Whitebeard gripped his bisento and lunged forward, his enormous frame moving with astonishing speed.
Teach vanished from where he stood.
Boom!
The earth cracked open, and the surrounding ground rose in broken slabs as the two figures appeared in the center at the same time.
They unleashed their full power from the very first exchange. There was no point in probing one another first.
This was a true battle, and neither side intended to hold back.
Whitebeard fought to avenge his fallen family and defend the dignity of the Whitebeard Pirates.
Teach, on the other hand, wanted to fight Whitebeard while he was still in his prime and experience the battle to the fullest.
Armament Haki covered Teach's arms and flowed down onto his claws. A deep black glow, tinged with purple, spread across his hands, while dark energy circulated around his body, transforming both of his hands into true devilish claws.
Whitebeard's bisento was also wrapped in Haki, turning pitch black, with a white aura surrounding the blade as terrifying vibration power gathered within it.
The moment their attacks collided, an invisible shockwave rippled outward from the point of impact. Dust surged into the air, the ground was torn apart, and even the clouds overhead were scattered by the force.
One could easily imagine just how terrifying the strength of both men truly was.
The two remained deadlocked for only a moment before Teach suddenly changed his rhythm.
His sharp claws stabbed at Whitebeard in rapid succession, each strike aimed at a vital point.
"Eight Maidens!"
A series of tearing claw attacks flashed out in a storm.
The exchange became even fiercer. Teach was simply too fast. Through the live broadcast, his figure could barely be seen at all, only afterimages and horrifying dark claw lights tearing through the air.
Whitebeard held his ground. Battle tested and unshaken, he kept swinging his bisento to block Teach's attacks while looking for chances to counterattack.
Teach suddenly appeared on Whitebeard's right side, and Whitebeard reacted at once, meeting those sharp claws with a backhand punch.
A terrifying blow, infused with vibration power, slammed into Teach's claws.
At Marine Headquarters, Sengoku frowned as he watched the screen.
"What is this? Whitebeard's vibration power should not be this weak."
Since he was not on the battlefield in person, he could not use Observation Haki to see the clash more clearly. Even so, with his eyesight, he could still tell that something was off.
He and Whitebeard were old rivals. He knew very well how terrifying Whitebeard's vibration power was, and it should not be producing so little destructive effect.
That vibration power could spread inward even if blocked by Armament Haki. It was exactly that internal damage that made it so terrifying.
The human body was always more fragile on the inside than on the outside.
Yet Teach seemed completely unaffected, taking Whitebeard's attacks head on again and again.
"It should be the Dark-Dark Fruit," Tsuru said after noticing the key point and analyzing it calmly. "Whitebeard's power is being nullified, or rather absorbed. Probably both. The force and shock generated by Whitebeard's punches are being swallowed the moment they clash with the Dark Emperor."
"This is the true horror of the Dark-Dark Fruit, the bane of Devil Fruit users. That is where the Dark Emperor's confidence in challenging Whitebeard comes from. With the Tremor-Tremor Fruit suppressed, Whitebeard is effectively losing one of his greatest advantages."
Tsuru's explanation left many people silent.
That ability was indeed frightening. Whitebeard's terrifying vibration power was having little effect at all on the Dark Emperor.
Anyone facing Teach would find him troublesome. Not only could he nullify abilities, he could also absorb damage and impact, weakening the opponent's attack power as well.
"Do not underestimate Whitebeard. That man is not so easy to deal with," Sengoku said seriously, his gaze never leaving the screen.
"I am sure Whitebeard has also realized it. Aside from the terrifying gravity of the Dark-Dark Fruit, the nullification only works when both sides are in contact."
Whitebeard had indeed noticed it. The first few exchanges had simply been him adapting. After realizing that his ability was being nullified, he stopped relying on the Tremor-Tremor Fruit's power.
With his attack power weakened and absorbed, he could not exchange blows with Teach in the same way anymore. The Dark-Dark Fruit was truly strange.
Even so, Whitebeard still held his own.
Without using the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, he was still one of the world's top powerhouses. His monstrous physical strength was not something Teach could match right now, which put Teach at a disadvantage in terms of pure power.
Both men had fully mastered the destructive side of Haki, the flow of Haki, and internal destruction.
Their close quarters combat, fist against fist, and the contest of pure martial power were thrilling beyond words.
