"Haaaaah!"
Ace let out a heartbroken cry as he watched the Tremor-Tremor Fruit get crushed into a pulp on the ground. A Devil Fruit grants its power to the very first person who takes a bite; even if someone else were to consume all the remaining pieces, it would be in vain. Now, he could only look on in despair.
Crackle, crackle...
Suddenly, the air around Teach's fists began to splinter, silver-white spiderweb fractures spreading rapidly in all directions.
Teach, who had been hanging his head, suddenly threw his arms outward. The floor of the Golden Colosseum beneath him shattered and began to collapse into the pool below.
"That Blackbeard fellow... has he obtained the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit?"
Tesoro, encased within his golden giant, turned back to look. He quickly smirked. "Consider it a final surprise before your death." He refocused his attention on Van Augur and Audru, the golden giant unleashing a barrage of blows. Its formidable defense left the two snipers of the Blackbeard Pirates temporarily powerless to break through.
"Zehahaha... This power... it's truly incredible!"
At this moment, the left side of Teach's body was encased in diamond while his right erupted with darkness. Simultaneously, a spherical halo of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit's power flickered over his diamond-coated left fist.
Buffered by the shockwaves of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, Ace performed a quick backflip to dodge the attack, landing in the spectator stands. He gritted his teeth. "Dammit, Teach actually got his hands on it after all. But..."
Ace's gaze shifted. Alucard was still standing in the same spot, quietly observing Teach with a faint, enigmatic smile on his lips. "Have you had enough fun yet?"
Teach's boisterous laughter froze. Alucard raised both hands, and the pool of blood began to expand, manifesting into a pack of snarling, salivating hounds.
"Then give that power back to me!" Alucard bared his fangs. Amidst the howling of the surrounding hounds, his aura became devastatingly tyrannical.
Teach instinctively took a half-step back. Then, his expression tightened, and he mustered his courage to shout, "Don't underestimate me! Can't you see my power? I have three Devil Fruit abilities, a feat unprecedented in human history! With this strength, whether it's Kaido, Big Mom, or even you, I can take you all down!"
But that guy is a monster unprecedented in human history, Ace thought silently from the stands.
By now, the chaos had sent every single spectator fleeing for their lives, leaving only Ace crouching there.
"First, I'll let you witness my new power!"
Mimicking Whitebeard's stance, Teach crossed his arms. The muscles in his forearms swelled like balloons.
"World Tremor!!"
He threw his crossed arms outward with a violent snap. The spiderweb fractures proliferated at extreme speed, and the very space within the Golden Colosseum began to warp. Even the golden giant controlled by Tesoro stumbled, nearly falling to the floor.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A series of continuous explosions rang out as the surrounding structures collapsed. Ace was forced to leap away from his position to avoid being caught in the Tremor-Tremor Fruit's area of effect.
Naturally, the space where Alucard stood was caught in the blast. Under the intense pressure, the air around him was completely shattered.
Seeing Alucard's body begin to tear apart within the distorted space, Teach laughed maniacally. "I don't care if your weakness is your heart or anywhere else, I'll crush your entire body into dust!"
Crackle, snap!
Under the immense pressure, Alucard's body began to be ground down. Finally, his twisted form collapsed to the ground, and blood began to seep out of his remains.
Giving up one life to the opponent first? I knew it.
Watching Alucard's body get pulverized, Ace made a silent mental comment. He had watched Alucard fight several times now. Alucard invariably let the opponent take one of his lives before launching his own counterattack. At this point, Ace was no longer surprised by the sight.
Whoosh...
In the next second, the blood flowed backward, the flesh reconstructed, and Alucard's body was instantly restored to its original state. "Pig."
"Huh?"
Teach's face froze. He saw the resurrected Alucard looking at him with utter contempt.
"A pig cannot defeat me."
"The only ones who can defeat monsters... are always humans!"
For some reason, when Alucard spoke those words, Teach felt an instinctive surge of dread. Drops of cold sweat slid from his forehead down his neck. In a panic, he unleashed a Quake Punch, sending a linear blast of atmospheric pressure screaming toward Alucard.
"If it were Whitebeard in his prime, I might have been interested in a fight."
BOOM!!!
As soon as Alucard finished speaking, the shockwave slammed into the opposite spectator stands, blowing away more than half of the several-hundred-meter-high structure.
Click.
The sound of a gun being cocked echoed from behind Teach's head, followed by a cold sensation against his skull. "But for a piece of trash like you... forget it."
BANG!
In the split second between life and death, Teach desperately coated his head in diamond to block Alucard's shot. The bullet exploded against the back of Teach's skull; the slug fell to the floor, and Teach was sent flying by the impact, though he didn't suffer any life-threatening injuries.
He didn't fully coat his head in diamond earlier, is it because the diamondized parts lose their biological function?
Just as Teach scrambled to his feet, he realized Alucard's face was already inches away from his own.
Growl!
Sharp pain erupted from his arms and torso. Looking down, he saw the hounds manifested from the blood pool—they were biting into his body and refusing to let go.
"DAMN IT!!!"
He had finally obtained the power of Whitebeard that he had dreamed of, yet the gap in their strength remained an impassable chasm. Teach couldn't accept it. Black water erupted from his back, turning into a tsunami of darkness that swallowed both himself and the hounds.
The hounds were temporarily washed away, and Teach dove into the darkness. The wave-like Black Hole rose over ten meters high, attempting to engulf Alucard.
Facing this move, Alucard turned his head slightly and glanced behind him. "Don't use such a foolish trick in front of me a second time."
Splash!
The ten-meter-high wall of darkness crashed down, covering Alucard. Only then did Teach slowly emerge from the darkness, panting heavily. "D-Dammit... that should at least pin you down for a moment... time to retreat!"
"I don't think so."
Alucard's voice rang out like a nightmare, echoing directly inside his mind...