The natural system started off strong, but the navy finally reached its peak!

Blackbeard's arm went numb from the sudden "collateral damage" and the recoil.

His breath hitched, the "dark acupoints" he had been maintaining completely collapsed, and his body swayed.

Gern landed lightly and stood not far away, his black sword "Eight Desolations" hanging down naturally, the tip touching the ground.

"Tsk, that must hurt so much!"

In this battle where he was fighting two against one, the initiative was in his hands from beginning to end... Gern.

Chapter 684 Old Friends and Shadows

"Hey! Lord Five Elders, are you... alright?"

Blackbeard looked at Saint Satan, who was collapsed on the ground, his back caved in and he was vomiting blood.

He forced a slightly embarrassed yet tentative smile and asked.

Satan's body writhed violently under the power of the Abyss Pact.

The collapsed back regenerated and healed at a visible speed, and the broken spider legs also recovered.

Then he slowly raised his head, coldly sweeping his gaze over Blackbeard.

"Try it yourself, and you'll know if it's okay!"

Blackbeard chuckled awkwardly, speechless.

However, witnessing the almost bug-like ability of "immortality" up close once again...

Blackbeard's inner greed and desire burned wildly!

"He took the full force of my punch head-on and was able to start recovering in just a few breaths?!"

If... if I could also obtain this power

Combining the Dark-Dark Fruit and the Tremor-Tremor Fruit...

By then, what will be the point of earthquakes, navies, world governments...?

They'll all grovel at my feet! Hahahaha!!

Thinking of this, the smugness of successfully absorbing Gern's "Rending Fang" and the stimulation brought by Satan Saint's "Undying" ability...

The biggest weakness in Blackbeard's personality

Arrogance and recklessness

It's completely exposed!

Blackbeard stopped looking at Satan, who was struggling to recover, and instead turned to Gern, opening his arms wide.

No longer cautious, a swirling darkness rose simultaneously from both palms, accompanied by a wild laugh.

"Hahaha!! Earthquake! Did you see that?!"

Your abilities seem to be useless now!

In the face of Lao Tzu's darkness, did the heavens tremble?

Heh, it's nothing special!

Gern watched him show off quietly, slowly flicking the black sword "Eight Desolations" in his hand; the particles on the blade flickered with the movement.

His face was expressionless; he simply asked a question indifferently.

"Oh? You're that confident?"

"Ha!" Blackbeard chuckled, taking a step forward, the darkness churning even more violently in his palm.

His toothless mouth gaped open, revealing undisguised ambition and contempt.

"Your era... should have ended long ago!"

I, Marshall D. Teach, am the true 'future'!

Even 'Old Man' knew this, which is why he spoke up before he died.

He 'gave' me his Tremor-Tremor Fruit, didn't he?! Zehahaha!!

These utterly shameless and fact-distorting remarks caused Gern's eyes to darken!

“You…” Gern’s voice was icy, “are far inferior to Whitebeard.”

Those few words instantly froze the maniacal laughter on Blackbeard's face.

"Yeah?!"

Blackbeard was thoroughly enraged, or rather, his arrogance made him intolerant of any criticism.

"Then let's give it a try!!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Blackbeard activated "Dark Water" with both hands simultaneously.

In an attempt to generate a combined, terrifying suction force, completely locking onto Gern.

Pull it over, then crush it with a burst of power from both of their fruits at close range!

"Dark Water - Twin Vortex!"

He wants to pull Guern over and use his dual Devil Fruit abilities to completely end the remnants of this last "old era"!

But, just as Blackbeard raised his hand to activate "Dark Water"...

"call out!"

A deep purple blade of light shot out directly from the void, flashing past without warning!

Its speed is so fast that it even surpasses the speed at which the "dark water" gravitational field is generated!

"Pfft!"

Blackbeard felt a chill in his right palm.

What followed was an excruciating pain that arrived late, amplified several times by the side effects of the Dark-Dark Fruit!

"Huh?!"

He instinctively looked down, his ferocity instantly replaced by shock and pain.

All I could see was my right palm, which was filled with darkness.

