"Click… creak—"
The incomparably heavy, specially forged cell door screeched as metal ground against metal, slowly sliding open to one side.
The instant it moved, the jailers stationed at the entrance all went deathly pale. Almost in unison, they took an unconscious half-step back, their breathing quickening.
Even Magellan tensed, poison faintly rippling across his skin as he prepared for any sudden outbreak.
He knew full well that if the man inside truly decided to act, his resistance might amount to little more than a gesture.
At the same time, Gern remained where he was. The faintly amused smile at the corner of his mouth never faded as he calmly looked into the depths of the cell.
By the corridor's weak, flickering light, one could vaguely make out a figure in the farthest corner of the cell—
an abnormally tall, powerfully built silhouette, sitting with its back to the door like an immovable boulder on the cold floor.
And now, the sound of the fully opening door seemed to have disturbed him.
The figure shifted.
Then, under everyone's gaze, Bullet moved.
Not quickly.
Instead, slowly—so slowly that it felt as though one could hear bone grinding against bone—as he rose to his feet.
When he finally turned to face the entrance, that scar-covered body, like it had been cast from steel, towering nearly five meters tall, almost blocked the doorway entirely in a single instant.
His shadow swallowed everyone standing there.
Bullet did not speak. He merely raised both hands, still bound by thick Seastone chains.
Under Magellan's extremely tense gaze, the nearest jailer stepped forward, trembling.
Fear robbed his fingers of coordination. He fumbled several times before finally managing to insert the key into the lock.
"Click."
The soft sound echoed through the deathly stillness like a thunderclap.
The Seastone handcuffs sprang open and slid from Bullet's wrists, crashing to the ground with a heavy clang.
Then came the shackles on his feet.
"Clang!"
Another weighty metallic impact.
With the removal of that final restraint, a far more savage, unbridled aura erupted from Bullet's body like a hurricane!
It was as though a voiceless roar tore through the air.
"Ha!"
Bullet exhaled deeply, rolling his neck and wrists. His joints cracked with harsh, teeth-grating ka-ba sounds.
Then he slowly opened his eyes.
His calm gaze swept over the jailers at the door, plunging them into an icy abyss, nearly robbing them of breath.
Next, it passed over Magellan, making even the warden instinctively swallow.
Finally—
it locked onto the only man who remained utterly composed, even smiling.
The moment Bullet's eyes fell on Gern, it was as if he had caught the scent of freedom.
Or perhaps he had sensed that familiar, spine-chilling pressure once more.
In an instant, the entirety of Eternal Hell (Level 6) was like a powder keg struck by a spark—
it exploded.
"LET ME OUT!!!"
"MARINES! I'M WILLING TO SERVE TOO! I'LL DO ANYTHING!!"
"BULLET?! IS THAT MONSTER BULLET?! DAMN IT—WHY DOES HE GET TO LEAVE?!"
"MAGELLAN, YOU BASTARD, LOOK AT ME! MY POWER IS MORE USEFUL THAN HIS! I CAN DESTROY A COUNTRY FOR YOU! NO—AN ISLAND!!"
"TAKE ME WITH YOU! GET ME OUT OF THIS HELL! I'LL BE YOUR DOG! WOOF! WOOF!!"
In an instant, countless mad howls, curses, pleas, and sycophantic cries erupted from the countless dark cells lining both sides of the corridor.
The cacophony was like the wailing of ghosts and demons, shaking all of Level 6 until it buzzed violently.
These pirates—once titans of the sea—had been driven to the brink of insanity by endless darkness and silence.
Now, the mere hint of freedom, combined with the release of a fellow inmate—whether ally or enemy—completely ignited the madness still smoldering in their hearts.
For a moment, this place—the ultimate symbol of the World Government's iron suppression—
was thrown into unprecedented frenzy and chaos by the release of a single man.
"It seems you're not worried in the slightest that I might deceive you."
Gern chuckled softly as he looked at Bullet standing before him.
Against this backdrop of madness, Douglas Bullet ignored every bit of surrounding noise.
Those crimson-glowing eyes were fixed solely on Gern.
Slowly, his lips spread into a feral, battle-hungry grin.
"A man like you wouldn't stoop to such low, cheap tricks."
"But it's been quite a while…"
Bullet's low voice carried undisguised arrogance and provocation.
"So I need to see whether you still…"
"…have the right to stand in front of me!!"
Before the words even finished—
"BOOM!!"
An incomparably violent wave of Haoshoku Haki, filled with pure destructive will, erupted from Bullet's massive body like a tangible tsunami!
It surged mercilessly toward Gern at the doorway—and toward Magellan and the jailers behind him!
