Bang! Facing the incoming slash, Blackbeard didn't show a flicker of panic. He slowly reached out his right hand and caught the long blade in a vice-like grip.
"What!?" Squard's face was a mask of horror.
He already knew about Blackbeard's Dark-Dark Fruit ability, but he couldn't comprehend how an already severely injured Teach could block a full-strength slash with his bare hand.
But in the next heartbeat, something even more terrifying occurred. With a slight exert of force from Blackbeard's hand, the blade snapped with a sharp CRACK!
"Impossible!"
Not just the Maelstrom Spider Pirates, but even the members of the Blackbeard crew were momentarily stunned.
"This... this power!" Squard scrambled back several paces, his voice trembling. "That's the ability of the man from before!"
He finally noticed the anomaly. The golden radiance acting as armor around Blackbeard was identical to the golden ape form of the man who had just been killed.
"Zehahahahaha!" Blackbeard erupted into a manic laugh. Darkness swirled in his right hand, and golden light pulsed in his left. Though this wasn't the ability he had originally coveted most, it was perhaps the most perfect fit for him. In terms of utility, this power was no less valuable to him than the Tremor-Tremor Fruit.
The Monkey-Monkey Fruit, Mythical Zoan: Model Vajra!
Blackbeard had spent the first half of his life waiting for the Dark-Dark Fruit to appear. For his second power, he had identified two primary choices.
First was Pops' Tremor-Tremor Fruit. With the nullification of the Dark-Dark Fruit and the supreme destructive power of the strongest Paramecia, he would have few rivals on the sea. That had been the goal of bringing his crew to Marineford. But instead of the Tremor-Tremor power, he had nearly seen his entire crew annihilated.
The second choice was this: the Vajra power!
Because of the Dark-Dark Fruit's side effect, Blackbeard had to endure double the pain of any injury. Usually, he could grit his teeth through it, but in high-intensity combat, this was a crippling weakness.
During his research, he had discovered a legend of another fruit—the Mythical Zoan Monkey-Monkey Fruit, Model Vajra. It was so rare that even Blackbeard had only seen a reference to it in a single, ancient encyclopedia. He wasn't even sure it truly existed.
Yet, against odds even smaller than stealing a power from Whitebeard, he had stumbled upon it here. It was providence.
The reason the Vajra form was the perfect match for the Dark-Dark Fruit was its "Vajra Armor"—an indestructible golden coating generated around the user's body. With this armor, Blackbeard's defensive capabilities instantly leaped to the world's peak. Ordinary attacks simply couldn't touch him.
But more importantly: the offensive power! It possessed a strength that could rival the world's strongest.
"Squard, allow me to demonstrate." Blackbeard leveled his arm and swung it toward Squard in a brutal arc.
BOOM!
Cough... Glargh!
With a single strike, Squard's chest visibly caved in. He sprayed a fountain of blood as nearly every rib in his body shattered.
Blackbeard's lips curled into a sinister smirk. Squard was sent hurtling backward, slamming into the earth with enough force to create a crater.
"CAPTAIN!!" the Spider Pirates screamed in agony. "You bastard, Blackbeard! Everyone, kill him!"
Shiryu's lips curled into a cold sneer as he stepped forward, his blade barring their path. "Just stay there and watch the show." A flash of steel followed, and several pirates collapsed in heaps.
The remaining men faltered, backing away as they stared at Shiryu with grim realization.
"Zehahahahaha! Squard, is this all the strength you have?" Blackbeard hoisted the broken Squard up by his collar, grinning wickedly.
"What... what is this power... cough..." Squard, his clothes soaked crimson, stared at the shimmering golden light with slurred speech.
"The Monkey-Monkey Fruit, Mythical Zoan: Model Vajra!" Blackbeard didn't bother to hide it; his mood was too triumphant. "Its strength can shake mountains and rivers—in that regard, it's not a bit inferior to Pops' Tremor-Tremor Fruit. Most importantly, it is a top-tier Mythical Zoan that combines ultimate offense and defense!"
"Zehahahahaha!"
The armor on his skin was so dense that an average Vice Admiral couldn't even leave a scratch. It was a defiant, heaven-defying existence.
"You can die now." Blackbeard stomped his foot, and the entire small island shuddered. His arm surged with golden light as he drove a fist through Squard's torso.
Splat!
Blood sprayed across Blackbeard's face as the punch punched clean through Squard's chest.
"CAPTAIN SQUARD!" "GET OUT OF THE WAY!" A frantic Spider Pirate lunged at Shiryu.
Shing. Shiryu didn't even change his expression; a single swift draw, and the man fell dead.
Looking at Blackbeard's new form, Shiryu felt a weight lift from his shoulders. It seemed the Blackbeard Pirates wouldn't be disbanding after all.
"Curse you! All together!"
The Blackbeard Pirates showed no mercy. Every member of Teach's crew was a notorious powerhouse in their own right. While the Maelstrom Spider Pirates were famous in the New World, they weren't in the same league. It was a one-sided slaughter.
"Everyone..." Squard watched his crew being butchered one by one, a bitter taste in his mouth. Ace... I'm so sorry...
In this moment, Squard knew his life had reached its end. Images of fighting alongside Ace flashed through his mind like a film strip. Every thought and memory surged at once, finally settling on the image of his blade piercing his "Father," Whitebeard. He saw Ace bound on the execution platform, being mocked and cursed by the world... and himself, nearly destroying everything in that moment of weakness.
Perhaps this is my karmic justice... I'm only sorry for all of you... Watching his men die before him, Squard slowly closed his eyes.
"Let me fight for the Whitebeard Pirates... one last time!"
RUMBLE—!!
Suddenly, Squard's body erupted in a violent detonation. A massive explosion consumed the immediate area, rising into a small mushroom cloud over the center of the island.
"Not good!" "The bastard pulled a fast one!"
Even Blackbeard was caught off guard. He hadn't expected Squard to have a final move like this.
"He had high-yield explosives hidden on his body!" The Blackbeard Pirates panicked—Teach was still heavily injured. If he took the full brunt of that blast while in a weakened state, anything could happen.
On the outskirts of the smoke, the few remaining Spider Pirates watched their captain depart. The tears welling in their eyes were forcibly blinked away.
A man's final resolve must not be stained by the weakness of tears.