Next Bonus, 100!!
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"Black Hole..."
Using the terrifying gravitational pull of the Dark-Dark Fruit, Teach finally managed to close the distance to Whitebeard and Sengoku.
He pulled a massive, pitch-black tarp from his coat.
It wasn't just him. Shiryu, Laffitte, and the rest of his newly formed crew were converging on the center of the plaza, actively intercepting any Marines or Whitebeard Pirates trying to interfere.
"TEACH!"
A roar, saturated with absolute agony and blistering rage, ripped through the sky.
Teach jerked his head up.
A colossal bird made of brilliant blue and yellow flames plummeted from the sky, trailing a blazing tail like a falling star!
CRASH!
The explosive shockwave sent Teach tumbling violently across the ruined plaza.
"Marco!" Teach spat, wincing in pain.
Marco's eyes were cold and merciless as he glared at Teach and his crew. "What more do you want from Pops? You want to defile his corpse too??"
Blackbeard wiped a smear of blood from his mouth and let out a booming laugh. "Zehahahaha! Get out of my way, Marco!"
"Even Pops didn't have the guts to kill me! What makes you think you can?"
"If you don't move, I'll kill you!"
"Shut your mouth!" Marco roared. "You have no right to call him Pops! You filthy traitor!"
"Commander Marco," Teach taunted, "if I were you, I'd be running for my life right about now! You're lucky to still be breathing!"
Marco's face darkened with absolute fury. "I'm going to rip you apart! For Pops!"
"Is that so? Big words for a dead man!"
Teach laughed arrogantly. "You've already tried, haven't you?? Your Devil Fruit powers are completely useless against me!"
He raised his hands, the power of absolute darkness swirling and coalescing in his palms.
"But I don't have time to play with you right now! Burgess! Devon! Keep this idiot off my back!"
Teach was in a frantic rush. His ultimate goal was to steal the Tremor-Tremor Fruit from Whitebeard's corpse, and the clock was ticking.
If he didn't extract it while the body was still warm...
The Tremor-Tremor Fruit would reincarnate somewhere else in the world.
If that happened, finding it in the vast expanse of the seas would be harder than finding a needle in a haystack.
"You got it, Captain!"
Burgess and Devon ruthlessly disengaged from their current opponents and launched a coordinated assault on Marco.
"Don't let them near Pops!"
The remaining division commanders fought with desperate, suicidal fury.
Teach's anxiety spiked.
The sudden, chaotic interventions by Jin and the Revolutionary Army had completely derailed his meticulous plan. He was supposed to have easy access to the body, but now he was bogged down in a multi-front melee.
BOOM!
Desperate for the fruit, Teach finally dropped the act. He unleashed his formidable physical prowess and a suffocating wave of Conqueror's Haki.
A single, devastating punch sent Marco flying.
Decades ago, long before he had ever acquired the Dark-Dark Fruit, Teach was the man who had permanently scarred Red-Haired Shanks—a wound Shanks never forgot.
During his tenure on Whitebeard's ship, Teach had cultivated a habit of staying out of the spotlight, meticulously hiding his true strength.
Even in combat, he never showed his full hand.
He had been playing the long game.
He had learned from the catastrophic downfall of his true father, Rocks D. Xebec. Rocks had been too arrogant, too visible, and it had made him the ultimate target. Teach had chosen to lay low, quietly accumulating power until the perfect moment.
But now, combining the overwhelming nullification of the Dark-Dark Fruit with his top-tier physical combat skills, it took only a few brutal strikes to force Marco back, coughing up blood.
"I told you not to get in my way, Marco! I will kill you!"
Teach finally revealed his true, psychotic nature.
Even his aura mutated, growing violently malevolent.
It was as if he had become an entirely different person.
He leaped into the air, his right hand wreathed in the power of the Dark-Dark Fruit, aiming a lethal strike at the retreating, bloodied Marco.
He was going for the kill.
Since his feud with the Whitebeard Pirates was already an irrevocable death match, he might as well finish the job right here!
With Teach's hand clamped firmly onto his shoulder, Marco's Phoenix powers were completely suppressed. He was forced to rely entirely on his physical martial arts.
It was true that the Dark-Dark Fruit had a severe drawback: the user absorbed double the pain and double the damage. This made Teach's physical body a glaring vulnerability.
But...
That weakness only truly mattered when facing absolute monsters like Whitebeard.
Marco was a formidable fighter, and his strikes certainly caused Teach agonizing pain.
But compared to the world-ending power of Whitebeard, Marco's attacks fell short.
WHAM!
Ignoring the searing pain, Teach brutally slammed Marco into the ground.
The sheer, overwhelming force of the impact shattered the bedrock beneath them.
"Gah!"
Marco vomited a massive gout of blood.
Teach drew his fist back for the executioner's blow.
"See you in hell, Commander Marco! Tell Pops I said hi!"
Teach sneered, his face twisted in a sadistic grin.
Suddenly!
Teach's smile froze. His descending fist abruptly halted in mid-air.
It wasn't just his fist!
His entire body locked up, completely paralyzed in a fraction of a second.
It was the primal, paralyzing terror of a beast suddenly finding itself in the presence of an apex predator. He was instinctively forced to submit.
