The inexplicable remark left everyone present momentarily stunned.
They were all well aware of Lucas’s usual way of doing things, especially his obsession with getting paid for overtime.
But at this moment, they were completely shrouded by the endless veil of darkness.
Blackbeard and his men had already fled eight or nine nautical miles away.
Under such circumstances, what else could they do besides watch helplessly as he escaped?
Ulti’s expression stiffened, and she hurriedly shouted,
"You’re the Marines’ new Admiral! Are you seriously saying that Blackbeard can just run away?"
"Besides, even if he really escapes, what can you do about it? Don’t forget, he’s a target involved in a deal with Marine Headquarters. If you encounter him again next time, you won’t have the authority to make a move against him."
As a member of CP0, Ulti had already suffered a major loss at the hands of the Marines even after revealing her identity.
So as far as she was concerned, it didn’t matter whether Blackbeard actually escaped. As long as she could see Lucas suffer a setback, that was enough.
However, Lucas paid no attention to any of this.
His right hand slowly closed around the Washing Pole(Monohoshizao), which had served as little more than a decorative prop for a long time and had rarely been used.
He spoke indifferently.
"Nothing much. I’ll just cut everything apart."
VMMMM!
A pitch-black grimoire suddenly materialized before Lucas.
The instant its pages rapidly flipped open, the air circulating around them seemed to freeze completely.
In the next moment, as the grimoire opened fully, a pitch-black magic circle suddenly expanded before it.
BOOM!
A pillar of black energy erupted from Lucas, blasting straight into the heavens with overwhelming force.
Even the dark veil covering the entire area was pierced apart.
The tremendous surge of power spread outward like raging waves crashing against the shore.
Everyone aboard the warship instantly felt as though an invisible mountain had descended upon them, making it difficult to breathe.
But what shocked them most was the aura emanating from the black pillar of energy erupting from Lucas’s body.
It was virtually identical to the power of the Dark-Dark Fruit that Blackbeard had just used with such pride.
No.
If anything, Lucas’s darkness was even more powerful.
If Blackbeard’s Dark-Dark Fruit had been like a massive curtain capable of blotting out the heavens and earth, yet lacking overwhelming destructive power, then the darkness now erupting from Lucas gave everyone a completely different sensation.
It was sharp.
Unmatched.
A terrifying edge that seemed capable of tearing anything apart.
The difference between the two was simply impossible to describe with words.
More importantly, weren’t Devil Fruits supposed to be unique in this sea?
Why were there two people simultaneously capable of wielding the Dark-Dark Fruit ’s power?
And hadn’t Lucas originally possessed a Devil Fruit ability similar to Sengoku’s?
How could he possibly possess a second Devil Fruit power now?
Everything before them completely overturned their understanding of Devil Fruits.
Yet just as these thoughts emerged in their minds, everyone’s attention became fixed on Lucas.
Recalling what he had just said, they desperately wanted to know whether Lucas had actually been joking.
Otherwise, how could he possibly break through the darkness while simultaneously striking at Blackbeard from eight or nine nautical miles away?
But before they could dwell on the thought any further, Lucas’s five fingers suddenly tightened around the Washing Pole.
The pillar of black energy soaring into the heavens instantly poured into the blade like a bursting river breaking through its banks.
The next moment, Lucas suddenly opened his eyes.
His presence locked onto Blackbeard more than ten nautical miles away.
Without the slightest unnecessary flourish, he swung the Washing Pole downward through the air.
BOOM!
A black slash erupted into the sky.
Everyone standing on the deck saw their pupils contract violently. Their eyes nearly bulged from their sockets.
At that moment, they looked as though they had witnessed a ghost.
Even Ulti collapsed onto the deck with a thud.
It had been cut open!
With a single casual slash, Lucas had not only split apart the veil of darkness—the sky and the sea themselves had been torn open.
The astonishing slash shot forward like a bolt of lightning, cleaving everything in its path in two.
Was this really the same power as the Dark-Dark Fruit ?
Outside the veil of darkness
Blackbeard had been fleeing at full speed.
After escaping more than twelve nautical miles, he had just begun to breathe a sigh of relief when he suddenly turned around and looked toward the dark veil behind him.
The sight that greeted him made his pupils contract.
Burgess, Lafitte, and the others were completely dumbfounded.
The gloomy veil of darkness had not only been pierced by an identical pillar of black energy.
That heaven-splitting black slash had also torn everything apart in an instant.
The darkness.
The sea.
The sky.
Three things that should have been completely unrelated were now connected by that terrifying black slash.
The more than ten nautical miles separating them seemed to vanish in an instant, as though the distant shore had suddenly been dragged right before their eyes.
They finally understood why they had felt as though the Grim Reaper were looking down upon them.
From the very beginning, they had never escaped the Grim Reaper’s reach.
As the terrifying slash rapidly expanded within his pupils, Burgess let out a hysterical roar.
"Captain! Y-Your Dark-Dark Fruit has to be fake!"
"Shut up! Hurry up and combine your strength with mine to stop it!"
"Damn it! Are there really two Dark-Dark Fruit ?!"
Blackbeard roared furiously.
At this moment, he pushed the power of the Dark-Dark Fruit to its absolute limit.
BOOM!
The two forces of darkness collided once again.
The resulting explosion erupted like a Category 12 hurricane, sweeping across a vast stretch of sea spanning tens of thousands of meters.
In an instant, towering waves surged into the heavens before crashing down like torrential rain, engulfing the entire sea.
Even the warship more than ten nautical miles away was drenched by the freezing seawater.
Smoker and the others, who had been standing there in stunned silence, were jolted back to their senses.
They stared at the clouds that had piled up overhead, now split apart by the slash.
They looked at the vast section of sea that had been cleaved open, exposing a vacuum-like gap as seawater from both sides violently poured back into it.
Only then did they realize that everything that had just happened had been real.
Admiral Lucas, who normally never bothered to fight.
Once he actually made a move—
He could split the heavens and the sea apart with a single slash.
If this scene were to spread throughout the world, it would undoubtedly shake the entire sea.
"Is... is this why he never fights?"
"Is he really the Marines’ new Admiral? Or is he actually some secret weapon that Marine Headquarters has been cultivating in secret?"
Ulti sat collapsed on the deck, her face as pale as paper.
She stared at the scene before her in disbelief, as though she had encountered a ghost.
Thinking back to the battle not long ago, she had desperately tried to get Jack to force Lucas into fighting.
Now that she thought about it, that had practically been dancing on her own grave.
If Lucas had used this slash yesterday...
And if Jack had chosen to take it head-on...
Ulti didn’t dare imagine whether Jack the Drought, with his ten-billion-Berry bounty, would have been cleaved in half by that single strike.
"Just as expected of Yami’s strongest slash—the Black-Coated Dimensional Slash: The Far Shore."
Lucas sheathed the Washing Pole, took a swig of strong liquor, and spoke casually.
"Now I wonder whether Old Man Sengoku will honor the deal after I intercepted Kizaru’s transaction. Maybe he’ll increase my bonus a little."
"If he tries to welch on the deal, that’s going to be a real headache."
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