Blinding arcs of lightning tore across the skies above the island, sometimes condensing into blades that slashed down from the heavens.
The source of it all was Ortoren, standing on the beach. His arms were slightly raised in front of him, palms facing upward, as waves of thunderous energy surged endlessly from his hands. It was as if he were charging the sky itself.
In the distance, Bullet's upper body was completely wrapped in Armament Haki, his figure blackened and hardened. His massive arms swung furiously, shattering the lightning bolts crashing toward him without pause.
Ortoren had no intention of using his warhammer—he hadn't even brought it this time.
This fight had two purposes for him: one was to avenge G-5 and protect the clients Bullet hadn't yet slaughtered. The other was to make Bullet his test subject. Yes, he was that arrogant. From the very beginning, Ortoren never saw defeating someone like Bullet as difficult. His confidence in victory was absolute, born from his own power. And now, he intended to use Bullet as the proving ground for all the years he had spent developing his Devil Fruit ability—his ultimate real combat experiment.
"These pointless attacks won't work on me no matter how many you throw!!!" Bullet roared, swinging his arms and tearing apart the thunder as thick as serpents.
"The real show's only just starting, trash..." Ortoren answered easily, smiling.
As his words fell, the ground beneath him began to tremble as if stirred by some invisible force. Gravel lifted and sank as though being sifted. Soon, the golden sand grew darker, mingling with countless heavier particles.
Iron sand—metallic grains buried deep beneath the island.
Under the immense electromagnetic pull of the Goro Goro no Mi, the hidden iron sand surged upward, gathering at Ortoren's feet in endless streams.
Bullet's eyes flickered with surprise at the sight. He stopped resisting the lightning bolts still raining down, then stomped hard and smashed through several bolts as he hurled his massive frame straight toward Ortoren.
At the same time, Ortoren changed his stance. Instead of releasing lightning skyward, he swept his arm forward. Instantly, waves of iron sand surged up as if obeying his command, forming a massive curtain before him.
Bullet's fist crashed into it, shattering the thick barrier in one blow. But before he could savor his strike, the iron sand whipped upward in a spiraling torrent, climbing his arm and coiling across his body.
The spiraling sand generated crushing friction. His Haki-covered arm screeched with a piercing shrill as it rubbed against the rapidly grinding layers of iron sand.
"Looks like your Haki training is decent enough," Ortoren remarked with a raised brow.
If it hadn't been, if his Haki had given way, his entire arm would already have been torn apart.
"Is this little trick your big weapon!?" Bullet snapped, fury boiling at how little Ortoren seemed to take him seriously—his tone, his expression, all of it.
"Gloam Paddling!" Ortoren's palm sparked, sending a surge of lightning into the iron sand.
In an instant, the layer of sand clinging to Bullet's arm hardened under searing heat, solidifying like iron shackles around him.
Bullet didn't care. Planting his feet, he burst forward, smashing through another iron sand barrier and closing the distance in the blink of an eye. His iron-coated arm shot forward in a brutal straight punch aimed at Ortoren's face.
"This means nothing to me!!!"
Ortoren slid lightly across the sand, his body flashing with electricity. In the next heartbeat, he vanished from Bullet's sight.
That was the speed of the Goro Goro no Mi.
Bullet's Observation Haki reacted instantly. His head snapped upward, and his eyes locked onto Ortoren—already floating in the air above him.
"Cast iron..." Ortoren murmured softly.
The moment he spoke, the dense iron sand around Bullet surged, wrapping tightly around him from every direction, leaving no escape.
Bullet swung his arms wildly, trying to scatter the iron sand, but under electromagnetic control, his efforts were useless. Within just a few breaths, his body was completely engulfed. At that instant, Ortoren's lightning struck, coursing through the countless grains of iron sand. In the blink of an eye, the scattered particles fused into one mass.
Bullet was forcibly sealed into an iron sculpture!
"One... two..." Ortoren silently counted.
He never even reached three before the 'iron statue' exploded into shards. Bullet burst out unscathed, glaring furiously at Ortoren, his face twisted with humiliation. "Bastard, you—"
Ortoren ignored his curses, instead stroking his chin and muttering to himself, "Just as I thought, too flashy. Against anyone with decent strength, it's useless. Better to cut it from future development..."
With a snap of his fingers, the shattered iron fragments shot skyward. For a moment, it looked as though Ortoren had eaten the Fuwa Fuwa no Mi. A dazzling flash of lightning crackled across the sky, and when the fragments reappeared, they had all been reforged into sharp metallic spikes.
Hundreds of spikes floated behind Ortoren, linked together by a dense electric web that radiated overwhelming power.
"This move will be called Thunder Rain..." Ortoren named it on the spot, smiling down at Bullet from above.
As his words fell, the electric web spun, empowering each spike before hurling them down like a torrential storm.
Confident in his body, Bullet crossed his arms, coating them with Haki to block the attack. But the moment the first spike slammed into him, sharp pain shot through his arm. He instantly realized—his Haki had been pierced, and the muscle beneath had been torn!
No time to think. Before the rain of spikes could bury him, Bullet unleashed a violent surge of energy. He too was a Devil Fruit user—the Paramecia-type Gasha Gasha no Mi!
The spikes, though devoid of gunpowder, erupted one after another in explosions. Smoke and fire consumed the beach, completely shrouding Bullet's figure.
From above, Ortoren studied the aftermath, gauging the destructive force. He muttered, "Not bad. Feels a bit like a cluster-style railgun. But controlling this many electromagnetic fields at once is too much—the calculations overwhelm me, so the power drops too far... If I want real power, I'll need fewer projectiles. A single electromagnetic railgun shot is still the strongest."
As he thought this, the few remaining spikes behind him were smelted by lightning into a larger iron cone, electromagnetic fields coiling thick around it, building to unleash.
But moments later, Ortoren waved it off, dispersing the energy. That strike would have been overkill—its force might rival a true railgun. What if it actually killed Bullet?
He still had plenty of abilities to refine and hadn't shown them yet. He couldn't afford to waste such a valuable test subject.
When the smoke cleared, the beach looked as though it had been hit by cluster bombs. The scorching heat had fused parts of the sand into jagged crystallized formations, leaving the ground scarred and uneven.
At Bullet's position, however, a massive mound had risen, like a fortress formed from some alloy fused with sand, completely sealed shut.
Inside, Bullet stared at the wound on his arm, his expression grim. If he hadn't reacted in time, that bombardment would've left him gravely wounded.
"This gradual progression... That bastard's using me to test his abilities?" Bullet's eyes burned with anger as he spoke.