Van Auger finally noticed something was wrong. His excellent Observation Haki told him that all the spatial changes originated from the white clock behind Hera. He reached for the sniper rifle on his back.
Hera's figure suddenly appeared behind him. Van Auger's Observation Haki detected this, but it was already too late: "Where are you looking?"
The black and white interlaced 'saikū' appeared in Hera's hand, swinging towards Van Auger, who was preparing to fire.
Van Auger hurriedly turned around. The Armament Haki hastily condensed on his sniper rifle couldn't stop Hera's strike at all. With the collision, the sniper rifle fell apart directly.
Just as Van Auger breathed a sigh of relief, thinking he had escaped a disaster, gunshots rang out from the other side. Little Hera fired two bullets at his shadow with her twin guns.
Two bullets shot out from Van Auger's shadow. Van Auger wanted to attach Armament Haki to his back to resist, but the Armament Haki condensed in haste couldn't withstand Little Hera's attack.
A pitch-black bullet broke through Van Auger's defense. Before the pain of being hit in the back could reach his brain, the following 'Seventh Bullet' had already arrived.
Van Auger remained in a forward-leaning posture, frozen in place.
Dark shadows coiled around Van Auger's stationary body, slowly dragging him into the shadow beneath his feet.
The ability sensed a similar aura on Van Auger. White light bands wrapped around Van Auger. The power of the Warp-Warp Fruit tried to escape, but it was too late.
After absorbing the Warp-Warp Fruit, Hera felt a surge of power. If space had previously felt like viscous water to Hera, requiring her to slash cracks to teleport...
...then now, the structure of space became gradually clear in Hera's eyes. Especially within the domain covered by the City of Devouring Time and Observation Haki, she could appear anywhere with just a thought.
All of this happened in a flash. Blackbeard was still in mid-air. Seeing his retreat blocked, he released his Dark-Dark Fruit.
The black hole formed by the Dark-Dark Fruit allowed him to change position in mid-air, and his target was directed straight at the somewhat depressed Magellan.
He took hostage Magellan, who had fought Ace for a long time and whose convictions had suffered a huge blow: "No one move, or I can't guarantee his life."
Magellan subconsciously wanted to release poison, but Blackbeard, noticing his movement, increased the force of the Armament Haki in his hand, and the Dark-Dark Fruit absorbed the poison.
Garp frowned and stopped his pursuit, asking: "What do you want?"
Garp wasn't actually very familiar with Magellan, but thinking about how his group had come here, trashed the place, and cleared out the prisoners, he felt a certain responsibility now that Magellan was captured.
While being controlled by Blackbeard, Magellan didn't forget to say: "Just kill me. The prisoners are all gone, and the prison has been blown wide open. What's the point of me being this Warden anymore?"
Hearing this, Garp felt even more embarrassed, and even the anger he felt upon seeing Blackbeard initially dissipated a lot.
Hearing this, Blackbeard quickly gagged Magellan. Whether Magellan wanted to live or not didn't matter, but he still wanted to live.
Garp glanced at Hera out of the corner of his eye. No wonder she had been staying here and refusing to leave; she had been eyeing the prisoners in the prison all along.
However, Impel Down was an independent system and not under the jurisdiction of the Marine. Theoretically speaking, if Hera wanted to absorb the prisoners here, she did indeed need an opportunity of chaos.
Blackbeard looked at Hera, who was still absorbing the prisoners falling from the fourth level, and his gaze turned fierce: "Didn't you hear me? I told you to stop, or I can't guarantee Magellan's life."
To intimidate Hera, he increased the pressure in his hand, and blood even seeped from Magellan's neck.
Hera stopped her small movements, but in unseen places, screams continued to ring out.
An impatient expression appeared on Blackbeard's face: "Stop it! Do you think my Observation Haki is just for show? I told you to stop killing!"
Just as Blackbeard's emotions fluctuated, a different shadow merged into Blackbeard's Dark-Dark Fruit, and Hera's figure vanished instantly.
Just as Blackbeard felt something was wrong and wanted to exert force, intense pain came from his shoulder. Blackbeard's lone arm was severed by Hera's blade.
Blackbeard's Armament Haki didn't even show a trace of resistance under this strike. Haoshoku shattered his Armament Haki directly, and the sharp spatial attribute made him realize his arm had been cut off only after sensing the pain.
Before he could even be shocked, Hera's second strike arrived. A dazzling light erupted from 'saikū': "I'll use this strike to see you off—'Monarch · Void Time Absolute Slash'."
Red and black Haoshoku completely erupted. The power of time made the speed of this strike close to the speed of light, and the power of space increased its sharpness wildly.
As the Haoshoku dissipated, Blackbeard's head, filled with unwillingness, was severed by Hera. Taking advantage of the smoke from the strike, Hera also extracted Magellan's devil fruit ability.
Blackbeard's voice came intermittently: "This is impossible... My dream, my ambition, and the mission of the Davy Clan... I cannot fall here."
Hera said: "Nothing is impossible. When you chose to achieve your dream through betrayal, your end was already predetermined."
"If Rocks knew his child would make such a choice, I wonder how he would feel. Repent in hell."
Before Blackbeard's eyes, it was as if he had returned to that day—the day he asked to join the Whitebeard Pirates. It was as if he were still on the ship, living harmoniously with the crew.
Hera's words continued: "You say that a man's dream will never end, but in reality, you are the one who believes in dreams the least—hiding your capabilities when you lacked power and choosing betrayal just to get this devil fruit."
In Hera's view, people who believe in dreams will strive to achieve them, just like Luffy. He went to sea without a navigator or a proper ship, but he went anyway.
Blackbeard clearly had his own ambitions but didn't believe in his own dreams, pinning them on a single devil fruit instead. He didn't even believe in the bonds of others, easily trampling on Whitebeard's dream for power.
Perhaps it was this personality that prevented him from awakening Haoshoku, even though he was a descendant of Rocks.
Blackbeard's consciousness gradually blurred: "So, did I take the wrong path?"
In a daze, he seemed to see himself requesting the Dark-Dark Fruit directly from Thatch after discovering it, and Thatch throwing the devil fruit to him with a smile.
He saw a scene where Whitebeard, after discovering his ability, confidently handed the Whitebeard Pirates over to him, and he, along with Marco, Ace, and the other brothers, realized the dream of becoming the King of the World.
Finally, he closed his eyes in regret.
After Blackbeard died, his other associates were also taken down by Hera's companions and Garp. Hera's devil fruit collection gained the Sick-Sick Fruit, the Zoan · Horse-Horse Fruit · Mythical Zoan Type · Pegasus Model, and a devil fruit not recorded in the encyclopedia.
Hera looked at the unknown devil fruit: "This must be Laffitte's. It can grow white wings... Could it be the Mythical Zoan Type · Angel Fruit?"
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