"Waaahhh!!"
"Ahh!!"
The members of the Blackbeard Pirates fell from the sky due to their loss of balance, their screams echoing endlessly.
But Blackbeard himself couldn't spare a moment's attention for them.
At this moment, sweat finally broke out on his forehead, his eyes twitching slightly as he locked gazes with Karin.
The massive tentacles originally intended for the 'fatal blow' hung in mid-air, seemingly awaiting their master's command.
Blackbeard had to admit he had somewhat underestimated his opponent.
He hadn't expected Karin to be unaffected by Doc Q's viruses, and even the attacks from Burgess and the others had proven completely ineffective.
"...Truly terrifying physical resilience."
This time, Blackbeard wasn't stalling for time but expressing genuine admiration.
Indeed, Zoan users had absurdly tough bodies, especially Mythical Zoan types.
Whether it was Sengoku, Kaido, or even Marco.
Blackbeard had never fought Kaido directly, but he had witnessed his power more than once.
He could only say that the pressure Karin was giving him now was no less than that of Kaido.
"And you think a few compliments like that will make me stop now?"
Karin's voice remained as grand and ethereal as that of an aloof deity.
"You're right..."
Soon, a smile reappeared on Blackbeard's face.
But this time, unlike before, he was now genuinely burning with fighting spirit.
"Then come on, brat!"
Perhaps the last vestiges of the Flying Pirate Admiral's spirit lingering in the Fuwa Fuwa no Mi had infected Blackbeard. Finally, he displayed an aura worthy of Karin's attention.
The aura of a villain, of a formidable and ambitious man.
With Blackbeard's roar, the massive tentacles below, each capable of easily destroying an entire fleet, writhed wildly and swept toward Karin.
As for the pirates who had been in the square, they had already descended into chaos when Blackbeard tore apart the ground. Some died, some fled… the survivors were doing their best to distance themselves from the battlefield.
But where could they hide?
Hachinosu was now at an altitude of one thousand meters. Most of their ships had been swallowed by the earlier tidal surge. Even if some had miraculously survived, they couldn't reach them safely.
But these men wouldn't just wait to die.
Death was inevitable either way. Some of the more ruthless pirates gritted their teeth and simply leaped off the edge of the island.
As for their fate... well, not everyone could imitate Kaido-sensei.
"Come down here!!"
The massive tentacles lashed out, swinging their abyss-dark slime toward Karin.
The dark liquid coating their surfaces gave them an attractive force, and once stuck, it wouldn't be easy to break free.
Of course, all this was predicated on them actually touching Karin.
Screech—
Despite being a sky-covering giant bird, Karin executed all sorts of agile evasive maneuvers in the air.
Not only that, but between dodges, she also manipulated the gale winds to form blades and slash downward.
"Storm Rain!"
The gale was accelerated to its limit, forming a dense rain of wind blades. In an instant, it riddled the few tentacles with holes.
One of the wind blades pierced through a hole created by the previous barrage, heading straight for Blackbeard below.
"Damn it!"
Blackbeard punched the ground fiercely. Then, black liquid, covering an even larger area than his [Dark Vortex], rapidly spread under the influence of the Fuwa Fuwa no Mi, directly swallowing the incoming wind blade.
The black liquid seemed to connect to another world… the wind blade vanished silently upon entering, failing to penetrate at all.
Karin observed this, silently adding a note of caution in her mind.
Having fought Kaguya, she knew very well how troublesome spatial abilities could be.
'Indeed, spatial-type powers were the most annoying!'
Blackbeard, however, realized something belatedly, a smile spreading across his face again.
'That's right...'
'I wasn't that Golden Lion guy!'
'I'm not limited to using only earth and rock as attack methods.'
'Hadn't the best weapon been in my hands all along?'
The liquid-like substance created by the Yami Yami no Mi was his strongest attack. Its biggest drawback was its slow spread speed, often ineffective against highly mobile enemies.
Most of the time, attacks like [Dark Vortex] could only suck immobile buildings into the other dimension, then use [Liberation] as a secondary attack.
But things were different now.
"Ze ha ha ha... little bird, I should thank you..."
The black liquid seemed to boil, gushing wildly from Blackbeard's body and spreading in all directions.
The black liquid didn't fall to the ground due to gravity. Instead, like a living creature, it coiled and writhed around Blackbeard, giving off a somewhat... indescribable vibe.
Seeing this, Karin's golden eyes narrowed slightly as she sensed a hint of danger.
She decisively struck first. Countless feathers, hard as metal and stone, were carried by the gale toward Blackbeard.
But facing this even more troublesome attack, the now-enlightened Blackbeard was unfazed.
"This is the perfect combination of both powers!!"
"Take this as my thanks!"
Saying this, Blackbeard spread both palms. The surrounding dark matter shot forth under the power of the Fuwa Fuwa no Mi.
"Dark Tide—"
"Great Abyss!"
Instantly, the dark matter split into several streams, surrounding Karin from different directions.
Simultaneously, the tips of the dark matter 'bloomed' open like flower buds, revealing spiral, saw-like teeth within, resembling the maws of giant sand worms.
It could be said, whether in terms of physical attack or psychological impact, this move was incredibly lethal.
Faced with those dark matter entities like deep-sea monsters, Karin immediately took evasive action.
Blackbeard's Yami Yami no Mi was as troublesome as a mop dipped in filth… hard to deal with.
If you didn't get close, you couldn't counterattack. If you did get close, you'd likely get covered in it.
Quite disgusting, really.
Especially after being amplified by the Fuwa Fuwa no Mi, its suppression of Devil Fruit users had suddenly increased by several levels.
The golden divine bird's form rapidly shrank, becoming only half a man's tall in an instant, easily slipping through the gaps in the dark matter.
"Almost forgot you could change size..."
Blackbeard's face showed no surprise, as if Karin's breakthrough was also part of his plan.
Karin keenly sensed some crisis, abruptly changing her forward flight path, sharply dodging to the side.
Sure enough.
The next moment, Blackbeard and Van Augur appeared in the previously empty space.
Simultaneously, the dark matter maw snapped shut on empty air.
"Tch, dodged it?"
Van Augur said somewhat resentfully.
He looked rather disheveled now.
His hat and glasses had been blown away by the earlier gale, and even his beloved rifle now had numerous gashes, which are marks left by the wind blades.
"Ze ha ha ha! Don't worry about it!"
Blackbeard laughed, patting his comrade.
Although the sneak attack hadn't succeeded, he still seemed very satisfied with their seamless cooperation.
"The advantage is mine. Victory is decided!"
Hearing his captain's words, Van Augur instinctively looked up.
Then he realized why Blackbeard had said that.
Karin's flight speed as the divine bird was indeed extremely fast, even exceeding the effective range a sniper like him could aim at.
Blackbeard's dark tentacles couldn't keep up either.
However, after missing their strike, those tentacles didn't disappear. Instead, they remained floating under the Fuwa Fuwa no Mi's power, forming a dense web-like network in the sky.
The space available for dodging was shrinking with each passing moment, yet that annoying brat kept her head down and fled, seemingly oblivious.
Seeing this, even the normally expressionless Van Augur cracked a slight smile.
'Just as the captain said, victory was only a matter of time!'
After calming his crew, Blackbeard turned his head, revealing a ferocious grin as he looked at Karin in the sky.
"Fly, little bird, fly as hard as you can."
His palm slowly opened. Under his control, the dense black web in the sky silently began to compress toward the center.