Bang!
Van Augur fired first. Without needing much aiming, he pulled the trigger repeatedly, sending several bullets infused with powerful Haki into the chaos.
Shiryu displayed his Iaido stance, swiftly drawing his sword and unleashing several Haki slashes in quick succession.
Bashas crazily swung his elbows, utilizing the armor with holes on them, shooting out wave after wave of force.
Laffitte spread his wings, flying high in the air. Drawing the staff sword from his cane, he executed a series of piercing thrusts that resembled a drill, heading into the chaos.
Until that chaotic scene was completely engulfed by darkness.
"Dark Shaking!!"
Teach clenched his fist tightly and shouted once more. The curtain of darkness began to shake violently, with a tendency to collapse inward and contract.
"Sage! Darkness and shaking aren't opposites. With my dual abilities, I can combine them, not only you are getting stronger! In this darkness, I can freely use tremors, gravity, tremor—within my darkness, as an ability user, you will only be torn apart!"
Teach laughed heartily: "Zehahaha! Sage, if you have any complaints, blame your lack of generosity. If you had shared with me from the start, we might have turned against each other a bit later! Then you'd still be my good Aibo!"
Strictly adhering to the bandit mentality of Pirates, which is to unite for mutual benefit, Teach firmly believed that if those interests were damaged, then naturally, one had to be prepared to turn against them.
He needed companions but only those who were beneath him or could be used.
Sage and he no longer shared the same target.
Now was the time!
To solve this most formidable enemy, then take over the first half of the New World, and establish the Pirate Kingdom, then everything in the New World...
would be his!
"Pirates originally take what they want by force!" Teach's face contorted in a vicious expression, and he gave a heavy shake of his clenched fist, causing the dark curtain to collapse into a spiral.
The power of this move was currently his greatest, and he had experimented with it; it could easily obliterate a nation, like Sage once destroyed the Country of Cyan in a single strike, and it was even more terrifying: a force that could make everything on an island vanish completely.
Under this power, even Sage...
Whoosh!
His thoughts were abruptly interrupted and annihilated by a black light as thick as a finger.
From the edges of the collapsing darkness, a hand suddenly extended, with its index finger pointing forward.
"Cap... Captain..."
A soft murmur sounded from the side.
Teach's eyes widened, cold sweat trickling down. Instinctively, he turned his head, only to see Bashas clutching his chest in astonishment, as if in his large palm, ash-like fragments continued to scatter, a hole continuously enlarging beyond his palm until it occupied his entire chest, then his shoulder...
"I..."
Bashas managed to let out just one sound before his head crumbled into scattered ash, and finally, even the pair of standing legs turned into ash, blown away by the wind into nothingness.
The others instinctively retreated a few steps, each with a solemn expression, as if the world was ending.
"Hey, hey, no way, that move..."
Kuzan, usually composed, now looked seriously at the emerging hand from the darkness, cold sweat trailing down his face.
This wasn't just a matter of power anymore...
Sage's techniques were renowned across the seas for their precision and power; having great power was normal, but what horrified him wasn't the sheer might, but rather the piercing power of this technique, and... the concentration of Haki!
Judging by its level, this move was clearly similar to the 'Great Red' from before, but the terrifying thing was, the Great Red was a total power destruction, while this ray was singular!
Unlike the Great Red, this move... couldn't be countered!
The collapsing dark curtain spiraled to its center, forming a small black dot, then vanished, revealing Sage's figure.
With a smile on his lips, white steam emanated from his entire body, making him appear completely unharmed.
"It was too unstable inside, shook too much, couldn't see the target clearly for a moment."
Sage chuckled: "Turns out I hit Bashas..."
Teach's eyes filled with bloodshot veins as he roared: "What was that! Sage!!"
No injuries despite his and Kuzan's combined techniques was one thing, but that move, aside from causing his Observation to react with immense terror, left him feeling utterly powerless.
Unstoppable!
"A technique, of course... it's just the active application of Haki. Without precise Haki control, it can't be learned."
Sage chuckled again, turning his gaze toward Kuzan, "And, though I'm not the perfect genius you think I am, I've surpassed everyone in the use of Haki. The one just now was merely a small experiment, failing doesn't matter. This move, is what I originally developed."
"The ultimate compression of Haki and Conqueror's Haki?" Kuzan said in a deep voice.
The Four Techniques of Haki, Hardening, Coiling, Emission, Destruction, and after mastering them all, enhancing Haki to the extreme to unleash a Ultimate Armament Aura capable of producing black flashes.
Given that Haki involves usage techniques, naturally, there are more formidable Haki strengths, that rare people in the seas can wield.
Garp's impact, Big Mom's penetration, Kaido's instantaneous burst, and the 'True Damage' often referenced by Sage, in Kuzan's eyes, all fit this criteria.