*Thud!*
The dark cave suddenly collapsed, and a bullet tore through the air. Austin didn't even need to lift a finger.
*Clang!*
A Reiatsu shield materialized instantly. The bullet ricocheted off it and vanished into nothingness.
"Damn it!" Van Augur gritted his teeth, his sneak attack ruined. Refusing to back down, he aimed and fired again in rapid succession.
The moment the next bullet left the barrel, jet-black Armament Haki enshrouded it. The entire sequence took less than two seconds.
But what Van Augur saw next left him completely paralyzed with shock.
Austin simply extended his arm and casually flicked his wrist. The high-speed, spinning bullet was effortlessly deflected by his index finger!
"This...!"
*Poof!*
Van Augur's eyes widened in sheer horror, filled with utter disbelief. The next fraction of a second, a localized blast detonated right at his forehead, and the sniper collapsed to the ground, headless.
"Van Augur!" Blackbeard roared, his voice tearing with a mixture of rage and grief.
*Damn it all!* The loyal crew mates he had painstakingly recruited, the "strongest" and most sadistic criminals he had broken out of Impel Down... had Austin just slaughtered them all like cattle?!
In the blink of an eye, Blackbeard had been stripped down to a lone commander!
Even if he managed to escape today and return to the New World, without his crew, his grand dream of rising up to usurp Whitebeard's territories was nothing but a delusion! There were countless powerful pirates waiting like vultures to tear into Whitebeard's legacy the moment the old man died.
*Curse you! It's all because of this bastard, Austin!*
"I swallowed my pride and tried to compromise with you! I told you I'd give you countless treasures and riches once this was over!" Blackbeard Teach bellowed, driven mad with fury over the death of his subordinates. Without his inner circle, his path to conquering the New World was completely severed.
"If I'm going down, I'm taking you with me!"
"I haven't fully mastered this ability yet, and there's a massive risk of losing control, but I don't give a damn anymore!"
"Austin! Today, you pay for your arrogance!"
**"Awaken! Abyssal Dark Cave!!"**
Suddenly, endless plumes of pitch-black smoke erupted from beneath Blackbeard's feet.
The entire battlefield within the bay was instantly blanketed by the suffocating darkness. Destroyed structures, fallen Marines, and even living pirates were ruthlessly dragged down into the swirling black mist.
"A Devil Fruit Awakening?!"
Seeing the black smoke devour everything in its path, the Marines ran for their lives, scrambling to higher ground on the remaining buildings. They watched in absolute horror as entire structures and mountains of corpses vanished into the pitch-black abyss.
Even Fleet Admiral Sengoku and the rest of the Marine top brass paled when they heard Blackbeard utter the word 'Awakening'.
The Awakening of a Devil Fruit was a terrifying milestone. Once a user achieved it, their destructive capabilities underwent a fundamental, catastrophic shift.
For a Paramecia, it meant affecting and reshaping the surrounding environment into their own personal domain.
For a Zoan, it granted monstrous physical enhancements, rapid recovery, and near-immortal endurance.
For a Logia, though incredibly rare, it allowed the user to permanently alter the nature of an entire region and manifest raw elements on a cosmic scale.
"Zehahahaha! Austin, do you see this?! My awakened power..."
"It allows my dark vortices to inhale every single object in the vicinity, digest them, and convert them into raw energy to boost my own power!"
"Go ahead and mourn your precious subordinates, because right now, they've all become fuel for me!"
"Do you have any idea how many people have died here at Marineford? Tens of thousands! Their collective life force will become the nourishment that ascends me to godhood!"
"Hahaha! You're dead, Austin! And you Marines, none of you are leaving this island alive today!"
Feeling the intoxicating surge of power swelling within him, Blackbeard Teach laughed hysterically, his mind warped by the sudden influx of energy.
In truth, this wasn't a perfect Awakening—it was a forced, half-awakened state carrying an immense risk of backfiring. Under normal circumstances, Teach would never have resorted to such a desperate, self-destructive gamble. But Austin had backed him into a corner; it was either go all out or die here.
What Blackbeard kept to himself was that this stolen power was strictly temporary. If his body couldn't withstand the immense strain of the absorbed energy, he would literally explode. Even in his madness, he didn't dare absorb the energy too quickly.
