"What are you doing?!!!"
"Hades, are you crazy?!!!"
Faced with this sudden turn of events, no one reacted in time.
With cold sweat on their faces, everyone stared at the axe wrapped in flowing red Armament Haki, and the Blackbeard Pirates all took a step back in unison.
No matter what, they never would have imagined that Hades would defect at this moment.
The fastest to react was Shiryu, standing nearby with a cigar in his mouth and a black blade in hand.
"So that's how it is. You were harboring ill intent from the very beginning, huh?"
As the original vice-captain of the Blackbeard Pirates, Shiryu possessed the two exclusive traits of a vice-captain—calmness and reliability. He immediately drew his blade and slashed straight toward Hades.
But the blade was directly grabbed by a hand wrapped in Armament Haki.
"What…?"
Shiryu felt a terrifying force transmitted through the blade, and cold sweat instantly poured down his face.
What kind of Armament Haki and physical strength was this?!!!
Was this really that guy…
That reckless powerhouse who was only a little weaker than Teach?!!!
Blackbeard had been carved open by the twin axes wrapped in flowing Haki, rolling on the ground in pain several times. He then looked up at the man he had placed great hopes in, his expression shocked and ugly.
Fury made his whole body tremble. Milky-white shockwaves appeared around his fist as he punched into the air.
The terrifying power of the air quake instantly caused the earth to shake and the mountains to roar, venting his anger and disappointment.
But in the face of shockwaves like a natural disaster—enough to shatter a super-large island—Hades remained extremely calm.
He slowly took off his sunglasses.
Beneath the lenses…
Was a pair of pupils blazing with crimson light.
"This is…?!!!"
An inexplicable sense of death and a familiar feeling of despair surged up. Blackbeard was just about to speak—
When suddenly, off to the side, Shot, with wine stains still at the corner of his mouth, let out a sinister grin.
"Well then, Hades, you've betrayed us, right? That means I can kill you now, right? Hahahahaha—ptoo ptoo…"
"Hm?"
He gulped down another mouthful of wine, gathering strength.
Flames like a vortex instantly surged toward Hades.
"Hey!!! Wait!!!"
Teach already sensed something was wrong, but Shot, that deadweight, was still feeling smug.
But anyone with eyes could tell that the figure within the flames didn't seem affected at all—
Instead, it seemed to be growing taller and taller.
"Oh my~ even though I didn't get splashed by the wine you spat out, this is still pretty disgusting…"
A voice slowly came from within the flames.
The moment he heard it, Teach's expression changed drastically.
Within the Blackbeard Pirates, those who reacted quickly immediately retreated, their pupils trembling.
You've got to be kidding!!!
With a casual wave of a hand, the surrounding flames vanished into nothingness.
From within them emerged Orin's figure.
"That acting was really exhausting. And it's all thanks to you, Teach~"
Everyone was stunned. The members of the Blackbeard Pirates couldn't even make a sound.
Only the surrounding Marine and pirate grunts, belatedly realizing it, shouted out that name.
"Pirate Hades… was actually [Black Gun]!!!"
Orin had his hands in his pockets as he looked at Shot—the deadweight who had eaten the Glug-Glug Fruit—his face blank, wine still at the corner of his mouth.
"Every ship really does have its own stain…"
"Bang—"
One kick knocked Shot straight into unconsciousness.
...
Orin stepped past him and arrived in front of Teach.
With a broad smile, he bent down to look at Blackbeard, who was still sitting on the ground.
"So… you still remember what you said, right, Teach? The castrated version of the Devil Fruit transfer principle."
As soon as those words were spoken, even more cold sweat poured down Teach's face.
How could this be…
Hades was actually Orin!!!
Didn't that mean that back then, he had been telling Orin himself that he had tricked him…
The more Teach thought about it, the more his cold sweat flowed.
The other Blackbeard Pirates were both shocked and furious.
Orin had completely been playing them like fools!!!
"Captain!!! This is completely unacceptable!!!"
"The Blackbeard Pirates just debuted to the world, and we're already being toyed with like clowns—what deterrence will we have left in the future?!"
"That's right!!! Use the air quake on that bastard Black Gun!!!"
Teach felt his scalp go numb.
The short, dark little man was drenched in sweat. These guys were talking big without any pain—none of them could imagine what it felt like to face a monster like this head-on.
This was…
A powerhouse on the same level as his biological father!!!
But of course, he wouldn't just sit there and wait for death.
"Zehahahaha… Black Gun, you're standing so close now. You've probably seen the method clearly too, and considering how I've been injured so many times because of you before… How about we just call it even?"
Blackbeard spoke words of reconciliation and submission, but his other hand was secretly half-clenched.
Seizing the gap while talking, he raised his hand, about to unleash an air quake.
He didn't expect to injure Orin—he just wanted to catch him off guard and create an opening to retreat.
But clearly, he had overestimated himself.
Because the crimson light in Orin's eyes had never disappeared.
Now that Orin had grown to an even higher level, his attacks had returned to simplicity—
Whoever came, got kicked.
Before the air could even begin to quake, the foot that instantly appeared in front of Blackbeard's face had already blocked his vision.
"Bang—"
A single explosive kick sent him flying.
Dust billowed, and the ground shattered.
Plowing through hundreds of meters of earth, he ultimately ended up right in front of Sakazuki, followed closely by Orin.
...
"Back then, the condition for giving you the Dark-Dark Fruit was that you'd tell me your secret…"
"I'm the kind of person who likes treating others as entertainment. You're the first one who dared to treat me as entertainment."
With his hands in his pockets, Orin appeared before Sakazuki, but his gaze was locked firmly on Teach.
At this moment, Teach's pupils were trembling violently. Endless darkness and shockwaves surged around his fists.
"Don't come any closer!!! You monster!!!"
But Orin showed no fear at all.
Facing the Devil Fruit known as having the world's greatest destructive power, he simply clenched his fist.
"Crack crack crack crack…"
Similar to the milky-white shockwaves, a pitch-black halo gathered around Orin's fist, cracks continuously spreading through the surroundings.
This wasn't shattering the air like the Tremor-Tremor Fruit—
It was shattering true space itself.
"Don't you understand yet? The upper limit of a Devil Fruit's power ultimately depends on the user, Teach."
Space around them began to fracture faintly, and everyone's expressions changed drastically.
What a terrifying power!!!
This was even more frightening than a natural disaster earthquake—
A space quake!!!
Blackbeard Teach, veins bulging with rage, and Sakazuki, who was also within the attack's range, were both drenched in cold sweat.
They stared intently at Orin, who had raised the black spatial shockwave—
When unexpectedly, at this critical moment, a slender figure rushed out and stood in front of Orin.
"That's enough!!!"
All attention was instantly drawn to them.
"Stop fighting!!!"
"You're trampling on life!!!"