Bullet's mouth curled into a vicious grin:
"Where to start."
Karol smiled:
"Let's start with him...."
A wanted poster appeared on the screen.
His face looked fierce and cold, with a hint of bloodthirstiness.
The Steam Pirates' chief steward, third-in-command.
A Twinkle-Twinkle Fruit user with a bounty of 1,450,000,000 — Bin Black.
...
New World, Woske Island.
Under Knock's command, the location of their largest arms factory.
Bin Black was in his office on the island, going over the accounts. His subordinate lieutenants kept their heads down, barely daring to breathe.
Bin Black was displeased:
"Why are this month's shipments so low?"
"Are you trying to undercut prices?"
As the Steam Pirates' largest arms manufacturer, they'd been constantly expanding and upgrading.
The weapons produced here were all top quality and in high demand; otherwise, there wouldn't have been repeated expansions.
Yet this month, three quarters of their produced weapons were sitting piled in the warehouse — utterly inexplicable.
The lieutenants glanced at one another and hesitated.
Bin Black snorted in contempt. Finally, an older lieutenant gritted his teeth and stood up:
"My lord, it's not that we want to lower prices and not sell."
"But the Beasts Pirates somehow got hold of a huge batch of weapons — all brand new."
"They're selling them for half the production cost."
"They've taken many of our customers."
"We're helpless...."
"We can't just forgo profits and sell at half price...."
Bin Black's brow furrowed tightly:
"Impossible."
"Half the production cost."
"What kind of funds does Kaido have to squander like that?"
"Aren't those weapons suspicious?"
The older lieutenant forced a bitter smile:
"We investigated. They bought arms from many places."
"There's nothing wrong with them, and the Beasts Pirates' controlled islands are building arms factories nonstop."
"Islands with ore have raised factory smokestacks everywhere...."
"They're really selling at any cost...."
Bin Black found it incredible too. He thought for a while but still couldn't figure out what Kaido was up to:
"Find our old buyers first and dump this batch at a reduced price."
"As for Kaido's side, I'll report to Knock."
The subordinates looked uncomfortable and stayed silent.
Bin Black suppressed his anger:
"Speak."
The older lieutenant opened his mouth:
"But.... they're selling for half the production cost."
"Even if our weapons are better, they're several times more expensive...."
"Who would buy them...."
Bin Black took a few deep breaths:
"Come here."
When the older lieutenant heard that, he collapsed to the floor and kept scrambling backward....
Bin Black casually grabbed the pistol on the desk.
Bang bang bang bang——...
He kept pulling the trigger; the older lieutenant fell dead with more than a dozen bullet holes....
The hand that gripped the pistol crushed the gun into a lump of iron slurry and smashed it down onto the corpse.
Boom!
The whole body, covered by the iron slurry infused with Haki, exploded apart.
Blood splattered across the room.
Everyone was splattered white... red.... even bone fragments shot into them, yet no one dared to make a sound.
Blood stained Bin Black's face as he shouted fiercely:
"Enjoying the protection of the Steam Pirates, getting fat one by one."
"Yet you won't buy our weapons?"
"Let's see who has that nerve!"
"You're pirates! Pirates!"
"If you don't buy, I'll kill their whole families and destroy everything they have!!!"
"Do I even need to teach you this?!"
"Idiots!"
The subordinates shook like sieves and stammered back:
"Yes!!!"
Looking at these fools, Bin Black suppressed his rage:
"What are you standing there for!"
"Get out and work!"
The lieutenants didn't dare stay. They ran out hastily, fearing they might be the next unlucky one.....
Bin Black took a deep breath to calm his fury.
Swish——
Karol and Bullet appeared in the office in an instant.
Bin Black's eyes shot open; a dense surge of Armament Haki burst out, knocking the hand Karol tried to place on his shoulder aside.
"Who are you!!!"
He rose and activated the Twinkle-Twinkle Fruit's power along with Haki.
Bullet, looking at Bin Black whose whole body had turned into diamond, said to Karol:
"I told you it wouldn't work, didn't I."
Then he entered his blue Demon mode.
Karol spread his hands helplessly.
Across from them, Bin Black snorted coldly — he had already recognized Bullet.
Stamping his foot, the building shook violently.
Like a vicious beast, he became a streak of light and crashed toward Bullet.
The Twinkle-Twinkle Fruit itself transforms the user into extremely hard diamond, and anything less hard than diamond would be crushed and destroyed by the fruit's power.
Physical attacks were basically ineffective against him, and he possessed speed, strength, and hardness all at once.
He was practically the natural enemy of both close-combat and swordsmanship experts.
Even weaknesses like ice and fire could be resisted by the dense Haki covering his body.
Bullet had long understood the abilities of the Twinkle-Twinkle Fruit, but he still wanted to give it a try.
Pa——
Bullet also crashed forward with an Tekkai stance.
The explosive shockwave instantly destroyed the entire building.
A gust of air swept out with smoke and dust.
Karol had already disappeared—he couldn't let the power of the Warp-Warp Fruit be exposed so easily.
The two men staggered slightly back from the collision.
Bullet rubbed his shoulder, rolled his neck, and looked at Bin Black—who was a bit shorter than him but noticeably more muscular—with a grin.
"This is getting interesting."
"It really does... hurt a bit..."
A human body, of course, wasn't as hard as diamond. This wasn't a question of whether Haki was used or not—it was a matter of density.
The destructive power of the Twinkle-Twinkle Fruit penetrated into the body and exploded from within; an ordinary person's body would burst into a bloody mist the instant they made contact.
For the strong, covering themselves with Haki reduced the damage, but the intense pain would still affect their movements.
But for Bullet... it was nothing more than a long-forgotten sensation of pain. It didn't hinder his movements at all.
And... it was thrilling.
A bloodthirsty gleam flashed in his eyes as he stared at Bin Black.
Bin Black's eyes narrowed slightly. It was his first time seeing someone take his collision head-on.
Then again...
How could anyone go up against Garp if they didn't have something to show for themselves?
A man's name, like the shadow of a tree...
He was confident, but not arrogant. Even though his Devil Fruit ability was practically invincible against physical attacks, he didn't believe he could defeat Garp.
Bullet, sensing the pirates gathering in their direction with his Observation Haki, pulled out a mini missile and tossed it into the air.
Bzzzz——
In an instant, it expanded to the size of a house and began to fall.
Bullet and Bin Black locked eyes. Then Bullet suddenly let out a savage grin, his body leaning forward slightly.
"100 times speed..."
Pa!
A deafening sound rang out.
Bullet's hand clamped directly onto Bin Black's face.
Bin Black's thoughts couldn't even keep up.
"Wha..."
The two of them vanished from the island in the next instant...
Above the island, under the gaze of the pirates, the specially designed missile... erupted with a thunderous blast!
Half of the island was wiped out under the sweep of the mushroom cloud, turning to ash and smoke...
-----------
The fanfic is Finished on p@treon/tambeerg. 414 chapters in total