Chapter 797: Intercepting the Devil Fruits
Teach’s earlier ominous premonition had come true, and he had no idea how to break this situation!
Looking left and right, among everyone present, only Ace and Doflamingo were opponents Teach was confident he could defeat. Setting aside Haki and physical combat, his Dark-Dark Fruit was, after all, an overwhelmingly powerful force that could counter all Devil Fruit users. But the problem was, Ian was right here!
Calling Ian Teach’s natural enemy was no exaggeration. Teach’s proud Dark-Dark Fruit had never worked on Ian. This meant that not only was Teach’s ability ineffective against Ian, but when facing him, the damage and pain he received were doubled. No matter how he thought about it, it was a loss.
And the Soul Fruit he had obtained later was even worse. Ian had even taken down the Soul Fruit’s previous owner, Big Mom, who was such a formidable opponent. Moreover, Ian seemed to possess the power to strip souls as well. The Soul Fruit posed zero threat to Ian!
With a thud, Teach fell to his knees, begging Ian, “Ian, please spare me! If you let me go, I’ll disappear and never be a pirate again!”
But Ian wouldn’t believe a word of that. In the original history, Teach had begged Whitebeard the same way when he was being beaten. His shameless and despicable nature meant anyone who believed him was a fool!
This time, even Ace showed no reaction to his words. He charged forward first, his arm blazing with roaring white flames, and punched Teach hard in the face, sending him flying.
“Say that to our fallen brothers!”
Half of Teach’s face had already been petrified by Boa Hancock’s power. Now, with Ace’s flames scorching it, the pain overcame the numbness and shot through his nerves, making him scream like a pig being slaughtered!
Ace’s white flames lingered on half of Teach’s face, burning him continuously. One punch wasn’t enough; Ace lunged at Teach again.
The pain also stirred Teach’s ferocity. He stood up and threw a punch with his remaining arm toward Ace. Their fists collided, and the fight was evenly matched, but Ian suddenly struck from the side, slashing a blade across Teach’s back!
“Oww!!!” Teach screamed again in agony. The wound on his back, cut by Ian’s casual strike, was deep enough to reveal bone, and blood gushed out immediately.
All the pain Teach felt was doubled, and the agony made his body nearly cramp up.
“A… Azathoth!!” Teach quickly summoned his Homie creation. But just as the dark shadow of Azathoth appeared, Ian suddenly thrust his hand into its body!
When he pulled his hand out, a ball of white light was dragged along with it. The soul that Teach had infused into Azathoth through the Soul Fruit’s power was ripped out by Ian—one-tenth of it!
Under Teach’s terrified gaze, Ian crushed the ball of light.
Pfft! As the soul dissipated, Teach spat out a mouthful of blood, and Azathoth’s human-like face immediately showed a look of exhaustion.
But it wasn’t over. After crushing that light, Ian thrust his hand into Azathoth’s body again and pulled out a second ball of light!
With the skill from the Great Serpent Card, Azathoth couldn’t exert any power at all. In just a few seconds, Ian had extracted three portions of soul from its body. Though each was smaller than the last, the repeated soul damage made Teach vomit blood three times in a row!
“White Flame: Fire Fist!” Ace took advantage of Teach’s bleeding to unleash a massive attack.
The blazing white fireball engulfed Teach’s body, sending him flying and setting him ablaze from head to toe. After landing, Teach screamed and rolled around, trying to extinguish the flames.
But Ace’s flames were now far more powerful than before. In just a short time, though Teach managed to put out the fire, he was severely burned. His body emitted smoke, his clothes had turned to ash, and black residue clung to his skin. Scraping against the ground, chunks of skin peeled off, revealing bloody, raw muscle beneath…
Doflamingo had released his Birdcage and stopped joining in on beating Teach, but watching Teach’s miserable state made him shudder. Damn, these two brothers were really going all out on Teach.
He turned his head and noticed that the little kid who looked like Ian had vanished, even outside the Birdcage’s range. He was baffled—could that kid freely enter and exit his Birdcage?
Where did he go? Doflamingo looked around nervously…
………………………………
As Ace had said, this was a long-overdue punishment, an execution!
“Repent, Teach! You don’t deserve to be the Old Man’s son!”
Remembering the Fourth Division Commander Thatch, whom Teach had killed, and the Whitebeard Pirates members who died in the New Edd War, Ace gritted his teeth. He slowly walked toward Teach, white flames rising all over his body.
“Great Flame Commandment: Flame Emperor!”
Ace gathered massive white flames in his hands, which swirled around him and formed a gigantic fireball. He held it aloft and hurled it at Teach!
The premonition of death struck. Though Teach was already in unbearable pain, he struggled to unleash his strongest move.
“Dark Void!!”
