On the battlefield:
As the commotion stirred up by Bullet drew attention, the various combatants momentarily halted their fights and turned to look at the massive creature that Bullet had created using his Combined Fruit powers. However, their expressions remained largely unchanged.
For ordinary people, this giant "bullet form" might seem like a natural disaster, but to these seasoned warriors, it was just another challenge.
"Fufufufu! What an exhilarating battle this is turning out to be!" Doflamingo exclaimed exaggeratedly as he stared at the colossal Bullet standing in the center of the island.
Among the Donquixote Family, Pica, who had eaten the Stone-Stone Fruit, could also form a gigantic stone golem using rocks. However, compared to the massive creature in front of him, Pica's stone giant was like a mere child.
"Crocodile, I'm genuinely curious how you managed to fight this monster to a standstill back in the day," Doflamingo asked, turning to Crocodile. Among the Seven Warlords, Crocodile had the lowest bounty, but his strength was almost guaranteed to be in the top three.
"I fought him in the desert," Crocodile replied briefly and fell silent. In the desert, even someone like Bullet would have struggled against him, let alone the Four Emperors—except, of course, for a certain cheat-like kid.
Doflamingo thought for a moment and then revealed an understanding expression, as if he grasped the situation.
Daz Bonez glanced at Crocodile, then looked up at the towering figure of the giant Bullet. Was this the opponent Crocodile had once fought?
To Daz Bonez, this monstrous giant Bullet could probably destroy Alabasta's capital, Alubarna, with just a few punches.
At that moment, a visible ripple of energy emanated from Bullet's grotesque head, followed by the rapid spreading of Armament Haki across the giant's entire body in just a few seconds.
Spectators around the world watching the live broadcast were stunned as they saw the giant Bullet fully covered in Haki.
"Wha—what's going on…!? Is that Armament Haki?"
"To cover such a huge body with Haki—how is he even doing that!?"
"This guy is truly a monster..."
"Ha! Spreading Haki so thinly across such a large area is only going to scare the untrained," Kaido sneered as he looked at the Haki-coated Bullet. Kaido could do the same thing, but he would never choose to fight that way. For him, such a battle style was inefficient.
Bullet's Combined Fruit allowed him to turn into a war machine, but spreading his Haki so thinly only made his defenses weaker. For the strong, it was like wearing armor made of paper—easy to tear apart.
Inside the giant Bullet's head, Bullet gazed down at the others, who now seemed as small as ants, with a cruel smile.
"This is the ultimate form I've created with my Combined Fruit powers: the giant bullet form!" Bullet's voice, amplified by the fruit's power, echoed loudly, reaching far and wide.
Nicolas observed Bullet's giant form with interest. He had to admit that it looked pretty impressive, but in actual combat, it wasn't as fearsome. Otherwise, Bullet wouldn't have gone from teaching the Supernovas a lesson to being taken down by Monkey D. Luffy.
Just as everyone marveled at Bullet's massive size, a sudden explosion erupted from the giant's arm. The blast triggered a chain reaction, causing a series of explosions.
The powerful detonations even shattered the Haki-coated arm. From inside the giant Bullet, Bullet watched in disbelief as parts of his form broke apart due to the explosions. His eyes bulged, nearly popping out of their sockets.
What the hell was this? Who had planted bombs inside his giant bullet form?
The explosions continued for dozens of seconds, and the flames and smoke completely engulfed the giant Bullet, forming a towering pillar of fire.
"Ah, now that's some spectacular fireworks," Nicolas remarked as the giant Bullet's head was blown out of the smoke and sent crashing into the sea.
"What just happened? What just happened? What just happened?"
Viewers around the world were completely dumbfounded. The enormous creature that had seemed so invincible just a moment ago was now gone in an instant.
Questions filled everyone's minds.
Meanwhile, the broadcast room was filled with the anguished screams of Festa.
CP0's torture techniques were truly top-notch. Although Festa's exterior appeared unscathed, the needles piercing his body, his sweat-drenched clothes, the hair sticking to his sweaty face, and the bulging veins across his body all indicated the agony he had endured.
"Hah… huff… huff…" Festa leaned weakly against the wall, panting heavily. Every breath seemed to take all the strength he had left.
The CP0 agent with the leopard mask squatted in front of Festa and calmly repeated the question he had asked numerous times:
"Where is the Eternal Pose?"
"Hah… hah…" Festa panted, struggling to lift his head and look at the CP0 agent before closing his eyes in defiance. There was no way he would talk. He would rather die with the secret of the Eternal Pose buried with him.
Seeing that Festa had no intention of talking, the leopard-masked CP0 agent stood up. Another CP0 member approached, pulling out more tools to continue the interrogation.
Festa's screams echoed once more.
But the CP0 agents paid no attention to his cries. For them, the only goal was to obtain the Eternal Pose; how they achieved it was irrelevant.
The leopard-masked CP0 agent glanced coldly at the suffering Festa. He hadn't expected this guy to be so stubborn.
"What a troublesome man."
They were determined to obtain that Eternal Pose.
As the others continued to interrogate Festa, the CP0 agent with the leopard mask turned his gaze back to the broadcast screens.
With the war on the island intensifying, most of the visual Den Den Mushi stationed on Lodestar had been destroyed. The current images were being transmitted by the flying Den Den Mushi that Festa had arranged earlier.
On the screen, the giant Bullet was engulfed in explosions while Whitebeard, Kaido, Shanks, Nicolas, and others resumed their battles.
"What a bunch of monsters..."