'Tap, tap, tap...'
Judging by the sound, there were six of them.
No, four people—the footsteps of the other two sounded like quadrupeds, not humans.
'Just like in the original story. Teach, Burgess, Van Augur, Laffitte, and Doc Q, right?'
"Sean, do you want me to handle this?" Hancock asked, looking eager.
After spending several months at the 16th Branch eating Type 3 jerky and mastering the Six Powers, she had finally eliminated her greatest weakness. With her physical strength, Haki, and Devil Fruit, she was now formidable in every aspect.
Furthermore, she wanted to show off in front of Sean. After all, if she performed well, perhaps he would be so impressed that he'd propose to her on the spot?
Though... the idea that Sean would propose for such a trivial reason was purely a product of Hancock's own imagination.
"Fine. You can pick one for yourself when the time comes," Sean replied.
"Then I'll take Blackbeard!"
"No. Blackbeard is still useful for the current plan. I'll handle him personally."
"Oh... alright then," Hancock sighed.
Sean rejected her instantly. Blackbeard was far too valuable a pawn. He hadn't managed to extract Whitebeard's Devil Fruit yet, and he couldn't exactly perform a public demonstration of his fruit-stripping technique in front of the entire Headquarters staff. He needed Blackbeard to carry the heavy lifting for now.
Besides, he needed to stir up some significant trouble if he wanted old man Sengoku to step down. To truly end the Great Pirate Era, the Marines couldn't stay under Sengoku's leadership; Sean had to push Akainu into the top spot. Once that happened, it would be the perfect time for him to head to the New World.
"Huh? Someone is actually still guarding this place?"
"And a Marine Vice Admiral, no less?"
At that moment, Blackbeard's crew appeared at the entrance to Infinite Hell. Blackbeard, who had assumed the area was deserted, was surprised to see a young Vice Admiral accompanied by a woman of unbelievable beauty.
"Captain, isn't that the Warlord Hancock?" Laffitte noted, narrowing his eyes. "As for the young Vice Admiral, it must be Sean Campbell. Hancock wouldn't be accompanying any other Vice Admiral."
Once the realization hit, Blackbeard became visibly excited.
"Sean Campbell..."
"There were rumors that you ate the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, but after the sword Gathering, word spread that it wasn't you, but your sword that possessed the fruit."
"Zehahaha! Why don't you tell me which version is true?"
As he spoke, Blackbeard looked as if he were practically drooling. While the Dark-Dark Fruit was undoubtedly his primary desire, his unique physical constitution allowed him to house a second fruit—which was why he had targeted the Tremor-Tremor Fruit. He believed that the brutal Dark-Dark Fruit combined with the terrifying destructive power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit would make him the strongest.
But thinking about it now, a combination of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit and the Dark-Dark Fruit seemed equally appealing. It might even compensate for his inability to transform into an element.
After all, the Rumble-Rumble Fruit was known as a calamity-level power and was arguably the strongest offensive ability among the Logia types. It seemed... quite promising!
More importantly, he wondered if his body could accommodate three fruits. Should he take the gamble? If it actually worked, he'd be legendary.
Seeing Sean had sparked a flurry of greedy ideas in Blackbeard's mind.
Sean's lips curled into a slight smirk at the question. "Care to guess?"
'Guess? Guess my ass!'
Once he took Sean down, it wouldn't matter if the fruit was in the man or the sword; he would extract the Rumble-Rumble Fruit either way.
'Bang!'
Suddenly, a gunshot echoed within Infinite Hell. Even Blackbeard was momentarily stunned. He turned to see Van Augur holding his rifle, smoke still curling from the barrel.
Since they were about to fight anyway, Blackbeard didn't think much of it. However, he quickly noticed the look of shock on Van Augur's face and whipped his head toward Sean.
A bullet was frozen in mid-air right in front of Sean, as if blocked by an invisible barrier.
"Bakudō #8: Danku," Sean said calmly. As the words left his lips, the bullet simply dropped to the ground.
"I must say, Blackbeard, your subordinates are quite rude."
"Bakudō #61..."
"Rikujōkōrō!"
