The appearance of the fortress's main cannon stunned everyone present.
On the pirate ship, the pirates Blackbeard had forced into service were desperately trying to find any way to escape.
Even Burgess, standing beside Blackbeard, was breathing heavily.
"Captain… what do we do now?" he asked.
Even the famously thick-headed Burgess couldn't stay confident in front of a cannon that massive.
In his heart, he was begging Blackbeard to say the words Let's retreat.
Blackbeard finally snapped out of his shock—but instead of retreating, a cruel grin spread across his face.
"A mere cannonball… you think that can scare me?"
"I am Blackbeard!!"
He roared, raising his hands toward the sky.
"If I choose to run away here—what future would I have? How would I talk about replacing Whitebeard one day?!"
Arrogance burned wildly across his face.
Inside the fortress—
Seeing how aggressive Blackbeard remained, Mork wasn't surprised.
But he wasn't nervous either. He didn't even pause his manga, his expression calm as still water.
"Baby Fortress, since the main cannon is fully charged… fire."
"Understood, Host."
Outside, the giant main cannon began to hum—
Hummmmmm—
The massive barrel shifted, locking onto Blackbeard's ship.
Seeing that abyss-like dark mouth pointing at them, Burgess immediately panicked.
He always thought himself strong—but in front of something like this, he couldn't muster even a shred of confidence.
"Captain… maybe we should back off…" Burgess tried weakly.
Blackbeard sneered.
"Perfect. This is a good chance for you to witness the true power of my Dark-Dark Fruit!"
At that moment—
BOOOOOOOOM!!!
The main cannon fired.
A terrifying shell tore across the sky, ripping the air apart.
Burgess felt his heart clamp painfully.
Even though he believed in Blackbeard's strength… this was too overwhelming. His entire body turned cold, sweat exploding like rain.
In the sky—
Doflamingo, Baby 5, Buffalo, and the others all widened their eyes as the cannon fired.
"This guy… he's really not afraid of dying…" Buffalo muttered, certain Blackbeard and his men were finished.
Doflamingo, however, noticed something else.
Blackbeard's earlier words—
Dark-Dark Fruit.
"Dark-Dark Fruit…" Doflamingo murmured.
As an information king who devoured newspapers, few knew about devil fruits better than him.
He instantly understood.
"So that's why Blackbeard betrayed the Whitebeard Pirates so desperately."
"His goal was to obtain the Dark-Dark Fruit."
"How interesting…"
A wicked grin spread across Doflamingo's face, his sunglasses reflecting the light of the coming explosion.
Below, on the ship—
Black SMork poured from Blackbeard's body, swirling into a massive vortex of darkness in the air.
Facing the incoming shell, he laughed wildly:
"Let me show you the terror of the Dark-Dark Fruit!"
"Dark Vortex!!!"
The Black SMork spun violently, forming a swirling maw capable of swallowing everything.
The shell slammed into the vortex—
Blackbeard grinned.
He planned to absorb the shell completely, preventing any explosion.
But—
BOOM!!!!
"WHAT!?"
The cannon shell detonated prematurely.
The sudden explosion caught Blackbeard off guard.
An overwhelming wave of heat swallowed the entire ship. Flames billowed and roared outward, devouring everything.
A towering column of fire shot into the sky, rolling into a massive mushroom cloud.
The shockwave blasted across the sea—
even reaching the flying Doflamingo group.
Baby 5 screamed and clung to Doflamingo.
Doflamingo grabbed tightly onto Buffalo as his huge body trembled from the force.
Sweat dripped down Doflamingo's forehead.
Buffalo stabilized himself after a moment.
"Young Master… earlier we were this close to getting obliterated by that same firepower," Buffalo said with lingering fear.
Doflamingo stared at the mushroom cloud, horrified.
"Even the 'Strongest Creature' Kaido couldn't walk away unscathed from something like that…"
"But…" he added, shifting tone,
"With the Dark-Dark Fruit's power, Blackbeard should survive."
Baby 5 and Buffalo both turned to him in shock.
"Young Master… you mean even that explosion won't kill him?" Buffalo asked.
Baby 5 shook her head.
"That's impossible! Young Master, didn't you just say even Kaido would struggle—"
Doflamingo grinned.
"The Dark-Dark Fruit is special.
It can devour everything—even devil fruit abilities."
"The fortress master was smart to trigger the explosion early… but all the power still ended up being swallowed."
As Baby 5 and Buffalo still struggled to accept this—
A maniacal laugh echoed from within the flames.
Blackbeard's laugh.
He was alive.
Their faces turned pale.
"S-so Young Master was right…" Baby 5 whispered.
Doflamingo only smiled.
"The winner of this clash is already decided."
"A pity. If Blackbeard takes the fortress, it won't be easy for us to obtain it."
Within the flames—
Black SMork surged, devouring all the fire.
Soon, Blackbeard emerged—
charred in places, burned in several spots, but very much alive.
His grin was wider and more arrogant than ever.
"Zehahahahahaha!"
"That's it?"
Even Burgess, who had nearly wet himself earlier, became arrogant again after seeing Blackbeard alive.
His admiration surged.
Blackbeard looked toward the fortress's glass control room and sneered:
"If you had obediently surrendered your fortress, I might have been merciful."
"But now—
I've changed my mind."