Chapter 457: Teach Awakens
Just as the three old men were reliving their youth on Punk Hazard—
Hachinosu.
That "Holy Land" once dreamed of by countless pirates was now as dead silent as if it had fallen into hell.
The ruined grand hall had half-collapsed. The sea breeze howled in through the shattered dome, kicking up ashes across the floor.
The air was mixed with the scent of blood, scorch, and salt rust, as if the war had never ended.
In that bedroom reduced to ruined walls, a broken bed swayed slightly.
A low groan broke the deathly silence.
"Ugh... Gu—haha... cough..."
Teach, who had been unconscious for days, slowly opened his eyes. His pupils flickered with a chaotic and sluggish light.
A tearing pain shot from the back of his head. He instinctively reached out to press his head, his face pale.
"I... actually... passed out???"
His voice was hoarse and low, carrying intense disbelief.
He slowly sat up. Cold sweat slid down his forehead, soaking his collar.
The surrounding silence, the residual blood, and the smell of scorched earth gave him a bizarre, chilling sensation.
Deep in his mind, fragments of memory flashed back like slicing knives—
That palm strike.
That vortex.
That black palm print, looking as if it had swallowed the sky and all color.
In the final moment of his memory, he seemed to have seen—Roy's silhouette.
That oppressive pressure, even death could not describe it.
Teach's throat tightened, his voice trembling slightly: "That was... Roy...?!"
"That guy—after so many years, he's actually still so... impossible to resist."
He murmured softly, a long-lost emotion surfacing deep in his pupils—fear.
"That feeling... it was like facing a god."
Only the sound of the wind remained in the room, so quiet he could hear his own heartbeat.
Right at this moment, the sound of footsteps slowly approached.
"Boss—"
Teach froze, abruptly raising his head.
A tall, thin figure walked through the doorway, the empty sleeve of his left arm swaying in the wind.
It was—Van Augur.
That usually composed face now held a few traces of haggardness.
He still carried that broken sniper rifle on his back. His footsteps paused slightly, his tone low: "Boss, you're finally awake."
Teach stared blankly for a moment, his voice carrying a bit of surprise and emotion: "...You're still alive, Augur."
In that split second, even the cold-blooded Blackbeard had a momentary fluctuation of emotion.
Van Augur nodded silently.
"Yeah... barely."
He stayed silent for a moment, his voice so hoarse it was barely audible: "But the others... weren't so lucky."
Teach's smile froze on his lips, his entire being falling silent in an instant.
"Burgess was shattered by that Marine and plummeted to the bottom of the sea. We can't even recover his corpse."
"Doc Q... didn't make it either."
The air seemed to freeze. Only the waves crashing against the ruins emitted a low echo.
"Ah..."
Teach muttered aloud. It wasn't pain, but a bewildered emptiness.
Van Augur lowered his head and continued: "The remnants of the alliance... after seeing that kind of Marine power, the majority have already fled. Those remaining number no more than a few dozen."
Teach slowly stood up, his silhouette stretched long by the moonlight.
In that instant, his expression was a mix of complex emotions—fury, fear, and... an indescribable restlessness.
The residual power of the "Nika Form" within his body was still stirring beneath his skin.
Deep in his mind, there seemed to be murmurs whispering.
He suddenly raised his head and laughed.
It was a long-lost, grating laugh.
"Ze—hahahahaha—!!!"
That laughter made the ruined grand hall tremble slightly.
"It doesn't matter how many of those small fries come, it's meaningless."
"I am Blackbeard—how could I possibly be knocked down by a minor setback like this?!!"
He strode out of the room.
The night wind howled, and the moonlight reflected on the broken stone steps.
Outside the door, several figures stood faintly—
Laffitte held an umbrella, covered in blood. Behind him were the remnant soldiers led by Nekomamushi and Inuarashi, all wearing complex expressions.
Teach swept his gaze over the crowd, revealing his signature twisted smile, madness flashing in his eyes: "Zehahaha—!!!"
"They didn't beat me to death, which means I'm still useful—ain't that right?!!"
He looked up at the firmament, his eyes reflecting the waning moon. That laughter echoed once again above the ruins of Hachinosu:
"I won't let things go the way you want them to!!!"
Right beneath that laughter, the distant waves crashed against the reefs—
Thump... thump... thump-thump...
That bizarre "drumbeat" faintly echoed once again in the night.
