Ten miles from the Red Line, a lone figure lay on a crude wooden raft, a bottle of rum in his hand.
Marshall D. Teach, his hair disheveled and his eyes glowing with an unholy light, stared at the approaching continent.
"Boss," one of his few remaining crew members said respectfully, "should we continue forward?"
"Forward!" Blackbeard roared, leaping to his feet.
His eyes were fixed on the sky above the holy land, filled with a fanatical, world-consuming ambition.
"Forward!"
As they drew closer, the colossal red line loomed before them, a wall that split the world in two.
Seeing the seat of the World Government, the place he had once schemed to conquer, Blackbeard threw his head back and laughed.
"ZEHAHAHAHAHA! MARINES! YOUR BOY BLACKBEARD HAS RETURNED!" he bellowed, his voice a clap of thunder.
"GET READY TO DIE!"
He raised a single, bloated palm.
A horrifying, deep vortex of pure darkness condensed in an instant, and he slammed it down onto the sea.
BOOM!
The ocean itself seemed to scream.
A deafening explosion ripped through the water, and the entire continent of the Red Line shook violently.
The sea level collapsed, exposing a massive, swirling black hole on the seabed that began to devour the ocean itself.
Panic erupted on the mainland.
"What's happening?! Why aren't the Marines here? How can one pirate be so powerful!" civilians on small fishing boats screamed, their faces pale as paper as the world trembled around them.
The thousands of Marine soldiers stationed at the coastline could only stare in horror at the apocalyptic scene.
They prayed for their admirals, for their main forces, for anyone to arrive before they were all swallowed by the abyss.
Above the sea, Blackbeard's figure was wreathed in power
. In one hand, he held the crushing gravity of the abyss.
In the other, the world-shattering power of a quake.
He still possessed the abilities of the Dark-Dark and Tremor-Tremor Fruits, but the power he now wielded was on a completely different scale.
The vibrational force he released with a single hand was far greater than anything than Whitebeard had ever produced.
"ZEHAHAHAHA! The new era belongs to the pirates!" Blackbeard laughed wildly, watching the sea boil and the land crack.
"You old fuckers can all sink to the bottom of the sea!"
The Marine soldiers, their courage finally broken by the sheer, overwhelming display of destructive power, began to rout.
"RETREAT! QUICKLY, RETREAT!"
But as the chaos peaked, a massive Marine fleet appeared on the horizon, its cannons gleaming in the sun.
The fleet was forced to a halt, its commanders shocked by the sight of one man single-handedly unmaking the world.
On the bridge of the lead warship, a burly young man in a Captain's uniform stared at the scene, his expression grim.
"That's... impossible," Captain Kasha muttered. "What has Blackbeard become?"
Just then, the Den Den Mushi in his hand crackled to life.
"Captain Kasha, get ready," Leon's crisp, calm voice commanded. "Have the Seraphim move out."
On Kasha's order, the rear doors of the warship slid open.
Five figures, not exceptionally tall but radiating an aura of extraordinary power, strode onto the deck.
The Seraphim squads had arrived.
"Lasers at will," Kasha said, his voice now steady.
The five Seraphims raised their palms in unison, and brilliant blue lasers condensed in an instant.
The oppressive aura they exuded washed over the terrified Marine soldiers, replacing their fear with a surge of hope.
These were the new guardians of the Marines.
They would not fail.
"FIRE!"
A dense volley of laser beams shot across the sea.
Watching the attack streak toward him, Blackbeard merely curled his lip in a contemptuous sneer.
The thick darkness swirling around him surged forward like a thousand striking serpents, meeting the lasers head-on.
There was no explosion.
The light was simply swallowed, consumed by the absolute void.
After the last laser was completely annihilated, Blackbeard chuckled, an icy, cold light glowing in his dead, gray eyes.
"You think that can stop me, Marines?" Blackbeard's voice boomed across the water.
