The wind, now a physical, roaring entity, threatened to tear the sails from their masts.
The rain was coming down in sideways sheets, stinging their faces like needles.
"Idiot, Chopper! Get over here and help!" Usopp's voice was a strained shout over the gale as he fought to control the whipping sail ropes.
Chopper, his face still streaked with tears, immediately snapped to attention.
"O-okay, I'm coming!" he yelled.
Taking a deep breath, he eat one of his Rumble Balls.
"Heavy Point!" he roared, his small form swelling into a towering, muscular beast.
He help ussop with his newfound strength and together they managed to secure the sail.
"That's more like it," Usopp grunted, the two of them now pulling against the gale with all their might.
"Crying won't solve anything."
"You cried too!" Chopper shot back.
"I... I was moved!" Usopp retorted without missing a beat.
"By the imminent threat of death!"
*****
Meanwhile, on the streets of Water 7, Blackbeard stood by a canal, his mouth agape as he watched the impossible thing happening.
The sea was rapidly retreating, exposing tracts of seabed no living person had ever seen before.
"One meter, three meters, five meters... ten meters!" he muttered, his voice filled with a shocked unease.
Then, his gaze locked onto the horizon.
A towering, sky-rending wall of water was rolling towards them, a monstrous, unstoppable force of nature intent on swallowing the entire world.
"What the hell is that?!" he breathed, his scalp going numb.
"A... a tsunami?!"
In that instant, the bustling city was gripped by a sudden, unnatural silence, until a single, terrified scream shattered the quiet.
"Its Aqua Laguna! It's come early! Run!"
The words acted like a spark in a powder keg.
Panic erupted.
People scrambled desperately, some rushing home, others fleeing inland, while some simply abandoned everything and sprinted for the city's highest districts.
The streets descended into unprecedented chaos.
Teach stood amidst the screaming, fleeing crowd.
His eyes burned with a resentful anger, as if the entire universe had conspired against him.
First, the news that his former crewmates, the very crew he had betrayed, had all somehow become dual-fruit users, while Whitebeard himself had become a three-fruit user.
This is absolute bullshit! he roared inwardly, a wave of deep, bitter regret washing over him.
If I'd known that was possible, why the hell did I go through all the trouble of killing Thatch?!
Then, the Buster Call on Jaya had reduced the island to a cratered wasteland that he had barely escaped with his life.
And now, before he could even catch his breath, the sea itself was rising up to kill him.
"Damn it! Damn it all!" he roared hysterically, his voice filled with a desperate, furious resentment.
He refused to accept this fate.
He would seize the Tremor-Tremor Fruit powers and become one of the Four Emperors!
"Captain, we must flee now, or it will be too late," Laffitte's voice was a calm, eerie whisper beside him, a stark contrast to the surrounding panic.
"Indeed," Doc Q sighed, a wheezing rattle in his chest, his horse looking just as sickly as he did.
"Our ship was just destroyed by the Marines... we barely managed to acquire a new one. Before we could even set sail, we're met with this... terrible weather. Sigh..."
Hearing the screams from the city, Teach suddenly remembered the brand-new ship he had just bought, still docked peacefully at the harbor.
The thought of his new vessel, a symbol of their next chapter, being destroyed before he could even sail it, made his heart ache with a fresh, bitter anger.
"Damn it! The ship hasn't even been taken out, and now it's about to be wrecked! What's the point of this?!" Teach growled, but he quickly suppressed his rage, his mind making a swift, pragmatic decision.
"Hurry! Get someone to move the ship to the elevated platforms! We can't afford to lose it!"
Burgess nodded and immediately began barreling through the panicked crowds.
Teach took one last deep look at the turbulent, unnatural sea, his emotions a chaotic storm, before issuing a firm command to his remaining crew.
"Let's go!"
Inside the mayor's office of Water 7, the atmosphere was thick with a tense, professional calm.
Iceberg stood by the grand window, his gaze solemn as he watched the raging, receding waves.
"Mayor," Kalifa said softly, adjusting her glasses, her voice carrying a carefully controlled unease.
"Based on our observations, the scale of this phenomenon is unprecedented in Water 7's historical records. This is not the Aqua Laguna."
Iceberg nodded, his mind already calculating the rapidly shrinking time window.
"It's time," he declared firmly.
"Activate the citywide emergency protocol. Paulie!"
"Here, Mayor!" A burly man in blue overalls, a lit cigar dangling from his mouth, strode into the office.
"I need you at the shipyard immediately," Iceberg commanded. "Mobilize all available forces to assist with the evacuation. We must do everything we can to minimize casualties."
"Understood!" Paulie replied, turning and leaving without a wasted motion.
As he left, Kalifa was already on the city-wide Den Den Mushi, her calm, clear voice a stark contrast to the rising panic on the streets.
"Attention all citizens, due to extreme sea conditions, we are officially initiating the citywide emergency response plan..."
Out on the ocean, at the epicenter of the cataclysm, an enormous, circular black hole had appeared in the water.
It was a perfect void, a place where the laws of physics seemed to break down.
Anything that approached its edge—fish, seaweed, even the light itself—was instantly and silently devoured, erased from existence by some mysterious, absolute force.
The surrounding tsunami was the aftereffect, a ripple sent out from this point of annihilation, a ripple that, instead of dissipating, was growing into an unprecedented super-disaster.
*****
The inhabitants of Sky Island, however, remained blissfully unaware of the chaos they had unleashed below.
Jozu who's utterly exhausted, had collapsed to the ground and gasping for breath.
"Serves you right for showing off!" one of his brothers teased. "Now look at you! Go take a rest!"
Ron surveyed the celebrating crowd before instructing his assistants.
"Bring up the last three chests."
Conis quickly brought them forward.
Ron then turned his gaze to Whitebeard, who had been grinning nonstop.
"Pops," he said, his tone filled with a new anticipation.
"It's your turn for an Enchantment now."
"Hmm? Me?" Whitebeard was momentarily taken aback, his brow furrowing in confusion.
He hadn't mentioned wanting another ability.
Seeing his confusion, Ron explained, "It's a special Devil Fruit we... acquired during our last trip to Wano." He gestured toward the terrified, beaten form of Orochi, who was still tied to a nearby pillar.
"This is Kurozumi Orochi—an unexpected prize from our raid."
Whitebeard finally had an epiphany.
So that's it!
He had noticed the man before but paid him no mind.
But now, it seemed this pathetic-looking fellow held some extraordinary significance.
Ron wouldn't waste his time on anything less.
And for Ron to offer it to him... the ability had to be worth an astronomical sum.
Thinking this, Whitebeard's gaze grew solemn, his earlier mirth replaced by a deep, focused curiosity.
"What is his ability?" he asked slowly, his voice a low rumble that made the very air seem to vibrate.
-----------------------------
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