One Piece: Blue Scale Admiral

"Dark acupoints!"

"Splash splash splash!"

Thick, inky black energy erupted from his body like a tidal wave, rapidly spreading in all directions.

In just a few breaths, the ground within a radius of several hundred meters was covered by black mist, as if the entrance to hell had been opened by Teach herself. The boiling black mist swallowed the surging white waves and spread in the opposite direction towards Katakuri, Perospero and the others.

An immense suction force erupted, turning the land, shrouded in black mist, into a black hole, pulling all the surrounding pirates into the black mist.

"No! We're not enemies! We can fight the Beasts Pirates together!"

Those pirate captains and officers who had dodged Katakuri's attack looked in horror at their bodies as they were bound by countless tentacled black wisps and dragged helplessly into the depths of the bottomless black hole. They hurriedly shouted at Teach and Wald.

"That's right! We're not enemies! I can give you gold, we can cooperate!"

"The Beasts Pirates are too powerful. We absolutely cannot fight among ourselves. Only by cooperating can we fight them together and take the gold here."

The pirates shouted anxiously, but Teach and Wald ignored them.

They didn't even bother to glance at these people.

On the ground, an immense suction force erupted, pulling the Beasts Pirates and other powerful New World pirates into his hidden tunnel space. Only the Ward Pirates were unaffected by this massive suction force, but they dared not approach the center of the battlefield where Teach, Wald, and Katakuri were fighting. Instead, led by Wald's brother, the Ward Pirates' vice-captain Bin Jack, they rushed to the mine entrance and began frantically digging for gold underground.

Seeing that the suction power of Teach's Dark Tunnel was too strong, and that the safety of his younger siblings was threatened by the Ward Pirates, Katakuri finally snapped.

"Buzz!"

A terrifying storm of black and red domineering energy suddenly surged out from his tall body, sweeping across all directions in an instant.

That extremely powerful aura even annihilated and shrank the dark acupoint space released by Tiki.

The terrifying Conqueror's Haki swept across the area, leaving the Ward Pirates dizzy and disoriented. The weaker members even coughed up blood, suffering injuries from the shock.

Katakuri himself arched his body, his back exploded, and as the ball of flesh surged, countless snake-like arms, wrapped in his powerful Armament Haki and Conqueror's Haki, shot across the sky for hundreds of meters, hurtling towards Teach and Wald from all directions.

Dozens or even hundreds of enormous, round arms then rained down on Bin Jack and the hundreds of Ward Pirates.

Katakuri actually wants to take on the entire Ward Pirates all by himself.

"Dominate! Nuotuan chants!"

"This guy's gone mad. Those trash from the Charlotte family are his Achilles' heel. Wald! Go all out!"

Tichi roared, pressing her palms against the ground, and endless black energy surged upwards, like black crude oil erupting from the depths of the earth, engulfing the giant, glutinous fists that were crashing down upon her.

"Dark Cavern! Black Sun Eruption!"

The surging black mist blotted out the sky, turning Songruan Island into a hellish place.

Under the engulfing influence of the black energy, the giant, round fists that came crashing down, even though they were enveloped in thick Armament Haki and Conqueror's Haki and dispersed some of the black energy, were still inevitably swallowed up and disappeared by it.

The only difference is that the rate at which it is being swallowed up has slowed down.

At the same time, the black mist on the ground spread to Katakuri's feet, frantically wrapping around his body, trying to drag him into the bottomless dark tunnel space.

With a fierce glint in his eyes, Wald took advantage of Teach's distraction of Katakuri, his body enveloped in dark Haki vanished in an instant, and he appeared behind Katakuri. His fists, amplified a hundredfold, unleashed countless punches at Katakuri's body.

"100x Speed! Phantom Punch!"

While attacking the entire Ward Pirates and resisting Teach's tethering technique, Katakuri unleashed countless giant, sticky fists that shot out from every part of his body, like an untouchable hedgehog, bombarding in all directions.

"Boom boom boom boom!"

Amidst the continuous barrage of explosions, Wald's hundred-times-speed punch dodged most of the giant, lumpy fists wreathed in terrifying Haki, and landed on Katakuri, causing him to stagger and lose his balance, with crackling sounds emanating from his body.

The rapid depletion of his domineering aura caused the domineering armor covering his body to become somewhat thin.

At this moment, he was fighting against the entire Ward Pirates all by himself, and was immediately severely injured by the fast-moving Ward.

However, even with his sneak attack, Wald couldn't completely dodge Katakuri's indiscriminate barrage of attacks. Occasionally, he would be struck by the giant, fleshy fists, coughing up blood and flying backward. But in order to kill Katakuri, he had to endure his injuries, run back, and continue his relentless assault on Katakuri.

