While the Beast God Pirates were engaged in a world-shaking battle against the forces of justice at Marine Headquarters, something terrifying occurred on Hachinosu that horrified the members of the Blackbeard Pirates.
The entire island, spanning over ten kilometers, had become the epicenter of chaotic energy.
The sky was crisscrossed with spiderweb-like cracks, shattering the air as if it were glass.
The island's ground had sunk into endless darkness.
Inky black vortices surged wildly from the central hall of the island, spreading rapidly in all directions.
Darkness engulfed the island, mercilessly swallowing everything in its path—whether buildings or the panicked screams of pirates—erasing them from existence.
At the harbor, a crowd surged.
"Ahhh! Quick, get on the ship! We need to leave this place!"
"Captain Teach has gone berserk! What in the world happened?"
"This island is going to shatter!"
However, the pirates who had desperately crowded onto the ships to escape Hachinosu soon wore expressions of despair.
Across the hundreds of miles of sea surrounding Hachinosu, the ocean had lost its usual calm, roaring and churning violently.
A white line raced swiftly across the horizon!
"A tsunami! It's a tsunami!"
"Captain Teach's sea quake has triggered a tsunami hundreds of meters high!"
The incident originated from a call made by the World Government.
A few minutes earlier, inside the central hall of the island, Teach was enjoying the pleasures of life.
Suddenly, the Den Den Mushi in his pocket began to ring.
"Keep going, I just need to take this call."
After speaking to the young women in his embrace, Teach casually answered the Den Den Mushi.
A cold, mechanical synthesized voice came from the other end.
"Rocks, are you there?"
"Huh?"
Teach's brow furrowed instantly, and he replied irritably, "Hey, who the hell are you? There's no one named Rocks here!"
But the voice paid no attention to Teach, continuing in its robotic tone.
"The opportunity has arrived. The drums of liberation are about to sound in full. The celestial ladder will open. The time has come. Come to Mary Geoise and find me. Together... we shall ascend to the heavens!"
Without waiting for Teach's response, the voice on the other end hung up.
Just as Teach was left scratching his head in confusion and tossed the Den Den Mushi aside to resume his enjoyment—
"Rororororo..."
Black streams of energy automatically began to seep out from his body.
Teach's expression changed, and he shouted, "Rocks! You bastard! Who gave you permission to come out without my say?"
The black energy surged rapidly from beneath Teach, filling every corner of the hall and transforming it into an abyss of darkness, devoid of any light.
Whoosh.
As the energy swirled, the girls who had been clinging to Teach vanished instantly, swallowed by the darkness, their whereabouts unknown.
"What are you doing?"
Enraged, Teach sprang to his feet and began to wrestle with Rocks for control over the Darkness Fruit.
However, what humiliated Teach was that although he was the one who had eaten the Darkness Fruit, it seemed that most of its power was controlled by Rocks.
On the floor of the great hall, a massive face coalesced, its hair writhing like serpents.
"Don't waste your energy, Teach. If the Darkness Fruit is parasitic on your soul, then I am parasitic on the soul of the Darkness Fruit. Our levels of control over it are not even comparable."
Teach gritted his teeth, and another power within him—no weaker than the Darkness Fruit, perhaps even stronger—awakened.
His right fist became enveloped in a swirling white aura, and he abruptly threw a punch at the dark face beneath his feet!
Crack!
The air split open with fissures, and a terrifying shockwave erupted, shattering the darkness beneath him and dispersing the pitch-black face.
But before long, the dark currents gathered once more, and Rocks' face reappeared.
"What do you want, Rocks? Who called you just now? Why did they tell you to go to Mary Geoise? Was it someone from the World Government?"
Teach's chest heaved, his anger unabated.
Rocks spoke, "The path to the heavens is about to begin. My dream is on the verge of realization. Decades ago, an old man sought to collaborate with me to tread this path together. Now, it seems the time is ripe, and I no longer need to endure. Sorry, Teach, but I must borrow your body."
"What path to the heavens? Do you want to die? Or go to Skypiea?"
Teach felt a sense of foreboding.
Because this dangerous individual, Rocks, was hiding within him, concealed within the Darkness Fruit.
Yet he couldn't pinpoint exactly where Rocks was hiding, making it impossible to strike at him.
"Gahahahaha, you'll find out soon enough, Teach. I will use your eyes to witness that moment! Now, release the shackles of your soul and let me take possession of your body!"
The massive dark face on the ground laughed maniacally before sinking into the darkness.
Immediately, Teach's expression changed drastically.
He felt an unimaginable force of attraction emanating from within his own body, as if a black hole had suddenly appeared deep within his soul, violently pulling at it.
He had a feeling that if he failed to resist this suction force and his soul was drawn into the black hole, he would die instantly!
"The power of the Darkness Fruit is not limited to suppressing ability users or destroying physical space. It can absorb even intangible souls and higher-level rules!"