Chapter 114

As the dust settled down, Smoker walked up to Bullet. Both of them knew that judging by Bullet's rate of bleeding, he didn't have much time remaining.

"...Strength... rules over all," Said Bullet, weakly, "And victor... deserves everything."

Bullet read Smoker's intent. Then, sticking by his principles, Bullet opened his mouth, speaking his final words.

"After my outbreak 4 years ago... I have been defeated twice only. Apart from now, the other one who managed to win against me was..."

Bullet stared into the thin air, watching the replay of his past.

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"You've gotten stronger since then, eh Bullet?"

Unbelievable. Impossible. There existed nothing but disbelief in Bullet as he looked at his wounded body that didn't respond to his will. Next to him was Byrnndi World, having lost his consciousness. Raising his head up, Bullet gazed at the fellow whom he viewed as an unworthy nobody in the past,

"Blackbeard..."

Marshall D. Teach, commonly known as 'Blackbeard' today.

"Zehahaha! Why looking so surprised?! Is it really that strange for me to have hidden my strength?"

Nothing made sense from Bullet's perspective. In the past, he vividly recalled that Teach, being an apprentice of Whitebeard pirates whose age seemed similar to Shanks and Buggy, was stoic and non-responsive in character. Mysterious but uninteresting—that was the sole conclusion that Bullet made before setting his eyes off of him. And today, here he was, laughing in a way Bullet had never seen before, with his eyes burning brilliantly—harbouring an ambition of their own.

With a deep frown, Bullet glared at Teach, though he knew that it was futile. A loss was a loss nonetheless, even if...

"..." On Teach's side stood Shiryu, cleaning his blade without meeting Bullet in the eye.

...Teach played dirty to attain his victory.

"What do you want."

Upon hearing Bullet's words, Teach's grin widened. Then, he held his hand out to Bullet while crouching down,

"Zehaha, now we're talking!"

Bullet stared at Teach's outstretched hand in confusion. Teach said,

"Say, Bullet, isn't your goal to become the strongest? To stand on the very top of the world? I gotta say, I really like the sound of that!" Grabbing Bullet's floppy arm and shaking it forcibly, Teach narrowed his eyes viciously, "How about we form a temporary truce? Cuz ya know, I aim to host... the biggest war there ever has been in this world!"

Letting go of Bullet's arms and standing back up, Teach spread his arms wide open and shouted with vivid excitement in his tone.

"World Government, Marine, Revolutionary Army, Pirates, and all powerhouses belonging in this world will be forced to join!!! And only the strong will survive!!!"

Teach's eyes twinkled, and Bullet knew that Teach was being genuine. Bullet couldn't help but ask, "...How will you do that."

As if having expected such a question, Teach grinned wickedly,

"Ever heard of ancient weapons?"

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"...Fuck."

Standing in front of the dead body which used to be called 'Douglas Bullet' was Smoker, experiencing a headache from the newfound information.

'Blackbeard. I knew that he was a man of many secrets, but still. To what extent does he know?'

The plot has already deviated from the canon. Blackbeard has reached his primary goal much sooner than he was supposed to and is currently doing something under the eyes of the world.

And in addition, Dragon told him before,

<Something 4 isn't right, Smoker. Even if they're the Catastrophes who hold authority over New World, they shouldn't have enough money to continue a war of such scale for whole years. Consider this my suspicion, but there is possibility... that Big Mom and Kaidou aren't fighting each other in first place.>

The world has surprisingly been unmoving for the span of 4 years, with the exclusion of Smoker and Bullet's feats, along with Teach's rise. During this time, Smoker's time was spent finding a way to escape the eyes of the World Government, evacuating his group altogether, preventing the ongoing wrongdoings in Four Blues and Paradise of the Grand Line, and further raising his combat capability to prepare for the upcoming future. In the process of doing so, New World was naturally left outside of Smoker's scope of view.

And Smoker's instinct told him that something big was about to happen—one that would shake the entire world.

'...It's the time to enter the New World,' Thought Smoker before he shifted his eyes elsewhere, to the direction in which Maynard was busy fighting Byrnndi World.

__________

"No, no no no, this can't be." World, in the middle of dominating Maynard with strong attacks built by his fruit ability, snarled in a shaky tone, "BULLET!!! How the hell..."

Sweating profusely from the anxiety, he swung the gigantic blade he'd been holding at Maynard. The moment Maynard met the blade with his much smaller own, World enhanced his speed and flew at the unconscious Fisher Tiger, engulfed by panic, rage, and violent urges.

Maynard's eyes widened in panic, "SHIT—"

BOOM!

One individual, Jinbe, suddenly revealed himself, blocking World's punch with his arms. The sounds of Jinbe's bones cracking were heard, but Jinbe didn't flinch, and instead, glared at World with determination.

"You aren't touching a single hair of big brother Ti!!"

"Damn fish...!!!" World cursed before he was forced to turn around and raise his Haki-imbued arm to,

CLANG!

block an incoming saw-like blade, held by Arlong who held a murderous intent.

"DIE, HUMAN!!!" Arlong screamed before recklessly swinging his blade once more. World, not holding back, grabbed Arlong's saw-like blade with his bare hand and broke it with sheer grip strength. Then, before Arlong could react, slammed his other hand onto Arlong's saw-like nose, causing the nose to bend unnaturally.

"GAHHHH!!"

As Arlong expressed pain, World coated his forehead with Armament Haki and slammed it against Maynard's approaching blade. Maynard was knocked back from the sheer strength, and seizing the opportunity, Jinbe attempted to use his Fish-Man Karate, only to fail because of the severity of damage he took on his arms.

