The combined assault of the Marines and pirates finally wore down and obliterated the falling Reiatsu canopy from the sky!
Having narrowly escaped death, everyone's hearts pounded in sheer terror. This man, Austin, was truly a monster devoid of mercy.
There were still over seventy to eighty thousand Marines stationed across the entire bay battlefield. If Austin's strike had hit its mark, the resulting death toll would have been too horrific to imagine.
This ominous shroud of mist, which had blanketed the heavens and radiated an apocalyptic aura, could barely be destroyed even when the world's top-tier powerhouses joined forces!
"Austin! Are you trying to slaughter tens of thousands of people right here in Marineford?!"
Sengoku, now transformed into a towering golden Giant Buddha, roared at Austin from across the sky. His Conqueror's Haki flared so violently with rage that it inadvertently leaked into his surroundings.
"I was merely testing my strength, Sengoku. Why the panic?" Austin replied with utter indifference.
Hearing this, Sengoku gritted his teeth so hard they nearly shattered, choking on his own breath.
*An attack so catastrophic that it required a dozen top-tier masters acting in unison just to neutralize it... and you call that a mere test of strength?!*
*Just how absurdly detached are you from the concept of your own power? You take a shot, and a literal chunk of the sky falls. How can anyone call that a test?*
At this very moment, Sengoku finally realized that his previous understanding of Austin's strength had barely scratched the surface.
"Zehahahaha! What absurd, exaggerated power! I wonder what would happen if I swallowed that strength of yours?!"
Blackbeard Teach forcibly suppressed the primal fear rising in his heart as he stared at the terrifying force Austin had unleashed.
But the moment he thought of his own abilities—the Dark-Dark Fruit, the ultimate fruit of suppression, and the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, the zenith of destruction—his heart instantly calmed.
Boundless ambition erupted from the depths of his soul. His right hand coated itself in darkness while his left hand vibrated violently as he challenged Austin once more.
Everyone knew Austin possessed the power to transform into a White Dragon, but the unique ability he had just displayed was entirely separate and profoundly shocking.
It appeared the man possessed far more than just the power of the White Dragon; he held other, hidden enmities.
Teach knew that he himself could only wield two Devil Fruits due to his unique body structure and the unique nature of the Dark-Dark Fruit. Yet, he couldn't fathom how Austin possessed multiple distinct powers. Still, this mystery only fueled Blackbeard's intense greed.
He wanted to slaughter Austin and claim those powers for himself.
If Austin's abilities were truly this godlike and terrifying, Teach wouldn't mind using them to completely replace Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit!
"Empty Shock!"
Gathering his resolve, Blackbeard clenched his fist and swung his arm forward. The fabric of space shattered, cracks rippling through the air as the shockwave surged toward Austin.
But Teach didn't stop there. As the space distorted around him, he raised his right hand, spewing a dense, pitch-black fog from his palm.
"Dark Beams!"
Beams of pure darkness shot upward into the fractured sky. It was a dual onslaught from Blackbeard, designed to trap and crush.
Austin merely frowned. He reached out a hand, and his Reiatsu flared. The cataclysmic shockwave was abruptly halted, caught firmly in his bare palm!
In the next split second, Austin forcefully gripped and locked the shattered space in place. With a violent thrust of his palm, he redirected the spatial fractures outward! The deflected shockwave tore through the dark beams, rebounding directly toward the Blackbeard Pirates!
"What?! Impossible!" Teach's eyes nearly popped out of his skull.
His crew members were similarly paralyzed with fear. The very shockwave their captain had unleashed was now bouncing back at them. If they didn't move now, they would be obliterated!
*Boom!*
Before they could even scatter, the space around them fractured. Caught in the epicenter of the blast, the crew felt their bodies twist and rupture. Their eyes rolled back, and torrents of blood sprayed from their mouths!
"Damn you, Austin!"
Amidst the shattered, rocky terrain, Blackbeard kicked away the debris piled on top of him. Blood trickled down his forehead as he stood up, consumed by rage.
"Next up... try not to die too quickly, Blackbeard."
"Don't disappoint me."
Austin's voice was chillingly detached as he looked down at the battered crew. The corners of his lips curled into a cruel, ruthless smile.
Hearing those words, Teach looked up at the sky, his heart freezing for a fraction of a second.
Only a few wisps of lingering smoke remained in the air. Austin had vanished.
"Where did he go?!"
"Behind you! Captain, behind you!"
Suddenly, the Blackbeard crew shrieked in panic. Teach spun around frantically, but found nothing but empty air.
An overwhelming sense of danger—a suffocating, lethal bloodlust—suddenly gripped him. Teach bared his teeth, forcing a grotesque, manic grin.
"Dark Vortex!!"
Teach's instincts were correct. Austin had initially been behind him, but in a flash of extreme speed, he appeared directly in front of him.
Believing he had outsmarted Austin using his own combat prowess, Teach unleashed his vortex to forcefully nullify and absorb Austin's abilities.
