The crowd was filled with mixed emotions, thoughts racing through their minds.
There are four emperors ruling the sea, yet only one can claim the title of king.
Now, even Blackbeard, who is one of those emperors, acknowledges Kaelen Tsukishiro's potential to be that king. If word of this spreads, it will surely cause a storm.
Judging by Kaelen's power, he absolutely has the qualifications.
---
A low laugh escaped Kaelen as he suddenly stopped pursuing Blackbeard, standing tens of meters away and calmly gazing at him.
Then his smile faded, his tone indifferent: "Sorry, the One Piece you speak of doesn't interest me at all."
---
Blackbeard's smile froze, and the stunned silence spread among everyone present.
One Piece—the symbol of fame, power, and immense wealth that towers over the seas.
Kaelen actually said he wasn't interested?
Had he lost his mind?
Was he a fool?
Whether Kaelen was seen as foolish or mad, all agreed he was among the closest to that throne.
Yet he openly dismissed the ultimate prize.
The crowd felt a strange mix of shock, relief, and inexplicable emptiness.
They saw One Piece as life's goal, but Kaelen simply didn't.
It was like swallowing dead flies—unpleasant and tasteless.
---
Blackbeard recovered first, laughter bubbling from his lips.
"Zehahaha… I didn't expect you to be just like Whitebeard."
His words held subtle complexity.
Whitebeard was the man he both admired and resented, the old warrior plagued by frailty and disinterest in One Piece.
His feelings about Whitebeard were complicated.
Had Whitebeard desired One Piece, things might be very different today.
---
"Whatever you think," Kaelen said, shaking his head without explanation.
He saw things differently.
For Blackbeard and others, the pirate world was the entire horizon.
One Piece was the pinnacle they could imagine.
But Kaelen only saw the pirate world as a starting point.
His ambitions stretched beyond this world, unbound by its limits.
His journey was toward a mysterious sea of stars.
---
"I'll show you my true power and send you on your way."
Kaelen's presence surged even higher.
Above him, oppressive black clouds swirled rapidly, forming a divine eye that watched over the world.
Beneath him, the cracked earth trembled, ravines splitting wider and collapsing.
At that moment, Kaelen was like a god.
Even Blackbeard, Aokiji, and the others felt the crushing pressure.
---
"Gollum!" Blackbeard's mouth stretched into a grin, revealing missing teeth as he swallowed hard, speechless.
Fear.
If Kaelen before was a primal beast, now he was a towering dragon.
They were not the same.
---
Suddenly, thunder rolled through the air, majestic and cold.
Kaelen's body ignited with flames; a small fiery sun blazed behind him, bathing half the island in fire.
---
"Ace…" Blackbeard gasped.
He recognized the move—the final attack Ace used in their duel.
But Kaelen's power and presence were on another level entirely.
---
Snapping out of his reverie, Blackbeard unleashed his strongest technique.
"Darkness devours!"
---
A wave of endless blackness surged from Blackbeard's body, spreading like a dark canopy that swallowed the other half of the island.
---
"Zehahaha, what a familiar scene—the clash of darkness and flame."
"The beginning and the end of everything. What do you think, Blackbeard?"
"Beautiful! But my dream does not end here!"
"Then fight to live!"
---
With that, the fiery inferno and the black veil surged toward each other.
The scene seemed to replay the past.
Old Blackbeard Pirates suddenly recalled that historic battle.
---
Silence fell.
Everyone held their breath, eyes wide, unwilling to blink as they waited for the earth-shattering outcome.
---
Rumble!
It was like a moment and a millennium all at once.
The explosive collision sent shockwaves through their souls.
The fiery sea and black veil erupted into a violent blast, sweeping tens of miles in all directions.
Red and black intertwined like the abyss itself.
---
The black veil shrank under the burning flames, eventually revealing Blackbeard beneath.
---
"This is the end of your dream, Blackbeard," Kaelen's calm voice declared, final and unyielding.
The sea of fire condensed into a spear of judgment wrapped in flames.
In a flash, it pierced through the void, striking Blackbeard.
---
"Zehahaha…"
Blackbeard laughed weakly, staring in disbelief at the gaping hole torn through his mouth.
Inside, several organs and blood had been evaporated by the unbearable heat.
No matter how special his body was, he could not survive this.
His vitality drained swiftly.
---
"Is this the end of the dream?"
Blackbeard whispered, memories flooding his mind.
Lonely childhood, the warmth of meeting Whitebeard, fierce battles among comrades…
In the end, Whitebeard's face was the last image to appear.
---
That memory struck Blackbeard's soul, and a rare bright smile appeared, unlike anything before.
---
"Dreams, people's dreams, never end—not even in death."
"Because I am Blackbeard… Zehahaha!"
---
In early 1522, Marshall D. Teach, Blackbeard, fell on Urals Island.
This battle came to be known as the Battle of the End.
---