A massive tide of darkness surged from Blackbeard’s hands.
The resulting reverse thrust propelled the enormous wooden raft forward at tremendous speed, sending it slicing rapidly across the sea.
In just a few breaths, the raft had already traveled more than a kilometer.
The speed was so astonishing that even Laffitte and Burgess were left staring in disbelief.
They were, of course, well aware of Blackbeard’s habit of running away.
Otherwise, Fire Fist Ace wouldn’t have been able to chase him all the way from the New World to Paradise.
What they had never expected was for their captain to be so incredibly fast when he ran.
It was almost as if the raft had suddenly grown wings.
Judging from this speed, they believed that in another few dozen seconds, they would be several nautical miles away.
By the time the Marines’ new Admiral broke through the curtain of darkness created by Blackbeard’s Black Hole, they would already have escaped far into the distance.
Even if that Marine Admiral possessed extraordinary abilities, he would probably have difficulty catching up.
"Teach, you’re still the same old stray dog."
Ace, who was still bound like a dumpling, stabilized himself and sneered.
"Originally, when you challenged the Marines’ new Admiral with such confidence, I thought you actually had something to rely on."
"I never expected that your confidence was simply confidence in your ability to run away."
"Still, running away is perfectly understandable."
"Even I don’t have much confidence facing that newly appointed Marine Admiral."
"Don’t forget, the only reason you managed to capture me was because you needed these guys to help you."
"Shut up!"
Burgess roared furiously.
"Who are you calling trash?"
During their battle, Blackbeard and Ace had fought each other to mutual exhaustion and eventually lost consciousness.
If Blackbeard’s crew hadn’t been watching from the sidelines without getting involved, they wouldn’t have had the opportunity to capture Ace afterward.
"Burgess, don’t get angry with Captain Ace."
Blackbeard continued using the dark tide to propel the raft forward.
He glanced back toward the warship, now obscured by the curtain of darkness, before revealing a sinister smile.
"Captain Ace, you have the opportunity right now, so you might as well say another few words."
"Otherwise, you won’t have another chance to chat with an old friend like this."
"Besides, on this sea, running away is also a form of strength."
"Otherwise, Captain Ace, you wouldn’t have chased me for so long only to end up falling into my hands."
"Give me another three to five minutes."
"Once we’re more than ten nautical miles away and that newly appointed Marine Admiral ends up chasing an empty sea, I can simply find someone else to trade with."
"As for you, Captain Ace, your fate won’t change in the slightest."
"You...!"
Ace’s face immediately turned livid.
If only he had listened to Whitebeard’s warning that day and waited for reinforcements before making his move, he probably wouldn’t have ended up in this situation.
"Captain, we’re already five or six nautical miles away."
Burgess looked back at the gradually receding curtain of darkness and revealed a smug smile.
"I don’t think they’ll be able to catch us even if they pursue us."
"So much for the Marines’ new Admiral."
"In the end, he was still played like a fool by our captain."
"That’s what I think too."
Doc Q spoke in his usual sickly voice.
But the instant those words left his mouth, the expressions of Doc Q and Burgess suddenly changed.
No.
It wasn’t just them.
Everyone aboard the entire wooden raft suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of danger.
A terrifying feeling of impending death arose without warning.
It was as though the Grim Reaper had suddenly set his sights on them.
Even Blackbeard Teach felt every hair on his body stand on end.
The strange sensation caused the movement of his hands to momentarily stop.
He looked around in every direction, but he still couldn’t identify the source of the danger.
Could this terrifying sense of crisis be coming from the Marine warship six or seven nautical miles away, hidden behind the curtain of darkness?
They had already escaped such a great distance.
Was that even possible?
More importantly, the curtain of darkness was a defensive barrier Blackbeard had created using the full power of his Dark-Dark Fruit .
It could not only deprive people of their visual perception, but also absorb a certain amount of incoming attacks.
Even if his opponent could break through it, it should take considerable effort.
By then, he would have already escaped far away.
So how could there possibly be any danger?
And yet his battle instincts, honed through years of fighting on the edge of death, were hammering at him like invisible iron mallets.
Every cell in his body was amplifying the sense of danger.
At this moment, everyone had the eerie feeling that the Grim Reaper was staring directly at them.
Blackbeard instinctively looked toward the curtain of darkness, desperately trying to figure out what was happening.
Boom!
Behind the curtain of darkness, endless white smoke suddenly transformed into an enormous snow-white serpent.
Carrying tremendous force, it slammed headfirst into the curtain.
The impact was powerful enough to smash a pirate ship apart.
Yet the moment the white-smoke serpent touched the curtain of darkness, it was like plunging into the ocean.
It was swallowed completely.
Other attacks suffered the same fate.
Whether slashes or cannonballs, none could escape being rendered useless.
Smoker, his body surrounded by billowing white smoke, immediately turned grim.
He quickly landed beside Tashigi, the two standing back-to-back in a defensive formation.
The surrounding Marines also tensed up and went on high alert.
"Admiral Lucas!"
Ain was the first to lose patience.
"Blackbeard has used his Devil Fruit power to plunge this entire sea into darkness, but he still hasn’t attacked us."
"Is he planning to exhaust our strength?"
"And what exactly are these curtains of darkness?"
"Why can’t any of our attacks break through them?"
After launching attack after attack, Ain wasn’t the only one frustrated.
Even Smoker and Tashigi felt as though they had punched into cotton—possessing plenty of strength but having nowhere to release it.
Seeing the Marines frustrated and helpless, Ulti, still bound like a dumpling, couldn’t resist mocking them.
"New Marine Admiral, aren’t you awfully arrogant?"
"Now you’ve been trapped here by Blackbeard."
"Not only can you not escape, but you’ll probably soon be facing terrifying killing attacks from every direction!"
"Terrifying killing attacks?"
Lucas stood at the bow of the ship and calmly took a sip of alcohol.
"Who said there’s any killing attack?"
"That guy already ran away."
"He should be seven or eight nautical miles away by now."
"And who said I can’t break through this curtain of darkness?"
"I just wanted to see how badly Blackbeard has developed his Dark-Dark Fruit ."
That’s right.
The instant Blackbeard launched his attack, Lucas had already used Yami Sukehiro’s ki sensing, combined with his Observation Haki, to lock onto Blackbeard’s position.
From the very beginning, Lucas hadn’t been surprised by Blackbeard’s retreat.
In the original story, Blackbeard’s battle against Ace had only ended in mutual exhaustion.
His development of the Dark-Dark Fruit had also been relatively crude at that stage.
If he hadn’t later obtained Whitebeard’s Tremor-Tremor Fruit and relied on the Dark-Dark Fruit ’s ability to counter Devil Fruit users, Blackbeard would probably have been little more than an ordinary Warlord of the Sea in terms of overall combat power.
"Admiral Lucas, you’re saying Blackbeard escaped?"
Tashigi was stunned.
"Then should we contact Admiral Kizaru and have him continue the transaction with Blackbeard?"
Smoker also quickly turned toward Lucas.
But the words that reached their ears the next moment left them completely stunned.
"Since when have I been merciful enough to let my overtime pay get away?"
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