Next Bonus, 100!!
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Teach grinned, spreading his arms wide. "Oh? Ace! Commander!"
"Shut up! I'm not your commander anymore."
Ace was wreathed in flames.
"Marshall D. Teach of the Blackbeard Pirates!"
"ZEHAHAHAHA!"
"Still the same, aren't you, Ace? Always so reckless, so impulsive. You never learned to control your emotions."
Teach laughed, acting as if they were still old friends.
Ochoku glared at them. "Hey! You're the ones who stole my treasure? Teach!"
"I can give the treasure back!" Teach shouted.
"The condition is... help us kill Ace!"
Ochoku frowned, glancing at Ace. "I want to see my property first."
"Burgess!" Teach commanded.
Burgess hauled a massive treasure chest forward and dropped it on the ground with a heavy thud.
Ace shouted, "Ochoku! Are you really going to believe their lies?"
"Teach is a man who kills his own crewmates!"
Ochoku smiled thinly. "I know. That's why..."
Suddenly.
The ground beneath the treasure chest softened, swallowing it whole. Ochoku sank into the earth along with it and vanished.
He fled.
Leaving the battlefield to Teach and Ace.
"Zehahaha... Still the same old tricks."
Teach didn't care that Ochoku took the chest. The "treasure" inside was nothing but rocks.
He had anticipated Ochoku would run.
Ace stared down Teach and his crew.
"TEACH!!!"
"You've lived longer than most, Teach. You understand exactly what this situation means, don't you?" Ace said, his voice cold.
Teach's smile faded. He looked calm. "Yeah, I know. But let me say one thing."
"Hey, Ace. Why don't you join my crew?"
"I've already planned my path to domination! Whitebeard's era is over! I will be the Pirate King!"
"HEY, OLD MAN! WHAT ARE YOU BABBLING ABOUT??"
A voice cut through the tension. Luffy arrived, panting heavily.
"Oh?"
"It's you. You're not dead?"
"You want to be Pirate King too?"
"That's right! I'm the man who's gonna be King of the Pirates!"
"What a shame. I guess I'll have to kill you right here too!"
Ace's face darkened. "Teach. Don't push your luck."
"There is no way in hell I would ever join you."
"What a pity," Teach sighed mockingly. "Then I suppose I'll have to use you as my gift to the World Government!"
BANG! BANG!
He drew two flintlock pistols and fired at Ace and Luffy simultaneously.
The bullet passed through Ace's forehead.
It did no damage.
The flames healed the wound instantly.
Ace formed his fingers into a gun and fired back at Teach's crew.
Luffy dodged the bullet and clenched his fist.
"Gum-Gum... Pistol!"
He punched Teach square in the gut.
Teach, focused on Ace, took the hit solidly.
WHAM!
He was sent flying, crashing into the dirt.
"OW! OW! OW! IT HURTS! IT HURTS SO MUCH!"
Teach rolled on the ground, clutching his chest and screaming.
"What the...?"
Luffy looked at his fist, confused. He doubted his own strength. Was it really that painful?
Teach's reaction was absurdly exaggerated.
"Don't let your guard down, Luffy!" Ace warned. "This guy... he knows how to act!"
"Hah... hah..."
Teach gasped for air, then grinned. "You caught me!"
He glanced around. Ochoku's forces had scattered after their leader fled. Zoro and the others were arriving from the perimeter.
"Burgess, Doc Q, Laffitte. You guys handle the small fry."
"Aye, Captain!"
The Blackbeard Pirates moved to intercept Zoro and the others.
Teach fixed his eyes on Ace.
"I know, Ace! You want to kill me, don't you?"
"It's only natural. Killing a crewmate is the gravest sin! Yes, I killed Thatch, the Fourth Division Commander!"
"I had no choice! He had the Devil Fruit I wanted!"
"The rule on the ship is simple: whoever finds it, eats it."
"I memorized the shapes of every Devil Fruit in the encyclopedia."
"I knew it instantly. That was the fruit I had been dreaming of."
"To be honest, I spent decades on Whitebeard's ship just because the chances of finding that fruit were highest there."
"If my luck had been bad, I would have accepted it. But the fruit just happened to fall into my friend's hands!"
"So," Ace said, his voice trembling with rage, "you killed Thatch and stole it!"
"Ah, it was just an accident!"
"This power... it chose me, Ace!"
Teach extended his hands. "Watch closely. Even among Logias, this one is unique!"
His hands were slowly swallowed by darkness.
Then.
A pillar of darkness erupted from behind Teach, swirling like a tornado.
"Ace! Your body is fire!"
The black vortex spread out behind Teach like a curtain of night.
Tendrils of black mist writhed and clawed at the air.
The black smoke reached the clouds, radiating an oppressive, malevolent aura.
"But mine... is Darkness!"
"Ah! What is that?" Luffy exclaimed. "A Devil Fruit power?"
The pillar of smoke spiraled upward, swallowing everything around it.
Teach's laughter, accompanied by the dancing black mist, made him look like a demon from hell.
"Darkness?"
Ace frowned slightly.
"That's right, Commander Ace! You can't kill me!"
"This is the most evil power in the history of Devil Fruits!"
"Logia: Yami Yami no Mi!"
"I'm about to show you just how powerful this is!"
"The Darkness Fruit?"
"Hmph. Call it what you want."
Ace didn't attack immediately. He was wary of Teach's ability.
Devil Fruit powers were bizarre and varied. Fighting without understanding the opponent's specific ability was a recipe for disaster.
Since Teach was willing to show off, Ace was willing to watch.
Teach slammed his right hand onto the ground. The pillar of black smoke that had shot into the sky now converged on him.
In the next instant, it spread out like thick ink, surging forward like a tide, covering the entire area.
"Hey! What is this stuff?"
"It feels... wrong! Run!"
The pirates, seeing the clawing black mist, felt an instinctive terror and fled.
Even Burgess and the others were startled and backed away.
"Move it! The Captain's going crazy again!"
"Get out of here!"
"If we don't hurry, we'll get sucked in too!"
Sanji, Zoro, and the others didn't hesitate. They retreated immediately.
Luffy stretched his arms, grabbed a building, and launched himself onto a roof, getting clear of the spreading darkness.
Ace stood on a pile of rubble, unmoving, his expression grave.
The darkness flowed like water, covering the entire architectural zone.
Teach raised both hands.
"Darkness is gravity! The power to pull in and swallow everything! An infinite gravity that doesn't let even a single ray of light escape!"
"I haven't even touched the main course yet!"
"I won't attack you just yet. Just watch... as this town disappears!"
Teach pressed his left hand down.
"Black Hole!"
Instantly.
The spreading darkness began to churn like a boiling pool, black mist steaming off the surface.
RUMBLE!
The buildings shook.
Crushed by an invisible force, they began to sink into the darkness, obliterated into nothingness.
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