__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"Captain!"
Burgess's face twisted in horror. He wanted to rush forward, but the eerie aura radiating from those black flames forced him back step after step.
"What the hell is this fire?! Why won't it go out?!"
Blackbeard roared in terror, slapping frantically at the dark fire crawling across his chest, trying to smother it.
It was useless.
That black flame burned like it had a will of its own, growing fiercer the harder he struggled.
"Darkness! Swallow it all!"
He activated the Dark-Dark Fruit, his palm morphing into a mass of swirling blackness as he clawed at the flames on his chest.
He was going to use his darkness to devour the fire.
But the instant his darkness touched the flame—
Hiss!
A faint crackle, followed by the impossible.
His darkness… caught fire.
"No—!!!"
Blackbeard let out a despairing scream. Instead of extinguishing the flames, his power only made them burn hotter, like pouring oil on a raging blaze.
The pain doubled, tripled, overwhelming his nerves.
"Why?! Why doesn't my darkness work?! Why can't I swallow these flames?!"
Panic consumed him. He could feel his very life being devoured by the fire, piece by piece.
If this kept up, he'd burn alive.
"No… no! I can't die here!!"
Driven to the edge of despair, his eyes bloodshot and veins bulging across his forehead, Blackbeard unconsciously unleashed all of his Haoshoku Haki.
Boom!
A blast of sheer willpower erupted from him, sweeping out like a shockwave.
The black flames shuddered violently under the onslaught of his Conqueror's Haki, flickering, dimming ever so slightly.
"What?!"
"It takes Haoshoku… just to push back these flames?!"
Shocked, but clinging to the faint hope of survival, Blackbeard poured everything into his Haki.
Sparks hissed, flames sputtered—
And finally, after burning him for what felt like an eternity, after torturing him with unbearable agony, the flames gave one last defiant flicker… and went out.
What remained was a charred, grotesque scar across his chest, stinking of scorched flesh.
"Haah… haah…"
Blackbeard collapsed onto the deck, gasping like a drowning man, his entire body soaked in cold sweat. Relief and bone-deep fear twisted his face.
For a moment there, he truly thought he was dead.
That brat…
That brat's flames…
Too damned cursed. Too damned terrifying.
When he looked at Dan, fear swallowed his gaze whole.
This wasn't some up-and-coming talent.
This was a monster. A freak even more outrageous than Kaido himself.
Burgess's heart pounded. He didn't even dare to breathe loudly. All he wanted now was to get as far away from that kid as possible.
Blackbeard had barely caught his breath, thankful to still be alive, when a childish voice—soft but merciless as a death sentence—drifted into his ears.
"Open."
His body froze.
Forcing his head up, he saw the boy floating in the air. Dan's small figure sank slightly, his young face carved with a solemnity far beyond his years.
Green steam began to rise from his body.
Blackbeard's pupils shrank to pinpricks.
He remembered.
The most terrifying part of the "Demon Child" Dan's legend.
That crimson steam. That earth-shattering power.
"No… don't!"
The words tore from his throat in pure instinct, thick with a fear he had never known.
Run. He had to run. That was the only thought left in his mind.
But even as he screamed, Dan was already moving.
During the chaos when Amaterasu had scorched Blackbeard, Dan had taken the opportunity to seize the letter.
The moment it touched his hand—
[Ding! Host has successfully intercepted Rocks D. Xebec's letter!]
[Mission reward: Massive Stamina Increase—delivered!]
A flood of warmth roared through his body, surging like a tidal wave.
His stamina bar skyrocketed as though pumped full of steroids, filling him with an almost unbearable sense of power.
It felt so good he nearly moaned aloud.
And right on top of that, the system chimed again.
[Mission: Defeat a combatant of Warlord level or higher. Reward: One random Multiverse Ability.]
Warlord level or higher…
Dan's dark eyes shifted toward the man below, the one still trembling from the black flames, staring up at him in horror—Marshall D. Teach.
Wasn't this guy the perfect target?
Sure, Blackbeard wasn't a Yonko yet. He hadn't even claimed the title of Warlord.
But he was strong enough to defeat Ace. That put him solidly at Warlord-level strength.
Take him down, and the mission would be complete.
With that thought, Dan didn't hesitate.
"Gate of Rest—open!"
The childlike voice rang out again, a tolling bell of death for both Blackbeard and Burgess.
The green steam thickened. His aura shot upward like a rocket.
"Gate of Life—open!"
"Gate of Pain—open!"
"Gate of Limit—open!"
"Gate of View—open!"
One after another, Dan unlocked six gates in a seamless flow, his body radiating steam that shifted from green to a faint, scorching blue.
The oppressive force rolling off him battered every nerve on the ship like a tidal wave.
"No! Stop him! Don't let him keep going!!"
Blackbeard's scream was ragged, desperate. He could feel it—every time the boy shouted "open," his power multiplied exponentially.
If this continued, it would mean his death.
"Brat! Die!!"
Burgess finally snapped out of his paralysis. Though fear gnawed at him, survival instincts took over. He launched himself forward, his bulging muscles twisting like steel cables, veins popping along his arms.
Channeling every ounce of strength, he drove a crushing Shock Elbow straight at Dan, the strike howling through the air.
He didn't believe for a second that such a tiny body could withstand it.
But Dan's expression didn't change.
His black eyes were as calm and bottomless as an ancient well.
The Seventh Gate.
"Gate of Shock—open!"
BOOM!!!
The pale blue steam erupted, condensing into a visible armor of energy swirling around him like a storm.
The force was so overwhelming it churned the sea around the ship into chaos. Even the sky seemed to darken.
Burgess's elbow strike crashed forward—
Thud!
It was like slamming into a steel wall.
Crack!
The sickening sound of bone snapping rang out.
"Gyaaaaahhh!!!"
Burgess's scream pierced the air as his proud, iron-like arm twisted grotesquely, crushed under nothing more than the aura surrounding Dan.
Just the backlash of his protective steam had crippled the so-called champion's arm.
"H-how… how is this possible…"
Blackbeard's eyes bulged wide, his face frozen in terror beyond words.
"..."
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________