Craters formed beneath them again and again as the fierce battle continued. Their collisions shook not just the entire island, but even the air itself.
Then Teach's eyes narrowed.
He sensed danger.
He crossed his arms in front of him, and dark jade instantly formed a shield before him.
Whitebeard had caught him off guard.
Even though Whitebeard was not using the Tremor-Tremor Fruit directly, that did not mean he could not use it at all.
A terrifying vibration infused punch struck the air in front of Teach, landing directly against the dark jade.
Clang!
The air shattered like glass. Time seemed to freeze for an instant, and then terrifying force erupted outward.
Under Whitebeard's vibration power, cracks spread across the dark jade. Before it could recover, it shattered in an instant.
Teach's pupils constricted.
Confronted by that horrifying shock and impact, he was sent flying backward.
But this was far from over. How could Whitebeard possibly give Teach a chance to breathe?
"Earthquake!"
A punch wrapped in vibration power slammed straight into the ground in Teach's direction.
The earth shattered in an instant, debris flying everywhere. A terrifying seismic wave burst outward and turned into a white shockfront that tore through the ground as it surged forward.
Wherever it passed, it carved out a gorge tens of meters wide, with jagged rocks standing along both sides.
Faced with this attack, Teach reacted at once. He did not retreat. Instead, he advanced.
The dark jade that had recovered from the previous blow once again wrapped around his body, compressing into a cone-shaped black spike that charged directly toward the seismic wave released by Whitebeard.
The defensive power of the dark jade was unquestionable. The problem was that Whitebeard's attack power was simply too great, and Teach had taken that earlier hit head-on.
That punch had been far more concentrated, and its destructive force was even more terrifying. Under Whitebeard's control, everything had been condensed into a single point, easily shattering the dark jade.
Compared to that, this seismic wave posed far less of a threat to Teach.
Under Teach's control, he tore through the shockwave at extreme speed, passed through the swirling dust, and charged straight at Whitebeard.
Behind him, the seismic wave had already exploded. Terrifying power erupted and continued to spread outward.
Seen from above, the ground within several hundred meters had instantly filled with spiderweb cracks before collapsing, and the affected area continued to expand for thousands of meters.
Whitebeard sensed Teach closing in. He clenched his fist, white aura and vibration power gathering over it, then slammed it violently into the air in front of him.
"Air Quake!"
Terrifying destructive power spread across the entire sea area, and the sky itself seemed ready to collapse.
Because of their battle, the sea was already in turmoil, huge waves surging everywhere. Whitebeard's power only made the sea even more violent.
As for Teach, the dark jade returned to its original form and flew through the air, stopping a hundred meters away, unable to advance any farther because of the Air Quake.
The space itself was vibrating, and Teach could clearly feel it.
Facing this attack, Teach did not retreat. The sky darkened in an instant, and terrifying dark power surged out of his body, forming a massive dark vortex that blocked his path.
That darkness devoured everything. Even light was being swallowed, let alone Whitebeard's vibration power.
Whitebeard's terrifying destructive force tore open visible cracks in the air, sending them spreading outward across an enormous area.
But those cracks stopped before the dark vortex.
The vortex itself was unaffected. It continued to spin, devouring the terrifying power that came at it.
"Truly powerful."
Teach stood behind the dark vortex, safe from the Air Quake itself, but he could clearly feel its horror.
On both sides and behind the vortex, the area had been ravaged by that attack, a force capable of destroying everything. With just that one punch, Whitebeard could annihilate every enemy in front of him.
This was not a power that had defeated only one or two crews. It had always been entire pirate crews.
Even the Marines, if Sengoku or Garp were not there to face him, would not dare stand against Whitebeard.
This was the power to destroy the world.
Teach controlled the dark vortex as he advanced. The effect of Air Quake finally ended. The instant the vortex vanished, Teach's figure flashed through it and charged at Whitebeard at incredible speed.
Seeing this, Whitebeard held his bisento horizontally and slashed at Teach.
Vibration power wrapped around the blade and was released through it, while the surrounding space emitted faint, dense cracking sounds.
"Let me shatter your dark shell, Teach!"
Whitebeard erupted with terrifying force, and the vibration power in his strike became even more intense.
The Tremor-Tremor Fruit could even affect space, so it naturally had an effect on the dark vortex connected to the dark space.