Worse yet, this flawed, incomplete Awakening was actively burning away his lifespan. If he couldn't annihilate Austin and the Marine leadership within a strict time limit, the backlash would kill him anyway.
*It's a pity Sengoku and Garp secured Whitebeard and Ace's bodies... But this is more than enough power!*
"Interesting," Austin murmured.
He watched dispassionately as Blackbeard's power level spiked, surging from the entry-level of the Fifth Order all the way to the peak of the mid-Fifth Order. Still, Austin could tell this explosive growth was hollow. It was a desperate, final stand; Blackbeard's body would collapse on its own within an hour or two at most.
"Die, Austin! My ultimate strike will erase you from existence!"
**"Darkness Dragon!!"**
The volatile energy within Blackbeard's body was beginning to slip from his grasp. Driven by pure survival instinct, he threw his fists forward, shaping the dense, swirling black mist into a colossal, hundred-meter-long dragon of pure darkness.
The dark dragon roared, tearing up the ground and whipping up violent, gale-force winds. Every soul on the battlefield watched the apocalyptic clash unfold.
But Blackbeard didn't stop there. Channeling every ounce of his remaining strength, his left arm swelled to twice its size as he unleashed a devastating punch forward.
The air shattered. Atmospheric cracks webbed across the sky as space itself warped, unleashing the Tremor-Tremor Fruit's ultimate shockwave directly at Austin!
"I'm bored of this game. Let's send you to hell."
Facing the combined, ultimate assault of two Devil Fruits, Austin's eyes flared with a brief flicker of impatience. He wanted to wrap this up quickly so he could go back to relaxing with Hancock. Blackbeard wasn't even worth his time anymore.
For the first time in this world, Austin decided to show a fraction of his true, terrifying might. He would use Ulquiorra's signature technique to put Blackbeard down for good.
**"Lanza del Relámpago!!"** (Spear of Lightning)
A catastrophic javelin of condensed spiritual lightning materialized in Austin's hand.
Seeing the weapon, Kizaru's eyes nearly popped out of his head. *That energy spear... isn't that the ultimate move of the man who defeated me twice?! Why can Austin use it?!*
Kizaru couldn't comprehend how Austin possessed Ulquiorra's abilities. *Could it be... that Austin possesses the powers of all the Espada?!* If that horrifying theory was true, the implications were too terrifying to contemplate.
Unlike Ulquiorra's glowing green spear, Austin's *Lanza del Relámpago* blazed with a majestic, golden radiance, radiating an aura of absolute royalty and divine destruction.
As the Darkness Dragon and the space-shattering shockwave converged on him, Austin calmly raised his arm and hurled the golden spear of lightning.
*Boom!*
The three forces collided. An blinding golden shockwave erupted, instantly obliterating and swallowing the dark dragon before tearing through the shattering shockwave of the Tremor-Tremor fruit like wet tissue paper.
Before Blackbeard could even scream, the golden tsunami of spiritual lightning engulfed him, erasing him from the face of the earth.
The spear's momentum didn't slow down. It pierced straight through the towering walls of ice, shattered the fortress fortifications, and plunged into the sea thousands of meters away.
*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!*
The ocean erupted as if a nuclear warhead had detonated in its depths. The cataclysmic force triggered a massive displacement of water, generating a colossal, thousand-meter-high tsunami that threatened to swallow Marineford whole.
"Monster! He's a monster!"
"Another tsunami! Run!!"
"God help us, is it even possible to survive a wave that high?!"
The Blackbeard Pirates were entirely wiped out, but Marineford was now staring down an existential crisis. A one-kilometer-high wall of water was rushing toward them.
The Marine executives looked on in absolute despair, and even the Shichibukai lost their composure. Mihawk's eyes narrowed into sharp slits, his thoughts unreadable. Moria collapsed to the ground in terror, and Doflamingo's manic grin completely vanished.
"Seriously... that monster just loves causing trouble wherever he goes," Aokiji sighed. Abandoning his pursuit of Straw Hat Luffy, he walked forward and scratched his head in exasperation.
"It's up to you, Kuzan!" the surrounding Marines cried out, their despair turning into a glimmer of hope.
Before the battle began, Kuzan had successfully frozen two massive tsunamis. Though this single wave was a kilometer high, he was their only hope.
"I've got it," Kuzan said calmly, his expression hardening.
