In the shadows, the schemers moved into position, executing their calculated death trap against Whitebeard.
As an elite member of the Otsutsuki Clan, the moment the mysterious infiltrator took root of the Divine Tree in the One Piece world, he had unlocked the dormant power of the Rinnegan deep within his body.
The moment the Rinnegan flared to life, the infiltrator stopped holding back. Facing Whitebeard's descending bisento Murakumogiri, he drew his crimson cleaver blade, seamlessly combining it with the absolute repelling force of Shinra Tensei (Almighty Push)!
A colossal wave of gravitational repulsion erupted outward. The concentrated atmospheric compression generated by Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit collided violently against the repulsive barrier. When the resulting detonation cleared, Whitebeard coughed up a heavy mouthful of blood, forced back several paces across the deck.
Having landed his sneak attack, the Otsutsuki infiltrator warped his hands, coating them in dense Armament Haki to forge a pair of razor-sharp claws.
The Tremor-Tremor Fruit (Gura Gura no Mi) was his true, ultimate prize!
The lethal claws tore forward, aiming straight for Whitebeard's chest. Yet, with a fluid twist of his massive bisento, Whitebeard channeled a concentrated seismic burst directly through his free palm, blasting the infiltrator away into the distance.
"A sneaking rat who scurries in the shadows... what makes you think you have the qualification to fight me?!"
Right at that moment, Kaido crashed down with unbridled, savage ferocity. Whitebeard pivoted to block the strike, the surrounding sea churning into towering tidal waves as the fractured air attested to the brutal stakes of this life-or-death battle.
"Whitebeard... you're far too arrogant!"
Kaido's eyes burned blood-red, radiating the feral madness of an apex predator. Had Kaido not joined this ambush, Teach and the mysterious infiltrator—even with their underhanded tricks—would likely have had to sacrifice their own lives to take Whitebeard down.
Only an Emperor of the Sea could kill an Emperor of the Sea!
While Kaido and Whitebeard were locked in their ferocious deadlock, Marshall D. Teach seized the opening. A colossal sphere of pure, swirling darkness rose into the heavens, expanding into a bottomless vortex of death.
Years ago, Shiraishi had held a private conversation with Whitebeard. The topic of their discussion was none other than Marshall D. Teach.
"Your deep craving for family and familial bonds is the core reason you became the Strongest Man in the World," Shiraishi had remarked back then, "yet it will also become the fatal vulnerability that brings about your ultimate downfall."
"Gurararara! Family is everything to me. No matter how much hostility you harbor toward Teach, I choose to believe he is still a good boy at heart."
Whitebeard had naturally been aware of Shiraishi's deep-seated wariness toward Teach, yet he chose to place absolute faith in what he believed in.
That unwavering conviction had allowed the Whitebeard Pirates to swiftly establish their sovereign dominion over the New World, rising as a colossal superpower. Yet today, Whitebeard was paying the ultimate, bitter price for his blind faith.
"Pops... from this day forward, I am Blackbeard!"
Marshall D. Teach was never a man destined for ordinary obscurity. His towering ambitions and relentless pursuit of kingship were far too vast for the Whitebeard Pirates to ever contain.
The moment the dark vortex expanded, the volatile, chaotic Devil Fruit energies inside Whitebeard's body detonated his internal injuries once more. Seizing this critical split second, Blackbeard transformed into a howling cyclone of death, diving downward and striking with lethal precision directly against Whitebeard's skull!
CRACK!
Amid the sickening sound of splintering bone, half of Whitebeard's skull was blasted away. Just as a smug, triumphant grin spread across Blackbeard's face, Whitebeard's bisento did not slow down in the slightest—cleaving forward in a terrifying, instantaneous counter-strike!
"AGHHH! IT HURTS!"
Even with half his face destroyed and his body bathed in fresh blood, Whitebeard's counter-strike landed with crushing brutality. Disregarding his fatal wounds, he remained the unyielding, immovable mountain known as Whitebeard.
Deep within an ethereal, shadowy forest...
