Teach broke into a cold sweat. He felt as if Alucard were speaking directly inside his head. Instinctively, he tried to turn and use Observation Haki to pinpoint his location, only to find his body seized by countless shadow hands. He was pinned, unable to budge.
"Dammit... in that case, I'll just use the diamond..."
Since he couldn't move, he had to defend. Teach prepared to use Jozu's Twinkle-Twinkle Fruit power to create a shield to block Alucard's impending strike.
But suddenly, a wave of weakness washed over him from his gut. His diamond transformation failed. Looking down, he saw Alucard had appeared before him as if out of thin air. The barrel of a black handgun was pressed firmly against his abdomen. The aura of Seastone emanating from it sapped his strength, rendering him unable to even manifest his diamond defense.
"This battle is far too boring, Teach."
Alucard didn't fire immediately. The Seastone bullets, developed by Dr. Vegapunk, inside the chamber emitted a presence that had already neutralized Teach's Devil Fruit powers.
"Don't screw with me! I'm not dying here!"
Teach roared, his arms turning black with Armament Haki. He shaped his hands into beast-like claws and lunged downward in a desperate grab.
Alucard raised his other hand, blocking both of Teach's claws. His own arm was also coated in Armament Haki; when Teach's claws struck it, he felt a jolt of searing pain through his fingers.
"What kind of monster is this..."
Even in the face of death, Teach couldn't help but marvel in terror. An immortal body and vampire abilities were hard enough to handle, but even Alucard's Haki, which he rarely used, was superior to his own.
"It's been a long journey for you. Hard work."
Alucard caught Teach's right arm with a reverse grip and twisted. He moved the gun barrel until it was pressed against Teach's heart. "Checkmate."
BANG!
The Seastone explosive round dealt a devastating blow to the ability user. One shot tore a gaping hole through Teach's heart. Alucard let go, and Teach, his eyes wide, stumbled back several steps before collapsing to the floor. Blood began to stain the golden ground crimson.
The overwhelming power of Alucard had easily snuffed out a man who possessed three Devil Fruit abilities.
"Conceit and underestimating your enemy, those are your weaknesses, Teach." Whitebeard's final words echoed in Teach's ears.
Had he underestimated his enemy? Had he been too conceited?
If you lose, everything ends.
Whoosh...
A streak of blue flames flared across the sky. Marco was the first to land, followed by the rest of the Whitebeard Pirates. They converged on Ace from various directions through the arena tunnels.
"Teach... originally, it should have been us, the Whitebeard Pirates, who settled this score."
Izo squinted. After more than a decade together, he had long since identified himself as a member of the "Whitebeard Pirates."
Seeing Alucard kill Teach so effortlessly, the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates felt a complex swirl of emotions. Should they cheer? Or should they feel regret?
The shadow hands still gripping Teach began to slowly drag him down into the pool of blood. Just before his lower half was completely submerged, Teach suddenly turned his head toward the Whitebeard crew and laughed maniacally. "Zehahaha! I'll be waiting for you all on the other side! Ace! Marco!"
Teach's final swan song was directed not at Alucard, but at his former crew. In his mind, it was impossible that Alucard would let the Whitebeard Pirates walk away alive.
At that moment, Weevil crawled back into the arena, standing in the middle of the massive crater he had created earlier. He witnessed the exact moment Alucard executed Teach. Furious, he was about to charge when a voice called his name from the stands. "Weevil, we aren't your enemies."
Weevil turned to see Dr. Vegapunk, Aranea, and Bartholomew Kuma standing to his left. In Kuma's hands was the body of his mother, Miss Buckin.
"Mommy!"
Weevil's heavy frame surged forward. Looking at the body Kuma placed on the ground, he burst into a fit of snot and tears. "Mommy! Why did you leave me?"
After crying for a while, the veins on Weevil's neck bulged. He gripped his naginata and glared at Dr. Vegapunk's group with bloodshot eyes. "It was you! You killed my Mommy!?"
"No," Dr. Vegapunk replied, his face remaining perfectly calm. "The ones who killed Miss Buckin... were the Blackbeard Pirates."
"What?"
Weevil froze in shock. Beside Vegapunk, Aranea rolled her eyes. Could he really be fooled that easily? Then he really is an idiot.
"Check your mother's wound," Vegapunk continued. "She died from a blade wound inflicted by Shiryu of the Rain. It wasn't caused by Aranea or Kuma."
Hearing this, Weevil inspected Miss Buckin's body. He saw that she had indeed died from a nodachi strike. Aranea used a gun-lance and Kuma used his Paw-Paw Fruit, neither of them used a sword. He at least had enough combat insight to see that much.
Aranea finally understood. So that was why Dr. Vegapunk had insisted she use a nodachi to finish off Miss Buckin.
"But don't worry," Vegapunk added. "We have already taken care of Shiryu. Consider your mother avenged."
Weevil collapsed to his knees before Dr. Vegapunk, sobbing. "Waaaah... thank you! Th-thank you for avenging my Mommy! First I lost my Daddy, and now Mommy is dead... what am I supposed to do now?"
"You have a father?" Aranea asked curiously.
"Of course! My Daddy is Whitebeard! Look, my mustache is white too!"
The moment Weevil said this, a deathly silence fell over the arena. On the opposite side, the Whitebeard Pirates stared in utter disbelief.
Though Weevil possessed the same crescent-shaped white mustache, blond hair, and naginata as Edward Newgate in his youth, earning him the nickname "Whitebeard Jr.," actually hearing the words "I am Whitebeard's son" from his own mouth still left everyone in shock.