Almost as soon as he saw the ominous clouds, a black dot appeared from afar, and as Teach stood up in shock, the window was covered by a layer of darkness.
That's Haki!
Bang!
As soon as the Haki was discovered, that layer of blackness shattered the window and the surrounding walls, revealing an incredibly huge black column.
"Hmm!!"
At this moment, Teach punched forcefully, bringing forth a vibrating white light, and with a loud shout, struck the air. The vibration spread in a straight line towards the black column, instantly shattering it. The covering Haki couldn't resist such a level of vibration and fractured entirely, scattering into the surrounding space upon displaying cracks.
"Wood chips?"
Teach took a few steps forward, glanced at the shattered wood on the ground, and looked towards the sky through the large hole in front, sweat dripping from his forehead.
The ominous clouds completely shrouded Hive Island, with violent wind and rain blowing through the hole into Teach's area, clinging to everyone's faces and mixing with sweat.
Teach maintained a smile, but his pupils were constantly trembling. The cigar that Shiryu bit into got wet, yet he instinctively took another puff, gripping his sword's hilt tightly, full of seriousness.
Jesus Burgess couldn't even muster his trademark silly grin, clenching his teeth and taking a defensive stance.
Catarina Devon couldn't maintain her seemingly unfounded confidence and disdain anymore, and Vasco Shot held his wine gourd tightly, even retracting his dangling tongue.
Outside the skull building, Saint Juan Wolf, who was lying on the ground dozing off, sat up halfway. His previously somewhat silly and confused face turned ferocious, as if sensing some threat.
Doc Q nearly fell to his knees, gasping for breath.
Van Augur wiped the sweat off his face, gripped his rifle tightly, and said calmly, "Fate already marked the cost from the beginning."
Kuzan adjusted his glasses, which emitted a white light, making it hard to read his expression.
But at that moment, everyone looked up in unison, including Avalo Pizarro, who had integrated with the island, transforming the skull building into a living entity, extending its head to stare intently at the bottom of the gloomy sky, where a lone dark cloud appeared, along with black and red lightning continuously emanating a powerful presence.
As the black and red lightning burst forth, it even triggered thunder above, exploding in brightness within the dark clouds, illuminating the sky. Up there, a figure with white hair fluttering in the wind, wearing a sinister smile, looked down arrogantly at the ones below.
Sage!
He raised his fist high, letting the black and red lightning explode more violently on it, shooting out as if to fill the entire sky within view.
His dominance was far stronger than Garp!
"Wait, wait, Sage!"
Teach, horrified, quickly extended his hand, "It can be explained, everything can be explained!"
Boom!!
Sage seemed to ignore him, swinging his fist straight down, and as it smashed, the dark clouds withdrew from under his feet, allowing his body to press directly downward. From the fist, a Haki shockwave, filled with black and red lightning, blasted over the entire island.
"Hundred Ghosts Assault Break!!"
Bang!!!
The pirates who hadn't managed to escape yet fell to the ground amidst the lightning-filled shockwave. As their ships were reduced to nothing, they bled from all seven orifices, and then burst like firecrackers.
In the midst of this explosion, the entire island began to disintegrate, with large cracks erupting on the ground. As the shockwave reached its extreme, more changes occurred.
Penetration, explosion, impact... all sorts of strange forces mixed together, causing a violent explosion, and everything on the island was covered in black and red.
Between heaven and earth, this touch of color lingered endlessly until a violent tremor resounded, tearing through the black and red hue.
The entire skull building, like the other buildings on the island, vanished, reduced to fragments and ruins. Teach lay in the ruins, his fist faintly glowing with white light as it trembled forward, his face covered in blood and breathing heavily.
Beside him, an icy surface quickly condensed, transforming into Kuzan's figure, standing there with his hands in his pockets.
The rest...
Avalo Pizarro revealed his true form, his body battered from head to toe, lying there with more air going in than coming out, seemingly on the verge of death.
Saint Juan Wolf lay there spread-eagled, his eyes void of pupils, his body seemingly having exploded from the inside with damage everywhere, bleeding so profusely it almost formed rivers.
The rest, each suffered their respective injuries, none faring any better.
Van Augur struggled to climb up from the ruins, glanced at the completely deceased Doc Q beside him, whose body was left half intact by the explosion, shook his head, "Seems like you couldn't accept fate."
"Hohohoho!"
On the flat ground ahead, Sage landed from the sky, laughing wildly.
Surrounding him was debris and rubble, and the ground beneath was cracked, Hive Island entirely destroyed by his punch.
"Truly... far stronger than the teacher." Kuzan sighed.
Provoking Sage was a complete blunder.
Teach's gamble this time didn't end well.
Sage finished laughing, and walked swiftly towards Teach's direction, grinning menacingly, "Not bad, the island surprisingly wasn't destroyed, was it the Evil King's power?!"
"Sa, Sage!"
Teach panted heavily a few times and shouted angrily, "Enough! I only took your marker, and you've already killed one of my comrades!"
"Don't give me that crap!"
Sage retorted fiercely, "If you hadn't run into Red Hair, I doubt how many of my men would still be standing. Weren't we enemies? I'm fucking here now!"