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"Bastard, why doesn't my ability work on you?" Blackbeard shouted angrily. "Since it's a Devil Fruit ability, it should be affected by my Dark-Dark Fruit. Why aren't you pulled in by my power?"
Blackbeard stood up from the ground and glared at Ikki, who was walking on Moonwalk in the sky. Then he looked at Nami, who was surrounded by golden thunder and lightning.
He couldn't understand why his Black Hole couldn't pull in Nami, who he thought was a Rumble-Rumble Fruit user.
"Devil Fruit?" Nami frowned slightly. "Hmph, you don't need to understand. Just know that you're going to meet your friends soon."
After saying that, Nami struck Gonryōmaru on the ground.
The sky roared even louder than before.
"Since you can absorb damage, let me see if you can still absorb it after I turn you to ashes."
Nami snorted coldly as the lightning in the sky began to gather above Blackbeard and strike down.
Blackbeard had raised his speed to the limit, but when he tried to dodge, Ikki's slash would arrive at the perfect time, blocking his escape route.
Within seconds, Blackbeard was struck by lightning again and again.
"Damn it!"
Pinned to the ground by lightning and unable to move, Blackbeard roared in anger. His Dark-Dark Fruit powers activated continuously.
Thick black mist covered his entire body and spread throughout Mock Town with Blackbeard at the center.
Nami's position was the first to be hit by the black mist, but thanks to the shield of golden thunder, the dark energy couldn't break through to reach her.
However, this protection wouldn't last long.
Nami frowned as she felt her strength, already draining from using "Kōkō Gonryō Rikyū," start to decrease much faster after coming in contact with Blackbeard's black mist.
"Can't I defeat this guy even with my Bankai?" she wondered, gripping her sword tightly with a serious expression.
"As expected, even the current Blackbeard has considerable strength. If that's the case, I'll have to go all out."
Ikki's Observation Haki sensed the black mist spreading toward where Vivi, Nojiko, and the others were. To protect them from the Dark-Dark Fruit's effects, Ikki had no choice but to use his Bankai.
"Bankai: Tensa Zangetsu!"
Ikki shouted sharply, and the huge sword in his hand shrank dramatically, transforming into the sleek black blade of Tensa Zangetsu.
Just as he was about to combine forces with Nami to finish off Blackbeard, a fiery presence entered his awareness.
Ikki frowned slightly and looked in that direction.
"Fire Fist Ace? Is he really here?" Ikki wondered. "Fire Fist Ace is already here, but is there someone else approaching too?"
Seeing Ace appear, Ikki extended his Observation Haki further, exploring the surrounding area to detect any other powerful warriors nearby.
"Huh? What's that?!" Suddenly, Ikki raised his head and looked at the sky.
In his perception, some kind of powerful entity seemed to be lurking behind the dark clouds.
"What monster is in the sky?" Ikki frowned and quickly used Moonwalk to move closer to Nami.
"Nami, save your energy for now. Stop attacking Blackbeard."
The powerful aura in the sky made Ikki cautious. Without knowing if it was friend or foe, he didn't want Nami wasting her strength on Blackbeard.
"Yes, Ikki." Though she didn't understand why Ikki asked her to stop, Nami nodded and halted her lightning attack on Blackbeard.
Just then, Fire Fist Ace landed between the two groups—Ikki and Nami on one side, Blackbeard on the other.
"Hey, it's quite lively here," Ace grinned. "I just saw a huge ice column, and now I see powerful lightning attacks. Amazing! Luckily, I came over out of curiosity and found that the ice was different from Aokiji's. Otherwise, I don't know when I would have found you, Teach."
Ace smiled and nodded to Ikki and Nami, then looked at Blackbeard, who was gradually becoming visible as the lightning stopped.
"Ace? It's you?" Blackbeard frowned, looking at Ace with hostility while remaining on guard.
One Ikki and Nami were enough to push him to his limits, but with Ace added to the mix...
"Hey, you two with the lady there," Ace called to Ikki and Nami. "I have some history with this guy. Would you mind letting me handle him? Thanks."
"Let you handle him?" Ikki raised his eyebrows and looked up at the sky again.
The powerful aura was getting closer and closer.
At that moment, several golden slashes fell from the sky, heading straight for Nami who was still surrounded by her golden thunder shield.
Ikki frowned and quickly swung Tensa Zangetsu. Black slashes flew out one after another, intercepting the golden flying slashes.
BOOM!
With a muffled sound, the collision of flying slashes triggered a violent whirlwind.
This sudden attack shocked both Blackbeard and Ace.
Nami looked up to see where the slashes had come from. Now she understood why Ikki had asked her to stop attacking Blackbeard.
Enemies had arrived from above.
"Shihahaha! You actually caught my slashes," a voice boomed from the sky. "What an amazing swordsman! But it's not you I'm after. If you don't want trouble, hand over the woman behind you to me."
A man with long golden hair, a ship's wheel embedded in his head, and two swords for legs descended from the sky.
"That's... Golden Lion Shiki?" Blackbeard's eyes widened in shock. "You're still alive?!"
"Huh?" Golden Lion turned to look at Blackbeard. "Are you the one who was fighting that woman? So my island was destroyed because of you."
Hearing this, Blackbeard frowned in confusion. "Island? Destroyed? What are you talking about, Shiki?"
Blackbeard was lost, but Ikki roughly understood what Golden Lion meant.
'This guy must have had a floating island that flew into the thunderclouds created by Nami's Bankai,' Ikki thought, looking with slight embarrassment at the dark clouds that still covered half the sky, flashing with golden lightning.