Teach had originally been wondering why Issho had come straight for him.
But the moment Issho spoke, Teach's eyes widened.
Before he could say anything, the people aboard the Moby Dick who could still move under the pressure of gravity immediately lunged toward Issho.
"Gravity Blade: Hell Journey!"
Issho, whose Observation Haki had been active the entire time, raised his sword and swung.
A horizontal gravity slash shot out at once, sweeping toward the people rushing at him from every direction.
Boom!
Not only the people charging toward him, but even those who had been pinned down by the gravity and could not move freely were all sent flying by that strike.
They crashed into the hull of the Moby Dick.
Some of them even smashed through the railing and were thrown straight out of the ship, falling into the sea.
Fortunately, the gravity's effect only covered the range of the Moby Dick. Once those people were flung outside that area, they could move freely again.
Otherwise, that single attack alone would have caused heavy casualties among the crew.
However, Issho had considered how Cyrus had dealt with the members of the Big Mom Pirates and guessed that Cyrus likely had other plans, so he had not been too heavy-handed.
"You bastard!"
Teach was now on full alert, his eyes fixed firmly on Issho.
This blind man was strong!
Even if Teach stopped hiding his strength, he probably would not be his opponent.
Of course, what worried Teach the most was that Cyrus seemed to have set his sights on him.
But why?
Ever since he joined the Whitebeard Pirates, he should have hidden himself very well.
"Mochi Impact!"
Before Issho could speak, the members of the Whitebeard Pirates who had just been blasted away by his attack surrounded him again.
But Katakuri had already arrived.
White mochi turned into a massive fist, wrapped in Armament Haki, and came smashing down toward the Moby Dick.
Blue flames shot into the sky and collided with the mochi fist.
At the same time, several slashes fell from above, only to be intercepted by Vista of the Flower Swords.
Then a massive demon-like figure and a red-hot silhouette descended from the sky.
The members of the Big Mom Pirates had arrived.
Sensing this, Issho stopped paying attention to the others.
His gaze remained fixed on Teach as he raised his sword horizontally in front of himself.
Buzz!
Teach's expression changed.
The deck beneath his feet groaned, and cracks began spreading across it.
Blackbeard Teach's body suddenly sank lower. His face flushed red, clearly straining as he fought against the gravity pressing down on him.
"Cyrus told me to bring you back. If you don't resist, you'll suffer less."
After saying that, Issho stepped toward Teach.
Just then, the Moby Dick shook violently.
The entire ship trembled, and everyone aboard immediately steadied themselves to avoid being thrown out and becoming an easy target for someone else's attack.
Then everyone turned to look at the island growing farther away.
On the island, a gigantic fireball that had engulfed half the landmass suddenly exploded.
A streak of flame shot out from behind the fireball and crashed into the ground.
Immediately afterward, the island, which had already cracked earlier, split apart once more.
The entire island fractured into pieces.
Vast amounts of steam rose into the air, making it impossible to see what was happening inside.
"Pops!"
Marco, who was fighting Katakuri, turned and saw the scene. His pupils contracted sharply.
Katakuri withdrew his gaze from the island, then swept his eyes across the Moby Dick.
One familiar face after another appeared before him, making his expression turn solemn.
They were all here.
The commanders of the Whitebeard Pirates.
Then he turned toward Issho.
If that man fought on their side, this battle would become much easier.
But Issho had already reached Blackbeard Teach and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Apologies. This is the person Cyrus wants. I need to deal with this matter first."
As though sensing Katakuri's gaze, Issho spoke calmly.
Blackbeard could feel an extremely strong gravity being applied to his body.
It was not that he had no ability to resist, but right now, his mind was full of unease.
Why had Cyrus targeted him?
The others aboard the Moby Dick naturally would not simply allow Issho to take someone away, and the battle erupted again.
…
On the island.
Cyrus's blade pressed down against Murakumogiri.
He looked at Whitebeard with a smile.
"It isn't just you. No one on your ship is leaving today. As a great pirate who has sailed the seas for decades, you shouldn't be that naive, right?"
Feeling the enormous force coming through Murakumogiri, Whitebeard frowned at the confident Cyrus.