Just as the battle raged on the island, a hot air balloon suddenly drifted over from the sea off Soft Island and hovered above the island, attracting the attention of the pirates who were crowding together trying to seize the ships anchored on the sea and leave the dangerous island.

On the hot air balloon hovering in mid-air, there was a seagull standing on a light blue planet, soaring with outstretched wings.

"It's big news! Morgans' Seagull Pictures!" A pirate recognized the meaning of the logo.

In a basket hanging below the hot air balloon, a fanatical journalist, his face beaming with excitement and showing no fear despite the fierce battle taking place on the island below, deftly retrieved a video Den Den Mushi (snail phone) capable of broadcasting live worldwide and pointed it at Soft Island below.

The young reporter pulled out a Den Den Mushi (a type of electric scooter) from his pocket, cleared his throat, and prepared to begin his live news broadcast.

This was Seagull Pictures' first live news broadcast to the world, and Marbury felt incredibly honored that the president had entrusted him with this important task.

He vowed that even if it cost him his life, he would complete this important mission perfectly.

When the recorded video was projected onto the sky above Soft Island, Marbury immediately began broadcasting the report into the megaphone he was holding, his voice firm and resolute:

"Hello everyone, I'm Stephon Marbury, a news reporter for Seagull Pictures. Now, let me give you Seagull Pictures' first global news broadcast. As you can see, in front of us is Soft Island, located in the Totland Sea of ​​the New World."

"Most viewers may not have heard of Soft Island, but everyone is certainly familiar with the Totto Land Sea. That's right, this is the Totto Land of Big Mom Charlotte Linlin, one of the original Four Emperors of the New World. Soft Island is one of the original thirty-four islands, now thirty-three, within the Totto Land Sea."

"As you can see from the live stream, a massive and bloody battle is taking place on Soft Island below. The Beast Pirates, one of the Four Emperors, are fighting the Ward Pirates. The battle is extremely fierce, resulting in huge casualties on both sides and affecting thousands of New World pirates on the island, leading to the complete annihilation of more than a dozen pirate crews, large and small."

"The Beasts Pirates' leader is Charlotte Katakuri, one of the Four Sweet Commanders and the son of the former Yonko, Big Mom, Charlotte Linlin. The Ward Pirates have mobilized their entire force, led by their captain, the World Destroyer Bondiwald, who possesses the Memo-Me Fruit!"

"So what caused such a fierce battle between the two major pirate crews of the New World on Soft Island?"

After a brief moment of suspense, Marbury announced in an even louder voice, "The answer is gold! That's right! On this island below, there exists a gold mine with reserves exceeding several thousand tons. This immense wealth, worth hundreds of billions of Berries, is something even the mighty Four Emperors of the New World couldn't resist vying for! But that's not the real reason they're fighting!"

As he spoke, Marbury took out a Den Den Mushi (snail phone) that had recorded a video, connected it to the world live broadcast, and played the recorded video.

The video Den Den Mushi opened its eyes, projecting a hazy image of light and shadow onto the sky above Matsurojima.

Because it was projected into mid-air, the image appeared somewhat blurry, and the pirates at the scene couldn't see it clearly at all. However, viewers around the world who received the video Den Den Mushi signal could see it clearly.

At the entrance to the gold mine, Wald, Teach, Katakuri, and others who were engaged in battle had already noticed the news balloon hovering in the sky.

At first, none of them were interested in Marbury, who was reporting the news.

The reporters at the World News Agency, like their editor-in-chief Morgans, were a bunch of lunatics who would risk their lives to find news with huge sensationalism.

There are plenty of journalists like Stephon Marbury at the World News Agency.

Generally speaking, no matter which power in the world, it would not rashly offend a neutral camp like the World News Agency.

Because once you offend the news agency, you'll not only be blacklisted and unable to buy newspapers from the delivery seagulls again, but even if a pirate's bounty increases, the World News Agency can exert significant influence to prevent them from publishing the bounty in their newspapers, thus preventing pirates from gaining fame by raising their bounties.

Regardless of which method is used, it is enough to cause huge losses to pirates.

Therefore, unless absolutely necessary, neither side would take action against a neutral newspaper.

Wald and Tichi shared the same thought, so they didn't pay much attention at first.

But when Marbury said that their real purpose was not the gold mine on Soft Island, the two were stunned.

What is the real purpose?

Could it be that Marbury is saying they came here to find Baines and Gary?

That was the only thing Wald could think of.

Because, apart from that, they were only here to seize the gold mines so they could earn Baileys and recruit soldiers in the New World.

Although the group was still engaged in fierce combat, they all involuntarily diverted some of their attention to the blurry image projected in the sky.

