Inside the side hall, the joy and tears of reunion were still surging like a tide.
The n hugged each other, laughing and crying at the sa ti, their words tangled and incoherent.
Rouge watched the scene with a gentle smile. Under Reid's ridiculous yet considerate blood-mist umbrella, her eyes shimred with tears.
Just as the emotional atmosphere reached its peak, Max wiped his face clumsily with his sleeve. Still choking with sobs, he suddenly looked around and asked in a hoarse voice,
"By the way… where's that guy Bullet? I saw him at the banquet earlier. Wasn't he here? He's always the fiercest one in a fight. How could he miss sothing like this?"
The noisy room quieted for a mont.
Everyone instinctively began searching for the tall, imposing figure who always stood with his arms crossed and a challenging expression on his face.
Yes.
That battle maniac whose life goal was defeating Reid.
How could he possibly miss an occasion like this?
Roger's nose was still running, tears and snot mixing together.
"Stay away from . Don't get that on my clothes."
Reid showed very obvious resistance toward Roger. If Rouge had not been standing beside him, Reid would probably have wished Roger dead on the spot.
Reid's face showed little emotion. He did not answer Max directly.
"Who knows what dead end that lunatic has forced himself into this ti."
After tossing out that vague comnt, he turned and walked away. In the slightly puzzled gazes of the others, blood mist swirled around him. His figure dissolved quietly and vanished completely.
Only the small blood-mist umbrella protecting Rouge remained floating in the air.
Inside the Blood Prison Scroll.
At any ti, anywhere.
To be honest, Little Laurel… well… it is hard to find the right word for it.
"ROAR! Get out of my way!"
Bullet roared like a cannon.
His massive fist, wrapped in pitch-black Armant Haki, smashed forward again and again. Each strike shattered dozens, sotis hundreds, of skeletons into fragnts.
His dark armor was already covered with scratches and dents. His breathing was heavy. Sweat and blood mixed together as they dripped from his temples.
He fought tirelessly, destroying everything around him as if trying to vent the storm raging inside his chest.
But every skeleton he destroyed was quickly reshaped by the omnipresent blood mist. They silently reford and attacked him again.
Endless.
Repeating.
When he opened his eyes earlier, he found himself still standing in the sa place.
And then… no one paid attention to him anymore.
Was that acceptable?
Was that not an insult to their dear Bullet?
Could you tolerate that?
Well, Bullet certainly could not.
"Useless! Co out, Reid! Fight face to face!"
Bullet roared at the crimson sky. His voice echoed across the vast and eerie world.
No one answered.
At that mont, the blood mist in front of him slowly parted to both sides.
Reid stepped out from within it.
He looked exactly the sa as always. Hands in his pockets, posture relaxed, as if he were rely taking a casual walk.
He looked at the terrifying war machine standing before him.
Bullet.
Decades ago, Reid could confuse Bullet with a few careless words.
Decades later, he could still do the sa.
"Have you vented enough?" Reid asked calmly.
Bullet froze for a mont, his sharp gaze locking onto Reid.
"So you finally decided to show yourself? Good! Co fight !"
Reid ignored the burning battle spirit in his voice. Instead, he glanced at the skeletons around them, constantly being destroyed and reborn, and shook his head slightly.
"After all these years, you still vent your emotions through this kind of aningless destruction."
"Bullet… you really haven't improved at all."
Those words struck like a sharp spike, instantly piercing through every layer of Bullet's defenses.
No one understood Bullet better than Reid.
The reason Bullet had stayed with Roger's crew.
The reason he treated Reid as the rival he must surpass.
It was not only because of Reid's strength.
Deep down, he longed for recognition from this man.
Recognition from a true powerhouse.
Recognition from the one man he believed could defeat him.
Roger suddenly coughed from the sidelines sowhere in the narrative.
"Wait… I wasn't the only one? Huh? I think I'm getting sick."
But now, the evaluation he received was simple.
No improvent.
"You… what did you say?"
Bullet's pupils shrank with rage. The aura around him beca even more dangerous and unstable.
"You dare… you dare say I haven't improved?"
How much had he sacrificed to grow stronger?
Struggling through the hell of Impel Down.
Simulating battles with Reid in his mind again and again.
Pushing the powers of the Fusion Fruit to a new level.
Tempering his Haki.
Everything he did was for the day he could stand before Reid and defeat him.
To prove himself.
And yet in Reid's eyes he still had "no improvent"?
That contempt was more unbearable than any physical attack.
"Isn't it true?" Reid replied calmly, even allowing a trace of mockery to slip into his voice.
"Look at you now. How are you any different from when you were on the Oro Jackson?"
"You're still hot-tempered. Still relying on brute force and Devil Fruit power to charge forward recklessly."
"What do you think strength actually is?"
"Becoming physically stronger? Tougher?"
"Then charging around like a raging bull?"
"You've only beco smaller. And more cowardly, Bullet."
"You bastard. Who are you calling a coward?"
Bullet took a step forward.
Reid's crimson eyes remained completely calm.
"You see as the rival of your life. But you never understood why I'm strong."
"How could soone like that earn my respect?"
"And why should I take you seriously?"
"SHUT UP!"
Bullet completely lost control.
Every word Reid spoke was like a vicious curse, trampling his deepest obsession and pride into dust.
Does that sound familiar?
Of course it does.
The sa trick Reid once used against Judge was now being used against Bullet.
Reid's comntary echoed quietly in the background.
"Tell whether it works."
Black Haki erupted like flas within reach, instantly wiping out all the skeleton soldiers around them.
"I'LL TEAR YOU APART, REID!"
Bullet charged forward in a frenzy.
That punch carried all of his rage, humiliation, and power.
A strike capable of destroying the world.
Facing this terrifying blow, Reid simply stood there quietly.
He did not even take his hands out of his pockets.
His eyes remained calm.
Yet beneath that calm lay a deep exhaustion.
And loneliness.
He looked at the charging Bullet the way one might look at a noisy child who refused to grow up.
The wind stirred his hair.
Just as that devastating fist was about to strike the tip of his nose,
a quiet sigh slipped into the blood-filled air.
"Ah…"
Bullet's punch passed straight through Reid.
As if it had struck nothing but an illusion.
Reid's body rippled like a reflection on water before dissolving. A mont later, he reappeared several steps behind Bullet.
His hands were still in his pockets.
The mockery in his eyes had grown even deeper.
Bullet was stunned.
His fist was coated with Conqueror's Haki.
Wasn't Haki supposed to dominate everything?
Then again… back then, Reid had not fully mastered illusion techniques yet.
In all their previous battles, Bullet had always believed Reid simply moved fast enough to turn into an elent and evade attacks.
Old man.
If you keep thinking like that, you will never defeat Reid in this lifeti.
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