Chapter 449: Nika Teach!
In the center of Hachinosu's ruins, the atmospheric pressure seemed to be suddenly crushed down by an invisible hand.
The bizarre drumbeats continued—
Thump... thump... thump-thump...
Like a heartbeat, yet more like the awakening rhythm of some ancient lifeform.
With every beat, the earth trembled, and even the air emitted a low hum.
Ace was the first to notice the anomaly. He abruptly looked down: "Something's wrong... This sound—it's coming from underground!!!"
"Underground?!" Zoro's gaze sharpened. His right hand tightly gripped Enma, Haki boiling across the surface of his body.
Kuina tapped her toes, instantly standing in mid-air. Her icy gaze swept toward the deep crater: "...This aura, it's not something a human could possibly possess."
Even Luffy's half-dragon body shrank slightly, golden light flashing in his dragon pupils: "This oppressive pressure is really weird... It's just like Big Brother Roy during the Paramount War..."
"——BOOM!!!"
The hundred-meter-deep flaming crater suddenly erupted!
The scorching magma was vaporized into white mist. A tidal wave of energy swept out in all directions, the shockwave blasting away rubble and flames alike.
A heaven-shaking, maniacal laugh echoed from the depths of the sea of fire:
"Ze—hahahahahahahaha!!!!!"
In the next moment, a massive white silhouette soared into the sky from the deep crater—
Teach.
He hovered in mid-air, his entire body enveloped in a pale white membrane of light.
The originally pitch-black swamp aura had vanished without a trace, replaced by flowing energy where black and white blended together.
The energy looked like liquid, yet also like mist, swirling and churning around him.
And that previously messy black hair and thick beard had completely lost their color, turning pure white and whipping fiercely in the wind.
His clothes, cape, gloves... all had been assimilated by the energy into pale white textures, radiating a cold glow.
He looked down at his pale hands, his hoarse voice carrying a crazed joy: "So that's how it is..."
"Is this—a Paramecia-type's Awakening ability..."
The air abruptly fell dead silent.
Ace's pupils contracted, flames floating around him.
Even Luffy dropped his smile, staring intensely at that bizarre figure.
"Taking an attack like that... and he's actually completely unscathed?!" Kuina's voice carried a rare hint of shock.
"That's impossible!"
Zoro responded in a deep voice, the black mist on Enma restlessly stirring. "Taking a hit like that, even a Sea King would have been turned to ash!"
Hearing their exclamations, Teach bared his signature sinister grin, looking down at them.
"Ze—hahahahaha!!!"
His pupils were no longer distinctly black and white; instead, they were a milky white mixed with spiral-shaped dark light patterns, looking as if they could devour one's very sight.
"Ace—I really have to thank you!!"
He pointed a finger at Ace, his voice booming and carrying an eerie echo.
"If you hadn't pushed me to the brink of death with that attack, it would have been impossible for me to touch this level of power!"
"That guy Roy—he completely misjudged this!!!"
Ace looked up, shock and fury in his eyes: "What did you say?"
Teach laughed heartily, the sound waves making the sea surface undulate.
"He thought that Gum-Gum Fruit was just an ordinary, trickster fruit, but little did he know—"
"This fruit itself is the ultimate form of 'bearing' and 'devouring'!"
He spread his hands wide. The swamp and rubber energy intertwined between his palms, forming a bizarre spiral halo.
"When I connect with heaven and earth—"
"Even the forms of nature can be 'repelled' back by me!!!"
His flowing white hair whipped fiercely in the light and flames, his arrogant laughter echoing unscrupulously.
—Right at this moment.
"—Zanpa!!!"
Zoro and Kuina roared almost simultaneously!
Two heaven-shaking sword auras, one green and one red, tore through the sky—
A green Asura storm rose from the ground, while a crimson blood-blade gleam slashed down from high above!
The two sword auras intersected and converged, aiming straight for Teach's heart!
"BOOM—!!!"
The air currents between heaven and earth were compressed into a vacuum. But just as the sword auras were about to strike—
Teach actually didn't dodge.
Instead, he laughed loudly and met the attack head-on!
"Zehahahaha!! You brats—perfect timing!!!"
"What?!" Zoro and Kuina's pupils contracted violently!
They saw Teach throw his arms out, the white light around him flashing explosively!
His pale palms actually grabbed the sword auras directly!
That sharp edge, originally capable of tearing through steel and shattering mountains—
Was now swallowed and wrapped by the rubberized energy in his palms, forcibly tamed in his hands like two wildly dancing whips of light!
"Are you kidding me?!" Ace gritted his teeth in horror, the flames dancing wildly on his shoulders.
Luffy's dragon pupils dilated abruptly, his voice pitching up: "He actually caught Zoro's sword aura?!!"
Even Zoro froze for a moment, his face full of disbelief: "That was—my slash?!"
Teach swung his arms with a maniacal laugh: "Ze—hahahahaha!! Thanks for the gifts!!!"
"Gum-Gum Zanpa!!!"
"BOOM!!!"
He actually flung the two sword auras right back, transforming them into a double-helix energy vortex that smashed down toward Ace on the ground!
"Bastard!" Ace roared, instantly transforming into flames and soaring into the sky!
The two sword auras smashed into the spot where he had been standing. The ground collapsed instantly, the resulting crater erupting like an active volcano, shooting flames a hundred meters high!
In the sky, Ace's flames churned, his fury boiling!
Aiming a single palm at Teach in mid-air, the flames in his palm abruptly condensed into a golden fireball, which he then forcefully thrust forward!
"Flame Emperor: Firefly Vortex!!!"
Countless pillars of fire intertwined in the air to form a spinning vortex of blazing flames. Looking like a spiral planetary ring, it howled as it blasted toward Teach!
"Zehahaha! Bring it on—!"
Teach sneered and raised his right foot. His leg extended hundreds of meters in an instant, his rubberized sole flashing with the dark purple glow of the swamp.
"Gum-Gum Black Stamp!!!"
"BOOM!!!"
He delivered a heavy kick. Accompanied by the roaring lightning of Armament Haki, it directly kicked apart the incoming fiery shockwave. The flames shattered into millions of sparks, forming a dazzling curtain of stars in the sky!
Before Ace could react, Teach had already spun in place. His arm swelled, muscles bulging as Armament Haki and his Awakening energy intertwined.
His arm suddenly stretched out dozens of meters, instantly twisting into a spiral!
"—Gum-Gum Dark Star Pistol!!!"
The air completely collapsed under that punch!
Ace's pupils contracted; it was already too late to dodge.
Right at this moment—
Swoosh—!!!
A pink afterimage instantly flashed across his line of sight!
"—Luffy?!"
Shock flashed in Ace's eyes.
Using the explosive speed of his dragon-man form, Luffy blocked Ace's side and shoved him away with both hands!
"Don't just stand there!!"
"BANG—!!!"
Teach's rubber fist landed solidly on Luffy's head!
In that instant, the air detonated, and lightning flared—
They saw Luffy's head become completely rubberized. It bounced back as if hit by a meteor, accompanied by a comical yet bizarre "starburst sound," and he was blasted straight into the ground!!
"BOOM!!!"
Dust and smoke soared into the sky, the ground collapsing for hundreds of meters as shattered rocks blasted everywhere!
Ace's face drastically changed, and he shouted furiously: "—LUFFY!!!"
Zoro and Kuina also whipped their heads around, shock and fury flashing in their eyes.
But before they could make a move, Teach in mid-air once again spread his arms wide amidst the white light, his laughter shattering the sky:
"Ze—hahahahaha!!!"
"Bring it on! This battle—has only just begun!!!"
♧♧♧
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