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Hachinosu Island—
This place was known as the Pirate Paradise, the birthplace of the infamous pirate game, the Davy Back Fight.
Losers of the game were forced to watch their comrades join the victor's crew.
Long ago, Rocks D. Xebec had used the Davy Back Fight to absorb powerhouses like Whitebeard into his own crew. The island was called Hachinosu—the Beehive—because a constant stream of pirates swarmed from it, a true hive of scum and villainy.
Once, it was the base of Rocks D. Xebec.
Now, it was the stronghold of one of the Four Emperors, Blackbeard.
Even the Navy and the World Government were hesitant to mess with this place.
But at this moment, the Pirate Paradise was completely surrounded.
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Countless ships, all flying the flag of the Sky Sovereign Grand Fleet, formed an airtight blockade around the island.
Even more terrifying were the Sea Beast Weapons patrolling amidst the fleet. On the decks of the warships themselves stood legions of the latest generation of Pacifistas.
Rowen, using the power of his Azure Dragon Fruit, had moved the entire island of Egghead to the Sky Sovereign Grand Fleet's main base.
Naturally, these Sea Beast Weapons and the latest Pacifistas had also been absorbed into his arsenal.
Egghead had housed a full fifty of these third-generation Pacifistas, which had performed brilliantly in the original story. Now, they were all Rowen's.
Under Vegapunk's adjustments, the command authority for these weapons had changed.
The original hierarchy for the Pacifistas and Seraphim had been: control chip holder at the lowest level, then Sentomaru, then Vegapunk himself, with the Five Elders holding the highest authority.
A higher authority could override a lower one.
Now, after Vegapunk's adjustments, the highest authority had become Rowen himself. The next level down was a control chip authorized by Rowen.
Rowen could directly modify and adjust the authority of these control chips through his spiritual power transmission channel—a far more convenient and efficient system than the original.
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With a fleet of pirate ships, a legion of third-generation Pacifistas, and a unit of Sea Beast Weapons—no matter how many pirates were on Hachinosu Island, they had absolutely no power to resist.
Under this scary blockade, not a single pirate ship could escape.
What filled the pirates on Hachinosu with even greater despair were the three combatants leading this blockade.
Kuzan. Borsalino. Issho.
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"BASTARD! AOKIJI! KIZARU! FUJITORA! THAT'S ALL THREE FORMER ADMIRALS!"
"The Ice-Ice Fruit, Glint-Glint Fruit, and Press-Press Fruit! With those abilities, we have no chance of resisting!"
"The commanders have been frozen, and grievously wounded by the laser beams!"
Hachinosu Island had become a frozen hellscape.
Large areas were covered in ice, the extreme cold making many pirates tremble uncontrollably. Within this frozen region, pirates were flash-frozen into statues.
Another area was completely destroyed by the explosions of the Glint-Glint Fruit's lasers and the Pacifistas' beams. Countless pirates lay silent amidst the wreckage.
And in the sky above Hachinosu, a large amount of building debris floated, like a sword of Damocles hanging over the heads of the pirates below, ready to fall at any moment and bury them.
Ice-Ice Fruit. Glint-Glint Fruit. Press-Press Fruit.
Even among the many Devil Fruits, these were extremely powerful abilities. All three were enough to grant their users Admiral-level combat strength.
In a group battle, they were all incredibly horrifying Devil Fruits, each one a walking disaster.
The combined power of these three Devil Fruits was not something the pirates on Hachinosu could withstand.
And the Admiral-level combatants besieging Hachinosu this time were not just these three. Such a force was not something a single Emperor crew like the Blackbeard Pirates could handle.
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"Admiral, what should we do? We can't break through—the Sky Sovereign Grand Fleet's power is overwhelming."
Laffitte's forehead was covered in cold sweat as he looked at Blackbeard.
Three or more Admiral-level combatants gathered together was no joke.
An Admiral had always been one of the true peak combatants on these seas.
Before Rowen's complete rise, no one could defeat two Admirals working together.
Three or more Admiral-level combatants, plus a large number of Pacifistas—apart from the Sky Sovereign Grand Fleet itself, no single Emperor crew could handle such a force.
What was more terrifying was that the core strength of the Sky Sovereign Grand Fleet had not even descended.
The Sky Sovereign Grand Fleet was already a force on a completely different level from the other Four Emperors.
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"To bring Aokiji back from the dead... and to make Kizaru and Fujitora serve under him."
"And even the World Government's creations—the Pacifistas—have become his weapons."
"What the hell happened?"
Blackbeard's forehead was also covered in cold sweat. He couldn't even laugh.
The events on Egghead had been completely sealed off by the World Government.
Not to mention the defeat of the Five Elders and the existence of Imu, and the disgrace of Rowen infiltrating the very core of Mariejois, the Room of Flowers, and the secret of Imu's Devil Fruit, as well as the secret of the Immortality Operation—these were all top secrets that could absolutely not be revealed to the sea.
Just the fact that the Navy was almost completely wiped out was such a horrifying piece of news that it could cause a drastic change in the affiliated countries ruled and protected by the World Government.
Though the Navy's elite were wiped out, causing a drastic change in the sea, under the tight blockade of the World Government, the situation had not completely spun out of control in the short term.
The Blackbeard Pirates did not know what had happened on Egghead, and naturally did not know the details about Kuzan and the others.
But Blackbeard knew the terror of the Sky Sovereign Grand Fleet...
After absorbing all of Whitebeard's forces and territories, and defeating the Beasts Pirates and the Big Mom Pirates, and absorbing their remaining forces and territories—it could be said that in the New World, the Sky Sovereign Grand Fleet's territory had already occupied more than half.
