One Piece Thundergod Marine

"Pfft!"

With a few centimeters' indentation in his chest, Blackbeard crashed heavily onto the blue stone floor, his eyes filled with horror.

"It's impossible!!!"

As if ignoring the pain, he stood up, venting his frustration: "Just a little bit more!!!"

Just a little more, and he could have dragged Rowen down into darkness, forever suppressing him in an abyss devoid of light.

It was so close, yet so far away; such a slight difference led to a vastly different outcome.

Pā Dā...

As the darkness faded, his numb legs regained vitality, and the sound of his shoes striking the ground echoed crisply.

Hearing this, Rowen amusingly lifted his head: "Just a little, huh? Blackbeard."

"Are you sure?!" 

Noticing this scene, Aokiji gasped in disbelief.

"How did he escape?!"

Putting himself in Rowen's shoes, Aokiji pondered whether he could find a way to escape if he were trapped by Blackbeard in that black water.

The answer… was naturally no!

Once his fruit ability was nullified, all he had left was decent martial arts.

However, the Sacrifice-Sacrifice Fruit, while lacking any active offensive capabilities, could infinitely enhance the physicality of the Ability user until their death.

Even Rowen, who prioritized a balanced development of martial arts, couldn't escape from Blackbeard's monstrous power, so Aokiji naturally couldn't either.

Let alone, if he were truly caught by Blackbeard, why would it take so much effort?

Rowen's Undying trait allowed him to disregard the arm piercing through his chest, but Aokiji was not so fortunate.

As long as a single bone spike pierced his heart, he would undoubtedly die.

So the question arose…

How did Rowen escape?! 

Everyone widened their eyes, wanting to know the answer.

"You… Cough Cough, Cough Cough Cough!" 

Teach's face darkened as he prepared to speak when he suddenly began to cough violently, pulling apart his clothes to reveal a gray stone spike that had been ground into a point, which he pulled from his abdomen.

Tear...

A fountain of blood splattered on the ground, and as he looked at the rolling spike, a fierce and malevolent aura erupted from him.

"YOU!!!"

Teach was extremely unwilling, very unwilling.

Just because of this unassuming stone spike, all his efforts had gone to waste.

Because this thing was Seastone!!

Once Seastone touched the skin, no matter how powerful the Ability user was or how bizarre their abilities were, they would all turn to smoke.

This included even the special Paramecia, Sacrifice-Sacrifice Fruit, which was infamous for its malevolence, let alone Dark-Dark Fruit.

Chī la!

Rowen, tearing apart the tattered suit covering his body, now only draped in a Justice cloak, moved his limbs and clenched his right hand, making the silver-white metal components entwined around his arm very prominent.

"Originally, this was just something I had made to facilitate targeted training, so I wouldn't have to run to get Seastone every time. I commissioned Caesar Clown to make it."

Rowen bent down, inspecting each gun hole of this high-tech product known as the "Seastone Sleeve Arrow," and after a moment, he raised his head with a grin.

"However, Dr. Clown stated that he wouldn't make anything that wasn't classified as a weapon, no matter how much I paid him!"

"So, I had no choice but to reluctantly leave the launching function."

"Looking back now, it's surprisingly useful!"

"All I need to do is move my thumb in a prescribed pattern to quickly activate it and shoot out the spikes inside."

"Did you know about this?"

"I didn't know... so what?!" 

Teach grit his teeth against the pain, filled with hatred and madness as he asked, "With a concealed weapon like this, even if you caught me off guard, you still wouldn't…"

Suddenly, Teach froze in place, his body starting to tremble violently, his jaw clenched tight.

"Wouldn't what?" 

Rowen looked at him with amusement, continuing the conversation: "You meant to say you could easily swat it away, and it wouldn't hurt you at all, right?"

"But what do you have to swat it away with?"

At this point, Sengoku and the others gasped, feeling their scalps go numb.

