Before long, Captain Tashu, wielder of the Paramecia-type Black Smoke Fruit, found himself utterly overwhelmed by Fire Fist Ace, whose Logia-type Flame-Flame Fruit powers were simply too great.
After Thatch returned to the Moby Dick carrying the spoils of their raid, Ace burst out laughing and unleashed a massive fireball. In a single blazing strike, both Captain Tashu and his entire ship were reduced to ashes upon the sea.
The Tashu Pirates were annihilated—utterly destroyed!
Anyone foolish enough to provoke the Whitebeard Pirates had to pay a heavy price.
As Ace made his way back to the Moby Dick, Thatch was already bragging about the treasure he'd claimed.
According to the crew's rules, most treasure was divided equally. But if someone discovered a Devil Fruit, that fruit belonged to the one who found it.
"Brothers! Look what I've got! A Devil Fruit!!"
Grinning ear to ear, Thatch reached into the chest and revealed a strange purple Devil Fruit.
The sight of it sent waves of joy rippling through the gathered commanders. Already cheerful from their victory, they cheered even louder, congratulating Thatch on his incredible find.
But within the ranks of the Second Division, one man froze in place. A broad-shouldered figure in a white shirt and black bandana, his eyes went wide, pupils narrowing to needles as he locked onto the fruit in Thatch's hands.
Blackbeard Teach lowered his head, lips splitting into a jagged grin. His uneven white teeth gleamed, and in the shadows, his ambition burned.
Darkness swelled violently within his heart.
It had appeared. At last, it had finally appeared!
The Dark-Dark Fruit—the very Devil Fruit he had waited more than twenty years to claim!
Inside, Teach howled with excitement. His ambition grew stronger with every beat of his heart.
Fate had not abandoned him.
Under Whitebeard's orders, another raucous banquet erupted aboard the Moby Dick. The crew celebrated not only Thatch's discovery of a Devil Fruit but also Ace's victory over an enemy captain.
As night fell, the feast grew wilder. The division commanders drank heavily, some slurring in their drunken haze, others collapsing entirely into slumber.
By midnight, the Moby Dick had sailed into a storm-shrouded sea, thunder flashing across the darkened skies.
Amid the chaos of the night's revelry, a broad, heavy figure slipped quietly into Thatch's quarters.
Still drunk, Thatch didn't think to guard himself—least of all against Teach, who had always seemed so harmless, so loyal.
A flash of lightning split the sky. In that instant, Teach, eyes burning with ambition, drove his blade into Thatch's chest without hesitation.
Blood sprayed.
Shaking with exhilaration, he reached into the chest and lifted the object of his obsession—the Dark-Dark Fruit.
"Zehahahahaha!!"
With one hand gripping his bloodied knife and the other holding the fruit, Teach's laughter tore through the storm. Lightning revealed his twisted face, casting a monstrous shadow on the wall behind him.
Without wasting a moment, Teach launched a small boat from the Moby Dick and rowed furiously into the night.
If Whitebeard or the other commanders discovered what he had done, his fate would be sealed. The crew's ironclad law was absolute—killing a crewmate was the greatest taboo.
Rowing harder and harder, Teach pushed into the distance until the Moby Dick was nothing but a speck in the dark sea.
"Zehahahaha! Pops, just wait! Your Tremor-Tremor Fruit will be mine too!!"
His deranged laughter echoed across the waves until he vanished completely into the night.
The following morning, a Fourth Division crewmember entered Thatch's quarters—only to find him lying in a pool of blood.
The sailor's scream tore through the ship, shaking the entire Whitebeard Pirates to their core.
Shock gave way to rage and grief as Whitebeard and the commanders quickly uncovered the truth: the traitor was none other than Marshall D. Teach of the Second Division.
No one could believe it.
The man who had always been so meek, so unassuming—he had committed the unthinkable crime of murdering a comrade.
Ace's fury was absolute. As Thatch's brother-in-arms, he could not rest until justice was done.
Though the others tried to stop him, Ace refused to listen. He swore to avenge Thatch and to bring Teach to justice.
In the end, even Whitebeard himself could not dissuade him. With a heavy heart, the crew allowed Ace to leave alone in pursuit of the traitor.
The news of Thatch's death and Teach's betrayal spread like wildfire. Morgans, the king of news, seized upon the story with gleeful urgency—reporting the tragedy to the entire world and immediately informing Souta Kiryuu.
The New World – Thunder God Island
Souta Kiryuu, who had been training relentlessly on the storm-wracked island, finally halted his regimen of lightning-forged tempering.
His crew, battered and burned from enduring the same harsh training, looked half-dead—save for Enel, who, thanks to his Rumble-Rumble Fruit, thrived under the island's endless bolts.
"So… it's finally shown itself. The Dark-Dark Fruit."
Souta's eyes sharpened, his Conqueror's Haki flaring outward with crushing force. A grin spread across his face. He hadn't expected to catch Teach so soon—before even the Celestial Dragons made their move.
That only meant one thing: it was time to hunt Blackbeard.
Inside the command room of the Ark Maxim, Souta barked orders.
"Morgans! One billion berries—I want Teach's exact location!"
Determined, he slammed down the offer. He would not allow Blackbeard the chance to rise. Not in the New World. Not ever.
"Gahahaha! A billion for some no-name pirate? Whatever you're planning, Souta, I'll take the deal!"
Morgans cackled. The thought of Souta Kiryuu clashing with Whitebeard's crew was enough to make his feathers bristle with excitement.
Souta didn't stop there. He dispatched word to the Golden Emperor, Tesoro, and the Queen of the Pleasure District, Stussy, ordering them to track Teach's movements.
That lurking serpent of ambition would be crushed before it could ever leave the shallows.
"Move out!" Souta roared.
The training on Thunder God Island ended. His crew set sail for the middle seas of the New World, their goal fixed: to hunt down Blackbeard.
"Finally! We're leaving this cursed island!"
Bonney leapt up, her joy uncontainable. After endless days of lightning strikes, the island had left her scarred with lasting nightmares.
"Yahahaha! This time, my bounty's going higher than Kuma's!"
Enel laughed madly. The stormy crucible had strengthened him like never before, his power now nearly rivaling that of Bartholomew Kuma himself.
"This is insane! Are people outside the seas always this crazy?!"
In the corner, Shinobu shivered, her worldview shattered. Even Denjirō, the strongest among them, was shaken by the sheer brutality of Souta's training methods. Compared to this, waterfall training was child's play.
How had they survived this torment? No wonder Souta's crew was so terrifyingly strong.
"Bonney-nee is amazing! She's stronger than any kunoichi!"
Little Tama's eyes sparkled with admiration. Her childish dream of becoming a dazzling female ninja wavered. Now, she longed to grow into a queenly figure like Bonney herself.