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Rockstar didn't even have time to react.
An overwhelming wave of terrifying pressure slammed down like a collapsing sky—unstoppable and absolute.
It felt like an invisible giant hand had reached out and crushed his heart.
His mind went completely blank.
His eyes rolled back into his head.
THUD!
His sword clattered to the deck as he fell stiffly backward, foam bubbling from his mouth—out cold on the spot.
Instant KO.
Just the sheer burst of Conqueror's Haki had wiped out Rockstar, a pirate with a 94 million bounty, like swatting a fly.
"Uwaaah!"
Burgess let out a strangled yelp, his massive frame stumbling back seven or eight steps before he barely regained his balance.
His soul felt like it was shaking.
That Conqueror's Haki... it was monstrous.
More terrifying than any Haki he'd ever seen.
He didn't doubt for a second—if he'd been standing just a little closer, he'd be drooling on the floor right next to Rockstar.
Blackbeard's face, previously plastered with that smug, calculating grin, suddenly froze.
The mischief and cunning in his eyes vanished, replaced by something much rarer—genuine fear and unease.
"This... what the hell kind of Conqueror's Haki is this...?"
He could feel it—clear as day.
That Haki carried a tyrannical will that reigned above all, a dominance that crushed everything beneath it.
Even his old captain, Whitebeard—Edward Newgate—or the legendary Pirate King, Gol D. Roger… their Haki couldn't be more overwhelming than this.
And it was coming from...
A toddler.
A baby not even two years old—was unleashing a force this terrifying?
This wasn't just a monster.
This was something else.
This was a born king of the sea.
Dan's tiny figure drifted down lightly and landed on Rockstar's chest.
He reached out with his chubby little hand, ready to take the letter tucked inside the man's jacket—the letter that Red-Haired Shanks had sent to Whitebeard.
The mission was right within his grasp.
Suddenly—
"Zehahahaha! Kid, that's not something you're allowed to touch!"
A harsh, grating laugh exploded in the air.
Blackbeard Teach lunged forward!
His massive hand, coated in that eerie black haze of darkness, claws spread wide like a talon of death—swung straight toward Dan's back!
It came fast. Vicious. Calculated.
He knew this brat was freakishly strong, but that letter? A message from Shanks to Whitebeard?
There had to be something huge behind it.
He needed to take it.
But Dan didn't even blink.
Just as that shadowy claw was about to grab him—
His body shifted to the side, like a ghost flickering out of existence.
Fast.
Blindingly fast.
Blackbeard's fingers tore through nothing but air.
"Wha—?!"
His pupils shrank. This kid's reflexes were inhuman!
"Whehahaha! Captain! I'm backing you up!"
Nearby, Jesus Burgess roared and swung a hand as wide as a fan with bone-crushing force—like he was trying to swat a bug.
If that slap landed, most people wouldn't just die—they'd evaporate.
The wind alone cracked like a whip across the air.
But Dan's little body was light as a feather.
As the massive palm came roaring in, he gently tapped his toes on the deck—
And soared upward effortlessly, dodging it like it was nothing.
BOOM!
Burgess's hand smashed into the wood, splinters flying in all directions. The recoil numbed his entire arm.
"Zehahaha! Now this is interesting!"
Teach's eyes burned with a fiercer light.
He thrust his dark-shrouded hand forward again.
"Black Vortex!"
A terrifying pull radiated from the swirling darkness in his palm—trying to drag everything nearby into a void.
"Nowhere to run this time, kid!"
Blackbeard grinned, full of bloodlust. He was confident—his Dark-Dark Fruit could nullify any Devil Fruit power.
This brat had to be a fruit user—flying, that insane Haki? It had to be.
But Dan?
He remained completely calm.
That darkness—yes, it was strange. It had a sucking, stripping effect.
But it was useless against him.
He wasn't a Devil Fruit user.
That power meant nothing.
"Wh-What?!"
Teach's grin shattered.
His eyes bulged wide like he'd seen a ghost.
"N-No effect?!"
"My Black Vortex—didn't work?!"
"How the hell is that possible?!"
The ability he prided himself on—the one that suppressed all Devil Fruits—was completely ineffective against this tiny kid?!
"You're… not a Devil Fruit user?!"
He screamed like he couldn't believe his own words.
A kid who wasn't a fruit user—could fly?
A kid who wasn't a fruit user—bodied a Vice Admiral like he was nothing?
It didn't make sense.
Burgess's jaw dropped so hard it nearly hit the floor.
"C-Captain... what the hell is this kid…?"
His brain was struggling to keep up.
Dan looked down at the two of them—Blackbeard's twisted face, Burgess's slack-jawed disbelief.
His tiny face remained blank.
He'd already lost interest in wasting time with them.
He slowly raised his head, and those pitch-black eyes began to change.
Three blood-red tomoe rotated into view, forming a sharp, haunting shuriken pattern.
Mangekyō Sharingan.
A cold, malevolent energy filled the air again.
Blackbeard and Burgess both felt an icy chill rocket up their spines.
Those eyes—
Too strange.
Too ominous.
"K-Kid… what are you trying to do?!"
Teach's voice wavered. From those eyes—he could feel it.
A deadly threat.
Dan didn't answer.
He simply opened his mouth, and in that soft, childlike voice, spoke two words.
Calm, but cold as judgment itself—
"Amaterasu."
HSSHH—!!!
Without any warning—
A tiny patch of black flames burst to life right in the middle of Teach's chest.
"AAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
A bloodcurdling, inhuman scream tore from his throat.
His massive body convulsed violently, the fat on his face twisting into grotesque shapes from the sheer agony.
"IT BURNS!! IT'S BURNING!! OH GOD IT HURTS!!"
The black fire clung to his flesh like a curse, searing through him without mercy.
The pain—
Like thousands of red-hot irons branding his very soul.
Nothing he'd felt in his life came even close.
It was hellfire.
"..."
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