Kai quietly watched the massive man with dark red skin.
The man looked to be in his twenties, right in the prime of his strength. Even from a distance, Kai could clearly feel the brutal pressure radiating from him.
Strong.
Very strong.
This was an extremely dangerous powerhouse.
Even Donquixote Doflamingo had not given off a presence as frightening as this man's.
That conclusion was not a small one.
Doflamingo was the young master of the Donquixote Family, a great pirate with a bounty of 340 million berries. His strength was beyond question. With his awakened Devil Fruit, he already stood among the top fighters of the sea.
Yet now, in the Kingdom of Alabasta, Kai had encountered someone who seemed even more dangerous than Doflamingo.
Even Kai found it strange.
"Who is he?"
"Why does he feel familiar?"
Kai frowned slightly, searching his memory.
A man capable of giving off a stronger pressure than Doflamingo could not possibly be ordinary. There was no way someone like this was unknown.
He had to be a famous top-tier fighter of the sea.
Kai simply had not remembered his identity yet.
"Why would a monster of this level come to Alabasta?"
"For the Ancient Weapon Pluton?"
"Or for Crocodile?"
Kai's thoughts moved quickly.
Those were the only two possibilities he could think of.
Other than that, there should be nothing in a poor desert kingdom like Alabasta that could attract a fighter of this level.
Across the entire sea, there were only a handful of people whose strength clearly surpassed Doflamingo's.
Anyone stronger than Doflamingo was already near the level of a Marine Admiral, below only the monsters at the very top of the world.
And from this red-skinned man, Kai could feel exactly that kind of pressure.
"His destination seems to be Alubarna."
"Then his target is most likely Crocodile."
"Is he here to challenge Crocodile? Or to work with him?"
Kai narrowed his eyes.
After noticing this man, Kai temporarily set aside his original plan to find Crocodile.
His attention had shifted.
Powerhouses of this level were rare.
Since he had encountered one, he naturally wanted to see what would happen.
His blood stirred faintly. His eyes sharpened, and the violent instincts buried in his body seemed eager to rush forward and fight this man right now.
Kai exhaled softly and suppressed the heat rising in his chest.
Now was not the time.
First, he needed to confirm the man's identity.
Only then would he decide whether to make a move.
Seeing the red-skinned man heading toward Alubarna, Kai followed behind, keeping him within sight.
A moment later, Kai vanished from where he stood.
The shady figures hiding nearby, who had been eyeing him with bad intentions, suddenly felt chills crawl up their backs.
Only after seeing Kai disappear did they realize what kind of person they had almost targeted.
That child they had taken for easy prey…
Was terrifying.
A forbidden existence they had absolutely no right to provoke.
Thinking of that, their faces turned pale with fear.
Fortunately, they had not attacked.
Otherwise, they would already be dead.
"These days, even a five-year-old kid can't be underestimated!"
"The times have changed."
"Who would have thought a child that young could be such a monster?"
"Exactly…"
"Good thing we didn't touch him. Otherwise, we wouldn't even know how we died."
"A monster like that coming to Alabasta… who knows whether that's good or bad."
While those men trembled in the shadows, Kai continued following the red-skinned man.
The man seemed to have sensed him.
However, he did not care.
It was as though Kai was nothing more than a small fry trailing behind him.
"I've been underestimated."
Kai's expression became playful.
He did not mind.
The red-skinned man's route was also leading toward Alubarna, the capital of Alabasta.
The closer they got to the capital, the more expectant Kai became.
By now, he was almost certain.
This terrifying man had come for Crocodile.
"An enemy of Crocodile?"
"Or an ally?"
"But I've never heard of Crocodile having allies."
Kai thought it over.
According to the intelligence gathered by Marine Headquarters, Crocodile had always been a lone wolf. He had no true partners.
That ruled out cooperation.
If the man was not an ally, then he was probably an enemy.
At the very least, the two were not on friendly terms.
As he followed, Kai finally got a clear look at the man's appearance.
Long, curly blond hair.
A massive, muscular body.
Dark red skin.
Rough, wild features.
A pair of deep, violent eyes, like a beast had been locked inside him and was barely being restrained.
The moment Kai saw his face clearly, the answer surfaced in his mind.
He finally recognized him.
So that was it.
No wonder he had seemed familiar.
It had not been an illusion.
Kai had indeed seen this man before.
Not in person.
But in the archives of Marine Headquarters.
He had once read this man's file there, including his identity and records.
That was why Kai had felt the face was familiar, even if he had not remembered the name immediately.
Now, after seeing him clearly, Kai recalled the file.
And that file had not been stored in an ordinary archive.
It was in one of the highest-level confidential sections.
That alone showed how dangerous this man was.
Only a few people in the world had information filed at that level.
"I didn't expect to meet him here."
"What a surprise."
Kai's mood grew more interested.
This man's name was…
Douglas Bullet.
A name that had once shaken the sea.
A terrifying powerhouse.
A true top-tier monster.
And more importantly, he had once been a member of the Pirate King's crew.
In his life, he had only ever lost to one man.
Gol D. Roger.
Other than Roger, Bullet had almost never known defeat.
It was said that even Silvers Rayleigh, the Pirate King's right hand, had never truly defeated him. Their clashes had only ended without a clear winner.
That alone was enough to show how frightening Bullet was.
Even among the monster-filled crew of the Pirate King, Douglas Bullet was an abnormal existence.
In his early years, he had joined Roger's ship.
But after learning that Roger was terminally ill, he left the Roger Pirates.
And after Roger's death, Bullet went completely berserk.
From then on, the sea had one more uncontrollable monster.
Douglas Bullet.
Marines and pirates alike became his targets.
He hunted them all.
The sea was thrown into chaos because of one man, and even Marine Headquarters had been deeply troubled by him.
More than once, the Marines had wanted to capture Bullet and throw him into Level Six of Impel Down, the Eternal Hell.
A monster like him absolutely qualified to be imprisoned there.
Unfortunately, after all these years, the Marines had never found a proper chance to capture him.
"Demon Heir, Douglas Bullet."
"A former member of the Pirate King's crew…"
"Even in the old era, he was a famous top-level powerhouse."
"And now, in this new era, he has probably become even stronger."
Kai stared deeply at Bullet's back.
He had never expected to meet a former member of the Pirate King's crew here in Alabasta.
Now that he had confirmed Bullet's identity, he became even more certain of his earlier guess.
Bullet had come for Crocodile.
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