The prisoners in Level 6 of Impel Down’s Eternal Hell are all bona fide monsters. Even Ivankov only dared to release Crocodile because he held leverage over him.
But Blackbeard was different. In urgent need of powerful allies, he had his eyes on Level 6 from the very beginning. After using his unique selection method, he found subordinates among those prisoners and brought them to Marineford, ready to launch his new plan.
Inside the Tarai Current, he was completely unaware of what had transpired at Marineford. Had he known in advance what was going on, he likely wouldn’t have come at all.
He didn’t land on the main battlefield. Blackbeard’s initial goal was to take advantage of the chaos, so he snuck ashore from the rear of Marineford, intending to observe the outcome of Whitebeard’s battle.
“That old ba*tard is still so powerful. Even at his age, he can still fight so fiercely.”
“Nyahahaha, Teach, are you scared? How about letting me take over as captain?”
Avalo Pizarro burst into laughter and directly demanded the captain’s position from Blackbeard. He was one of the prisoners brought out of Impel Down, an ambitious man also known as the “Corrupt King”.
Most of the subordinates Blackbeard picked were just like this—each with their own ambitions. Before the selection, Blackbeard had already made plans: he didn’t want anyone too weak, but he didn’t dare pick anyone too strong either. In the end, he chose just a few individuals.
“What a joke, this is the Blackbeard Pirates, how could the captain position be given to you? Follow me, especially you Wolf, be careful, don’t let others notice you!”
Using the excuse of preparing for battle, Blackbeard had stayed around Marineford for a few days and had grown somewhat familiar with the layout of the town. Just then, a shockwave blasted in from the side.
The figure of the golden Buddha appeared in the Blackbeard Pirates’ line of sight.
“Sengoku? Why is he fighting Kaido in this place?!”
Blackbeard felt his brain struggling to process what he was seeing. This was supposed to be the Summit War aimed at Whitebeard—why was Kaido, who had nothing to do with this, fighting Marines’ Fleet Admiral?
“That’s not all. Zephyr is here too. Looks like the Marines are really pulling out all the stops—even Zephyr has been sent to the battlefield.”
“Captain Teach, there might be even worse news.”
Laffitte turned toward a nearby screen. Due to Buggy, the live broadcast of the battlefield had resumed—and right now, it was showing the scenes of Whitebeard.
Staring at Whitebeard’s face, which looked exactly the same as it had decades ago, Blackbeard rubbed his only remaining eye, his face full of disbelief.
“What the hell is going on?!”
With so many powerful Marines around, there’s no way they’d let Whitebeard go. Once both sides were worn down, he would swoop in, kill Whitebeard, and steal his ability. In Blackbeard’s mind, this was the perfect plan.
But now, with Kaido disrupting things and Whitebeard bursting with youthful vigor, Blackbeard felt like his brain couldn’t keep up.
“Captain Teach, what should we do next?”
“Wait, let me think… Looks like we’ll need to change the plan a bit.”
Whitebeard looked full of life and wasn’t going to die anytime soon. Blackbeard had absolutely no desire to face Whitebeard in his prime.
Back then, he had abandoned his pride just to get on Whitebeard’s ship, and he knew exactly how terrifying a young Whitebeard could be.
As someone who had broken the iron rule of the Whitebeard Pirates, if he showed up in front of Whitebeard now, he’d die a horrible death. Watching Kaido battle Sengoku, and seeing that the area was deserted, Blackbeard suddenly had a new idea.
“Worororo! What’s wrong? Is that all you’ve got?! I’ve only just finished warming up!”
While Blackbeard was working out a new plan, Kaido was growing more and more excited. In the heat of such an intense battle, his blood began to boil, giving him a long-lost feeling of joy.
With the boost from Dragon Dance, Kaido grew stronger the more he fought. The enhanced speed and power placed immense pressure on Sengoku and Zephyr. If Zephyr was still in good health, their side would have had a much easier time.
But Zephyr’s body was far from what it once was, with asthma attacks becoming his greatest weakness.
And as the battle’s intensity continued to rise, the pressure on Zephyr only grew. Even the frequency of his asthma attacks became more frequent.
Just as Zephyr pulled out his aerosol inhaler again, Kaido launched a new wave of attacks. This wasn’t a simple duel—this was a fight to the death.
Back during Roger and Whitebeard’s battle, Whitebeard still took Roger’s illness into account and allowed him rest. But Kaido wouldn’t. In his eyes, if you chose to fight while sick, that meant you were prepared to die. Holding back because of that would be a sign of disrespect.
“Fire Dragon Dance Bagua!”
Dragon flames engulfed Kaido’s entire body, making him look like a demonic dragon straight out of hell. The power of Dragon Dance surged again, and it took effect simultaneously with Kaido’s attack.
Kaido had already mastered these moves and even developed new ones based on their characteristics. Dragon Dance gave him an immense boost, and it was also the move he was most familiar with. To avoid being interrupted by the enemy, he had already integrated Dragon Dance into many of his moves.
Fire Dragon Dance Bagua was the most powerful of them all. Zephyr’s movements stiffened, while Sengoku, just as before, planned to use his ability to block Kaido’s attack and allow Zephyr to find an opportunity to attack.
With the power of the Smasher, Zephyr’s damage to Devil Fruit Users was no less than Sengoku’s.
Golden light surged toward Kaido—but unexpectedly, just as Kaido’s kanabo came swinging down, the golden glow on Sengoku’s body suddenly vanished. He reverted from his Buddha form back to his normal state.
Though he still had Haki, the abrupt disappearance of his ability disrupted Sengoku’s rhythm. Without the Golden Buddha body, his defense dropped by more than just one level.
Faced with Kaido empowered by a double Dragon Dance, Sengoku was sent flying, blood gushing uncontrollably from his mouth, tracing a crimson arc across the sky.
Seeing Sengoku knocked away, Kaido didn’t go after him, nor did he press the attack on Zephyr. Instead, his face was devoid of any joy, and instead frosted over with cold fury.
“You dare interfere in my fight?!”
A torrent of overwhelming Conqueror’s Haki burst out in all directions—more terrifying than even before during the fight. Under the attack of Conqueror’s Haki, the ground before him turned into a swamp-like substance, and a massive hand stretched out from beneath it.
This was Pizarro’s ability. He was a user of the Isle-Isle Fruit, which allowed him to merge with and manipulate islands—a power very similar to Pica’s Stone-Stone Fruit.
And from the palm of that giant hand, Blackbeard leapt out.
The reason Sengoku lost his ability wasn’t anything mysterious—it was because Blackbeard had used Pizarro’s underground path to sneak up and grab Sengoku’s ankle with Black Vortex.
Just moments before, Sengoku’s full attention had been on Kaido, completely unaware of Blackbeard’s ambush.
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