"Oh no..." Van Augur's face instantly paled with a sense of urgency.
Simultaneously, a profound helplessness washed over him as he remembered he couldn't fly.
Despite his desperate desire to rescue Doc Q, he was powerless to do so.
Left with no other choice, he could only shout at the top of his lungs, "Doc Q, watch out!"
Nearby, Blackbeard's already narrow pupils constricted to pinpoints, knowing perfectly well that if this strike hit Doc Q, the latter would surely die on the spot.
In that critical moment, Blackbeard decisively slammed his palm against the ground.
Dark energy surged from his body like raging tides, rapidly intensifying.
In the blink of an eye, it coalesced into a thick, towering black wall resembling a fortress rampart.
At the last possible second, this black wall successfully blocked the lethal strike aimed at Doc Q.
"Whoosh..."
Lancelot landed as lightly and gracefully as a bird, planting himself directly before Blackbeard.
Blackbeard, in turn, stared intently at Lancelot, his already grim face growing even more solemn.
After a brief hesitation, he sharply turned his head and roared at Van Augur behind him and the newly, disheveledly landed Doc Q.
"What are you two standing around for? Get out of here! This guy is way out of your league right now!"
Upon hearing Blackbeard's words, Doc Q couldn't help but swallow hard.
He tremblingly turned his gaze toward Lancelot, who stood across from him.
When their eyes met, an involuntary look of deep terror surfaced in Doc Q's own.
The mere thought that his life would have ended here today, had their captain not intervened just in time, sent a wave of lingering fear through his heart.
As for Van Augur nearby, his condition wasn't much better.
His entire body was drenched in sweat, as if he had just been fished out of the water, with bean-sized droplets continuously rolling down his forehead.
He was terrified because Lancelot's piercing gaze had once again fallen upon him.
Not only had Doc Q been saved by their captain, but he, Van Augur, had also been shielded from an attack.
'Was this really just a Rear Admiral?' he thought to himself. 'Even the high-ranking Vice Admirals at Navy Headquarters probably don't possess such formidable strength!'
Meanwhile, X Drake stared at Lancelot and couldn't help but pause slightly, thinking to himself.
"It's actually him?"
Lancelot had been causing quite a stir recently.
As someone with hidden Navy connections, X Drake had naturally heard about these events and had even looked into the details.
However, he never expected that Lancelot would appear here, at this very moment.
'Was this merely a coincidence? Or had someone specifically arranged for him to come and help me escape this difficult predicament?'
Countless speculations flooded his mind, making it difficult for X Drake to determine which possibility was true.
But for now, these questions were clearly not the most crucial matters.
After all, the most important thing for X Drake at this moment was to seize this fleeting opportunity to escape.
Without hesitation, he turned around and shot off in another direction like an arrow from a bow.
His speed was lightning-fast, and he vanished from sight in the blink of an eye.
"Soru..."
Yet Lancelot completely ignored X Drake's movements, not even bothering to glance in his direction.
It was as if the Supernova didn't exist at all.
With a sudden stomp of his foot, Lancelot instantly entered a breathtaking high-speed movement state.
His speed was so incredible that ordinary eyes would struggle to track his movements.
In the blink of an eye, Lancelot effortlessly circled around Blackbeard's massive frame, charging straight toward Van Augur.
Only one thought occupied Lancelot's mind: 'Since this fool dared to fire at me recklessly, he should be prepared to face death!'
"Bastard..."
Witnessing Lancelot's complete disregard for him, Blackbeard couldn't help but curse angrily.
He particularly despised opponents like Lancelot, who excelled in pure physical combat and swordsmanship.
Against such adversaries, his proud Darkness-Darkness Fruit abilities often couldn't be fully utilized.
"Kurouzu!" Blackbeard unleashed his ability.
A powerful, terrifying dark energy surged from his hands, rapidly spreading across the ground in a wide area.
Everything touched by this darkness was mercilessly drawn into it, sinking endlessly.
As the dark expanse continued to grow, its gravitational pull intensified, resembling a bottomless miniature black hole devouring everything in its path.
In the original story, Blackbeard had demonstrated this bizarre and formidable ability during his battle with Ace, using it to instantly reduce an entire town to ruins.
Undoubtedly, this was an extremely powerful and awe-inspiring technique.
"Hmm?"
A sound of surprise was heard as Lancelot, caught in the pull, was forcibly halted, his Soru canceled and his figure abruptly revealed.
Though the technique was indeed powerful, it only targeted enemies on the ground.
Thus, aside from temporarily stopping his charge, it served no real purpose against him.
With a powerful push from his legs, Lancelot used Geppo to shoot into the sky like a bolt of lightning, instantly reaching mid-air.
He then continued stepping rapidly through the air, resuming his charge straight toward Van Augur.
"BASTARD...!"
Seeing Lancelot still fixated on Van Augur, determined not to rest until his sniper was dead, Blackbeard could no longer contain his rage.
His fury erupted like a volcano as he roared, "Liberation!"
A terrifying wave of energy burst forth abruptly from his dark vortex.
Earlier, Blackbeard had used the enigmatic power of the Darkness-Darkness Fruit to release a massive amount of darkness, not only forcing Lancelot out of his high-speed movement but also absorbing countless objects in the process.
Now, under his control, the remnants of those swallowed objects erupted violently in all directions.
In an instant, countless enormous trees and heavy rocks, as if freed from gravity, rained down from the sky.
They densely interwove, casting a shadow that blotted out the sun, enveloping the entire area below and even Lancelot, who was still in mid-air.