The reason he could not break through the vortex was simply that his vibration power was not yet strong enough.
When strength reached a certain level, it could shatter everything.
"Then come on, Whitebeard!" Teach laughed excitedly. "Let us see whether your strongest attack can break through darkness's devouring power!"
Another dark vortex appeared in front of Teach.
It was smaller than the previous one, but its devouring force was even more terrifying. The moment it formed, it began drawing in air, light, and even rocks from the ground.
Once again, the two men unleashed a devastating clash.
Whitebeard's Air Quake.
Teach's Dark Vortex.
Under Whitebeard's terrifying power, the dark sky itself looked like it was collapsing, as if a natural disaster had been released with a single wave of his hand.
The island beneath them trembled at its foundations, as though it could no longer endure much longer. But its fate was already sealed. It would sink into this sea sooner or later.
Teach pushed forward rapidly with the dark vortex in front of him, enduring Whitebeard's Air Quake as he advanced. The vibration power was continuously swallowed up. Under the full force of Teach's devouring gravity, even Whitebeard's power could not easily shake him.
The darkness that devoured everything was no empty boast.
What was more, Teach's development of the Dark-Dark Fruit was already on the verge of awakening.
If he had not devoted his main energy to other areas, the Dark-Dark Fruit might have awakened much earlier. Logia awakening was far more difficult, and for him to develop the fruit to this extent in only eight or nine years was already astonishingly fast.
As the distance to Whitebeard shortened, Whitebeard gradually felt the pull of the dark gravity, and his body began to show signs of being dragged forward.
In truth, the distance between them was not that far at all, only a breath or two for Teach.
Very soon, the dark vortex had already reached Whitebeard.
A hand wrapped in darkness extended from within it and gripped Whitebeard's arm directly.
The Tremor-Tremor Fruit's power was instantly nullified.
Caught off guard, Teach's figure appeared, and a powerful punch slammed directly into Whitebeard's abdomen.
Whitebeard took that punch head-on and stepped back one pace.
Immediately after, Teach's fist transformed into a claw and slashed viciously toward him.
A red light flashed in Whitebeard's eyes. His Observation Haki had already told him where Teach's next attack would land.
The world's strongest man lightly raised his bisento and blocked, the hilt perfectly intercepting Teach's claw strike.
At that moment, two dark jades appeared behind Whitebeard and, under Teach's control, extended into spikes that stabbed toward him.
Whitebeard had already sensed them.
He was a Tremor-Tremor Fruit user, a man who could shake the world.
With a slight twitch of his shoulders, precisely controlled vibration power erupted from his body and shattered the sharp ends of the dark jade. The remaining fragments struck his body with metallic clanks, but caused him no damage whatsoever.
Teach was now facing the greatest enemy he had encountered since setting sail.
Whitebeard's terrifying strength and immense combat experience were simply overwhelming.
Both sides were competing in raw power. Teach's advantage in Observation Haki was not large. Future sight was not his alone, as Whitebeard also possessed it. That was the peak of ordinary Observation Haki.
As they clashed, Teach could feel his Haki steadily improving, growing both in quality and quantity.
The pace was slow, but much faster than training alone. The gap between Teach and Whitebeard in Armament Haki was not large, and Teach believed that before long, he would be completely on par with Whitebeard.
Fighting strong opponents was the best way for Haki to improve and break through its limits.
By now, the entire island was already beginning to break apart.
Teach exerted his full strength. His arms turned black and red under the coating of Conqueror's Haki, and Whitebeard used the same technique as well.
The destructive power of both sides rose another level.
Black and red lightning intertwined and collided. Their claws and bisento did not even make full contact in many of the exchanges, and the terrifying energy generated in the center was enough to shake the entire battlefield.
That intense battle lasted two days and two nights.
Both sides remained evenly matched, unleashing destructive power that was terrifying beyond words.
Both kings displayed astonishing combat technique and combat awareness.
With the Tremor-Tremor Fruit's power restricted, Whitebeard could not suppress Teach.
In the fierce battle with Whitebeard, Teach's vast accumulation was being transformed into nourishment, pushing him forward at a shocking pace.
The pressure was immense, but not absolute. Under that pressure, Teach's strength continued to improve.
Even so, Whitebeard still held the upper hand in combat experience.