"I'm a pirate. I've been prepared for this for a long time."
Whitebeard was still stubbornly standing his ground.
"If you were truly prepared, you wouldn't have been distracted during our fight, trying to look after those sons of yours. Or are you saying I'm not worth taking seriously?"
The moment his voice fell, Cyrus abruptly drew back his sword and swept out with a kick.
His leg, wrapped in both Armament and Conqueror's Haki, slammed into Murakumogiri's shaft.
Whitebeard's body shook, and under that kick, he was forced back several steps.
"As expected. You used some method to temporarily stop your body from being affected, but the damage is still there."
Seeing Whitebeard retreat several steps, Cyrus spoke with clear understanding.
He had already sensed what was happening inside Whitebeard's body.
Hearing Cyrus's words, Whitebeard's heart sank.
But worry for the people on his ship still rose inside him.
He understood that most people who sailed the sea would eventually face situations like this, and he knew what kind of ending awaited them.
Yet after sensing Cyrus's strength, he still wanted to send the ship away.
However, with his Observation Haki, he could naturally sense the situation aboard his ship.
Since that was the case, Whitebeard looked at Cyrus. His body stood perfectly straight, his expression turning solemn.
Seeing that look on Whitebeard's face, Cyrus's heart stirred, and the smile on his face deepened.
"Getting serious now? Good. Come on, then. Let's have a proper fight. But could you stop looking down at me from above?"
As Cyrus spoke, his expression turned somewhat unfriendly.
He was over two meters tall.
By his own standards, that was already more than enough.
But in front of Whitebeard, who stood six meters sixty-six, especially at such a close distance, Cyrus still had to look up.
"Gurarararara! You actually care about that?"
Whitebeard froze at first, then burst into loud laughter.
But before his laughter had even faded, his towering figure was already in front of Cyrus.
His thick right arm drew back violently, and then his fist, wrapped in the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, arrived before Cyrus's face.
"In front of my ability, yours won't have much effect."
Boom!
Before the fist could land, Cyrus's body turned into flames and vanished.
Then fire gathered behind Whitebeard, and Cyrus's body reappeared.
"Got you."
Whitebeard's punch missed, but he had clearly expected this. The right fist he had thrown suddenly pulled back.
Crack!
His fist smashed into the air in front of Cyrus. In the next instant, cracks rapidly spread from the point of impact, striking Cyrus almost immediately.
Boom!
The moment the cracks touched Cyrus's body, the power seemed to erupt all at once, and Cyrus was blasted backward.
"Brat, a Logia's intangibility isn't invincible!"
Whitebeard turned his head, holding his blade as he looked at Cyrus, who had crashed into the seawater between two broken pieces of land.
The seawater where Cyrus had landed began to boil.
Then it evaporated in an instant, and Cyrus leapt out from within, looking toward Whitebeard.
"You infused Haki into your Devil Fruit ability? Conqueror's Haki?"
Cyrus narrowed his eyes slightly.
It seemed there was a reason Whitebeard had been able to suppress Big Mom and Kaido.
To a certain extent, the Tremor-Tremor Fruit was a wide-area attack ability.
Whitebeard had simply refined his control over it to an incredible degree.
And just now, even Cyrus's Observation Haki had not detected any danger.
Whitebeard's battle experience was clearly extremely rich. He had used some kind of technique to conceal the threat.
"Not even a scratch?"
Seeing Cyrus leap out, his aura not weakened in the slightest, Whitebeard spoke with some amazement in his voice.
The sea really did have a way of producing all kinds of monsters.
He had thought people like Big Mom and Kaido were already monstrous enough, but there was actually someone even more absurd.
That physique!
Putting everything else aside, that body, tough to an almost ridiculous degree, was enough to crush most people on this sea.
"Not a bad trick."
Cyrus floated in midair, raising his sword and pointing it at Whitebeard.
Originally, he had already started to lose his sense of how he should continue improving his own ability.
But after seeing the technique Whitebeard had just used, he had found a very good direction for further growth.
If he could fully merge the power of Conqueror's Haki into the flames he released, then when facing opponents like Kizaru or Aokiji, he would be able to defeat them with ease.