"Not..." Jinbe gritted his sharp teeth and tried raising his trembling arms again, "Not... yet...!!"

"NOTHING!!!" World shouted at this state, "Nothing ever goes as I wished...!!!"

BOOM!

World punched Maynard who guarded with his sword, only for his sword to break and him to be knocked back, due to World's punch suddenly accelerating. Not stopping, World turned around and blew air,

'More More Hundredfold Strength!'

before said air suddenly became a strong wind that blew Jinbe off his spot. World then proceeded to jump and stomp onto the lying Arlong,

BOOM!

"Kurgh...!!"

Causing Arlong to fall unconscious with his eyes whitened and his agape mouth spilling blood. Without stopping, World lifted a sword that he dropped previously and swung in an attempt to behead Arlong,

CLANG!

only for it to be blocked by Shanks who held his sword with his sole remaining hand, while huffed in fatigue but albeit with a smile.

"Dahaha... scared?"

Click.

Simultaneously, World heard a clicking sound nearby him. Turning to the direction where the sound came from, he saw Lucky Roux, leaning on top of a hard ground with a deep wound on him, aiming his rifle at World.

BANG!

World slapped the bullet away and growled in frustration. Looking the other way, he saw Neptune, his sons, and the slightly recovered guards coming his way. On the other direction, the fallen Red Hair pirates were rising back up, one by one, although weakened notably.

'Bullet... why the hell did you decide to come here in the first place?!!'

In this state, World cursed his already fallen companion.

'If only you decided to continue doing what we've been doing... I wouldn't have ended up in this situation!!!'

World raised his head and stared at Ryugu Palace above in a separate bubble layer. With his sight enhanced through the use of his fruit ability, he saw the huge mermaid princess, Shirahoshi, trying to hide her form behind a pillar.

'That's right... it's because of you...!!' World's eyes lit up in hatred. At the next moment, before anyone could react, he boosted his body before blasting himself off toward the Ryugu Palace,

"Shit—" Shanks flinched, and Neptune quickly realized what World was about to do.

"STOP HIM!!!" Prince Fukaboshi, the eldest son of Neptune, screamed desperately. However, they had no way to catch up to World.

From Ryugu Palace, Otohime saw the hatred in World's eyes. Upon watching, she, instead of becoming afraid, came to wonder,

'...Why? What have we done to you?'

"OTOHIME!!! SHIRAHOSHI!!!" Neptune shouted as he quickly boarded his flying whale, trying to catch up to World who was already high up in the sky.

'There are good people in the world, I know very well. But... there also are bad ones, ones so evil that a mere sight of them makes me puke...!'

With a smile that promises violence, World revealed a rock in his hand. Cocking it back, he then threw it,

"More More Hundredfold—"

or tried to throw it, before Smoker appeared right above him and crushed his rock-holding wrist under his grip. There was a crunching noise, and World's eyes widened in pain,

"AH—"

before World can scream, Smoker slammed the rock into World's mouth, effectively shutting the man down. Smoker then released the man, causing him to fall an incredible height all the way back down to the ground.

BOOM!

The dust arose, and into the dust flew Neptune who was riding his pet whale. His eyes, blazing in rage, promised pain as his form disappeared into the dust.

And as the dust cleared, everyone came to see one thing: Neptune stabbing World's chest with his trident.

"...Is it over?" Maynard asked, thinking that the situation had become clear.

"G-Gruhhh..."

Then, World began moving again, raising his fist above Neptune's head with an intent to crush it—

BOOOM!

—and then, a punch came in from World's side and slammed his cheek so hard that his face became disfigured and his brain exploded into a liquidy soup—ending his life. The owner of the punch was Smoker, who retracted his hand back and said to Maynard,

"Shut up, Maynard."

The battle has come to an end.

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Fisher Tiger. He found himself in the middle of his past, watching as he was tortured and ridiculed by Celestial Dragons—the vile humans who knew no boundaries.

'...What about my homeland...?'

The Fish Man island. How did I end up here again...

Fisher Tiger's mind drifted as he watched his past dully. Then, at one point, he jolted in realization,

'Douglas Bullet... Byrnndi World...!'

He anxiously looked to his left and right, as the scenery around him shifted from the accursed Mariejois to Fish Man island—one that was in ruins.

<BARORORO! >

Fisher Tiger remembered that he had been fighting World until Maynard's arrival. He began to think consciously,

'What happened after?! Is king Neptune and queen Otohime alive?! I—'

His eyes then opened, and found a wooden ceiling looking back at him. With heavy breathing, he sat up from the bed he was lying on. Wiping his sweat and calming his breath down, he checked his surroundings before standing back up by supporting his body against the nearby wall.

"Huff... huff..."

Anxiously, he opened the door. Outside, there were,

"Big bro Ti!"

"Big bro Ti! You're awake!"

Jinbe, Arlong, Aladine, Chew, Gyaro, and other members—all were present. In addition, there also were...

"Fisher Tiger... are you feeling better?"

Neptune, Otohime, other merfolks, and Red Hair pirates. It was the first time Fisher Tiger saw such a large gathering, but that wasn't what Fisher Tiger was surprised by.

"...You."

Fisher Tiger's eyes locked onto a human sitting among them: Smoker. Smoker, as he stared back at Fisher Tiger, said playfully,

"It's been a long time, heh."

"...Long time my ass," Grumbled Fisher Tiger in response.