The plan was simple: the moment he nullified Austin's power, he would use the Tremor-Tremor Fruit to blow him to pieces at point-blank range!
*Slash!!*
But Teach's mind went completely blank.
With a rigid, frozen expression, he stared blankly at Austin, who had just swung a blade with blinding speed, carving a massive, deep gash right across his chest and abdomen!
"Pfft! Ahhhhhhhh! It hurts! It hurts so much!!"
Blown away by the sheer force of the slash, Blackbeard crashed to the ground, rolling over and over as he shrieked in agonizing pain.
Because of the unique nature of the Dark-Dark Fruit, his body could not fluidly elementize, meaning any physical damage he sustained was doubled in intensity! This single slash felt as though his main artery had been cleanly severed.
"Captain!"
Seeing Blackbeard cut down so easily, Jesus Burgess, the "Champion," roared in desperate panic. If Blackbeard died here today, the rest of them would surely follow him to the grave.
"Iron Elbow Strike!"
He bellowed furiously. At this point in time, he didn't possess the armor or weapons he would acquire two years later, relying solely on his brutal raw physical strength. Armament Haki coated his elbow as he lunged at Austin.
Spurred into action, the rest of the crew swarmed Austin simultaneously, trying to buy their captain enough time to recover.
Yet, facing this desperate onslaught, Austin's eyes held nothing but cold disdain.
His silhouette blurred for a fraction of a second. Before their terrified eyes, he bypassed the group and appeared directly in front of Burgess.
He thrust his palm forward, condensing a brilliant, golden Reiatsu!
"Cero!"
*Boom!!*
Burgess was blasted squarely by the golden beam, launched straight into the upper atmosphere before detonating into nothingness!
Jesus Burgess was dead!
"Storm: Bloody Slaughter!"
With a grim expression, Shiryu spoke in a low tone. His demonic blade, Raiu, shuddered with a chilling aura as he unleashed a torrent of flying slashes.
Austin merely reached out, catching and crushing the slash effortlessly. Before the horrified gaze of "Crescent Moon Hunter" Catarina Devon, he swung his black-winged demonic claws!
*Rip!*
Catarina Devon was cleanly bisected.
Avalo Pizarro was paralyzed with fear, every instinct screaming at him to run. But he knew that if he abandoned the coordinated attack now, his death would only be delayed.
Steeling his nerves, he charged. Austin, however, wasn't the least bit impressed by a character who barely left a mark in the original timeline.
To him, this foe was worth nothing more than a casual swipe. The black-winged demonic claw flashed through the air. Before Pizarro could even utilize whatever ability he possessed, his head was severed from his shoulders, rolling onto the dirt!
*Bang! Bang! Bang!*
"Die, you monster!!!"
Doc Q, riding his sickly horse, fired frantically alongside the enigmatic Laffitte. Their firearms were loaded with lethal, highly concentrated toxins.
They sought to brought Austin down with underhanded status ailments, but to Austin, dealing with these two was simpler than breathing.
Austin phased through the gunfire, closing the distance to Laffitte, who was already trembling at the brutal deaths of his comrades.
Seeing Austin close in, Laffitte desperately attempted to cast his signature Hypnosis, pouring every ounce of his willpower into trying to force Austin under his control.
But the moment his mental energy touched Austin, a psychic force far more ancient, alien, and terrifying erupted from Austin's gaze. It utterly shattered Laffitte's soul and mind into microscopic pieces!
Laffitte collapsed, bleeding from his eyes, completely lifeless.
"Damn it! Austin—! Die!!"
Watching his newly recruited crew members slaughtered one after another in a matter of seconds, Blackbeard Teach roared in a frenzied madness, bursting out from beneath a mountain of rubble.
Black smoke engulfed the battlefield. Countless chunks of shattered buildings were hurled violently through the air, hurtling toward Austin to crush him.
"I'm not done yet! Black Hole!!"
"Crush him!!"
Using the flying debris as a distraction, Teach's eyes flared with manic rage. He activated his darkness, aiming to drag Austin into the crushing gravity of the black hole while he was pinned by the rubble!
Even if that failed to kill him, the follow-up tremor attack he was preparing would surely leave Austin mortally wounded!
However, Austin had read Blackbeard's combination play from the very beginning. He didn't even need to shift his stance; the oppressive, suffocating might of his Level 6 power erupted.
With a single fluid stroke of his black-winged demonic blade, a wave of energy sliced through the air, instantly decapitating Doc Q and Vasco Shot before they could even attempt to interfere.
Without breaking momentum, he pressed straight toward Blackbeard. In an instant, a devastating arc of sword energy tore through the solid bedrock, leaving a bottomless ravine in its wake.
And with that single strike, Blackbeard Teach's right arm—the very arm channeling his Dark-Dark Fruit—was cleanly severed, flying into the air!
"Ahhhh! Damn it! It hurts!! The pain!!!"
As his arm spun away, the magnified, agonizing pain rippled through his entire body. Blackbeard collapsed back onto the earth, weeping and howling in pure, unadulterated agony.