Teach's laughter abruptly ceased, his eyes instantly turning gloomy.
He lowered his head slightly, the corners of his mouth curling up again: "Heh... it seems 'it' has something it wants to hand over to me."
...
Above Punk Hazard, the storm roared.
That deafening rumble had lasted for two days and two nights. The entire island was being torn to shreds by energy tides.
The sky was covered in rifts of lightning and fire, as if even the clouds had been battered and wounded.
The Seraphim of Whitebeard, Kaido, and Charlotte Linlin were all covered in wounds.
The brilliance of the divine flames on their bodies had long dimmed, their combat suits charred and torn. Steam rose from their skin, and even their breathing had become ragged.
And their opponents—the three legendary Marine veterans Sengoku, Zephyr, and Garp—were doing the exact opposite, growing increasingly excited the more they fought.
"Bwahahahaha—!!!"
"Not bad, brats! You can sure take a beating!!"
Garp was like a completely crazed old war demon. His fist winds tore through the air, every punch making the ground explode.
Sengoku, transformed into the giant Golden Buddha, possessed an imposing aura like a deity. Every palm strike he delivered kicked up a massive shockwave.
Zephyr's body had long been engulfed in cyan flames. His fists carried the rhythm of death and rebirth, as if rewriting the definition of "power" with every bombardment.
The combined auras of the three old veterans made it seem as if they had returned to the era when they ruled the seas.
The Kaido Seraphim's face had already been beaten out of shape by iron fists. He roared as he dodged: "Hey—what's wrong with these three old geezers?! Why are they getting more hyped the more they fight?!!"
The ground beneath his feet was blown away by another punch from Garp, metal fragments dancing wildly.
The Whitebeard Seraphim was also panting heavily. Wielding the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit to block a blast of golden light, he roared furiously.
The Linlin Seraphim swung her giant sword furiously, only for it to be forcibly blocked by Zephyr's cyan flame arm. She was smashed flying dozens of meters back, spitting out a mouthful of spark-like energy:
"Mamamama—I can't keep this up, my soul energy is almost completely drained!!!"
Especially Kaido—
He had already been viciously beaten by Garp's continuous iron fists hundreds of times. If it weren't for the Seraphim's regenerative system combined with the absurd recovery power of the Azure Dragon Mythical Zoan, he would have been pounded into a puddle of dragon-scaled meat paste long ago.
He could barely stand steady at this moment, breathing heavily like an ox, his heart pounding like a drum.
The Kaido Seraphim's eyes were hollow; his brain was about to crash.
In the distance, watching the battle, Ace and Luffy had long been shocked into leaving their mouths wide open.
"Gramps... really is going strong despite his age..." Luffy's voice trembled.
Ace's face twitched: "That's not called going strong despite his age... that's called—a living natural disaster, hey!!!"
Garp, on the other hand, was laughing happier than anyone else. His fists were like cannons, his voice like thunder.
"Gahahahaha—!! Keep going, little loach!! Don't drop the ball on me now!!"
"BOOM!!!"
Kaido was entirely blasted flying by another punch, crashing through three layers of reinforced flooring, collapsing the entire training platform into a massive, deep crater!
Suddenly, Garp stopped his movements. He looked down at his fist, a bizarre light flashing in his eyes.
That smile—familiar, dangerous, and carrying the omen of a "Garp-style inspiration."
He stroked his chin, the corners of his mouth curling up into a grin.
"Ah—that's right!"
He shouted with a ferocious grin: "You're perfect for testing out a new toy—!!!"
Every pore on Kaido's body tightened abruptly, his dragon pupils shrinking to pinpricks.
A death-like intuition caused him to instantly raise all the scales on his body.
"Old man... what are you trying to do?! Don't fucking mess around—we're on the same side!!!"
The ground beneath Garp's feet exploded as he leaped high into the air!
The airwaves tore through the sky, black-red lightning spreading across the entire firmament like a spiderweb!
He threw his head back and laughed, his voice piercing through all of Punk Hazard: "Ga—hahahahaha!!!"
"Multiply: Fifty-Fold Iron Fist!!!"
The Kaido Seraphim's face completely changed. Only two words remained in his mind: I'm doomed.
In the next second, the roaring of heaven and earth had yet to cease, and even the sky was warped by the shockwave of that punch pressure...
♧♧♧
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