Douglas Bullet rubbed his newly freed wrists, excitement overflowing across his face.
"Hahahaha! I'm finally free!"
He looked at Aizen Sōsuke with arrogant disdain.
"Since you helped me out, I'll let it slide this time! Now get out of my way!"
The moment his words fell, a terrifying aura—like an ancient beast awakening—erupted from Bullet's body.
Don't be fooled by the fact he'd been locked in Infinite Hell for more than twenty years.
He had been secretly training the entire time, pushing his body and will to the limit.
Right now, he was close to perfection… stronger than he had been when he was first imprisoned.
To him, someone like Aizen—some "youngster" with a strange Devil Fruit—wasn't even worth acknowledging.
Bullet strode toward the exit of the cell.
Before leaving, he intended to return Impel Down a proper gift…
He was going to reduce this place to rubble.
"Did I say… you could leave?"
The next second, Bullet froze in place.
BOOM!
Under Aizen's cold gaze, a spiritual pressure surpassing Captain-class erupted without restraint, crushing down on Bullet like a falling sky.
"Oh… and this stuff too. You call it Conqueror's Haki, right?"
Aizen spoke as if casually commenting on the weather.
But before Bullet's horrified eyes, red lightning crackled across the air.
A wave of overwhelming Conqueror's Haki swept outward.
In that moment, Bullet felt the world overturn… everything shattering… and only Aizen standing alone in the ruins of creation.
"You awakened Conqueror's Haki?"
He couldn't believe it.
He was certain—Aizen didn't have this just moments ago!
Aizen let out a faint, dismissive laugh.
"Isn't this the sort of thing you pick up just by watching it once?"
"…Hah?"
If it were anyone else, Bullet would've thought it was a joke.
But coming from Aizen… it was simply the truth.
Not mockery.
Just pure, devastating humiliation.
Some people in this world are born beyond logic.
And even among those, Aizen stood at the very peak.
"Hmph… fine. Let's say you're a once-in-a-century genius! Don't expect me to bow my head!"
"I'll break out of here with my own hands!"
Armament Haki wrapped around Bullet's entire body.
Then the power sank deeper—merging into his flesh—turning his skin a strange blue-violet.
"Demon Heir form!"
His signature battle stance.
One that drastically boosted his speed and strength.
This was why people called him the Demon Heir.
"Die!"
Bullet shot forward like a launched cannon shell, white air currents spiraling behind him.
Aizen slowly drew Kyōka Suigetsu.
Armament Haki coated the blade, turning it into a pitch-black sword.
He gently swung it toward Bullet's fist.
BOOM!!
The entire cell collapsed instantly.
Bullet stared at Aizen in disbelief.
Aizen's Armament Haki was clearly weaker than his…
Yet that strange energy Aizen used shattered his Armament as if it was nothing.
And that slender body stood unmoving… like a towering mountain.
"This is the strength you're so proud of? Looks like it's nothing special."
Aizen's casual remark stabbed directly into Bullet's deepest wound.
He was a man who believed absolute strength could take anything.
To be told his strength was "nothing"…
It was like a dragon getting stomped on by a passerby.
"You bastard! You've pissed me off now! Even if you rescued me—don't expect mercy!"
Bullet vanished in rapid flashes, fists coated in Armament Haki raining down like a storm.
Even the indestructible Infinite Hell trembled from the impacts.
"What a wonderfully violent strength."
Aizen looked genuinely impressed, yet didn't even bother raising Kyōka Suigetsu.
He only whispered:
"Bakudō #81… Dankū."
A transparent barrier appeared before him.
Bullet's fists hammered against Dankū nonstop.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
Explosions erupted like a relentless bombardment.
But the transparent barrier didn't crack… not even once.
With Aizen's reiatsu, even a chantless Dankū could block any Hadō below ninety.
Bullet was powerful.
But normal attacks that didn't surpass Hadō #89 could never break it.
"What the hell is this ability?" Bullet growled.
If he knew the current state of the world, he'd realize this was a power from the Holy Spirit Empire.
But he had been imprisoned too long… he knew nothing.
"Damn it! Don't underestimate me!"
The ground trembled violently as countless stones surged toward Bullet.
Paramecia — Combine-Combine Fruit.
He could merge inorganic matter with his own body…
And not only merge—it allowed him to recombine those materials to create new weapons.
If Bullet went all out, no one could predict what monstrous thing he would create.
A cold glint flashed behind Aizen's glasses.
"I let you fight… not wreck the entire floor. That would be annoying for me."
He raised a finger.
"Hadō #90… Kurohitsugi."
A black coffin of condensed spiritual power snapped shut around Bullet.
The rising stones froze mid-air.
RUMBLE…
The coffin shook violently, faint roars of a trapped beast echoing within.
When it shattered, Bullet was left kneeling with bloody, gaping holes across his body.
He had reacted fast enough to protect his vitals…
So he survived. Barely.
His vision blurred.
His voice low and heavy.
"With strength like yours… why stay with the Marines…?"
Aizen smiled softly.
"Of course—because I seek the truth of the world.
To reshape the world into what it should be."
He looked down at Bullet, eyes glowing with ambition.
"Douglas Bullet…
you have the power to change the world.
Join us.
Make this world submit beneath us."
Bullet froze.
Make the world submit…?
What a magnificent vision.
The heart that had gone silent ever since Roger died…
seemed to beat again.
***
Read 20 Chapters early on P-atreon.com/Redestro666