The air instantly became unbearably thick, as though it had solidified into iron!
Magellan's expression changed drastically. He stomped forward, trying to withstand the sudden mental onslaught.
The jailers behind him, however, didn't even have time to groan.
Eyes rolling back, they collapsed in swathes, instantly losing consciousness.
The uproar and curses filling Eternal Hell were abruptly strangled—as if a giant hand had clamped shut around the entire level.
The Level 6 prisoners who had been screaming moments ago fell silent, as though choked.
Only a few truly powerful individuals shifted their attention toward the epicenter of that Haki eruption.
For example—
among the countless restless cells, there was one that remained eerily quiet.
The aloof Red Count—Patrick Redfield—maintained his elegant seated posture, as if the outside chaos had nothing to do with him.
Yet when Bullet's violent Haoshoku burst forth, he merely lifted his eyelids slightly.
A trace of barely perceptible disdain flickered through his eyes.
"Hmph. So this is the power inherited by the 'devil,' is it? A barbaric roar."
He muttered softly, his voice audible only to himself.
"Strength without a corresponding realm… in the end, it's nothing more than the howl of a beast, unworthy of—"
He never finished that evaluation.
Because Gern's Haoshoku descended like a cataclysm.
"—?!"
Redfield's normally unruffled expression froze instantly. For the first time, his elegant composure wavered.
He shot to his feet, looking up sharply.
Those eyes, capable of seeing into the human heart, now blazed with unprecedented shock as they locked onto Gern's direction.
"This kind of Haki…?!"
What he felt was not Bullet's crude, conquest-driven "dominance."
It was something higher—
a sovereign heavenly authority, standing above all things, wielding destruction and rebirth alike.
Vast. Majestic. Absolute.
Its quality far surpassed Bullet's—and even exceeded that of the vast majority of powerhouses Redfield had ever encountered.
Among the many Haoshoku users of the sea, only Rocks, Harald, Roger, Whitebeard… and himself had ever possessed Haki of this caliber.
And yet—now…
Redfield's voice carried a gravity he himself did not notice.
"When did a monster like this appear on the seas?"
Two supreme Haoshoku wills collided head-on.
"Crackle—BOOM!"
Different-colored bolts of Haki lightning exploded wildly through the air between them, intertwining and tearing at space itself.
The deepest level of Impel Down trembled violently under the clash of these peerless forces.
The walls groaned under the strain as dust rained down.
Yet this confrontation was decided almost the instant it began.
Bullet's berserk Haki tsunami slammed into Gern's presence—
a presence as steady as an eternal monolith, as vast as the heavens themselves—
and it was like crashing into an insurmountable abyss.
Not only could it not advance even an inch,
it was driven back—fiercely and mercilessly—by overwhelming force!
"What?!"
Bullet's blood-red pupils contracted sharply.
For the first time, disbelief appeared on his face.
He could feel it—his Haki was being forcibly crushed, pulverized, by the sheer quality and will of the one before him.
It felt like a small boat colliding head-on with a world-devouring tsunami.
Insignificant. Powerless.
This man was even stronger than he had been back then!
In the past, Bullet's Haoshoku could at least resist to some extent.
But now—
Gern didn't even move.
He simply stood there.
And yet, his Haoshoku surged like a rising sea level, inch by inch compressing and devouring Bullet's territory.
The dark-purple lightning was forced back to within a single meter of Bullet's body—and continued shrinking.
Bullet's massive frame began to tremble.
Veins bulged at his temples as he resisted with everything he had—
yet he still couldn't stop the terrifying pressure, as though the entire sky were collapsing onto him.
This was pure, unadorned domination.
An absolute crushing of quantity and quality alike.
Gern looked at Bullet, who was struggling to endure, and spoke slowly.
His voice was calm—yet it carried an authority that shook the soul.
"Now do you see clearly, Bullet?"
"I see it…"
Bullet ground his teeth, forcing the words out through clenched jaws.
Though suppressed, the wild battle lust in his eyes burned even hotter.
"So what—did you come here just to show me your 'power'?!"
"No."
Gern took a step forward.
With that single step, his already terrifying Haoshoku surged once more.
Bullet's final resistance collapsed completely.
He let out a muffled grunt as his towering body shook violently.
Though his formidable physique kept him from falling outright, he still dropped to one knee.
Crushed.
Utterly, completely crushed.
"I came to tell you this."
Gern stood directly before him, the distance between them razor-thin.
He looked calmly into Bullet's eyes—eyes roiling with shock and unwillingness—and spoke evenly.
"From this moment on, you will know whose orders you are to follow."
A faint smile touched his lips.
"Welcome back to the world, my 'devil'…"
"Douglas Bullet."