Countless black shadows rose from Teach’s body, converging in his hand as he met Ace’s Flame Emperor fireball. But before the shadow power could clash with Ace’s flames, a sharp sonic boom exploded.
A streak of light cut through the air, piercing Teach’s remaining arm!
With a bang, his arm was blown off at the root…
Teach froze for a moment. A second later, the intense pain hit him. But before he could scream, Ace’s Flame Emperor fireball engulfed him.
Doflamingo watched, cold sweat pouring down his face. As an observer, he saw clearly that just as Teach made his move, Ian fired a Railgun at him!
What the hell… You’re a Yonko! Is it really okay to snipe from the sidelines like that?
Doflamingo was terrified, but Ian didn’t think much of it. It felt like Ace was the ADC, and Ian was the support—a god-tier support who struck at critical moments, each blow deadly.
In the original history, Ace had been killed by Teach. Now, Ian intended to let Ace personally take down his archenemy. So, while Ian didn’t go all out, he constantly suppressed Teach, allowing Ace to land hit after hit!
The Flame Emperor fireball engulfed Teach, followed by a massive explosion. Teach’s body was thrown into the air.
Ace walked over to Teach and found him completely charred. He breathed a sigh of relief.
But Ian approached and said to Ace, “Don’t relax yet. He’s not dead! Remember, his body is abnormal!”
Ace turned to look at Ian, who was holding Azathoth. The shadow had shrunk significantly because Ian had drained too much of its soul power. Facing Ian, the big bad, even Azathoth dared not move and stayed docile in his grip.
Azathoth was a manifestation of Teach’s Devil Fruit power. If Teach died, Azathoth would vanish. Ace knew this and immediately looked at Teach.
Teach lay motionless on the ground, charred like charcoal. His arms were gone, leaving him like a human stump. His chest showed no movement, but after a moment of waiting, Ace and Ian saw signs of it beating again.
Teach had three hearts, meaning he had three lives. But Ian had pierced one heart earlier, killing him once, and Ace’s Flame Emperor had killed him again. Only one life remained.
Ian tossed the black cherry blossom blade to Ace and said, “Finish him!”
Ace took the weightless blade, which burned with black flames, nodded, gripped it with both hands, stepped on Teach’s body, and aimed for his chest.
Just then, Teach suddenly opened his eyes. Bloodshot and fierce, he roared at Ace, “You can’t escape! Even if I die, you’ll die by Uranus’s hand too! Zehahaha! I won’t be alone in hell—I’ll wait…”
Before he could finish, Ian stomped on his face, cutting off his last words in his gap-toothed mouth!
“Too much talk!” Ian sneered, stepping on his face.
Hearing this, Ace hesitated no longer and drove the blade into Teach’s chest.
The black flames from Ian on the blade reignited Teach’s body as it plunged in. A strong stench of burning spread. Teach struggled, but his movements grew weaker. Finally, his body collapsed with a crack, turning into a pile of black, unrecognizable residue.
This was the final proof of Marshall D. Teach’s existence in this world…
Confirming that Teach was dead beyond any doubt, Ace’s mission was complete. The obsession in his heart suddenly vanished, leaving him mentally exhausted. He let out a long sigh and crouched down.
Tossing the blade back to Ian, Ace said solemnly, “Ian, thank you! Thanks for letting me avenge Thatch…”
Ian didn’t speak. He patted Ace’s shoulder and smiled.
Just then, Little Ian started shouting “Ian! Ian!” from behind them.
Ace turned around and saw Little Ian holding two fruits. Earlier, when the battle wasn’t happening, Ian had noticed that Little Ian could miraculously slip through the gaps in the Birdcage. So Ian had ordered him to find some fruits. This was Amazon Lily, a resource-rich island. Though a massive fire had ravaged it, Ian guessed there might be some surviving trees with fruit. Sure enough, Little Ian had found some and brought them back.
Since they had decided to kill Teach, the power of the two Devil Fruits on him couldn’t be wasted…
Little Ian had returned just in time. When Ian and Ace looked over, they saw the two fruits in his chubby little hands slowly transforming. The unique spiral patterns of Devil Fruits were appearing on them.
Having experienced this once before, Ian knew that Devil Fruit energy would seek out nearby carriers to attach to. But he didn’t have Teach’s special ability from the Dark-Dark Fruit to attract Devil Fruit energy. So even with the two fruits Little Ian had found, they could only capture a portion of the dispersing energy.
After Teach died, the two Devil Fruits on him—the Dark-Dark Fruit and the Soul Fruit—were transforming in Little Ian’s hands. But it was clear they wouldn’t be the original versions.
That didn’t matter. Ian planned to use these fruits for himself, not give them to others. So whether they were the originals wasn’t important.
As long as he absorbed the energy of these two fruits and raised the star rating of his main character card, the complete versions of the Dark-Dark Fruit and Soul Fruit would never reappear in this world—unless Ian died…