"Teach."
Jin stood directly behind him, his hands casually shoved into his pockets. He smiled faintly. "Do me a favor. Let him go."
Whitebeard had sacrificed his life to cripple Sengoku. Jin felt obligated to show a modicum of respect by preserving the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates.
Furthermore, this war was only the opening act.
The true objective of a war was never the war itself.
It wasn't just about slaughtering enemies.
In the aftermath, when he eventually moved to officially annex Whitebeard's territories, having the cooperation of Marco and the other commanders would be immensely beneficial.
Cold sweat poured down Teach's forehead. He shot a terrified glance over his shoulder. "You want to save him? King Jin!"
"That's right."
"In that case... I'll give you this one!"
Teach slowly, carefully lifted his hand from Marco's shoulder.
Then, with blinding speed, he spun around.
He lunged directly at Jin.
When it came to cunning, resilience, cruelty, and sheer, unadulterated greed, Teach ranked among the absolute worst the pirate world had to offer. He might have been at the very top of that list.
He had lurked in Whitebeard's shadow for decades just to get his hands on the Dark-Dark Fruit.
If he could secure the Tremor-Tremor Fruit as well, the throne of the Pirate King would be virtually his.
With his ultimate dream practically within arm's reach, did anyone really expect him to just walk away?
Teach wasn't about to give up without a fight.
Anyone who stood between him and absolute power was an enemy to be eliminated. Even if it was his former friend, Thatch!
Teach unleashed his power against Jin.
During his chaotic escape from Impel Down, he had been rapidly formulating a strategy to deal with Jin.
His intelligence indicated...
That Jin was the user of the Logia-type Rumble-Rumble Fruit.
Therefore, if he could just close the distance...
If he could just grab hold of him, victory was assured!
"Black Water!"
He unleashed the absolute maximum gravitational pull of the Dark-Dark Fruit. The invisible vortex erupted from his palm, designed to violently rip the enemy toward him.
At this point-blank range, Teach was absolutely confident Jin couldn't escape!
Jin didn't even try to run.
He simply stood there, allowing Teach's massive hand to clamp down on his arm.
Teach threw his head back and roared with triumphant laughter.
"Zehahahaha! Is this it?? Is this all you've got??"
"Experience the power I staked my entire destiny on! The absolute nemesis of all Devil Fruits!"
SHLUCK!
A blade slid effortlessly into his flesh.
A blinding, agonizing pain tore through Teach's consciousness. He looked down in absolute disbelief. Jin's black blade was buried hilt-deep in his chest.
"You talk too much."
Jin's gaze was entirely devoid of emotion. "Whitebeard was right. Your absolute greatest weakness... is your arrogance."
Jin knew exactly how Teach's powers worked.
The Dark-Dark Fruit was indeed the ultimate counter to Devil Fruit users.
But it was far from invincible.
Its strengths and its fatal flaws were glaringly obvious.
That was precisely why Teach was so desperate to acquire the Tremor-Tremor Fruit—to compensate for his lack of overwhelming offensive power.
And it was only after securing the Tremor-Tremor Fruit...
And surviving another grueling year of constant warfare, that Teach truly ascended to the Yonko tier.
Conversely, Whitebeard had firmly established his Yonko status using the Tremor-Tremor Fruit alone.
This clearly indicated that Teach had barely scratched the surface of the Dark-Dark Fruit's true potential. Just as Luffy's Gomu-Gomu Fruit had seemed like an ordinary Paramecia before he unlocked the Nika awakening.
Prior to awakening, the Dark-Dark Fruit, despite its unique nullification ability, was burdened with a crippling side effect: the inability to turn intangible, rendering it functionally inferior to a standard Logia in terms of defense.
Only through Awakening!
Would it truly become absolute.
The Tremor-Tremor Fruit, on the other hand... you could feed that fruit to a dog, and while it might not become a Yonko, it would easily be a top-tier Warlord-level threat...
"Dammit!"
Fighting through the excruciating pain, Teach threw a desperate counter-punch.
CRUNCH!
Jin casually raised his free hand and caught the incoming fist. With a sickening crack, he crushed Teach's hand completely.
"GAAAAAH! IT HURTS! IT HURTS!"
Teach screamed in agony.
Jin's physical constitution and raw strength were leagues above his!
"Why??"
"Why isn't the Dark-Dark Fruit working??"
He couldn't comprehend it.
Jin was a lightning man! With his powers suppressed, his physical strength should have plummeted!
"I know exactly what you're after," Jin said calmly. "And I have a little piece of intel for you. I heard you've been desperately searching for the Munch-Munch Fruit."
Teach's pupils contracted to pinpricks. The Dark-Dark Fruit and the Munch-Munch Fruit... conceptually, they were incredibly similar Devil Fruits.
Both possessed the fundamental property of "devouring," albeit applied in entirely different directions.
If the two powers could somehow be combined...
It would create the most terrifying ability in existence.
How did Jin know about that??
Suddenly...
A horrifying realization hit Teach like a physical blow.
"You... YOU AREN'T THE USER OF THE RUMBLE-RUMBLE FRUIT??"
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~ 70 Advanced Chapters Available on Patreon
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