Roar!!!
The sound wave turned into a physical shock. The cannonballs in front of him exploded midair before they could even reach him.
And right behind that blast of sound came a domain of dragon might mixed with budding Conqueror's Haki.
Invisible ripples spread outward from the black dragon at the center.
The first wave swept over the two nearest escort ships.
Every pirate on deck froze at the same time.
Their eyes rolled back, foam spilled from their mouths, and they collapsed like wheat under a scythe.
Only a handful of officer level fighters managed to stay on their feet, faces chalk white, knees trembling uncontrollably.
The second wave washed across the middle pair of warships.
Even more bodies fell.
Some of the stronger pirates did not pass out, but they had lost all will to fight. They slumped to the deck, shaking like leaves in a storm.
The third wave rolled through.
Thud, thud, thud...
The sound of bodies dropping came one after another.
Out of a five hundred man fleet, fewer than ten were still conscious after that single roar.
Doro was barely holding himself up. Blood leaked from his ears, nose, and eyes as he sank down onto one knee.
Horror dawned on him as he felt his shark form starting to falter under the pressure.
This was the primal fear of a lower predator facing something from the true top of the food chain.
"Impossible... this Haki... this pressure..."
He forced his head up, trembling.
In the sky above, the black dragon slowly lowered its head, crimson eyes fixing on him.
Bullet took stock of himself in that moment.
With the full version of his complete beast form, his power had skyrocketed.
That last roar had carried both dragon might and the seed of Conqueror's Haki, and the result was far beyond what he had expected.
He noticed that faint wisps of life energy were leaking from the bodies of the unconscious pirates.
That was their shaken, scattered essence.
The devouring instinct stirred faintly, but Bullet held it back.
This was not the time to feed, and swallowing a pile of small fry at once would hardly give him anything worth mentioning.
"Test complete."
The dragon's low voice rumbled across the sea, each syllable making the surface shudder.
He beat his wings.
The storm kicked up by a four hundred meter wingspan flipped two of the smaller escort ships outright.
They spun helplessly at the edge of the whirlpools, then were sucked down into the depths.
The pirates' screams were swallowed by the roar of the maelstroms.
Doro's eyes bulged.
"My ships!"
"Bastard!"
He forced his Devil Fruit power to its limit, body swelling as he transformed into a twenty meter long megalodon.
Even so, compared to the three hundred meter black dragon, he was pitifully small.
The shark burst from the water, its saw toothed jaws gaping wide as it lunged for the dragon.
Bullet did not even bother to use his claws.
He simply swung his tail.
The massive tail came down like a falling mountain.
Boom!!!
The impact caught Doro full on. It was like being hit by a train at full speed.
He heard his own bones shatter all at once. His consciousness blurred.
The shark form was ripped away, his body shrinking back to human as he was sent flying, crashing through three decks of his own flagship before he finally smashed into the sea, his fate uncertain.
The battle was over.
From the moment Bullet went full beast to the moment Doro fell, less than a minute had passed.
Six warships: two sunk, four crippled.
Five hundred pirates: four hundred ninety unconscious, the remainder broken and useless.
The black dragon descended slowly onto Doro's flagship.
The hundred meter warship groaned under his weight, the waterline plunging as the hull lurched lower into the sea.
Bullet dropped the beast form.
The three hundred meter body shrank rapidly back to human size.
Bare chested, he stood on the shattered deck, surrounded by pirates lying sprawled in every direction.
The Oro Jackson eased up alongside.
Silence hung over her.
Every crewmember stared at the scene, stunned.
Shanks was the first to break it.
He jumped across to the enemy ship, walked up beside Bullet, looked at the unconscious pirates, then at the distant escort ships still sinking into the whirlpools.
"That was Conqueror's Haki, right?"
His voice came out a little dry.
"And dragon might."
Bullet answered calmly.
"My Haki is not at that level yet."
Roger landed on the enemy deck as well, laughing as he smacked Bullet's shoulder.
"Good kid!"
"Now the lot of them in the New World will not be sleeping easy!"
"Hahahaha!"
Rayleigh was the last to step aboard.
He studied Bullet carefully.
"Your Conqueror's Haki..."
"Has started to sprout."
Bullet focused inward.
Sure enough, during that full power outburst earlier, he had felt something besides the black core pulsing near his heart.
A different force.
The mark of a king.
"Alright, back to the ship."
Roger waved a hand.
"Fish Doro out of the water, we can at least trade him in for some drink money."
"As for these ships... forget it, let them figure out the rest on their own."
Back on the Oro Jackson, the way the crew looked at Bullet changed completely.
If before there had been respect and fear, now there was something close to awe.
On these seas, strength ruled. That was the iron law.
And the power Bullet had just displayed... was firmly in the territory of monsters.
Buggy hunched in a corner and whispered to Shanks,
"A... are we really sailing on the same ship as that monster..."
Shanks' eyes, on the other hand, were shining.
"Of course."
"With Mister Bullet around, our adventures are going to be way more amazing."
That night, the storm passed and the stars came out.
Bullet sat alone at the stern, looking down at his hands.
The feeling of the full complete beast form still echoed in his muscles, the intoxicating sense of absolute control over overwhelming force.
"But it is still not enough."
He said quietly.
Someone like Doro could no longer provide him with real nourishment.
He needed stronger opponents, more battles, higher quality prey.
Deeper in the New World, great pirates held their own domains.
Whitebeard, Golden Lion, Big Mom, Kaido...
And the powerhouses of Marine Headquarters...
"They will all be mine."
Crimson light flickered across Bullet's eyes for a heartbeat.
In the distance, Rayleigh stood in the shadows, watching him.
He held a freshly organized bundle of papers in his hand.
Information on strongholds across the New World, places where monsters gathered.
"Looks like it is time to arrange some special training for him."
Rayleigh murmured, a meaningful smile curving his lips.
Under the starlit sky, the Oro Jackson sailed ever deeper into the New World.
And from that night onward, the legend of the black dragon began to spread across those seas.