Bane didn't know if this was truly a portal to another dimension, since he hadn't witnessed it firsthand.
For now, let's just call it a portal.
As the portal opened, it seemed as if time and space around them were slowly frozen until the portal was fully formed.
At this moment, Bane could feel that his physical strength couldn't sustain the portal for long, and he instinctively sensed that he could close it at any moment!
This wasn't like the portals described in the newspapers. In the past two weeks, Bane had inquired about many portals. As far as he knew, portals varied in size. Some were so large that they towered into the clouds, clearly visible from hundreds of miles away.
Others were the size of a normal room door, inconspicuous.
But without exception, all these portals were uncontrollable at their inception, not easily closed, and he had never heard of portals absorbing anyone's physical strength to open.
"Could my transmigration situation have changed? Is the legendary benefit about to arrive!?" Bane thought excitedly.
At the same time, the previously colorful halo dispersed, and Bane could gradually see the situation outside the door.
The spacetime there seemed to be incompletely fixed, as if it were still frozen.
Taking advantage of this first-mover advantage, Bane peeked inside, and hey, you know what, there was an unexpected gain!
The situation outside the door seemed to be a murder scene. A man dressed like a cook, with blood on his back, as if he had been stabbed in the back, lay on the wooden floor of the dimly lit room. The murderer had not yet left, and from this angle, the murderer was facing away from Bane.
Judging from his figure, the murderer was stout, with a black headscarf covering his head. A head of messy, wavy hair peeked out from the headscarf and draped over his shoulders, with many ends knotted, indicating that he was usually somewhat unruly and unkempt.
At this moment, the murderer seemed to have just succeeded and was in high spirits. He held a blood-stained dagger in one hand, which looked like the murder weapon, while in the other hand he held up a strangely shaped fruit, which was probably the murderer's target.
From the moment Bane first saw the scene, it felt incredibly familiar, a sense of déjà vu as if he'd seen it somewhere before. It wasn't
until he clearly saw the strange fruit the murderer was holding almost to his face that he suddenly realized,
"Isn't that a Devil Fruit?" Bane exclaimed.
There was no way around it; the image of a Devil Fruit was indeed too recognizable. Bane used to be a fan of these comics and anime.
He already felt the scene was familiar, and now, seeing the Devil Fruit, he immediately understood what was happening.
The portal had opened into the world of One Piece, and at this very moment, it should be Blackbeard Marshall D. Teach's last night working for the Whitebeard Pirates! The night
he murdered Thatch, the fourth division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, to steal the legendary, most vicious Devil Fruit in history—the Dark-Dark Fruit!
Just as Bane realized what was happening, the space-time here seemed to return to normal in an instant.
"Hahaha, Satchi, blame your own fate! This Dark-Dark Fruit is mine!" Teach, holding the Dark-Dark Fruit, laughed wildly.
He seemed to be venting all the ambition and desire he had hidden over the years, flaunting his achievements to a corpse.
But before he could finish speaking, he suddenly sensed something was wrong, as if someone was watching him from behind!
Bane, being a decisive man, also acted before Teach could finish speaking, snatching the Dark-Dark Fruit from his face! Without
daring to utter a word, Bane silently closed the door the moment he took the fruit. Bane knew very well that although Teach had only become arrogant after obtaining the Dark-Dark Fruit, his strength was still formidable even without it.
After all, this guy was the kind of man who could leave an indelible scar on Shanks' face even when he went all out.
The reason he wasn't well-known in the Whitebeard Pirates was because he intentionally kept a low profile, not because he was weak!
His actions were tantamount to defecating on Teach's head. Given Teach's emphasis on the Dark-Dark Fruit, this act of stealing it would immediately make them mortal enemies. With his strength—enough to get his head smashed in a street brawl—he probably couldn't even hold his own against Teach. Running away was the most important thing.
Therefore, the moment Teach turned his head, he saw Bane closing a door that had inexplicably appeared!
"Damn it, give me the Dark-Dark Fruit!" Teach roared furiously, a powerful aura erupting from his body.
He reached out to grab the bastard who had appeared out of nowhere inside the door, but in the next instant, the door vanished, along with his Dark-Dark Fruit!
In that instant, Teach's face turned green!
He had waited so many years in the Whitebeard Pirates, hoping for a chance to obtain the Dark-Dark Fruit, just to prove himself. He'd even killed Thatch, and the fruit was practically in his grasp, only to have it snatched away by some unknown bastard at the last minute. You can imagine how frustrated he must be!
Without a second thought, Teach unleashed his powerful Observation Haki, enveloping the entire ship and the surrounding sea.
At the same time, his outburst of anger and power during his emotional breakdown alerted the others on board.
"Teach!?" Soon, a handsome young man burst through the cabin door, asking anxiously, "What happened!?"
If Bane were still there, he would immediately recognize this handsome young man as Portgas D. Ace, the second division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, the son of the Pirate King Roger, the strongest man in the world, and the catalyst for the Marineford War!
Ace rushed in and asked a question, but before Teach could reply, he saw Satchi lying in a pool of blood.
"Satchi!?" Ace exclaimed in shock and anger, rushing forward to check on Satchi.
At the same time, Teach quickly regained his composure. His Observation Haki hadn't been able to pinpoint the bastard who stole his victory, and the situation needed immediate attention.
"I just finished drinking with Satchi, and he was about to see me out when suddenly someone opened a strange door in this cabin. It must have been someone with a Devil Fruit ability. That guy snatched the dagger from my waist and stabbed Satchi in the back, also stealing Satchi's Devil Fruit!" Teach recounted the events through gritted teeth and an angry expression.
After confirming that Satchi was no longer breathing, Ace's expression was also filled with rage, his eyes filled with pain, but he didn't suspect Teach.
After all, he still held deep trust in his Whitebeard Pirates crewmates, and Teach's furious expression just now clearly didn't seem like an act. Moreover, in his view, Teach had absolutely no reason to kill Thatch!
In addition, Ace wasn't a meticulous person to begin with, so he believed Teach on the spot as soon as he spoke!
"Did you see what he looked like? How dare he touch a member of our Whitebeard Pirates? Even if he escapes to the ends of the earth, I will find him and kill him to avenge Thatch!" Ace asked with a grief-stricken yet angry expression.
Teach nodded, suppressing his anger as well, and said, "Make sure you see it clearly. I'll have an artist paint his portrait later. I'll find this bastard and tear him to pieces!!!"
Meanwhile, on the other side of the portal, Bane stood in the dimly lit stairwell, looking at the Dark-Dark Fruit he'd snatched from Teach. He stroked his chin and muttered to himself, "After leaving that world, does this Devil Fruit still possess its original abilities?"
But considering that many strange and unusual powers not belonging to this world had already shone brightly here after passing through the portal, then... this Dark-Dark Fruit should still be effective, right?
Regardless, feeling the portal within his body that seemed ready to reopen at any time as long as he had enough strength, a smile appeared on Bane's face. He thought to himself, "The situation doesn't seem so bad after all?"
(End of Chapter)