As they watched Blackbeard shaking, whether from excitement or anger, Rowen wickedly added salt to the wound: "Is it your right hand, which you used to pin me down and restrict my movements?"

"Or is it your left foot, which is also consumed by darkness and numb like mine?"

"Hēhēhē, hāhāhāhāhāhā!!!" 

Looking at Rowen, who was laughing maniacally over there, both the Marines and the pirates couldn't help but feel a chill run down their spines at his audacity and confidence.

Because the reason Rowen was holding back, despite clearly having the winning hand, was that he knew if he acted first, Teach could easily evade.

In their realm, focused and at such a level, who would still be harmed by a mere ejection-speed concealed weapon? 

Wasn't that just ridiculous?!

So, Rowen waited until Teach, like himself, had his lower body consumed by darkness and lost all feeling before finally launching his attack.

At that moment, the only part of him that could move was his right hand, which was stuck inside his chest cavity. The extreme evolution of the Sacrifice-Sacrifice Fruit had transformed his bones into a cage, immobilizing his movements.

Every fruit has its limits. In a situation where he was completely unaware of this and had no limbs to control, trying to send the spikes flying was nothing more than a pipe dream.

"Now, answer me, Blackbeard."

"Was it really just a little bit more?"

Suddenly, Rowen's laughter ceased, and he stared at Teach with cold eyes.

"No matter how strong you are, without enough intelligence to support it, you are merely a reckless brute."

"The gap between you and me is far from trivial!"

Power is secondary; what's even more crucial is the will. The greatest difference between Teach and Rowen lies not in patience or ambition, but in the intelligence of their minds— Teach simply isn't smart enough.

Unless the Ability user willingly does so, once the dark void is activated, it will not actively swallow Teach.

If he had controlled Rowen without rushing to end them both, and instead waited until Rowen was completely submerged before going in himself, nothing unexpected would have happened.

However, he was too arrogant! 

He believed that the doubly suppressed Rowen wouldn't have any chance to resist, so he chose to descend into darkness alongside him, appearing gallant in his actions.

Yet this ultimately allowed victory to slip through his fingers.

At this moment, Sabaody Archipelago was engulfed in silence.

As they witnessed this sudden turn of events, the pirates felt chills run down their spines, unable to utter a word.

Indeed, that was the Marine's Soryu (Azure Dragon)! 

Back in the New World, he had single-handedly made all pirates tremble with fear, including the Yonko group, solely through his cunning tactics.

Who told Teach that as long as he had the power to suppress him, he could do as he pleased in front of Rowen? 

"I…"

Upon hearing this, Teach's face flushed red, and he tasted blood in his throat before spitting it out.

Pfft!!

His self-assured finishing move was nothing but a joke in Rowen's eyes, which was something Teach, who had always held himself in high regard, couldn't accept.

"Oh right, aside from this, there's actually another way."

Suddenly, Rowen spoke as if he had just realized something, turning to look into the distance, grinning: "Isn't that right, Dante?"

Everyone turned back to see Quinn Dante, one of Rowen's trusted subordinates, lying nearby using a sandbag as cover, holding a completely high-tech sci-fi sniper rifle.

"…"

No need for explanation; even a fool could tell that Dante's rifle was loaded with Seastone bullets, and possibly even capable of firing in bursts.

But…

Aren't you a swordsman? 

Why are you using guns!! 

(╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻

Everyone felt frustrated and wanted to vomit blood as they watched Dante, appearing completely at ease, skillfully disassemble his weapon and store it in a bag to hang on his back.

It felt as though their worldview had been completely upended.

In response, Chaton shivered, thinking that some things were better left unsaid.

A black cat or a white cat, as long as it can catch mice, it's a good cat.

As a member of the Assassination Force, if you don't know at least 7 or 8 ways to kill, how can you dare to call yourself a member of the Assassination Force?

It's not like we're playing an MMORPG, where you have specific classes! 

Right? 

(This chapter is complete.)

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