Teach narrowed his eyes. "This is a bit troublesome."
Across the battlefield, he could already see several tiny openings across Jones's back. Every hole hid a tentacle waiting to emerge.
So many of them made his scalp prickle. Annoying, not dangerous, but definitely troublesome.
Jones hadn't even gone full human-beast yet. Even so, this Devil Fruit clearly wasn't like the usual Zoan types. Most Zoan users peaked in their hybrid form, but the Kraken Fruit was different. Its true power lay in a complete transformation. Only then would its full potential show.
Even so, Teach felt no real threat. Just irritation.
He vanished into the air without warning. Jones's pupils tightened.
Teach's presence disappeared entirely, like an assassin melting into shadow. His afterimages circled Jones from every direction.
Jones reacted instantly. A forest of giant tentacles erupted from his back, sweeping violently toward every trace of Teach.
His body stretched upward as he partially transformed, shooting past eight meters tall. Despite the bulk, his tentacles didn't lose a shred of speed. They swung like whips through the rain.
Teach met the first wave with a blur of claw lights. Five rapid slashes crossed each other, chopping straight down. Tentacles severed cleanly, but the sheer number of them softened the momentum of his strikes. Several tendrils curled around, avoiding the claw arcs altogether and lunging at him from blind angles.
Teach kicked off the air with Moonwalk and shifted positions mid-flight.
More claw flashes followed, carving apart each tentacle that got close.
But the severed limbs refused to behave like normal flesh. They twitched, paused, then wriggled back to life as new segments sprouted. Every piece broken off was pulled into a grotesque maw buried among the tentacles, a circular mouth lined with countless spiraling teeth.
Even from a distance, Teach could feel the suction force emanating from those jaws. It was the kind of ability that made fighting it at close quarters a nightmare for anyone below his level.
He couldn't dance around this forever. Against a flexible swarm stacked with suction power, total evasion was impossible. If he wanted to end this, he would have to punch through to the core.
Thankfully, his Observation Haki made that simple.
Teach stopped retreating and shot forward. Air cracked beneath his feet as he blitzed toward Jones like a launched arrow.
Claws flashed. One, two, three, severing every tentacle that dared block him.
Behind him, hundreds more tentacles chased relentlessly. At the same time, Jones's size surged again.
More and more of his beast form took over, and his body swelled into a towering mass of flesh and limbs. By the time the transformation passed twenty meters, his human limbs had vanished entirely, replaced by writhing tentacles. Only his head vaguely resembled Jones, though even that had twisted into something monstrous.
Across the nation, citizens watching through the broadcast wavered between excitement and disbelief. Moments ago, they cheered for their king fighting a pirate. But now that their monarch had transformed into a nightmare creature in front of the entire country, fear began spreading through the crowds.
Children cried. Adults recoiled. What was supposed to be a grand oath-taking ceremony had turned into a fight between a pirate and a sea monster.
Quiet questions spread through households.
Who exactly were they supposed to support?
In various cities, a disguised intelligence officer lifted his Den Den Mushi. "Understood." He tucked the snail away and blended into the crowd.
He wasn't alone. Across the Kraken Kingdom, thousands of agents worked quietly among ordinary citizens. Some were Tirisfal intelligence officers, some belonged to their Minister of News, and others were Tirisfal natives living undercover in the kingdom.
Whispers soon drifted through the crowds.
"King Jones is a sea monster. No wonder he kept starting wars."
"The Levinsky family has always been sea monsters. They tore Tirisfal apart."
"It all makes sense now. That's why the Kraken Kingdom kept dragging us into conflict."
Three people make a rumor. Tens of thousands turned it into fact. And since most citizens disliked the royal family already, the whispers spread like wildfire.
A few loyalists tried speaking up, but they were quickly shouted down or even beaten. Most people had never seen Devil Fruits. Many had never heard of them. Ignorance made them easy prey for manipulation.
Meanwhile, Teach cut through the storm of tentacles like a dark streak.
"Demon Claw: Burst Slash... X!"
Lightning and fire burst along his arms as he passed through the writhing limbs. Behind him, the tentacles closed like a tidal wave, but he was faster.
To spectators, it looked like Jones's monstrous form swallowed Teach whole.
Teach raised both clawed arms. Light flared so bright it cut through the rain.
He swung downward.
Two slashes crossed each other, forming a blazing X carved from lightning and flame. It ripped straight through the mass of tentacles and struck Jones before the king could fully react.
Tentacles tried to shield him, but the attack sliced through them effortlessly, leaving trails of scorched flesh and burnt stumps.
Jones saw the glowing X coming and had no time to block.
The explosion thundered across the city. It tore a burning path through Jones's body and burst out the other side. Even with Armament Haki, the king couldn't stop it. Teach's Haki was stronger, and the destructive energy riding the blow was too much.
Lightning and fire surged outward, racing through Jones's flesh.
A distant scream echoed across the island.
Teach flickered out of the blast zone, and viewers saw the truth: a massive X-shaped wound carved through Jones, completely piercing his body.
Tentacles fell in heaps around him.
Lightning and fire faded, leaving charred flesh and smoking craters behind.
Teach remained wary. He could sense Jones's vitality increasing, not fading. The beast wasn't dying. He was growing.
This wasn't a victory. It was bait.
Jones's entire body convulsed. The wound began healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
He let out a guttural roar that shook the sky.
Tentacles thickened and multiplied. His head warped further. The monstrous body swelled until he reached fifty meters tall.
The Kraken Fruit's complete transformation was finally unleashed.
Now Jones looked like something out of a nightmare. Even his smaller tentacles merged together, forming massive limbs over a hundred meters long.
Teach's pupils tightened.
These tentacles didn't just gather. They fused. Permanently.
The strength radiating from them was overwhelming.
Jones's head resembled a giant squid, while the fused limbs mirrored an octopus. The result was a creature from the deepest lore of the North Sea, a true Kraken.
The eight colossal tentacles lifted high and came crashing down toward Teach. Two more swept in from the sides to cut off his escape routes.
Even bigger, even stronger. Still too slow.
Teach pivoted sharply and leaped to the side. The central tentacle slammed into the earth, carving a massive trench across the ground.
Teach sprinted along the surface of the tentacle that had just landed. His feet struck the slick surface as he ran straight toward Jones's head.
The giant limb rolled under him, suction cups firing blasts of wind as they pulled at the air. The roar of suction filled Teach's ears.
Another tentacle loomed overhead. It split into thousands of smaller limbs in an instant, which rained downward like spearheads.
Teach had no room to weave through them. Each one was coated in Armament Haki at the tip.
He swung his claw sideways and unleashed another slash, cutting straight through the cluster in front of him.
But then his Observation Haki flashed a warning.
A future he couldn't dodge.
Three tentacles were coming from different angles, covering everything.
Teach braced.
Armament Haki surged along his arms as he shielded his body.
A massive tentacle struck him head-on.
The impact echoed like thunder.
It wrapped around him and slammed him into the ground with catastrophic force.
The entire field shook.
Those watching held their breath. Even the Nightfall Pirates paused for a heartbeat.
A creature that massive, swinging with full strength, could crush mountains.
The dust rose in a choking cloud as everyone waited to see if Teach would rise again.