the same as before.
Having mastered Observation Haki capable of future sight and Armament Haki for internal destruction, and possessing Conqueror's Haki, he now had one of the strongest combat powers below the Admirals and Emperors.
As long as the opponent wasn't a powerhouse whose mind, body, and technique had all reached their peak, Blake could contend with them.
And Douglas Bullet was a suitable opponent.
Bullet's Armament Haki and Observation Haki had not reached the stage of advanced application.
However, his Armament Haki was vast in quantity and wide in coverage.
Furthermore, Bullet was known as the Demon Heir because his Conqueror's Haki was mixed with Ghost Qi, making it stronger than ordinary Conqueror's Haki.
However, as long as the technique didn't reach the level of Conquerors Haki Infusion, Conqueror's Haki played a minimal role in battles between top powerhouses.
Bullet's physique was extremely strong, his combat techniques were honed to perfection, and his Combine-Combine Fruit had been developed to the awakened stage.
Overall, he was stronger than both Doflamingo and Katakuri, who had also awakened their Devil Fruit abilities.
He could also be considered one of the top powerhouses below the Admirals and Emperors.
"Truly a well-matched opponent."
"System, enter battle!"
Instantly, Blake's figure vanished, reappearing on an island.
Blake frowned:
"A bit unlucky; if we were on a ship, at least thirty percent of Bullet's abilities would be useless."
The sea breeze suddenly stilled among the reefs of the nameless island, and Blake swung his long sword, drawing a silver arc of light.
In the distance, a tall figure, Bullet, could already be seen emerging.
"Can't you AI people say a few words? Fighting like this is boring."
"Can't you be like Teacher Kaido and shout something like 'Thunder Bagua' before you start?"
Bullet did not respond and began to unleash his skills.
His right arm, infused with Armament Haki, suddenly swelled threefold, and the wreckage of buildings erupted from underground, adhering to his body like living things.
Within three seconds, a fifty-meter-tall steel giant had formed.
The giant's chest suddenly split open into a honeycomb of muzzles, and a 360-degree lead Bullet storm covered the entire coastline without blind spots.
Blake's figure twisted and flashed between the Bullet trajectories, dodging and weaving with his future-sight level Observation Haki.
Bullets he couldn't avoid, Blake would precisely cleave with his blade.
"Try to get a different Devil Fruit!"
"Your awakened ability looks like a sentient scrap yard!"
A round of Bullet hell failed to harm Blake in the slightest.
Bullet plunged his right hand into the ground and violently heaved.
The entire reef coastline assimilated into a metallic giant wave, crashing towards Blake like a tsunami.
It was covered with a massive amount of Armament Haki, which quite surprised Blake.
Although Blake's Armament Haki could achieve a similar effect, he did it by cheating with ability cards from the card space.
This guy, Bullet, achieved this purely through his own training.
"This guy left the ship too early."
"If he had learned the advanced applications of Haki, a Four Emperors position would definitely be within reach."
As the attack neared, Blake stopped pondering.
He held his sword in his right hand and clenched his left hand into a fist.
The light of Armament Haki swirled around his fist.
Unlike Bullet's Armament Haki, which was all-encompassing, Blake's was clearly more condensed.
He slammed his fist hard into the approaching metallic giant wave.
The internal destruction property of Armament Haki seeped into the steel through his fist, and the nearly hundred-meter-tall wave wall instantly disintegrated into iron sand just as it was about to swallow Blake.
"You wouldn't think I only have one usable hand like that red-haired guy, would you?"
Bullet's body erupted with purple-Blake Haoshoku fluctuations, mixed with chilling Ghost Qi.
Blake's boots sank two inches into the sand.
He looked down:
"Conqueror's Haki infused with Ghost Qi is indeed very strong."
"However…"
Blake's dark red Conqueror's Haki surged skyward from within him:
"This move is useless against me!"
Twelve chains shot out from between the giant's fingers, each chain ending in the head of a metallic giant snake.
Blake leaped up, dashing along the chains, then his pupils suddenly constricted.
In the future he foresaw with his Observation Haki, he saw himself bound by chains.
Blake suddenly closed his eyes, and when he reopened them, all attack trajectories transformed into red dashed lines in his vision.
"Found you!"
The long sword in his hand twisted back at an unnatural angle, each strike precisely landing on the metallic giant's weak points.
When the seventh strike hit, the steel giant began to collapse.
Blake's final strike pierced Bullet's left rib, and the internal destruction of Armament Haki directly shattered his defense.
As the giant turned into scrap metal, an old-looking dog tag fell from the sky and landed in Blake's hand.
Blake raised an eyebrow:
"This AI Bullet is quite realistic."
Blake waved his hand to disperse the thick smoke, finding Bullet kneeling on one knee in a ten-meter-deep sand pit, blood oozing from the wound on his left rib, yet still trying to stand.
He twirled his sword, sheathing the long blade:
"He's not dead yet?"
Before he finished speaking, metal spikes suddenly rose from the ground; Blake immediately jumped back to dodge, but his cloak was torn.
Landing, he sighed at the damaged corner of his clothing:
"Do you know how much this cloak costs?"
With that, Blake flashed behind Bullet and punched him in the back of the head.
Bullet's figure slowly dissipated into dust.