Six beams of light erupted instantly. Before Blackbeard's crew could even react, the beams struck Van Augur from six different directions. He was completely immobilized, his struggles proving futile.
Under normal circumstances, killing him wouldn't have been difficult. However, Sean didn't know if this man already possessed his teleportation fruit or if he only acquired it after the Paramount War. To be safe, it was better to capture him first. After all, if Sean ate that fruit himself, he might be able to awaken a "Spatial-Shift" ability. The system was certainly capable of arranging such a thing.
As for whether Van Augur already had the teleportation ability and could use it to escape the Rikujōkōrō—Sean wasn't worried at all.
As previously established, Reiryoku also possesses the effect of suppressing Devil Fruits, and this effect is even stronger than Armament Haki. Therefore, Van Augur, trapped by the Rikujōkōrō, was absolutely unable to use his fruit powers unless he had the raw physical strength to break the beams.
While Reiryoku, like Armament Haki, could nullify Devil Fruit abilities, it didn't cause the total physical collapse and weakness associated with Seastone. That was a fundamental difference.
The sudden turn of events left Blackbeard's crew speechless. They hadn't even seen Sean move. By the time they realized what had happened, Van Augur was already locked down by those strange beams of light.
Blackbeard initially thought it was some kind of Devil Fruit power and tried to use the Dark-Dark Fruit to nullify it, but it had no effect.
Burgess attempted to use brute force to tear through the eerie light, but he failed as well.
Laffitte and Doc Q didn't even try. 'Don't be ridiculous,' they thought. 'We don't have immense strength or powerful attack skills. There's nothing we can do!'
"Stop it. If even my Dark-Dark Fruit can't do it, you lot stand no chance. The only way now is..."
"Kill Sean!"
"Laffitte, go distract Hancock! Be careful—that woman is dangerous. Just keep her occupied!"
"Burgess, Doc Q! The rest of you, with me—let's take down Sean together!"
After realizing his efforts were yielding no results, Blackbeard decisively shifted his strategy. His logic was simple: since this was Sean's ability, the only solution was to eliminate Sean himself.
However, he seemed to be far too confident.
In the next instant, the four of them charged toward their respective targets. Just as Hancock was about to engage, she paused momentarily.
"Sean, do you want this one captured alive?"
"Laffitte? I have no interest in flight abilities. Just kill him!"
At this point, in the 16th Branch, it wasn't just the officers—more than half of the rank-and-file Marines had already mastered Moonwalk. In another six months, the newest recruits would likely have mastered it as well. Consequently, Sean found Fruit abilities granting flight to be utterly redundant.
"Understood!"
"Perfume Femur!"
With a nod, Hancock surged forward, her long leg unleashing a rapid-fire sequence of kicks. Her speed was so overwhelming that Laffitte was caught completely off guard. Though he strained every nerve to dodge the initial strikes, he was far too slow to avoid the final blow and could only raise his arm in a desperate attempt to block.
The attack was stopped, but the cost was absolute: his right arm was completely petrified.
Meanwhile, Blackbeard, Burgess, and Doc Q had formed a triangle, trapping Sean in the center. Despite being surrounded, Sean's expression remained entirely indifferent. His calmness actually made the three of them hesitate, unsure of how to strike.
Ultimately, it was Burgess—the most impulsive of the trio—who moved first. Gathering all his strength, he lunged forward with a devastating punch.
Suddenly, a flash of azure blade light erupted. Blackbeard actually rubbed his eyes in disbelief.
'This guy... when did he draw his sword?'
Shocked, Blackbeard looked at the katana now gripped in Sean's right hand, no longer in its scabbard. It was too fast; he hadn't seen the movement of the draw at all.
'Wait—Burgess!!!'
Snapping out of his shock, Blackbeard reacted instantly, realizing the trajectory of that blade light. He whipped his head toward Burgess, and his eyes widened in horror.
Burgess felt a sudden wave of confusion.
'Why... why am I looking at my own body?'
Then, he noticed something strange. Why was there nothing where his neck should be?
'Where is my head? Where did it go?'
That was the final thought Burgess ever had.