It was pierced straight through from the front by a long, jet-black sword wreathed in dark purple lightning!

The tip of the knife pierced the back of his hand, and dark red blood dripped slowly down the serrated blade.

It is the Eight Desolations!

And the person wielding the knife...

Gern's figure appeared less than half a meter in front of him!

His eyes were icy cold; his Observation Haki had already predicted all his actions and arrogance.

“Back then, Whitebeard…” Gern began slowly, his voice eerily calm.

"We won't fall for that trick."

“Teach”.

The moment the words left his mouth!

Gern released the hilt of the "Eight Desolations" sword that had pierced Blackbeard's hand, and clenched his left fist at his waist.

Armament Haki Hardening!

A dark, domineering aura instantly covered his entire left arm, and his muscles tightened like steel wire!

Conqueror's Haki envelops you!

Dark purple lightning burst forth from the fist, coiling upwards and crackling with explosive force!

Without any sign of gathering strength or delaying, the punch was thrown out the moment the words were spoken!

He aimed straight at Blackbeard's face, which was contorted with horror and pain!

"Black Shock - Shattering Strike!!!"

Wherever the fist passed, the air was compressed and pushed aside by the extreme power and domineering aura, forming a funnel-shaped vacuum ripple that could be seen with the naked eye!

This punch abandoned all the flashy displays of Devil Fruit abilities.

It is the pure crystallization of Gern's peak physical skills, and the entanglement of top-level Armament Haki and Conqueror's Haki!

It is a powerful blow capable of shattering mountains and shaking the seas!

At this moment, Blackbeard, who was facing the "Overlord's Smash" punch, had his pupils shrink to pinpoints!

The excruciating pain from the "Eight Desolations" piercing his right palm was still relentlessly assaulting his nerves.

The side effects of the Dark-Dark Fruit amplified this pain several times over, almost tearing his sanity apart!

Even more fatal was that his hands had just been stretched forward with all their might to activate the "Double Drain Water" technique.

The main gate was wide open at that moment, and there was simply no time...

There was no room to defend against or dodge this deadly punch that was so close at hand!

Everything is too slow!

Gern's "fist" was fast, accurate, and ruthless to the extreme!

"boom!!"

The iron fist, crackling with domineering lightning, slammed solidly into Blackbeard's face!

"Puwa!!!!"

Blackbeard's eyes bulged out, his cheekbones were shattered, his nose was sunken, and his mouth was gushing out a mixture of blood and saliva.

With both feet off the ground, he was shot backward like a cannonball!

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Boom!!!"

It crashed through three remaining alloy walls in succession, finally embedding itself deeply into a fourth wall.

His entire body was embedded in the metal ruins in a "T" shape, with rubble falling and dust billowing around him.

.........

Gern slowly retracted his fist and let it hang down at his side.

On the left fist, the Conqueror's Hide lightning slowly dissipated, the skin turned slightly red, and wisps of white steam rose from it.

He didn't even glance at Blackbeard, who had been blasted away; he simply raised his hand and made a move in mid-air.

"Buzz!"

The black-bearded man, with his right hand pinning the black sword "Eight Desolations" to the distant ruins, was pierced through the hole.

It emitted a clear, melodious sound, and the blade vibrated at a high frequency.

It slid out of the flesh on its own, leaving a trail of blood.

It transformed into a streak of light and flew back into Gern's hand.

Gern gripped the hilt of the knife and flicked the blood off the blade.

His gaze shifted to the side, where Satan looked on with a mixture of surprise and uncertainty.

"The Five Elders' 'immortality'... is indeed troublesome."

"But I wonder, how long would it take to chop you into pieces, or... use Conqueror's Haki?"

Looking at Gern like this

Even Satan Saint, with his immortal body bound by the Abyss Pact, felt a chill run down his spine.

At the same time, an extremely familiar yet unsettling sense of déjà vu emerged.

This simple, domineering, and unstoppable punch... this indomitable and ferocious aura...

In that instant, Satan Saint vaguely saw what had happened back then.

That naval hero who roamed the seas, undefeated with his iron fists, whose power even shook the Valley of the Gods…!

“Garp…”