Then, Wald and Tichy saw Baines's image.

In the flickering, blurry image, Baines was covered in blood, a maniacal smile on his face, holding a very blurry blue light in his hand, which was somewhat indistinct.

He seemed to be saying something, his face showing intense regret and remorse, but at other times he would burst into manic laughter, as if he had fallen into some kind of madness.

Tikki narrowed her eyes, looking at Baines' unusual behavior with suspicion, her gaze involuntarily falling on the blue light and shadow he was holding.

The blue light and shadow were gourd-shaped, with seemingly more blurred spiral patterns outlined on them.

That seems to be...

"Is that a Devil Fruit?" Wald voiced the question that had been nagging at Teach. "That idiot Baines actually got a Devil Fruit here? What kind of Devil Fruit is it that made him cry and laugh like a madman?"

“A Devil Fruit…” Teach frowned as she looked at the blurry Devil Fruit being held by Baines in the flickering image, and a vague idea gradually became clear in her mind.

His pupils widened little by little, and crimson blood vessels spread across his eyeballs. With his mind in disarray, much of the black energy he released from his hands dissipated, allowing Katakuri to take advantage of the situation and kick him in the chest. He spat out a mouthful of blood and flew backward, crashing heavily into the ruins behind him.

However, Teach seemed oblivious, supporting herself as she climbed up from the ruins, staring blankly at the leaping blue light.

A gourd-shaped, blue Devil Fruit, and Baines with a crazed expression.

Several factors combined to make that name uncontrollably surface in Teach's mind, who had thoroughly studied the Devil Fruit encyclopedia.

That was the fruit ability he most wanted to obtain after spending half his life obtaining the Dark-Dark Fruit, which he had longed for.

Tichi's loss of composure was clearly noticed by Wald and Katakuri, who were immediately puzzled and followed his gaze to the sky.

In the sky, Marbury announced some truly explosive news.

"Did everyone see that? This is the secret footage our reporter risked his life to capture. The bearded pirate in the footage is Baines, a high-ranking combatant of the Ward Pirates, a great pirate who escaped from Impel Down. The Devil Fruit he's holding is the legendary Paramecia-type Tremor-Tremor Fruit!"

"That's right! It's the power of the late Whitebeard, the strongest man in the world, the Paramecia-type Tremor-Tremor Fruit, which can unleash world-destroying tsunamis and possesses earth-shattering power!"

"I have reason to believe that what's causing the Beasts Pirates and the Ward Pirates to fight to the death isn't just the gold mine, but more importantly, this Paramecia-type Tremor-Tremor Fruit. Because whoever possesses this ability will become the next Whitebeard, the next Yonko, the next strongest in the world!"

Marbury's words, amplified by the loudspeaker Den Den Mushi, echoed throughout the entire Soft Island and reached the ears of every viewer watching the live broadcast around the world.

At that moment, the whole world seemed to fall silent.

On Soft Island, the pirates stared wide-eyed, mouths agape, their faces filled with shock. Then, their eyes turned bloodshot, revealing a greed that was even more exciting than if they had stolen a gold mine!

"Hey! Really? There's a Tremor-Tremor Fruit on this island?"

"That's Whitebeard's power! If I can eat the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, I can become a godlike man like Whitebeard and sit on the throne of one of the Four Emperors. With that kind of world-destroying power, what do I need gold for? I can have everything!"

The pirates, who originally wanted to steal the pirate ship and escape, fell into a state of insane greed and stopped thinking about escaping. Instead, they turned back to look at Soft Island.

Meanwhile, Wald and Katakuri, who were in the center of the island, were both shaken to their core, uncontrollably shocked by the news Marbury had revealed.

"The Tremor-Tremor Fruit? That guy Baines actually found Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit here?" Wald's eyes widened, his voice becoming hoarse as he screamed like a woman caught in the act of adultery, "Where is he? Where the hell is he? Can anyone tell me where that lucky bastard has gone?"

Of all the people, Teach was the most excited.

He was trembling all over, from the inside out, from his mind to his body, shaking uncontrollably.

"The Tremor-Tremor Fruit, the Tremor-Tremor Fruit! I never expected that fruit would be reborn here. Could it be that it was reborn because I came here? Baines already has the power of the Chain-Chain Fruit, so he can't eat the Tremor-Tremor Fruit. I must find it. It's mine, it's destined to be mine, Marshall D. Teach's! No one can take it away from me!"

Tichi's eyes were bloodshot, and thick veins bulged on his face, making him look like a demon.

Meanwhile, viewers around the world watching the live broadcast were stunned by the news of Marbury's death, and then an uproar ensued!