After identifying Teach as the absolute priority target to eliminate, Akainu's eyes instantly turned ruthless, and his entire arm transformed into magma, expanding violently.
"Hound Blaze!!"
Akainu roared, thrusting his arm forward in a swift and ferocious attack. The scorching magma rapidly extended outward, its churning tip morphing into the terrifying visage of a hound's head!
Faced with this fast and powerful technique, Teach hurriedly thrust out his palm, and billowing black mist surged forth.
Boom!!
The magma hound crashed fiercely against the black mist but was completely unable to break through even a fraction of an inch. Instead, it was as if it had slammed into a solid wall, splattering massive amounts of magma in all directions.
Then, the black mist swirled. Under Akainu's solemn gaze, the ferocious magma hound was swallowed up bit by bit.
"Zehahahaha! It's useless, Akainu! Under the gravitational pull of darkness, no attack can escape being devoured!"
Teach curled his lips into a sinister, arrogant laugh. The pathetic sight of him rolling on the ground and howling in agony just moments ago had completely vanished.
On his body, the wounds blasted open by the magma had healed at some unknown point, leaving not even the slightest trace of injury.
"Looks like there's no way to seize the old man's power today. What a shame, hahahaha! But it can't be helped. At least I still have the harvest I reaped from Impel Down."
Teach grinned, revealing his missing teeth.
By now, he had completely given up on taking the Tremor-Tremor Fruit. After all, compared to gaining power, preserving his own life was obviously much more important.
Teach had long anticipated that the Marines wouldn't let him off easily, which was why he had decided to hide first and wait for the moment Whitebeard was on the verge of death before striking.
However.
Forced to show himself because his identity was exposed prematurely, he found his subordinates intercepted by Donquixote Doflamingo—a man he had no grudges against—and Akainu inexplicably knew his lineage and was actively targeting him.
All of this had exceeded his initial expectations. It was as if an invisible giant hand was disrupting his plans from the shadows.
Right now, Whitebeard was a spent force and certain to die, but with his own identity exposed, he was absolutely a target on the Marines' kill list, ranking no lower than Ace.
Every extra minute he stayed in Marineford added another layer of risk to his life.
Teach figured out the current trajectory of the situation in an instant. Let alone stealing Whitebeard's ability, he couldn't even guarantee if his subordinates would be able to safely evacuate with him.
After neutralizing Akainu's attack, Teach turned and ran without hesitation, craning his neck back to shout at the top of his lungs toward the distance:
"Burgess! Prepare to retreat!"
"Weehahaha! This is so embarrassing! Looks like our plan failed!"
Burgess laughed, mocking himself.
Shiryu and the others, who were in a standoff with Doflamingo, glanced around. The nearby Marines were already closing in from all directions. If they didn't leave now, they would likely be dragged deep into the quagmire of war.
"What an unreliable guy."
"Hahaha, maybe I need to reconsider joining this crew."
"What's there to reconsider? If you ask me, this guy Teach can't be counted on at all."
Shiryu, Avalo Pizarro, and Catarina Devon spoke with amused expressions.
The prisoners who had just broken out of Impel Down never trusted Teach to begin with. Now that Teach's promises had fallen through, they instantly lost interest.
Once they left Marineford, the group would likely abandon Teach and rebuild their own factions.
Seeing that the Blackbeard Pirates wanted to leave, Doffy made no move to stop them. After all, his target was never these people in the first place.
In the distance.
Seeing Teach turn and flee, Akainu's eyes grew cold. He immediately bent his knees and leaped in pursuit, roaring furiously:
"Don't even think about escaping, Teach! I will absolutely not let your evil bloodline return to the sea today!"
"He actually chased after me. What a relentless bastard! Just how badly does this damn guy want to kill me?!"
Hearing the voice, Teach glanced over his shoulder and cursed under his breath.
"Great Eruption!!"
Akainu bellowed as his arm turned into magma and expanded drastically, forming an incomparably massive fist that he punched downward. His shoulder simulated the explosive force of a volcanic eruption, launching the fist forward!
The colossal magma fist crashed down, looking exactly like a meteorite wreathed in scorching flames descending from the heavens.
Faced with this terrifying attack, Teach's pupils dilated in panic.
Against such a massive area-of-effect technique, he had no way to resist using the Dark-Dark Fruit's absorption abilities. If he was hit, not even his bones would remain.
Therefore, Teach spun around and stood his ground. A massive amount of dark mist rapidly erupted from his back, rising like a tornado to directly meet the falling magma fist!
"Darkness: Liberation!!"
With Teach's loud shout, a massive amount of building debris was released from the churning darkness.
Among it were many jailers and Marines he had absorbed back in Impel Down, who had endured the crushing force of endless gravity. They were all expelled at once!
Bang!! Bang!! Bang!!
The obstruction of the massive amount of building debris did little to help. Before the terrifying explosive power of the magma fist, it was effortlessly obliterated!
Teach's expression changed; the power of the Magma-Magma Fruit had clearly exceeded his expectations. Gritting his teeth, he manipulated a massive tide of black mist to surge upward.
Boom!!!
The colossal magma fist and the power of darkness clashed fiercely. The darkness, possessing the ability to devour all matter, slowly swallowed the terrifying magma bit by bit.
"Zehahaha! It worked."
Teach sneered, his eyes filled with smug satisfaction.
Although Devil Fruit abilities could only be absorbed through physical contact with his palms, the power of darkness itself could devour the magma since it had already taken a tangible, physical form.
However.
Just as Teach and Akainu were locked in their standoff, a figure suddenly darted out from an unnoticed corner, closing in at an extreme speed!
Teach's Observation Haki detected an intense murderous intent. He whipped his head around, his face instantly twisting in shock!
At a glance, he saw Allen with a ferocious grin on his face, wielding a longsword and charging at him at near-sonic speed!
"It's you...!!"
"Jiehahaha! Long time no see, Teach!"
Under Teach's terrified gaze, Allen crossed a distance of a hundred meters in an instant. Gripping the famous sword Kashu with both hands, he arrived right in front of him and executed a rapid thrust!
Although Teach immediately crossed his arms in front of him, against this long-prepared strike, his hasty block was practically useless.
Squelch—!!
A cold light flashed. The blade sliced past Teach's arms, broke through his guard, and accurately pierced into his chest, erupting out from his back!
"Gah—!!"
Teach spat out a mouthful of blood, his eyes widening in fury as his pupils trembled violently.
"Despicable... bastard...!"
Teach gritted his teeth and struggled to raise a trembling hand to grasp the blade, attempting to forcefully snap the longsword that had impaled his body.
However, in the next second, a cluster of flames ignited out of thin air on the blade.
"Despicable? Jiehahahaha! Thanks for the compliment! In return, I wish you a pleasant death, Teach!"
Allen's lips curled into a sinister grin. The pair of black wings on his back flared and flapped, kicking up a powerful gust of wind as massive amounts of flames surged and burned across his body!
Under his control, the flames rapidly converged toward his arms, compressing, condensing, and flowing onto the famous sword Kashu. With a brutal glint in his eyes, Allen roared:
"Flame Blade: Flame Dragon Emperor!!"
Boom!!
A ferocious crimson fire dragon erupted violently! It surged along the blade and blasted into Teach's body, incinerating his internal organs before piercing through his torso and erupting furiously from his back!
"Uwaaah—!!"
Teach threw his head back and let out a heart-wrenching, agonizing howl.
His miserable screams echoed through the clouds. His pupils trembled violently as the flames rampaging madly inside his body spewed out from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, making for an absolutely gruesome sight.
...