"Liberation!"
At this moment, Blackbeard suddenly shouted loudly, and the flames that had been absorbed by the black smoke, along with parts of buildings, were all "spat out" from the void at once.
These things crashed down on Ace like a blanket covering the sky, briefly obscuring his vision.
In that case, I'll kill you one more time!
Ace also reacted, instantly enveloping everything before him with a Fire Fist.
Houses, carriages, and whatever else were all incinerated by the flames, leaving only ashes on the ground.
But this was already enough.
The Blackbeard Pirates' members regrouped together.
That ship doctor Doc Q had somehow made it so that Lafitte's wings and Burgess's broken elbow bone temporarily felt no pain.
Now they at least had the strength to fight.
"So this is your ability, Teach?"
"You killed Thatch for this ability?"
Faced with Ace's questioning, Blackbeard's smile grew even wider.
"Ah, that's right!"
"This is the fruit I've dreamed of!"
Originally, Blackbeard had planned to say things like "I had no choice," "It was just coincidence," or "This ability chose me." Words that sounded like excuses.
But the pain from his chest and the "heartache" of losing a heart made him stop caring about anything.
"I stayed with the Whitebeard Pirates only because that's where I had the highest chance of obtaining this fruit!"
"I will become the strongest! Whitebeard's era is over!"
Such words were most capable of shaking the hearts of these "sons" under Whitebeard, Blackbeard calculated secretly in his mind.
As soon as Ace showed an opening, he would immediately strike.
Unfortunately, having undergone even harsher trash talk training, Ace just looked at him coldly.
Then without speaking, he silently fired several flame bullets.
"Hmph, not taking the bait?"
Blackbeard waved his hand, and pitch-black smoke "swallowed" the flame bullets.
"But that doesn't matter."
"Watch closely, this strongest fruit."
"I'm the darkness man who ate the Dark-Dark Fruit! Darkness is gravity! Infinite gravity that doesn't let even a ray of light escape!"
"Dark Water!"
His palm instantly transformed into darkness, and a powerful gravitational force immediately transmitted to Ace's body.
If he hadn't been cautious enough not to approach rashly, just this pulling force would have been enough to get him caught before he could react.
Although unclear about Blackbeard's purpose in sucking him over, Ace knew that whatever the enemy most wanted to do, he should obstruct.
Bang!
At this moment, Van Augur's bullet attacked.
Ace sensed it and wanted to dodge, but his body was held by that gravitational force and temporarily couldn't move.
Just as the bullet was about to hit, Ace's body transformed into flames in the previous moment, actively creating a gap for the bullet to pass through.
"How is this possible?!"
Van Augur was also somewhat surprised.
That bullet was a seastone bullet he had specially prepared. A good thing made specifically to deal with Logia fruit users.
Not mentioning this missed shot, just during this brief moment of transforming into flames to dodge, Ace had already been sucked in front of Teach, with his shoulder grabbed by the other.
Bang! Bang!
Two more bullets attacked. Ace wanted to use the same trick again but found his body couldn't elementalize. His fruit ability couldn't be used at all.
"Did you notice?"
"This is the power of the Dark-Dark Fruit!"
"It's the nemesis of all Devil Fruit users. Ah!"
Blackbeard's boastful words weren't finished before he was directly struck by Ace's Haki-wrapped headbutt.
The double pain immediately made Blackbeard cry out, and his grip loosened powerlessly.
Just as Ace was about to elementalize after regaining his ability, he was still a step too slow.
Two seastone bullets pierced through his shoulder and waist, making him let out a muffled groan.
"Attack now! That's my last seastone bullet."
Van Augur shouted to his nearby companions. Burgess, Lafitte, and even Doc Q simultaneously launched attacks on Ace.
The just-injured Ace could only release flames to form a wall, briefly blocking their vision while transforming into flames to distance himself.
"Damn! Damn! Damn!"