"It's not enough."
As the words fell, an even more intense darkness surged from him.
He yanked his hand back, and the swirling abyss was pulled into his grasp.
He unleashed it, and a wave of pure nothingness washed over the fleet, instantly erasing several warships from existence.
In the next moment, he appeared in front of the Marine flagship and kicked out with his right foot.
BAM!
Kasha was sent flying across the deck like a ragdoll, slamming into the far wall of the bridge.
"You think you were powerful," Blackbeard sneered, looking down at his handiwork.
"But in the end, that's all you are. You underestimated me."
He had been blessed by the Necromancer's Staff.
His fruits powers had been enhanced to a level that even the Yonko could never have dreamed of.
And this Marine pawn dared to stand in his way?
"Zehahahaha! Your era is over!" Blackbeard laughed wildly, his hand closing around Kasha's throat.
"Useless Marines should just disappear!"
Despite the crushing grip, Kasha clenched his teeth, his eyes blazing with a stubborn, defiant fire.
He would not bow to this devil, even in death.
"Hahaha... good! That's the look I wanted to see!" Blackbeard cackled, his eyes full of a sick excitement, already imagining the moment this proud soldier would break and beg for mercy.
As he moved to finish the Captain, a brilliant, azure blue laser cut through the air, slamming into Blackbeard's head.
BOOM!
The resulting explosion shook the entire warship.
When the dust cleared, a tall, armored figure stood quietly in the smoke, its star-like eyes glowing with a cold, indifferent light.
"A Seraphim?!" Blackbeard was taken aback for a moment, then he grinned again, his face a mask of fury.
"Good! I was getting bored! I'll teach you all a lesson today!"
He took a step forward, his fist clenched, and slammed it into Kasha's chest.
The Captain was sent flying another ten meters, coughing up a mouthful of blood.
"You devil!" a female Marine Commander named Helga shouted, rushing forward with several other soldiers.
Her sword, glowing with Haki, stabbed toward Blackbeard.
"I'll send you to hell!"
Before she even got close, a fist wrapped in white, quaking light collided with her blade.
There was a sharp crack of metal, and Helga was thrown backward, her sword shattered and her arm broken.
"Zehahahaha! You're all so fragile!" Blackbeard laughed. "Your strength is pathetic! I'll get rid of you trash right now!"
In the next moment, five armored figures appeared behind him.
Five blue laser beams fired in perfect sync, piercing through the thick, almost liquid darkness that surrounded him.
"PFFT!"
The five beams of light tore through Blackbeard's body, and he let out a miserable scream as he was sent tumbling across the deck.
Kasha used the opening to quickly roll away, getting out of Blackbeard's immediate reach, coughing up another mouthful of blood.
"Kasha!" Helga cried out, rushing to his side.
"Go," he ordered, his voice an unquestionable command. "I'll hold him off!"
"No! You're too injured! You can't stop him alone!"
But at that moment, Blackbeard who had been rolling on the ground in pain, climbing to his feet with a cold sweat on his brow.
Strangely, among the five penetrating wounds on his chest, not a single drop of blood flowed out.
"Heh, you Marines don't really think that was enough to put me down, do you?" he said, his voice a low growl.
He slammed his fist into the space in front of him.
The air tore apart, and he vanished.
"Not good! Run!" Helga screamed, but it was too late.
Blackbeard reappeared in the air above Kasha, his fist descending for a final, fatal blow.
Kasha, with the last of his strength, tried to roll away, but he was too slow.
Just as the punch was about to connect, a Seraph appeared between them in a flash of light.
A spear made of blazing fire materialized in its hand, emitting a dazzling light that blinded everyone around.
WHOOSH!
The flaming spear shot from the Seraphim hand, stabbing straight at Blackbeard.
BOOM!
Blackbeard hastily raised his fist to block, but the spear's power was immense.
It tore straight through his hand, nailing it to the deck of the ship.