Chapter 570: Incoming
"What just happened?!"
Moria could barely believe his eyes.
Brett had simply raised his hand, used his Haki to detonate Bullet's arm from the inside — despite it being wrapped in powerful Haki of its own — and then moved so fast no one could track him, appearing at the chest of Bullet's giant form in an instant, tearing open the reinforced outer hull like paper, and pulling Bullet out of the machine bare-handed.
"AAAAAGH!!"
Bullet screamed.
He was a man of iron will — someone who had grown up on the battlefield of the Kingdom of Bounties since childhood, fighting and killing to survive from the very beginning. He had long since stopped screaming from mere pain like a child.
But what was happening to him now was something else entirely.
Being ripped out of the merged state by force was the equivalent of having his arms and legs torn off his body all at once.
And now Brett was holding him by the head, and brutal Haki was pouring into him without the slightest restraint. Internal destruction Armament — the same power that could shatter steel from the inside — surged through him, and the Haki Bullet threw up in resistance collapsed instantly. In the span of a single blink, his body was wrecked inside and out.
"I told you not to rush at me." Brett tossed Bullet onto the ground without ceremony. "At least understand the gap between us first."
Catarina Devon stared with her mouth open.
What kind of power was that?
He had just one-shotted Bullet. This man was the Demon Heir — a monster-class fighter who had been famous throughout the world long before his imprisonment. And Brett had put him on the ground like it was nothing.
The gap was enormous.
Even if the Pirate King came back to life, even if Whitebeard returned to his peak, they couldn't have done that. She had been locked away for years, and in that time the world had changed to a degree she simply couldn't comprehend. Was this what CP0 meant when they called him the strongest?
There was no fighting someone like this. He wouldn't even be tickled.
"Truly staggering power!" Mihawk couldn't help but exclaim. "But then — to deserve the title of the strongest, it would have to be exactly that!"
He was performing, yes. But his reaction in that moment wasn't only a performance.
Brett, that is genuinely absurd. You're even stronger than when we last met — or rather, incomparably stronger than before.
"In that case, there doesn't seem to be any point in resistance." Katakuri calmly retracted his trident. His expression was composed.
Behind him, his sister Brûlée rolled her eyes so slightly it was almost invisible. Brother Katakuri really was a fine actor.
"I surrender!" Pizarro was the first to raise both hands, stepping forward ahead of everyone else. "Brett-sama, the World Government is nothing but fools! You are the one who should be ruling this world!"
The strongest individual power in the world, plus the strongest weapon currently circling overhead — how was anyone supposed to beat that combination? If you can't beat them, join them.
Brett felt a quiet headache coming on. This was going to make it hard to stall.
Fortunately, a good friend chose that exact moment to step up.
"The power gap is obvious to everyone here — overwhelming, clearly. But that is precisely why I cannot tell myself it's over without testing it myself at least once."
Mihawk walked forward until he stood before Brett, great black blade in hand. "Without crossing swords with the strongest even once, I wouldn't be able to rest easy even in hell."
He glanced at Brett and winked.
The others couldn't help but look at Mihawk with a measure of respect. Challenging this man under these circumstances — if he wasn't a lunatic, then he was genuinely remarkable.
"Is that so." Brett gave a quiet nod. His good friend had given a fine performance. He could hardly fall short himself.
"Perhaps I haven't shown quite enough yet." He beckoned toward Mihawk with a mildly exasperated look. "Come on then. Let me see what you've got."
"The honor is mine!"
Mihawk's mouth curved, and in the next instant it was as though the very space between them was cut apart. With a single step he was already standing directly in front of Brett.
The black blade blazed with an unsettling green light as it came down in a full strike aimed straight at Brett.
Katakuri's expression became faintly strange.
This doesn't look like acting.
Mihawk was clearly using this as an actual opportunity to test himself against Brett.
Brett had noticed the same thing.
Fine by him. His good friend had gone along with the performance this long — it was only fair to give something back.
Brett reached out his hand.
CLANG.
A clean, sharp ring of impact. Mihawk's body was launched backward, his great sword swinging high into the air and nearly flying from his grip.
"What extraordinary power!" he said, and he meant it entirely.
"Your swordsmanship is equally remarkable." Brett smiled and shook out his hand.
His Haki had advanced to an entirely new level. Even Mihawk's full-force strike was not especially difficult to deal with.
"Don't flatter me!"
Mihawk laughed, and the next second he was standing before Brett again. Then a storm of slashes swallowed Brett completely.
Mihawk swung the heavy blade with a speed that left countless arcing green trails across the air, overlapping and connecting until they seemed to form a single enormous sphere of light.
So fast.
But.
Ding ding ding ding ding ding!
Clear, sharp notes rang out in rapid succession.
Mihawk's eyes gradually widened.
He was already swinging as fast as he could push himself. But this was his limit.
Someone else was faster. Much faster.
Brett's hands kept moving outward, tapping against the flat and spine of the blade at precise moments and deflecting every strike away.
For all the spectacle of Mihawk's assault, the blade had not landed once.
"I think that's probably enough, don't you?" Brett said pleasantly.
In a contest of reaction speed, he would not lose to anyone on the sea.
His right hand reached through the storm of sword strikes and came to rest on Mihawk's shoulder.
Mihawk's movement stopped immediately. He let out a quiet, resigned sigh.
Was the gap truly that wide?
But his expression recovered quickly. When he looked at Brett again, the fire in his eyes had come back already.
Brett smiled.
This man would never stop. A brief defeat only became the next summit he intended to climb.
"Anyone else?" Brett turned and looked around at everyone assembled. "Any further objections?"
Katakuri said nothing. The fiercely proud Pirate Empress stood with her arms folded and kept her silence as well.
It seemed the dust had settled.
But just at that moment —
"I have an objection."
Brett looked up.
Here we go.