Seeing the Shichibukai all back down, the Marines around the port let out a collective sigh of relief.
"Vice Admiral Daren really has clout..."
"He just showed up and immediately stopped the fight!"
"He truly is the backbone of Marine Headquarters!"
"Shhh... keep it down. Admiral Sengoku's face is about to explode."
...
The whispers spread quickly—but with ears as sharp as Sengoku's and the others', every word was crystal clear.
"Ahem... Sengoku, it's really not a big deal..."
Staff Officer Tsuru glanced at Sengoku's face, now red as a beet, and winced—she was just about to say something to smooth things over.
"Tsuru."
Sengoku suddenly cut her off, his voice hoarse.
"Can you do me a favor?"
"Say it," Tsuru answered immediately.
"Cut that clip of me speaking earlier out of the footage."
"...Alright."
Sengoku gave a stiff nod, drawing a deep breath like he was trying to compose himself. Tsuru looked at him and couldn't help but let out a bitter smile.
Just then—
Plop, plop...
Plop, plop...
Ripples began spreading across the vast surface of the military port.
One by one, bubbles rose from beneath the sea, and wave after wave of concentric ripples spread as though the seabed itself was rumbling.
The bubbles kept coming—more and more—until it looked like the entire ocean surface was boiling.
"What's going on?"
"Something's rising from the seabed!"
"Alert! Stay sharp!"
The Marines closest to the disturbance immediately noticed the strange activity, raising their flintlocks and watching the water with wide, uneasy eyes.
Crocodile and the others narrowed their eyes, frowning in unison.
Through their Observation Haki, they sensed a chilling, blood-soaked aura closing in from the depths beneath the oval-shaped port—and it was surging upward at terrifying speed!
"The most annoying one just showed up..."
Borsalino rubbed the stubble on his chin with amusement, eyes locked on the roiling sea.
Up on the fortress walls, the "Golden Generation" officers like Gion also seemed to sense it. Their bodies tensed instinctively, a flicker of unease flashing across their faces.
They stared at the bubbling surface, hands unconsciously tightening around the hilts at their waists.
"What a crushing sense of pressure..."
"This kind of presence..."
"It's unreal..."
The entire port fell into dead silence again. Everyone felt it—something was wrong. They instinctively held their breath.
Suddenly—
BOOM!!
A deafening roar burst from the sea as a towering column of water exploded upward!
From within the crashing waves, a uniquely designed metal submarine shot out like a spear through ice, cleaving through the water in defiance of nature, trailing a storm of white foam in its wake.
"Kahahahahaha!!"
A wild, thunderous laugh rang out. From the speeding submarine, a massive figure threw open the hatch and stepped out with agile ease.
Golden hair whipped through the wind. He wore a stark black military uniform, his sharp, domineering features radiating an oppressive, almost overwhelming aura.
"He's here!!"
"The current Shichibukai member with the highest bounty!"
"A former core member of the Roger Pirates!"
"The fearsome pirate known as the 'Demon Heir'!!"
"Douglas Bullet—former bounty: 2.174 billion Belly!!"
All eyes were wide with disbelief as the metal submarine erupted from the sea, and the overpowering blond figure atop it struck terror into the hearts of those watching.
Yet Douglas Bullet didn't spare a glance for anyone else. With a loud thud, his military boots slammed onto the sub's hatch.
His body leaned forward like a pouncing beast. Golden hair whipped through the air, and his fierce eyes burned with a blinding intensity as they locked onto the black-haired Vice Admiral standing on the port. With his remaining arm, he pointed at the man and burst into wild laughter.
"Kahahahaha!! Daren!! We meet again!!"
"Let's settle this once and for all! Show me what you've learned since last time!!"
As the words left his mouth, Bullet's eyes widened.
Boom!
An overwhelming wave of Haki burst from his massive frame, as if hell itself had descended—radiating across the entirety of Marineford in an instant!
A visible shockwave exploded outward. Everyone felt as if color had been stripped from their world.
The hurricane-like wind screamed violently. Black and purple lightning filled the sky, swallowing the horizon.
Thunderbolts crackled through the heavens, dense and oppressive. The clouds scattered, the very ground of the port cracked beneath the pressure.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Dozens of Marines dropped to one knee, pale and trembling beneath the impact of Bullet's Conqueror's Haki.
Even top officers of the "Golden Generation" like Onigumo instinctively stepped back, visibly shaken.
"This is... Advanced Conqueror's Haki!" Mihawk's eyes lit up with unprecedented brilliance as he muttered in awe.
Until now, he had only felt Haki of this caliber from one person—
Daren.
Doflamingo grinned with manic glee.
"Fufufufu... This guy's like a walking demon. That aura—he's practically a demon born from hell!"
Crocodile and Moria's faces had turned stone-cold.
Especially Moria, who had awakened his own Conqueror's Haki—he felt it now, crushed beneath Bullet's overwhelming willpower.
It was like reliving that day in the North Blue… when he dared to challenge that damned Marine.
Everyone at Marine Headquarters stared at the red-eyed, golden-haired man, stunned and shaken.
Then—
Footsteps.
Through the warped, lightning-laced air, a single silhouette stepped forward—broad-shouldered, unshaken. The Vice Admiral.
And then—
BOOM!!
The world seemed to explode.
A torrent of black and red Haki surged skyward with an unstoppable force, colliding head-on with Bullet's aura.
They clashed—black-red lightning against black-purple, devouring each other, tearing at the very fabric of space.
Above them, the sky split apart. The clouds parted like a wound carved across the heavens.
"Kahahaha!!"
Bullet only laughed louder at the resistance.
"Just like I thought! Admirals, Yonkōs, it's all garbage!"
"Only you, Daren!!"
"Only you can push me this far!!"
He crouched slightly—his monstrous body like a coiled spring.
The submarine beneath his feet groaned and buckled under the pressure, metal warping from the sheer force of his stance.
"Come on... Daren!!"
Bloodshot eyes locked onto the Marine Vice Admiral, Bullet bellowed with lunatic excitement.
"Let's tear each other apart tod—huh?"
A golden light surged behind him.
Bullet blinked, then instinctively turned to look.
A towering golden Buddha, wrapped in black-red lightning, loomed above him—its colossal palm descending with thunderous force!
"Brat!! You think this is your playground?!"
Sengoku, roaring like a storm, had finally snapped. His voice cracked as he unleashed his fury, holding nothing back.
"This is MY Marine Headquarters—no, the Headquarters of Justice!!"
The golden radiance exploded like a sun.
"Impact Wave!!"
BOOM!!
"You... sneak... atta—!"
Bullet's face twisted in shock as blood gushed from his mouth and nose.
He crashed to the ground like a meteor, and a terrifying shockwave erupted outward.
The earth rolled like the ocean, waves of stone surging dozens of meters high.
Cracks split the military port open, the sound of tearing ground echoing far and wide. Sengoku's furious strike had nearly shattered the entire battlefield.
Dust swirled into the sky like a dragon.
Daren blinked slowly.
An honest man's wrath... really is terrifying.