Shiraishi felt as though he had returned to the ancient Forest of Asura from his past. As faded memories surged through his consciousness, countless specialized cellular particles coalesced in the air.
Within this mental landscape, a colossal, emerald serpentine creature gazed down at Shiraishi, radiating an overwhelming aura of primordial order that commanded absolute reverence.
Under the fusion of the two elemental gems, Shiraishi had come face-to-face with the legendary entity—Zygarde, the dual Dragon and Ground-type sovereign possessing the miraculous ability of cellular division and synthesis.
Bathed in brilliant, radiant light, Zygarde gleamed with the luster of a polished jewel. It was an amalgamation formed by countless individual cell units, divided into two distinct components: Cores and Cells.
Zygarde Cells possessed no individual will or cognitive thought, nor could they execute battle techniques. The Cores, however, functioned as the collective brain of the entity—sentient minds that transcended ordinary cellular matter.
The Cores possessed self-awareness, capable of telepathic communication with one another and utilizing the visual vantage points of scattered Cells to observe distant parts of the world.
These Cores combined with varying numbers of Cells to alter their physical form, manifesting different percentage stages with corresponding appearances and escalating battle power proportional to the volume of merged cells.
Zygarde served as the absolute guardian and overseer of the ecological system. Whenever a region's ecological equilibrium suffered catastrophic disruption, the Cores would mobilize into immediate action.
"Human... you have practiced my Core Enforcer..."
The moment Zygarde spoke, it recognized Shiraishi's spiritual resonance. Though the residual cellular energy in his body was faint, as the supreme overseer of ecology, Zygarde immediately detected the deep karmic link Shiraishi shared with its power.
In the Shinobi World, Core Enforcer had been an exceptionally devastating technique, possessing absolute suppressing effectiveness against Kekkei Genkai wielders.
"Yes..."
"I understand the cause behind it all."
Possessing wisdom far surpassing ordinary legendary beasts, Zygarde communicated directly into Shiraishi's mind through specialized telepathic sound waves.
Coiling its massive serpentine frame, Zygarde gazed coldly down at Shiraishi: "If the day comes when the true chosen one it seeks arrives to strip away the powers you currently possess... what will you do?"
"Power derived from external objects remains external in the end. Whether in the Shinobi World or the Grand Line, I have never been one to sit idly by and await death."
Obtaining the system in his glasses years ago had been an accidental beginning; he had never been the destined partner sought by that legendary holy beast.
SCREECH—!
A crisp, majestic cry echoed through the mental forest. Articuno manifested once more, placing itself firmly between Zygarde and Shiraishi. The brilliant, sub-zero frost radiating from its wings stated its absolute loyalty and stance without words.
Sensing Articuno's protective posture, Zygarde spoke in an astonished, rapid tone: "You... have chosen to stand and fight by his side?"
Articuno responded with a resolute, resonant cry. Through years of relentless combat across the One Piece world, Articuno had long acknowledged Shiraishi as its true master, choosing to stand firmly with him against all odds.
This was fundamentally different from the other two legendary beasts linked to Shiraishi's gems—Reshiram and Kyurem were merely borrowed forces whose power Shiraishi could only partially unleash.
But Articuno was different; fighting side-by-side as true partners had elevated both of their combat potentials to unprecedented heights.
"Very well. Then let me witness the depth of your resolve!"
The moment the words fell, Zygarde unleashed a cataclysmic dragon's roar that swept across the entire mental realm, stirring up colossal shockwaves.
The surging draconic energy tore the surrounding forest into splinters in an instant. Articuno deployed a crystalline frost barrier, shielding Shiraishi against the devastating blast.
While Ice was a devastating, double-effective weakness against a dual Dragon and Ground-type like Zygarde, elemental advantages alone were insufficient to decide the outcome against a cosmic overseer of this caliber.
Among legendary entities, Zygarde stood at the absolute pinnacle of combat supremacy. With another deafening roar, countless cellular particles across the realm converged into its body. Before the eyes of Shiraishi and Articuno, the dragon-serpent underwent an instantaneous, monumental metamorphosis.