In the room where the highest decision-makers of the entire sea openly issued orders, a meeting that had swept across Ohara and was about to influence the future of the world was nearing its end.
The Gorosei, having reached a consensus, turned their gazes toward Spandine, who was kneeling on the ground.
"Spandine, this mission is entrusted to you."
"If the outcome fails to satisfy us, your head will be the first to be thrown into the garbage bin of the Holy Land."
Spandine's teeth chattered, the grinding sound clearly audible.
His right hand suddenly twitched convulsively, then quickly returned to its original position, as if resisting some invisible current.
Spandine prostrated himself, knocking his forehead against the ground.
"This subordinate… will do his utmost!"
…
The moment the door closed, Spandine collapsed against the corridor wall like a puppet whose strings had been 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 with interrogation, Spandine did not even know when Olvia had vanished.
In order to cover up his own work blunder, he chose to conceal this information.
In his view, lofty power holders like the Gorosei probably did not even know the existence of a small fry like Olvia.
And it turned out to be true.
During the meeting, the Gorosei had not inquired about the archaeological team's situation at all.
Spandine staggered out of Pangea Castle.
The CP9 members were already waiting outside for him. Seeing Spandine in such a miserable state, they quickly stepped forward to help him, but Spandine angrily pushed them away.
"You bunch of useless trash! You can't even interrogate a prisoner!"
"Now! Immediately! Draft the Buster Call application!"
"And… contact Marineford for me!"
"Hurry!"
…
"Eh? Good luck today."
Black looked at the card he had just drawn inside the System Space: Douglas Bullet (adult stage).
This was Bullet in his forties, after his prison break in the movie timeline.
If it had been before, drawing a card of this level would not necessarily be considered lucky.
However, the current Black was no longer the same as before.
Having mastered Observation Haki capable of future sight, Armament Haki with internal destruction, and possessing Conqueror's Haki, he now held one of the strongest combat powers below the level of Admirals and Emperors.
As long as the opponent was not a powerhouse whose mind, body, and technique had all reached their peak, Black could fight them head-on.
And Douglas Bullet was exactly the kind of opponent he needed.
Bullet's Armament Haki and Observation Haki had not yet reached the stage of advanced application.
However, his Armament Haki possessed enormous quantity and wide coverage.
Furthermore, Bullet was called 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 had not reached the level of Conqueror's Haki Infusion, Conqueror's Haki played only a limited role in battles between top-tier powerhouses.
Bullet's physique was extremely powerful, his combat techniques had been honed to perfection, and his Combine-Combine Fruit had already been developed to the awakened stage.
Overall, he was stronger than both Doflamingo and Katakuri, who had also awakened their Devil Fruits.
He could also be considered one of the strongest fighters below the level of Admirals and Emperors.
"Truly a well-matched opponent."
"System, enter battle."
In an instant, Black's figure vanished and reappeared on a deserted island.
Black frowned slightly.
"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.
Black swung his long sword, drawing a silver arc of light.
In the distance, a tall figure—Bullet—was already 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 starting?"
Bullet did not respond and immediately began to unleash his abilities.
His right arm, infused with Armament Haki, suddenly swelled to three times its original size, while wreckage from broken buildings erupted from underground and adhered to his body like living organisms.
Within three seconds, a fifty-meter-tall steel giant had taken shape.
The giant's chest suddenly split open into a honeycomb array of gun muzzles.
A 360-degree storm of bullets instantly covered the entire coastline without blind spots.
Black's figure twisted and flashed between the bullet trajectories, dodging and weaving effortlessly with his future-sight Observation Haki.
For the bullets he could not dodge, Black precisely cleaved them apart with his blade.
"Try using a different Devil Fruit."
"Your awakened ability looks like a living scrap yard."
The entire round of bullet hell failed to harm Black in the slightest.
Bullet plunged his right hand into the ground and violently lifted it.
The entire reef coastline assimilated into a massive metallic wave that surged toward Black like a tsunami.
It was coated in an enormous amount of Armament Haki, which surprised Black somewhat.
Although Black's Armament Haki could achieve a similar effect, he relied on ability cards from the system space to cheat.
Bullet, on the other hand, had achieved it purely through his own training.
"This guy left the ship too early."
"If he had mastered the advanced applications of Haki, becoming one of the Four Emperors would definitely have been within reach."
As the attack approached, Black stopped thinking further.
He held his sword in his right hand while clenching his left fist.
Armament Haki began to swirl around his fist.
Unlike Bullet's all-encompassing Armament Haki, Black's was clearly far more condensed.
He slammed his fist directly into the approaching metallic wave.
The internal destruction property of his Armament Haki seeped through the steel.
The nearly hundred-meter-high wave wall instantly disintegrated into iron sand just as it was about to swallow Black.
"You wouldn't think I only have one usable hand like that red-haired guy, would you?"
Bullet's body erupted with purple-black Haoshoku fluctuations mixed with chilling Ghost Qi.
Black's boots sank two inches into the sand.
He glanced down.
"Conqueror's Haki infused with Ghost Qi really is powerful."
"However…"
Black's dark red Conqueror's Haki surged skyward from within him.
"This move is useless against me!"
Twelve chains suddenly shot out from between the giant's fingers.
At the end of each chain was the head of a metallic giant snake.
Black leaped upward and dashed along the chains.
Suddenly, his pupils contracted.
In the future he foresaw through Observation Haki, he saw himself bound by the chains.
Black instantly closed his eyes.
When he reopened them, every attack trajectory appeared as red dashed lines in his vision.
"Found you."
The long sword in his hand twisted backward at an unnatural angle.
Each strike precisely struck the weak points of the metallic giant.
When the seventh strike landed, the steel giant began to collapse.
Black's final thrust pierced Bullet's left rib.
The internal destruction property of his Armament Haki shattered Bullet's defenses instantly.
As the giant turned into a pile of scrap metal, an old-looking dog tag fell from the sky and landed in Black's hand.
Black raised an eyebrow.
"This AI Bullet is quite realistic."
Black waved his hand to disperse the thick smoke.
He saw Bullet kneeling on one knee inside a ten-meter-deep sand pit.
Blood seeped from the wound on his left rib, yet he still struggled to stand.
Black twirled his sword before sheathing the blade.
"He's still not dead?"
Before he finished speaking, metal spikes suddenly rose from the ground.
Black immediately jumped backward to dodge, but the edge of his cloak was torn.
After landing, he glanced at the damaged corner of his cloak and sighed.
"Do you know how expensive this cloak is?"
With that, Black flashed behind Bullet and punched him in the back of the head.
Bullet's figure slowly dissipated into dust.