It was absolutely the strongest pirate crew on these seas.
But in Blackbeard's view, he was not without a chance.
After all, the Sky Sovereign Grand Fleet was so powerful that the Navy and the World Government inevitably saw it as a thorn in their side.
In Blackbeard's view, in the short term, the Sky Sovereign Grand Fleet would not attack him or Red Hair.
But after being surrounded by the Sky Sovereign Grand Fleet and clashing with them, Blackbeard was completely stunned.
Aokiji, Kizaru, Fujitora.
These three former highest combat powers of the World Government, Marine HQ Admirals, had all raised the Sky Sovereign's pirate flag, becoming Rowen's personal enforcers.
And there were also the humanoid weapons developed by the World Government, the Pacifistas.
Three Devil Fruit abilities that could be called natural disasters, plus the laser ability of the Pacifistas—the Blackbeard Pirates had little room to resist.
From the very beginning, the war was completely one-sided.
A large number of pirates and even commanders were instantly frozen by the Ice-Ice Fruit.
The Ice-Ice Fruit granted its user Admiral-level or greater combat strength. Even Yonko Commander-level Armament Haki offered little resistance against the fruit's full power.
Just like in the original story, when Kuzan met the Blackbeard Pirates, at the moment of the fight, only Shiryu and a few others were not frozen. The remaining commanders' Haki was instantly shattered by the Ice-Ice Fruit, and they were all frozen.
Kuzan alone had made the core members of the Blackbeard Pirates choose to retreat and negotiate.
Though this was related to the Blackbeard Pirates having a large number of commanders frozen, making them wary, and Blackbeard's own personality flaw of not fighting a battle he wasn't sure of winning—
—it also showed that a peak Admiral-level combatant like Kuzan, even a Four Emperor crew like the Blackbeard Pirates, had to be careful, and would pay a great price to win.
But this time, it wasn't just one Kuzan...
There were also Borsalino and Issho, as well as a large number of Pacifistas and Sea Beast Weapons—
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TAP! TAP!
With a series of footsteps...
"Hmm?!"
Blackbeard's eyes were bloodshot. He looked up at the figure emerging from the mist.
(The mist was formed by the massive cold air of the Ice-Ice Fruit coming into contact with the moisture in the air.)
The figure came to a place not far from Blackbeard and the others, allowing them to see him clearly.
There were a total of four people.
Each wore a cloak of a different color.
Kuzan still wore a blue cloak. Borsalino still wore a yellow cloak. Issho still wore a purple cloak.
Unlike their Marine days, the pattern on the back of their cloaks was now Rowen's Jolly Roger.
Bearing Rowen's pirate flag.
The remaining person was—
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"RORONOA!"
Shiryu looked at the figure emerging from the mist, his eye twitching.
Zoro wore a demonic, dark green cloak, the color of purgatory. Around him, an Asura Aura coiled, giving him an immense pressure.
"Shiryu of the Rain, I'll use you to baptize my black blade,"
Zoro looked at Shiryu and showed a beast-like smile.
"ZEHAHAHAHA! WHAT A TERRIFYING LINE-UP! YOU'VE REALLY PUSHED US INTO A CORNER."
Blackbeard suddenly burst into laughter, his eyes flashing with an astonishing crimson-black light.
"Mah, if you obediently put on the Seastone cuffs, it would save us a lot of trouble, Blackbeard."
Kuzan looked at Blackbeard and said calmly.
"ZEHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!"
Hearing this, Blackbeard suddenly laughed wildly.
"Hey, hey, are you trying to persuade a real pirate to surrender?" Blackbeard stopped laughing, his bloodshot eyes staring intently at Kuzan and the others.
"LET ME TELL YOU—A PIRATE IS ALWAYS VICIOUS!"
"BLACK HOLE——!!!"
WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
An endless darkness, with Blackbeard as its core, was completely released by him.
In just an instant, almost the entire Hachinosu Island was plunged into darkness.
Compared to when he fought Ace in the original story, the power of Blackbeard's Dark-Dark Fruit was many times stronger.
GURGLE!!
Buildings, ice, everything was swallowed by the endless darkness.
The ice on the frozen commanders was disappearing.
The power of the Ice-Ice Fruit was directly swallowed by the power of the Dark-Dark Fruit!
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"The Dark-Dark Fruit… it's terrifying. You're like a monster, Blackbeard."
Borsalino's tone was somewhat grave.
The Dark-Dark Fruit was the nemesis of all Devil Fruits.
For a powerhouse like Borsalino, whose strength mostly came from his Devil Fruit, the Dark-Dark Fruit was quite annoying.
"The Dark-Dark Fruit... mah, now that I can't use Haki, and only have the Ice-Ice Fruit, I'm afraid I can't be of much help."
Kuzan scratched his head.
His strategic significance here was to lock the Blackbeard Pirates on Hachinosu Island. As a user of the Ice-Ice Fruit, the strongest crowd-control ability, Kuzan's existence was key to preventing the Blackbeard Pirates from escaping the encirclement by ship.
But against Blackbeard's Dark-Dark Fruit, the current Kuzan, who could only use the Ice-Ice Fruit and not Haki, was of very limited use.
"AS LONG AS IT'S A DEVIL FRUIT USER! THEY ARE COUNTERED BY MY DARK-DARK FRUIT! ZEHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Blackbeard burst into laughter.
"AND—" Blackbeard's eyes flashed with an astonishing crimson-black light.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
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