One Piece: Starting with Sign-in Naruto Character Cards

"So it was him?" Douglas Bullet muttered thoughtfully after hearing the name.

But in the next second, he suddenly widened his eyes and stared directly at Rikuya Kazama.

Startled by the intense gaze, Rikuya jumped slightly.

"What's with the death stare?"

"Captain Kazama, it's true that I fought Sir Crocodile, but that was more than twenty years ago. It's not strange that you know I was part of Captain Roger's crew—Roger was extremely famous, and his crewmates were well-known.

But how do you know about what happened to me after I went out to sea on my own?"

Hearing Bullet's question, Rikuya realized he had slipped up.

It was true—under normal circumstances, there was no way he should know that Douglas Bullet had fought Crocodile.

"The mysteries of fate are not to be revealed. You'll understand with time," Rikuya replied cryptically.

Of course, he couldn't exactly say, "Bro, I watched your fight in an anime." That would sound way too ridiculous—and Bullet definitely wouldn't believe it.

So all he could do now was play it off mysteriously.

Sure enough, Douglas Bullet was immediately taken aback by the answer.

Before witnessing Rikuya's power in Impel Down, he might have scoffed. But now that he had seen Rikuya's terrifying strength firsthand, he was beginning to believe the man might really possess some kind of otherworldly ability...

One that could even peer into the future.

If that were true, it would be absolutely terrifying.

From that moment, Douglas Bullet began to hold a quiet respect—and fear—for Rikuya. A fear born from the unknown.

"Captain Kazama, where are we heading next?"

"To the Kingdom of Alabasta. We're going to meet that Sir Crocodile," Rikuya replied.

"He's in Alabasta? And what for?"

"To beat him up—and then ask if he wants to join us. If he refuses, I don't mind making an opening on the Shichibukai roster," Rikuya said casually.

"You want to replace him as a lapdog for the World Government?"

Hearing that, Bullet became immediately wary.

Even if he acknowledged Rikuya as captain, that didn't mean he was willing to bow to the World Government.

"Hah, you're overthinking it. That Shichibukai title isn't worth much. But in the New World, pirates move around with dozens of ships at once.

If it's just the two of us, we'd be exhausted by the time a fight breaks out. So along the way, I plan to recruit and form our own pirate crew."

"Is that guy even worthy of teaming up with us?" Bullet asked dismissively.

He still held a grudge against Sir Crocodile—after all, they had fought before with no clear victor. Now Rikuya wanted them to work together? That didn't sit well with him.

"He's decently strong. After all, he is one of the Warlords of the Sea—and he's also a Logia-type Devil Fruit user! You know how powerful those are, right?"

In the world of pirates, Devil Fruits are divided into three categories: Logia, Paramecia, and Zoan. Eating one grants supernatural powers.

Among the three, Logia is considered the most powerful, as it allows the user's body to turn into elements—making physical attacks useless.

Unless the enemy has a counter ability or can use Armament Haki or the Dark-Dark Fruit, they can't even touch Logia users.

If the Haki isn't strong enough, you can't hurt them at all.

That's why Logia users are inherently powerful.

Even mighty Douglas Bullet only possessed a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit—specifically, the Fusion-Fusion Fruit.

This Paramecia-type ability allows him to merge his body with any inanimate object he touches. Not only that, but he can also combine inanimate objects with each other to create new weapons.

So while Bullet didn't have a Logia fruit, he didn't feel inferior to anyone who did.

"Hmph, Logia or not—I'll crush him with my own hands next time we meet," Bullet said coldly.

Over the next couple of days, guided by Rikuya's memories, the Navy warship headed toward the Kingdom of Alabasta.

After drifting across the vast ocean for two days, Rikuya suddenly spotted a large ship not far ahead.

"Looks like a pirate ship. Want me to intercept it?" Bullet asked.

Rikuya glanced at it and noticed that the bow of the ship featured a giant red dragon head. On its dual masts, a skull symbol flew—two crossed swords beneath it.

"No way... running into one of your old friends already?" Rikuya said with a helpless smile.

"My old friend?"

"Someone who used to be on the same ship as you. Though, back then, he was probably just an apprentice—you might not remember."

"Who?"

"Red-Haired Shanks. And right now, he's one of the most prominent pirates in the New World. In the near future, he might very well dominate it. He's one of our targets too," Rikuya explained.

Looking at the ship ahead, its size and design were identical to Shanks' main warship, the Red Force.

According to the timeline, Shanks had just recently lost his left arm while saving Luffy in Windmill Village.

If nothing unexpected happened, they were probably en route to the New World.

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