Chapter 450: Fierce Battle in Nika Form
The bloated Nika-form Teach hovered in mid-air. His entire body bulged and trembled like a twisted balloon. His skin shimmered with an intertwined luster of white and black, as if the "Sun" and the "Abyss" had been forcefully kneaded together.
That bizarre, wide grin nearly stretched to his ears. The muscles at the corners of his mouth twitched in ecstatic joy. Holding his stomach with one hand and extending the other wildly downward, his maniacal laughter exploded like rolling thunder.
"Zehahahaha—this feels amazing!! Marines, all of you, get down there!!!"
That laughter exploded above the shattered island, making the dust waves in the ruins churn, the very air seeming to warp amidst the sound.
The ground was fractured, choking smoke filling the air.
From the collapsed underground, a figure slowly walked out. Luffy was scorched black all over, the dragon scales on his chest flickering with shattered light. His breathing was slightly ragged, but that wide grin was still the same fearless smile as always.
"You really... went completely wild, didn't you?"
He looked up at the sky, his gaze revealing an inextinguishable battle intent.
Up in the air, Ace saw that his younger brother was unhurt. His tense expression instantly relaxed, but it was immediately swallowed by blazing, furious flames.
"You bastard—you actually dared to hit my little brother!!!"
Before his words even finished, the flames across his entire body erupted. The blazing fire transformed into countless swirling currents coiling around him. His entire being morphed into a massive fireball, like a falling star, charging at Teach with the fury of an older brother!
On the ground, Zoro and Kuina moved simultaneously.
"Don't give him room to breathe," Zoro said, his tone steady. Enma trembled lightly in his hand, purple-black Haki flowing across it like an electric current.
"Understood." Kuina's gaze was like frost. Her toes lightly tapped the ground, her figure transforming into a wisp of blood shadow.
The Wado Ichimonji spat out a blood-red light flame. Its sharp edge tore through the air, leaving behind a deep crimson trajectory.
The air currents surged beneath Luffy's feet. He abruptly arched his back, his dragon scales and skin shining interchangeably as golden flames snaked out from his chest.
"—Dragon Breath!!!"
Accompanied by an angry roar, a pillar of blazing energy spewed forth! Like a golden-red heavenly dragon rising with a roar, it pierced the firmament, heatwaves blanketing the sky and earth!
Teach's eyes narrowed, his smile stalling slightly.
"Ze... haha?!"
His arms abruptly rubberized. His entire body looked like a stretched slingshot as he violently pulled himself backward.
"Gum-Gum Glide Bullet!!!"
Bang—!
He used the momentum to rebound, his body spinning at high speeds, generating a ring of sonic booms as he narrowly avoided that devastating dragon breath.
The golden flames brushed past his shoulder, burning half the sky crimson.
Before he could even catch his breath—
Two startling flashes of light attacked rapidly from the left and right!
"Twin Star: Lion's Song!!!"
Zoro and Kuina's dual-blade slash was like intertwining stars. Blood energy and Haki fused into one. The golden and red lights converged into a cross-shaped trajectory that tore through the firmament, slashing toward Teach with a roar that shredded the void!
"Damn it—!" The veins on Teach's forehead bulged. Sensing that fatal, oppressive pressure, he spread his arms wide and roared:
"Gum-Gum Escape Rocket!!!"
His hands extended abruptly, tightly grabbing the rolling rubber clouds high in the sky, and gave a violent pull!
Bang!!
His entire body was like an arrow released from a heavenly bow, catapulting forward and instantly tearing across the sky!
"BOOM—!!!"
In the next moment, the Twin Star slash detonated beneath him. The shockwave kicked up a violent airwave, tearing the ruins of Hachinosu into countless fissures.
The howling wind swept up stone debris and blazing flames, looking as if an apocalyptic storm was ravaging heaven and earth.
And in that sky interwoven with firelight and dust, Teach's figure was illuminated by the reflecting golden flames. His laughter rang out once again—chaotic, arrogant, and full of provocation:
"Zehahahaha—Marines! Now this is more like it!!!"
High above, the blazing flames rolled, the firmament reflecting a glow like a burning purgatory.
Heatwaves distorted and churned in the air; even the clouds were baked a glowing red.
Teach felt an oppressive pressure sweeping down from above and violently looked up—
Ace hovered at the peak of the flame clouds, his gaze as cold and sharp as a knife. The flames around him were compressed to their absolute limit by the extreme heat, forming rings of incandescent white energy vortexes.