At this moment, Blackbeard's shouts also reached Ace's ears, followed by overwhelming pitch-black smoke attacking.
The fire wall Ace had casually released was almost instantly devoured.
Blackbeard, with several teeth knocked out and blood on his face, looked at Ace with bloodshot eyes, clearly having fallen into rage.
He no longer wanted to talk more with Ace. The words he had originally prepared to "recruit" him had all turned into anger.
"Go die!"
Darkness attacked, and Ace could only endure the pain from his wounds while gathering fire power again.
Circles of flames rapidly spread around, then quickly converged into a huge fireball.
"Great Flame Commandment: Flame Emperor!"
This move was also one of Ace's finishing techniques, with an extremely wide damage range.
"Run!"
Seeing both sides going all out without holding back, the other Blackbeard crew members immediately reacted.
Burgess directly carried Doc Q and his beloved horse "Stronger," while Lafitte took flight on the spot.
Sniper Van Augur, who hadn't yet obtained the Warp-Warp Fruit, could only run away with his companions on foot.
"Let me see whether the sun is stronger or darkness is stronger!"
Darkness and flames collided with each other, producing tremendous roaring sounds.
Neither side gave way, pressing against each other. In the end, darkness was still superior, completely devouring the sun-like flames.
After everything dispersed, Blackbeard sat down, somewhat exhausted.
Don't look at how intensely he had just fought with Ace. He had after all been ambushed first and had one heart destroyed.
This kind of injury would have killed anyone else long ago.
If not for Doc Q's anesthetic ability, just the pain from the wound would have been enough to make Blackbeard lose his ability to move.
Fortunately, the plan had at least succeeded.
But just as Blackbeard was thinking this, Van Augur, who had gone to clean up the battlefield, brought bad news.
Ace wasn't found.
In other words, this guy had actually chosen to escape during that final "beam clash."
"You really have grown quite a bit, Captain Ace."
Blackbeard looked somewhat through gritted teeth at the cowboy hat his companion had picked up, still stained with blood.
That was Ace's thing.
Obviously, Ace wasn't having an easy time either.
"Captain, it's fine. Those two bullets just now were coated with Doc Q's special poison. He can't run far."
Van Augur comforted Blackbeard, and hearing this, Blackbeard also showed a fierce smile.
"That's right. He can't escape."
"You're my stepping stone to climb up, Ace..."
The hat was crushed into a ball by Blackbeard's forceful grip.
This time, it's my turn to hunt you down.
However, this action seemed to affect his wound, immediately making Blackbeard grimace in pain again.
Obviously, with this degree of injury, Blackbeard really couldn't move easily for a while.
More critically, without this heart, Blackbeard's next plan would be very difficult to execute successfully.
That plan to seize the world's strongest man's ability.
"Ah, it hurts so much. Hiss. Doc Q, do you have any way to repair my wound?"
After weighing the pros and cons, Blackbeard still decided to heal his injury first.
Doc Q tremblingly gave Blackbeard another injection of anesthetic, then spoke:
"Captain, you've lost a heart after all. I'm powerless against this degree of injury."
"Unless we can find the 'Op-Op Fruit.'"
"Op-Op Fruit?"
To obtain the Dark-Dark Fruit, he had memorized the abilities and appearances of every fruit in the Devil Fruit encyclopedia.
This legendary fruit that could allow someone to perform the "Perpetual Youth Operation" was naturally among them.
If possible, Blackbeard would of course also want to obtain this miraculous fruit.
But where was he supposed to find this fruit now?
Ship doctor Doc Q, who was from North Blue, then slowly spoke the second half of his sentence:
"I happen to know a brat who hasn't been out to sea for long, who has the ability to take others' 'hearts,' very similar to the legendary Op-Op Fruit."
After all, they were both doctors, so Doc Q naturally paid attention to this kind of ability.
"Let's go to North Blue first and find that brat. What's his name?"
"Trafalgar Law."