Bzzzzzt—
As Blackbeard's words fell, the black mist around his body surged outward in all directions!
"Damn it! Those pirates are still in town!"
"What are they trying to pull now?!"
"That black smoke from before is spewing out again!"
"Don't go near it! Run!!"
The townspeople, seeing the column of darkness rising into the sky, panicked and fled in terror. No one dared linger a second longer.
"Take cover! The captain's about to go all out!"
Blackbeard's crew members also turned tail and ran.
The black fog spread wildly. In the span of a single breath, it had already covered the entire town.
Everyone standing on the ground felt it—the sensation that the darkness beneath their feet was trying to pull them in. No one dared hesitate anymore. They all bolted toward the coast.
"The essence of darkness… is gravity!" Blackbeard laughed. "The power to devour everything—so much so that not even light itself can escape!"
"Gravity is… limitless!"
"But if it's really that powerful," Ace said flatly, "why am I still fine?"
"That's because I haven't aimed it at you yet!"
"Ace! Open your eyes and watch carefully—this'll blow your mind!"
"Dark Vortex – Black Hole!!"
Blackbeard roared.
The entire town began to crack and collapse.
Ace turned, watching as the once-intact wooden houses were forcibly torn apart from the bottom up, dragged downward by the overwhelming suction of the darkness on the ground.
One after another, the buildings sank like they'd fallen into a swamp.
Soon, they were completely swallowed by the black haze.
In less than thirty seconds, the town was gone.
From a distance, the fleeing residents stared in horror.
They could hardly believe it—one moment, a lively town stood there; the next, it had vanished without a trace, leaving only bare, ruined ground behind.
"Zehahahaha! Ace, you see it now, don't you?" Blackbeard shouted. "This is power that can destroy the world!"
"And everything sucked in is crushed—compressed until it shatters completely!"
"Now let me show you what became of that little town!"
"Liberation!!"
He raised his hand.
The towering pillar of darkness behind him suddenly twisted into a black tornado. Countless splinters of wood and chunks of stone exploded outward, raining across the area.
The town reappeared—only now it was nothing but shattered debris, reduced to a scene like a battlefield ravaged by war.
Dust and smoke swirled in the air.
In the blink of an eye, the town was no longer a town at all, just a lifeless wasteland.
Ace watched silently, his expression growing darker by the second.
"Zehahahaha! Ace, do you see now? This is the power I've gained!"
Blackbeard laughed wildly.
"Firefly."
Ace suddenly thrust his hands forward, sending a flurry of tiny embers drifting toward Blackbeard like fireflies.
Teach blinked in confusion.
"Flame Man!"
BOOM!
The fireflies detonated as one, turning into a torrent of blazing flames that swallowed Blackbeard whole.
"AAAAHHH!!! HOT! HOT!! IT HURTS!!"
Blackbeard hit the dirt, rolling and screaming as the flames scorched his body.
Once again, black mist gushed from his body, wrapping around the flames and snuffing them out.
"This is the 'most evil fruit in history' you're so proud of?" Ace sneered. "If you were a proper Logia, you shouldn't be getting hit by my flames so easily."
"Hah… hah… hah…" Blackbeard panted.
"Ace, I told you—I'm different from you Logia types. I can't phase through attacks… and I feel pain twice as sharply as anyone else!"
"But in exchange… there's something else I can pull in."
"Dark Water!!"
He stretched out his hand, and a swirling mass of black energy formed in his palm.
"What is that…?" Ace's eyes narrowed.
And then he felt it—his body being dragged forward, completely against his will, pulled toward Blackbeard.
"The gravity of darkness can drag an ability user straight into my grasp," Blackbeard said. "And once that happens, my body will…"
His hand closed tightly around Ace's arm.
Ace's pupils shrank in shock. He'd just realized what had changed.
"You feel it, don't you, Ace?" Blackbeard grinned, drawing his fist back and slamming it into Ace's stomach.
"UGH!"
Ace was sent flying, coughing up a mouthful of blood.
"It's been a while since you've actually been hit, hasn't it?"
"The moment I grabbed you, you should've understood—"
"The other thing my darkness pulls in… is Devil Fruit power itself."
"Zehahahahaha!!"
Blackbeard threw his head back, laughing madly.
"What kind of broken ability is this…?" Ace wiped the blood from his lips, glaring at him, eyes burning brighter.
Not far away, Whiteflame exhaled a smoke ring as he watched the battle.
"Not bad at all," he murmured.
Even Whiteflame had to admit—the Dark-Dark Fruit was impressive.
In front of a Dark-Dark user, Devil Fruit abilities were practically useless.
Even someone like him—if dragged in by that gravity—would be pulled straight into Blackbeard's reach.
"But… if we're talking about true devouring," Whiteflame thought, "the Dark-Dark Fruit is still too weak."
Compared to his own devouring power, this so-called ability to "absorb everything" was nothing more than a parlor trick.
"Zehahahahaha!"
"Ace, stop struggling pointlessly," Blackbeard taunted. "You're not my match anymore!"
"Now you've seen it yourself—none of your attacks can do a thing to me!"
"Join me, Ace! Someone as strong as you dying here would be a waste. You could follow me… and we could conquer the world together!"
He still hadn't given up on recruiting him.
"If I bow my head to scum like you," Ace replied quietly, "then I might as well toss away my pride as a man."
"I'll never stain my life like that. Got it?"
His eyes burned with unyielding light, and he forced a stubborn smile.
"Is that so? What a shame."
"Those who live are the true winners, Ace. If you insist on dying… then I'll grant your wish."
"I'll bury you in my darkness."
The black mist behind Blackbeard surged like a tide.
"Flame Commandment…"
"Flame Emperor!!"
A series of flaming rings erupted under Ace's feet, spreading outward and transforming the ground into a sea of fire.
From within that fire, a massive fireball rose into the air, illuminating the entire sky—standing opposite to the darkness billowing behind Blackbeard.
"Zehahahahaha!! Sun and darkness… Let's see which one wins today!!"
"I'll make Whitebeard… the true King of the Seas!"
BOOOOOOM!!!
As the two of them roared their oaths, sun and darkness collided with a deafening explosion!
Sun and darkness split the island in half, each claiming one side.
The sky itself seemed divided—brilliant light on one edge, suffocating black on the other.
Everyone nearby was forced to shield their eyes; the glare was too intense to bear.
In the end, as the darkness expanded and swallowed the last remnants of sunlight, the brilliance faded.
A single figure was blasted away, crashing hard into the rocky terrain and slumping weakly to the ground.
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