Whitebeard's forehead veins bulged as he fixed a fierce stare on Lloyd. Without warning, he reached forward with both hands, grasped at the air itself, and pulled with overwhelming force.
In an instant, heaven and earth tilted.
Not only Cake Island, but the entire sea surrounding Whole Cake Island surged into a catastrophic tsunami. The land itself was lifted by an unseen force, slanted at a terrifying angle as if the world had lost its balance.
Everyone on Cake Island was thrown off their feet as the ground trembled violently. Countless people fell, while the unlucky ones slipped into the massive cracks splitting the earth apart.
Big Mom stepped onto Zeus and rose into the sky. She looked down at the devastated island below, her expression twisted with rage.
"Newgate! This is my territory! Have you lost your mind!?"
Whitebeard's eyes burned red as he clenched his teeth.
"Shut up! I'm going to make the Navy pay!"
Crackle, crackle, crackle!
Blue fractures spread across the air around him, radiating a destructive aura as if space itself were about to shatter.
The power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit lived up to its reputation as the strongest Paramecia. This level of destruction rivaled, and even surpassed, many Logia abilities.
Within moments, tens of thousands had already perished in the chaos.
Amid the collapsing terrain, the struggling Navy soldiers cried out instinctively,
"Celestial Dragon Marshal!"
Lloyd did not remain idle.
Around his right leg, rings of deep purple energy compressed rapidly. He lifted his foot and slammed it into the ground. His Navy cloak surged upward as a massive wave of gravity spread across the entirety of Cake Island.
Buzz, buzz, buzz!
From the sky, the island, which had nearly tipped into the sea, was forcibly pressed back into place.
A vast gravity field expanded outward from Lloyd, enveloping the entire island. The translucent shockwaves released by Whitebeard were steadily neutralized by the dense, pulsing gravity.
Gradually, the violent tremors subsided. Cake Island stabilized and returned to stillness.
At last, Whitebeard could no longer endure the immense strain of his Devil Fruit awakening. His strength drained completely. As his power faded, an overwhelming force crushed him downward, slamming him into the ground and burying him deep within the earth.
In the distance, Monkey D. Dragon stared in shock at Lloyd.
Whitebeard, a veteran of decades with the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, had unleashed its awakened power with full resolve. Yet he was suppressed by Lloyd, who had only recently obtained the Gravity Fruit.
If Issho were present, he would not have been able to achieve such a feat.
There was only one explanation. Lloyd himself was overwhelmingly powerful. In his hands, the already formidable Gravity Fruit reached an entirely different level.
Kuzan and Aramaki reformed their bodies from their elemental states. Their gazes toward Lloyd burned with fanatic admiration.
The same reverence spread among all the Navy present. To them, Lloyd stood as a god.
To the pirates and the Revolutionary Army, he appeared as something far more terrifying, a demon god.
Buried deep within the ground, Whitebeard endured unbearable pain as his bones shattered throughout his body. He could not even move a finger.
The purple gravity waves around Lloyd slowly faded. With the Demon Blade Muramasa in hand, he stepped forward toward Whitebeard, who could no longer resist.
Then, without warning, everything changed.
A massive black mouth descended from the sky and swallowed Whitebeard directly from within the ground.
The suddenness of the event caused even Lloyd to raise an eyebrow in slight surprise.
Under countless stunned gazes, the mouth snapped shut. A loud swallowing sound echoed across the battlefield.
Moments later, it opened again.
A muscular man stepped out.
The members of the Whitebeard Pirates shouted in shock,
"Teach!?"
Marshall D. Teach grinned widely, his appearance now drastically different. He turned casually toward Thatch and the others in greeting.
Lloyd narrowed his eyes.
The ability Teach displayed was unmistakable. It belonged to the Munch-Munch Fruit.
This Paramecia-type fruit allowed its user to consume anything, even themselves, and restructure what they had eaten, including their own body.
That explained why Teach, once overweight, now possessed such a powerful physique.
In the original records, this fruit had belonged to Wapol.
Thatch and the others clearly already knew that Teach possessed this ability.
…
Months earlier, Teach had learned about Wapol through a newspaper. The ambition he had buried after losing hope of obtaining the Dark-Dark Fruit reignited.
Having studied the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia, he understood the Munch-Munch Fruit's potential. In some aspects, it could even substitute for the Dark-Dark Fruit.
He requested leave from Whitebeard and set out to sea alone. After receiving approval, he prepared a small boat filled with fruit and sailed directly toward Drum Island.
Defeating Wapol was effortless for him.
He dragged the half-dead Wapol into a sealed, dark room filled with fruit. Teach understood the principles behind Devil Fruit reincarnation. By doing this, he maximized the chance that the fruit's power would transfer nearby upon Wapol's death.
Even so, the probability remained low.
But it was still better than leaving such power in the hands of someone like Wapol.
After killing him, Teach searched through the fruit pile with growing anticipation.
At last, he found it.
A purple Devil Fruit with a cracked surface.
The Munch-Munch Fruit.
As if drawn to his ambition, the fruit chose him.
Without hesitation, Teach devoured it.
After returning to the Whitebeard Pirates, he did not hide his new ability. However, he dismissed it as useless, claiming it only increased his appetite.
The abilities he displayed today, consuming himself and even swallowing Whitebeard whole, were things no one had ever seen before.
Thatch shouted angrily,
"Teach! What did you do to Pops!?"
Teach burst into laughter.
"Zehahahahaha! Relax, I'm just helping Pops live a little longer!"
I've been dealing with exams lately, so updates have been a bit slower than usual.