"Take the Marine Admiral and run?"
Smoker and the others were momentarily stunned.
They had never expected Fire Fist Ace to suddenly warn them.
For a moment, they simply couldn’t process what they had heard.
"Get out of here! Hurry!" Ace urged them again.
If this had involved anyone else, he absolutely wouldn’t have bothered interfering.
But whenever something involved loyalty—or Blackbeard—Ace could never simply stand by and do nothing.
"Hahaha! Captain Ace, what’s the point of warning them?"
"Once I’ve set my sights on them, they won’t be able to escape even if they grow wings!"
"But don’t worry. The position of Warlord of the Sea is already mine. You people are merely stepping stones for me to make a name for myself. I definitely won’t kill you."
Blackbeard threw his head back and laughed arrogantly.
The dormant power of the Dark-Dark Fruit within his body suddenly erupted.
A true man must know when to bend and when to stand firm.
That had always been Blackbeard’s motto.
If he couldn’t win, he would back down.
But if he could win, he certainly wouldn’t hold back.
Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been that infamous scene in the original story where Whitebeard beat him so badly that he ended up begging for his life and calling him "Dad."
"Come and taste the power of the strongest Devil Fruit!"
"Black Vortex!"
Boom!
A pitch-black tide erupted from Blackbeard’s body, surging forward like a massive wave and crashing toward the Marine warship.
Smoker and Tashigi, standing on the deck, immediately turned pale.
"Tashigi! Go and inform Admiral Lucas!"
"Blackbeard is challenging Marine justice! I’ll hold him off here!"
Smoker roared as he stepped forward.
At the same time, the power of his Smoke-Smoke Fruit erupted.
White smoke transformed into a towering wave and collided head-on with the overwhelming black tide.
Boom!
Black and white instantly occupied half the sea.
The shockwave swept outward like a raging gale.
But before the Marines could celebrate, the white smoke—which had initially been evenly matched with the darkness—collapsed in an instant.
The black tide that had been held back surged forward like a breached dam, its remaining force crashing toward the warship without diminishing in the slightest.
Smoker’s expression immediately turned grim.
He had thought that following the newly appointed Admiral for some time would have significantly improved his own strength.
He never expected to be completely overwhelmed in a single exchange.
As he watched the rapidly expanding black tide reflected in his pupils, Smoker prepared to make another desperate stand.
"Heh heh. So you’re a rare Logia Devil Fruit user."
"Unfortunately, compared with Captain Ace, you’re still far too weak."
Blackbeard laughed loudly.
A deep black vortex appeared in his right hand.
He spread his fingers toward Smoker and suddenly clenched his fist from a distance.
Buzz!
Smoker’s head shook violently.
In that instant, he felt as though his very soul were being dragged from his body.
The Devil Fruit power he had gathered within himself was forcibly dispersed.
His entire body was simultaneously pulled forward by an invisible force.
The sudden attack left Smoker no time to react.
Then a voice he had been desperately waiting for suddenly rang out.
"Hey, Blackbeard."
"Are you trying to force me to work overtime?"
Boom!
A terrifying wave of Conqueror’s Haki, carrying overwhelming might, slammed directly into the black tide.
The collision erupted with a thunderous roar that echoed across the sky.
The resulting explosion unleashed a massive shockwave that swept outward like a hurricane.
Just moments earlier, the dark tide had been displaying overwhelming power, blotting out the sky and covering the sea.
But beneath the violent impact of Lucas’s Conqueror’s Haki, it shattered like paper.
The collision between the two forces generated enormous waves that directly overturned the wooden raft beneath Blackbeard and his crew.
Freezing seawater poured down from above like a torrential rainstorm.
It instantly extinguished the excitement that had been burning within Blackbeard and his crew.
Then they saw Lucas slowly walk out of the cabin and onto the deck.
His expression was calm and composed.
He didn’t look injured in the slightest.
According to CP0’s intelligence, hadn’t the Marines’ fourth Admiral fought Jack the Drought of the Beasts Pirates in a fierce battle?
Wasn’t he supposed to be seriously wounded?
Wasn’t that the reason the Marines had replaced him with the former Admiral Kizaru for the transaction?
Then what was going on now?
He looked completely unharmed.
No.
It would be more accurate to say that he looked far stronger than an ordinary person.
"So this is the Marines’ fourth Admiral?"
Ace steadied himself and stared at Lucas.
They were roughly the same age.
Over the past several days, Ace had heard his name mentioned alongside his own dozens of times.
In Ace’s eyes, no matter how powerful this newly appointed Marine Admiral was, he should still have been roughly on his level.
Yet the moment Ace saw him in person, Lucas gave him an unfathomable feeling.
At the very least, after fighting Jack the Drought in a fierce battle, Lucas was still able to remain this calm and composed when confronted by an ambitious man like Blackbeard Teach.
That was completely beyond Ace’s expectations.
"Captain, what do we do?"
"Should we run?"
Burgess appeared beside Blackbeard, his face pale.
The Conqueror’s Haki released moments earlier had indeed been partially countered by the dark tide.
But the resulting shockwave had still left them with ringing heads and a brief loss of consciousness.
As pirates who lived on the edge of death, they understood all too well that a sudden mistake like this could easily cost them their lives if their opponent seized the opportunity.
Feeling the gazes of everyone around him, Blackbeard’s expression became extremely grim.
Looking at Lucas, who had suddenly appeared before him, he found himself caught between advancing and retreating.
"Blackbeard Teach!"
"That guy is just putting on a strong front!"
"Yesterday’s battle with Lord Jack already drained his body!"
"He couldn’t possibly have recovered in such a short time!"
"This is the perfect opportunity for you to capture the Marine Admiral!"
From aboard the Marine warship, Ulti—who was still bound like a dumpling, her face covered in blood and grime—suddenly shouted.
Spandine, who was hiding nearby, narrowed his eyes slightly as he watched the scene unfold.
As a fellow member of CP0, he naturally knew Ulti’s true identity.
Not long ago, Ulti had been the one who leaked the information and location concerning Jack the Drought’s attack on the Marines’ new Admiral.
Spandine had originally been puzzled as to why Ulti had never contacted him after the attack, as planned, to report the situation.
He never imagined that not only had Jack the Drought been captured, but Ulti had also fallen into the Marines’ hands.
Could it be that Ulti hadn’t revealed her CP0 identity?
No.
The thought had barely crossed Spandine’s mind before his recent encounter with Lucas—where the Admiral had casually called the truth a lie and the lie the truth—immediately flashed through his mind.
Whether she was really a member of CP0 or not, this newly appointed Marine Admiral seemed perfectly capable of getting away with simply calling someone a fake and having everyone believe him.
But what shocked Spandine the most was the gag tied around Ulti’s neck.
It was the same kind of gag that had been used on Jack the Drought.
When had it been removed?
Could this have been deliberately done by the newly appointed Marine Admiral?
Was he deliberately giving Ulti a chance to speak...
so that Blackbeard Teach wouldn’t even have the opportunity to regret his decision or change his mind?
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