At the end of the day, this outcome was the result of Momousagi underestimating King’s strength. If the one standing before them wasn’t King but Kaido or Whitebeard, the Marines wouldn’t have said a word—they would have turned around and left without hesitation.
As for Blackbeard? They could afford to ignore him for now. A person’s reputation carries weight, and only the Emperors of the Sea were true threats in the eyes of the Marines.
“Vice Admiral Yamakaji, today might be our most dangerous day.”
“Looks like it. Maybe we’ll die here, but from the moment I joined the Marines, I was prepared for that.”
Removing his hat, Yamakaji pulled out another cigar, pressed his fingers together to create a spark, and lit it up, taking a deep drag all the way to the end.
“I hope those useless fools in the World Government could act this quickly in other situations too.”
The World Government didn’t trust pirates, and pirates didn’t trust the World Government either. Every current Shichibukai had their own agenda and was only using their title as a means to an end.
Protecting nations, gathering intelligence, planning for the future, minimizing trouble—none of them were truly loyal to the World Government.
That was why, when making the deal, Blackbeard demanded that the World Government first publish the news in the newspaper, then proceed with the transaction, and after the transaction, completely certify his identity as a Shichibukai.
Before this, although he was only a Shichibukai candidate, it had already become common knowledge. However, many details were kept under wraps—outsiders only knew that a guy named Teach had joined the ranks of the Shichibukai.
With both Strawberry’s death and the newspaper reports hitting simultaneously, Momousagi now had no choice but to fight to the death.
Watching Momousagi and Yamakaji’s movements, Blackbeard had just let out a sigh of relief when a blazing blade once again slashed past him. Just like before, taking advantage of King’s attack, Blackbeard tried to use his Dark-Dark Fruit ability to make contact with King’s body and weaken his strength.
Even in a weakened state, King’s defense was beyond their comprehension. Without using the Dark-Dark Fruit to suppress him, there was no way to deal with him.
Previously, King had done everything he could to avoid being grabbed by Blackbeard, frequently switching between forms, which was quite a nuisance. But this time was different—King deliberately allowed Blackbeard to grab his wrist.
Using the defensive power of his blue-flame mode, he endured the subsequent attacks head-on.
“Blackbeard, is it your life force that’s so strong, or is it something special about your Devil Fruit ability?”
“Hm?”
“I just happen to want to verify this doubt—without your Devil Fruit, will you die?”
A dangerous smile appeared on King’s face as he flicked his wrist, turning the hilt of his sword toward Blackbeard.
Bang!
Out of nowhere, a gunshot rang out—King’s actions once again surprised Momousagi and Yamakaji.
This guy clearly possessed overwhelming strength, yet he was equipped with all sorts of sinister gadgets.
At this moment, the end of King’s sword hilt had transformed into a gun barrel, and the gunshot sound had come from there. A sharp nail shot out from the hilt, piercing through Blackbeard’s skin and embedding itself into his body.
“Paltry trick… Seastone!?”
Blackbeard never expected King to use such a cheap trick. He also never imagined that someone could turn Seastone into bullets—after all, even the Marines only used large pieces of Seastone to craft Prison Bullet nets.
“The outside world may lack the means to finely process Seastone, but Wano Country is different. There, Seastone can be processed into various intricate shapes and even be used for more special things.”
Squelch!
King’s blade pierced through Blackbeard’s eye socket, then emerged from the back of his head. With a bloodcurdling scream, Blackbeard collapsed weakly onto the ground, struggling to pull the nail from his chest, but he simply couldn’t do it.
The Seastone nail was of extremely high purity—lethally dangerous to Devil Fruit users. It was one of King’s specialized methods for dealing with Devil Fruit users.
Despicable? Shameless? He never cared about such things. As long as he could eliminate his enemies and emerge as the final victor, the means didn’t matter.
Hidden brass knuckles inside his gloves, serrated shark teeth within his blade—each designed to counter different types of enemies. The Seastone bullets inside his sword hilt were meant to catch Devil Fruit users off guard.
Some Devil Fruit abilities were incredibly troublesome, and even Haki wasn’t always enough to deal with them easily. Compared to Haki, Seastone was a much faster way to neutralize Devil Fruit users.
The Beasts Pirates, who controlled the world’s primary source of Seastone, would never let such a resource go to waste.
Only a handful of craftsmen in the world could forge high-purity Seastone weapons, and in Wano Country, they were treated like national treasures.
“It should have pierced your brain. It seems that your tenacious life force comes from your body itself… But if you were burned to ash, could you still survive?”
Protect’s barrier expanded outward from King, forcefully pushing Momousagi and Yamakaji away with its near-invincible properties. Then, blue flames completely engulfed the area.
“Captain Teach!!”
The intense heat distorted the air, preventing even Laffitte from approaching the battlefield below. He had no idea what had become of Blackbeard within the raging fire.
“I’d say it’s a bit too hot here, don’t you think? Ice Age!”
“Admiral Kuzan!”
A thick layer of ice spread toward the center of the island, freezing both Blackbeard, who lay on the ground, and King, who had been about to swing his blade again.
The flames on the ground were extinguished as a result, leaving behind only a massive cloud of steam. Ordinary ice wouldn’t have been able to put out King’s flames so quickly, but in terms of sheer temperature of the flames, he had already surpassed the level of a Flame-Flame Fruit user.
Although Kuzan had frozen King, it lasted only a brief moment. In the next instant, the ice on King’s body vaporized, and he regained his freedom once again.
“Aokiji, an Admiral from Headquarters! It seems like the people in the Marines really do have too much time on their hands.”
Vice Admirals, Admiral Candidate, and now a sitting Admiral—the Marine’s speed of calling for reinforcements was starting to make even King feel annoyed.
“Ara~ Ara~ I wasn’t expecting to run into someone like you here. Shouldn’t you be by Kaido’s side, acting as his right-hand man?”
Without responding to Aokiji, King swung his blade, aiming to decapitate Blackbeard. However, in an instant, Aokiji appeared in front of him, stopping his attack.
Despite the significant height difference between them, Aokiji radiated an overwhelming pressure.
“You Marines sure are dutiful when it comes to Shichibukai.”
“If you had found him a few days earlier, killing him wouldn’t have been an issue. But you’re slower than the newspapers—now that’s a problem.”
“What’s more, there’s Strawberry. You and your scorching flames should go cool down in Impel Down.”
Strawberry’s corpse was lying on the side. The death of a Headquarters’ Vice Admiral is a major incident. How to handle the aftermath would be the higher-ups’ problem, but Kuzan had no intention of letting King leave just like that.
But in the end, ice could not keep up with a fire-wreathed Pteranodon. With Blackbeard barely clinging to life and no one left to suppress King’s ability, Kuzan had no way of stopping him. In the end, he could only watch as King flew away.
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