"Get the Admiral out of here?!"
Smoker and the others froze on the spot.
They had never expected Fire Fist Ace to suddenly speak up with a warning.
For a moment, they were too stunned to react.
"What are you waiting for? Run!" Ace urged again.
If this had involved anyone else, he wouldn't have bothered.
But if it concerned loyalty—and Blackbeard—Ace couldn't just stand by.
"Hahaha! Captain Ace, so what if you warn them? Once I, Blackbeard, have my sights set on someone, even wings won't help them escape. But don't worry—Shichibukai status is already in the bag. You're just stepping stones on my path to fame. I won't kill you."
Blackbeard laughed maniacally as the power of the Dark-Dark Fruit erupted from within him.
"Bend when you must, strike when you can"—that had always been Blackbeard's motto.
If he couldn't win, he'd back down.
But if he could win? He'd never hold back.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have ended up in that infamous scene from the original story—getting beaten by Whitebeard until he called him "Dad."
"Let me show you what the strongest Devil Fruit can do!"
"Dark Surge!"
BOOM!
A wave of pure darkness burst from Blackbeard's body, crashing toward the warship like a tidal wave.
On the deck, Smoker and Tashigi's faces changed instantly.
"Tashigi! Go alert Admiral Luo Yu! Blackbeard is challenging the Navy's justice—I'll hold him off!" Smoker shouted.
At the same time, his Smoke-Smoke Fruit activated in full force.
White smoke surged upward like a tidal wave, colliding head-on with the incoming darkness.
BOOM!
Black and white split the sea in half.
The shockwave rolled outward like a hurricane.
But before the Marines could celebrate, the white smoke that had held its own for a moment suddenly collapsed.
The dark tide, barely slowed, surged toward the warship like a broken dam.
Smoker's face turned ashen. He had thought that following the new Admiral would've made him stronger—but he hadn't expected to be crushed in a single exchange.
As the black tide filled his vision, Smoker prepared for one last stand.
"Heh… a rare Logia-type user. But compared to Captain Ace, you're still far too weak."
Blackbeard sneered, a deep black vortex forming in his right hand. He clenched his fingers toward Smoker from a distance.
Buzz!
Smoker's head rang. For a moment, it felt like his soul was being yanked from his body.
His Devil Fruit powers were instantly dispersed.
Then, an invisible force yanked his entire body forward.
The sudden attack left Smoker no time to react—when a voice rang out, sharp and unexpected.
"Oi, Blackbeard—are you trying to force me to work overtime?"
BOOM!
A blast of Conqueror's Haki, almost tangible, slammed into the dark tide with unstoppable force.
The thunderous clash echoed across the sky.
A massive shockwave exploded outward like a hurricane.
The overwhelming darkness that had just blanketed the sea—
—was shattered like paper under the violent impact of the Haki.
The collision of the two forces sent a towering wave crashing down, flipping Blackbeard's raft completely.
Freezing seawater poured from the sky like a torrential downpour.
It doused the fire in Blackbeard's chest instantly.
From the ship's cabin, Luo Yu stepped calmly onto the deck, composed as ever.
There wasn't a trace of injury on him.
According to CP0, hadn't the Navy's Fourth Admiral just fought a brutal battle against Drought Jack, one of Kaido's top men, and been seriously wounded—so much so that Admiral Kizaru had to take over the mission?
Then why did he look completely fine?
No—
He looked even stronger than before.
"So this is the Navy's Fourth Admiral?" Ace steadied himself, staring at the man who was supposedly his peer.
He'd heard the comparisons dozens of times.
In Ace's mind, no matter how strong this new Admiral was, he shouldn't be far off from himself.
But now, just one look gave Ace a sense of something deeper—something he couldn't quite grasp.
To remain this calm and composed after a battle with Drought Jack, and now face the ambitious Blackbeard Teach without flinching—that was beyond anything Ace had expected.
"Captain, what do we do? Do we run?" Burgess appeared beside Blackbeard, pale-faced.
The Conqueror's Haki blast had been countered by the dark tide, yes—
—but the aftershock still left their heads ringing, their minds blank.
As battle-hardened pirates, they knew: a single moment of hesitation could cost them their lives.
Feeling the eyes of everyone around him, Blackbeard's face darkened. He stared at the suddenly reappeared Luo Yu, torn.
"Blackbeard Teach! That guy's all bark and no bite!" Ulti, still tied up and bloodied on the Navy ship, suddenly shouted.
"Yesterday's fight with Lord Jack drained him completely! There's no way he's recovered this fast! If you want to take down a Navy Admiral, this is your best shot!"
Hiding in the shadows, Spandine's pupils contracted.
As a fellow CP0 agent, he knew exactly who Ulti really was.
She was the one who had leaked the intel about Jack's ambush on the new Admiral.
He'd been wondering why she hadn't contacted him after the attack.
He never imagined that not only had Jack been captured—but Ulti too.
Could it be she hadn't revealed her CP0 identity?
No.
That thought flashed through Spandine's mind—only to be crushed by his own recent experience of being outmaneuvered.
Whether someone was really CP0 or not, this new Admiral had a way of flipping the script with a single word.
But what shocked Spandine most was the gag around Ulti's neck—the same kind Jack had worn—had somehow been removed.
Had the new Admiral done it on purpose?
Was he giving Blackbeard just enough rope to hang himself?
Was this his way of making sure Blackbeard wouldn't even have the chance to regret his decision?