Using a masterful combination of *Geppo* and *Soru*, he vanished from the spot, launching himself hundreds of meters into the air. Exhaling a breath of absolute zero air, he extended both hands toward the incoming wall of water. Two colossal beams of frost shot forth.
**"Ice Age!!!"**
*Crack! Crackle!*
The kilometer-high tsunami began to freeze, the frost rapidly spreading from the crest of the wave all the way down to the base. Within seconds, a world-ending disaster was averted, transformed into a breathtaking, frozen monument.
*Thud.* Kuzan landed back on the ground, panting heavily. Freezing a wave of that magnitude had taken a massive toll on his stamina, pushing his Logia powers to their absolute limit.
"It seems the war has finally come to an end."
A calm, deep voice echoed across the frozen harbor, causing everyone to turn around in shock.
"Red-Haired Shanks!"
"One of the Four Emperors... why is he here?!"
The arrival of the Red Hair Pirates sent shockwaves through the remaining forces. Shanks had arrived just in time to stop Sakazuki (Akainu) from executing Koby, who had just awakened his Observation Haki amid the chaos.
Shanks walked through the bay with his crew, casting a brief, pitying look at the spot where Blackbeard had died. Turning to the Marines, he delivered his ultimatum to end the war, demanding the bodies of Whitebeard and Ace for a proper burial.
"Fine. Whitebeard and Ace's bodies will be handed over to you," Sengoku conceded heavily.
Under normal circumstances, Sengoku would never surrender the bodies of such high-profile pirates. But looking at the battered state of Marineford and the exhausted Marines, they simply didn't have the strength to fight another Emperor's crew. The Marines had achieved their objective—continuing to fight would only mean needless slaughter.
Furthermore...
Sengoku's gaze drifted toward Austin, who was standing a short distance away, wondering what the mysterious King of the Nova Kingdom would do next.
Sensing the gaze of the Fleet Admiral and the remaining powerhouses, Austin slowly turned around, the corners of his mouth curling into a faint, mocking smile.
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku, I believe I just did the Marines a massive favor by eliminating the Blackbeard Pirates. I wonder how Marineford plans to compensate me?"
"Don't worry, I'll give you some time. I expect to see your expression of gratitude in two weeks."
The Marine executives' faces turned purple with rage. *This arrogant bastard! Marineford is on the verge of collapse because of monsters like you!* Granted, he did eliminate Blackbeard, but his demanding, tyrannical attitude was infuriating. Blackbeard had provoked him first, yet he was treating it like a freelance contract for the Marines!
They gnashed their teeth, but given Austin's terrifying display of power, they chose to endure in silence.
"You must be Austin, the King of the Nova Kingdom," Shanks said, stepping forward with a polite, easygoing smile. He had been curious about this man who had turned the world upside down over the past six months. "I wonder if I might have the honor of befriending Your Majesty? Perhaps we could share a drink sometime?"
Shanks was extending an olive branch, hoping to gauge Austin's intentions and potentially neutralize a future threat through diplomacy.
"Friends? I don't think so," Austin replied carelessly, barely sparing the Emperor a glance as he turned his back. "I'm not in the mood today. But a word of advice—next time, make sure you don't get in my way."
Austin's cold dismissal left everyone dumbfounded. *Is this guy insane? Is he actually looking to pick a fight with the Red Hair Pirates next?* His sheer arrogance in turning down an Emperor's offer of friendship was unprecedented.
Shanks, however, didn't lose his temper. He merely smiled, wondering where Austin's deep-seated hostility came from. Little did he know, Austin had a mission to conquer and eliminate the Four Emperors. Even without the system mission, Austin intended to bring an end to the Great Pirate Era under his own rule.
As Sengoku officially declared the end of the War of the Best, rescue operations began across the shattered island.
Austin leaped into the air, flying back toward his companions with a soft chuckle. "Come on, it's time to leave," he whispered to Hancock, Rem, and Ram.
They made their way to the harbor and unceremoniously commandeered one of the remaining Marine battleships. Several Marines tried to step forward to protest, but the moment they looked into Boa Hancock's eyes, their expressions turned blank.
Within moments, the Marines were reduced to mindless, love-struck puppets, blindly executing Hancock's commands to set sail.
With the Marine crew handling the rigging, the battleship slowly turned and sailed away from the ruined paradise of Marineford, charting a direct course back to Amazon Lily.