Chapter 568: Method Actor
The abandoned Navy base was rushing up fast. Brett rolled his shoulders lazily and braced for the impact.
At that same instant, inside the base below —
Katakuri raised his head, brow furrowing slightly.
The floor around him melted and white mochi rose in coiling walls, wrapping around both him and his sister in a protective barrier.
Mihawk's mouth curved just slightly. He gave a quiet shake of his head.
And then.
BOOM.
The ceiling above shattered in an instant. Every floor it passed through was punched clean through. A meteor had fallen from above and driven itself straight into the center of the solid ground.
"What —"
Moria barely got the word out before the shockwave hit him full in the face and sent his enormous body cartwheeling through the air.
The entire Navy base collapsed in a moment. A violent gust tore up masses of rubble and ash and swallowed the whole island in a grey curtain. The blast wave rolled outward far enough to churn the sea around the island into heaving, crashing swells.
"Pfft — pbth — blech!"
Moria hauled himself out of the dust cloud, coughing and spitting grey grit. "What in the world just happened?"
"A meteor?"
CRASH.
A massive section of wall was punched into the air. And from beneath it, a tall figure rose.
Douglas Bullet — the man called the Demon Heir — stood there with pure, undisguised excitement blazing across his face.
His eyes hadn't blinked once since the impact. They were fixed on the center of the explosion.
There, in a massive crater, a human-shaped silhouette remained in the exact posture it had landed in — still mid-stretch.
"What just happened here?!"
White-robed figures came streaking in from the distance. The CP0 agents who had delivered Bullet and the others to this location had been about to depart by ship when the sudden explosion froze them in place.
"A monster has arrived."
The black wall around Katakuri gradually dissolved, reverting to white mochi that sank back into the ground. Katakuri stood there entirely unharmed. As he spoke, his right arm melted away, and a razor-edged trident extended outward from where it had been.
"Should I call this a pleasant surprise or an unpleasant one?"
Mihawk strolled over from a short distance away, barely a speck of dust on him. He held his black blade loosely at his side, but his face wore a wide and unguarded grin.
"No way —"
Moria was already putting the pieces together. His expression was shifting.
At the center of the blast, from inside the crater, a figure suddenly leaped upward and touched down on the ground with easy lightness.
"Sorry for interrupting your gathering," Brett said, brushing dust off his shoulders with a grin.
The dramatic sky-fall entrance had worked perfectly. The one downside was that dust had a way of getting into inconvenient places.
"But there are a few things I want to say."
Brett looked around. The people who had been blown away by the shockwave were all filtering back in and surrounding him.
"Would you be willing to step back from the World Government's side?" Brett's smile was easy and unhurried. "Whether you simply withdraw from the war or come over to our side instead — either works. I just don't want to see you standing with the government."
"Brett!!"
The CP0 agents' voices came out nearly as shrieks, their bodies visibly trembling. "What are you doing here?!"
Brett didn't spare them a glance. Reading their presence, they were CP0 officers of some rank — but not the strongest shield. Not worth his attention.
"So YOU'RE the strongest!!"
A massive shadow surged in and closed the distance in a heartbeat. The next instant it was right in front of Brett, an enormous fist wrapped in dense black Haki swinging in like a cannon shell aimed at his head.
"Easy."
Brett smiled and raised his left hand.
CRACK.
The shockwave alone — just the dispersing force of the blocked blow — made the entire island shudder, and Brett's hair was pressed nearly flat against his head. But Brett himself didn't move a single inch.
"...!!"
The Demon Heir's eyes went wide.
"Hear me out first."
Brett gave a casual flick of his arm. Bullet's enormous body launched skyward like a comet running in reverse and crashed down somewhere far away.
"Imu and the World Government he commands are already enough of a problem," Brett said without particular heat. "I'd prefer not to see him gain any more strength. So I'm asking — would you consider what I said?"
"Hey, hey — that is absurd power!" Pizarro's forehead was breaking out in cold sweat. He was laughing under his breath but his body was already quietly edging backward.
This was insane. Bullet had just been casually thrown away like trash. That one moment said everything about the kind of monster standing in front of them.
"And if we refuse?"
Mihawk was holding his black blade, the easy smile gone from his face.
"Then I'll just have to eliminate you here, before the war begins. Can't leave a ready-made reserve force in the government's hands." Brett sighed.
"Is that so?"
Mihawk's smile crept back — wider this time. The black blade tilted toward Brett.
"Honestly, I find myself rather hoping for that outcome." Mihawk's voice was light and honest. "Brett — show me. Show me exactly what the distance is between the strongest and where I stand."
Brett couldn't help his grin widening. Mihawk really was quite the actor.
"HAHAHAHA! YES! Fight me, strongest!!"
Wild laughter split the air. The whole island trembled under the sound of heavy footsteps, and something enormous came charging in from the distance.
A colossal robot — short legs, but arms of tremendous thickness. Bullet had activated his Merge-Merge Fruit ability. By the size of it, this was his mid-range Bullet form.
Brett's mouth curved. "The strongest, you say. Fine — then let me show you what that actually looks like."
He snapped his fingers, then called out softly. "Hades."
The microphone clipped to his collar caught his voice and sent it through the specialized communication device up to the colossal presence waiting in the sky above.
Then.
A rumble rolled down from the clouds.
"That's —"
Moria looked up, and the color drained from his face instantly.
Something enormous tore through the cloud layer and came diving down.
When it broke through and showed itself clearly, he could see what it was.
A gigantic steel bird.
And then, from its wings, light fell.
BOOM.
The sea began to boil.