Seeing that even his final trump card had failed, Blackbeard was plunged into utter despair.
"Y-You… what kind of monster are you?!"
"How ironic," Uchiha Chiga said coldly. "You, of all people, calling someone else a monster."
Chiga's hand clenched tighter around Blackbeard's neck, causing his face to swell and turn a sickly purple.
"Please! Don't kill me!" Blackbeard gasped, his voice shrill with fear. "I'm… I'm a member of the Whitebeard Pirates! If you kill me, you'll start a war!"
Typical. Even when his life was on the line, Blackbeard's instinct was to hide behind others.
He had once cried out to Whitebeard as "pops" at Marineford—now, he clung to that name again in a desperate bid to survive.
But he seemed to forget: the very reason Whitebeard had once allied with Red-Haired Shanks was because of Chiga, the man now holding his life in his hands.
Chiga chuckled, lifting Blackbeard off the ground.
"You think I fear Whitebeard?"
"He's allied with Shanks!" Blackbeard blurted, eyes wide with panic. "You Marines can't afford to go to war with two Yonko crews!"
Chiga's voice dropped to a mocking drawl.
"Alliance? You mean the 'crippled old man' alliance?"
The phrase landed like a slap. Blackbeard froze, face stiffening.
Because, horrifyingly enough… it kind of made sense.
"Old" and "sick" clearly referred to Whitebeard. "Crippled" no doubt meant Red-Haired Shanks.
But "weak"? Blackbeard couldn't even guess. He knew better than to label either Yonko as such—not even in his most delusional moments.
And yet, in Chiga's eyes, they were insignificant. Perhaps only all four Yonko combined might earn a flicker of his interest.
As Chiga's grip tightened, Blackbeard, in a last-ditch effort, summoned darkness again—forming a massive black maw aimed at swallowing Chiga whole.
But the attack fizzled before it could even launch. Chiga simply raised a hand.
"Shinra Tensei."
The giant mouth of darkness disintegrated into wisps.
Blackbeard, now unhinged by desperation, did something unexpected—he lunged forward and bit Chiga's arm.
Chiga recoiled in mild disgust, letting go instantly. He hadn't anticipated that kind of animalistic move.
Blackbeard collapsed and rolled away frantically, gasping for air. Chiga frowned and stared down at him.
"…Are you a rabbit?"
The comparison was apt. Even a cornered rabbit bites when its back is against the wall.
Still wheezing, Blackbeard blinked. "A rabbit? What?"
He couldn't even grasp the reference—there were no zodiac signs in this world. Chiga didn't bother to explain.
He had already made his decision.
He wasn't going to touch Blackbeard again. Who knew what insane tricks this man had left?
Instead, he calmly raised a finger and aimed.
A ball of crackling purple lightning gathered at the tip, then fired outward.
"Cero."
The move was inspired by Ulquiorra from Bleach—a compressed, high-penetration energy blast. But where Ulquiorra's was green, Chiga's was deep violet, tinged with arcs of energy.
Before Blackbeard could react, the lightning pierced his left chest, blasting through him.
He crumpled to the ground.
But Chiga didn't move.
He stood still, eyes narrowed, focusing his Heavenly Net—his observational Haki—to monitor Blackbeard's life force.
He still sensed… a heartbeat.
A normal man would be dead. That lightning had obliterated Blackbeard's heart.
But Blackbeard's body wasn't normal. Rumors had long swirled about him—that he was born different. That his body could house multiple souls… or hearts.
Now, that theory was looking like fact.
Blackbeard twitched, then stirred. Slowly, agonizingly, he dragged himself upright.
A small wisp of darkness curled out of his body and sealed the hole in his chest, mending the wound completely. Blood remained, but the flesh was whole.
Chiga said nothing, watching closely.
The Yami Yami no Mi, unlike most Logia Fruits, didn't allow the user to become intangible. Worse, it amplified pain. But in return, it could absorb damage—even restore what was broken.
Blackbeard had once used this ability after taking Ace's Flame Emperor, and walked away seemingly unharmed.
But if he were to die instantly, even that would fail. It was Blackbeard's abnormal body—not the fruit—that saved him this time.
He clutched the right side of his chest, where the second heart thudded under his ribs.
"…Still beating," Blackbeard whispered to himself, trembling. "I'm alive…"
Chiga was impressed. Quietly, he lifted his finger again and aimed for the right side of Blackbeard's chest.
If one blast wasn't enough—then two would do.
But Blackbeard wasn't caught off guard this time.
"No!"
He roared, sending darkness surging to cover his chest, shielding his heart from another Cero.
Then, drawing in every last drop of energy, he summoned more darkness to swirl beneath him—his final stand.
Raising his arm, the darkness coalesced into a dense black sphere, glowing faintly—like a black sun.
"Dark Emperor!"
The move was his ultimate technique—an offensive version of the void that had swallowed whole cities.
Chiga, intrigued, mirrored the motion. He raised his palm, and a crackling violet orb of lightning formed—matching the Dark Emperor in size and intensity.
Electric arcs danced around it. The air sizzled.
"Lightning Emperor."
The two suns—one of abyssal void, the other of radiant thunder—hovered for a moment, then clashed.
BOOM!
The island shuddered.
Black and purple collided like celestial bodies. For a moment, they fought for dominance—two forces locked in a cosmic battle.
Then, in less than a second, the purple sun devoured the black.
Lightning engulfed everything.
The surrounding ocean exploded into towering waves, and the island trembled under the sheer pressure.
The world seemed to declare—
There is only one emperor here.
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