That "flaming spear," heated to four thousand degrees by the Hot-Hot Fruit, burned fiercely in his hand. The shaft of the spear was nearly transparent, and even the air around it vibrated violently.
"—Great Flame Commandment: Fire God Spear!!!"
Ace roared, viciously hurling that flaming spear capable of scorching heaven and earth!
The spear's tip tore through the sky, instantly shredding the air and trailing a dazzling golden-red tail flame. Like a judgment sent down by a god, it pierced straight toward Teach's heart!
"Zehahahaha! Bring it on—Ace!!!"
Instead of retreating, Teach revealed an even more manic smile.
His entire body's muscles bulged. His body spun rapidly like a cyclone. His right leg was instantly dyed pitch-black by Armament Haki, and then covered by the pitch-black power of the swamp, transforming into a demonic whip that devoured light.
"Gum-Swamp: Black Whip!!!"
"BOOM—!!!"
In the next moment, fire and darkness collided head-on high in the sky!
A violent explosion tore through the canopy of the sky. The four-thousand-degree extreme heat and the darkness of a bottomless abyss devoured and roared at each other.
The flames turned into a golden storm sweeping in all directions, while the black mist rolled and coiled like an evil dragon. The two intertwined into a vortex of destruction.
A blazing shockwave swept across heaven and earth. The clouds were blasted apart layer by layer, and the howling wind carried the flames outward, thoroughly igniting the sky above the island!
At the center of this explosive clash between light and darkness, Teach's body was struck in the chest by a powerful backlash force. His maniacal laughter abruptly stopped, and a mist of blood sprayed from his mouth.
"Guh—haha... cough!!!"
His body lost its balance. Like a falling comet, he plummeted from the high altitude, trailing a pitch-black tail shadow.
"BANG—!!!"
He smashed heavily into the ground, kicking up a monstrous wave of dust and a tsunami of crushed rocks. A massive crater hundreds of meters deep was smashed into the earth.
Amidst the rolling dust and smoke, the residual might of the blazing flames danced in the air, as if the air itself was burning.
Hovering in mid-air with flames churning around him, Ace panted as he looked down: "This isn't over yet, Teach."
On the ground, thick smoke rolled. Just as everyone stared intently—
"Zehahaha..."
A low, hoarse laugh, seemingly echoing from the depths of hell, reverberated through the ruins.
"Interesting... but this little bit of fire isn't enough to burn me to death—!!!"
The laughter echoed outward, accompanied by a bizarre vibration.
The earth trembled; the air resonated.
Immediately after, that familiar and spine-chilling "drumbeat" rang out once again—
Thump... thump... thump-thump...
The rhythm was slow yet incredibly heavy, every beat feeling like the heartbeat of some ancient giant beast.
That sound came from deep underground, yet echoed in everyone's chest, making their blood run cold and their heart rates involuntarily grow chaotic in sync with it.
On the other side of the battlefield, under the gloomy shadows of the ruins, the massive, heavily injured figures being dragged away by the surviving Blackbeard Alliance grunts—Nekomamushi and Inuarashi—suddenly opened their eyes.
Covered in wounds, the two of them trembled slightly amidst the drumbeats, as if summoned by some ancient power.
"This sound..." Nekomamushi's throat was hoarse. "It's like... it's calling to us..."
Inuarashi's expression was pained, yet carried unbelievable awe and dread: "No... not just us... it's a resonance...!!!"
Thump—thump—thump-thump—!!!
The drumbeats abruptly sped up, as if the pulse of heaven and earth had been thoroughly awakened.
With the final, low rumble, the smoke and dust were slowly pushed away by an airwave.
A massive dark silhouette emerged within the firelight—
Teach still stood tall in the deep crater, his figure massive and twisted. The black swamp beneath his feet rolled like a living creature, writhing and devouring, as if the entire earth had been corroded into a living abyss.
The air was compressed by his aura, emitting faint hissing sounds. Even the wind didn't dare approach.
"Ze—hahaha..."
Teach chuckled lowly, slowly raising his head.
That smile was no longer mere arrogance, but carried a gloomy, cruel, almost god-like coldness.
The black and golden lights in his eyes flashed alternately, as if judging all living beings.
"Bring it on..."
He spread his arms, and the black swamp beneath his feet instantly boiled like a living entity, spreading in all directions.
"I didn't come here to play around—!!!"
With a resounding boom, an aura of darkness swept across heaven and earth, its intensity so great it even forced the blazing flames in the sky to dim.
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