Imu felt an overwhelming sense of absurdity.
Even though the entity present here wasn't his main body, he shouldn't have been reduced to becoming another's food.
Moreover, this Marshall D. Teach was the son of that Rocks, and even possessed multiple Devil Fruit abilities.
If his main body wasn't currently attempting to occupy a certain other vessel, he would have considered making Blackbeard's body his primary vessel at this moment.
"Heh... I am truly being underestimated."
"Do you think that just because you can ignore Domi Reversi, you can be this arrogant?"
Anger flashed in his ringed eyes. The next moment, the black grimoire suddenly opened wide, and countless enormous weapons burst forth from within.
Bang!
Several massive shotguns fired towards Momoshiki. Pellets imbued with special power were sprayed out without restraint, forming a dense curtain of fire in the sky.
"Useless! Useless!"
Shinra Tensei!
An invisible repulsive force erupted spherically, firmly holding back these bullets outside the force field.
Simultaneously, those crimson chains slithered downwards like venomous snakes. The barbs at the chains' tips, like the fangs in a snake's mouth, glinted with lethal light.
Ding!
A giant dagger precisely struck the chain's tip, followed by a second, a third... a rain of countless daggers!
Imu manipulated the daggers from the grimoire in a continuous volley, while his other hand quietly raised.
"Filthy creature, only I deserve to stand above the heavens—"
The [Hecatoncheires], created earlier from Blackbeard's death throes using the entire Hachinosu island, finally 'came alive'. Soil and rock layers, wrapped in thick Haki, transformed into giant claws, lunging upwards.
The Monkey Rock created by Momoshiki couldn't even evade. Those suddenly appearing giant hands grasped its body in various places, then violently tore it into fragments. Crimson magma cascaded downwards into the sea under gravity's pull.
The nearly hundred-meter-tall Monkey Rock was merely a little monkey before the Hecatoncheires with a diameter exceeding ten kilometers.
Even the arms of this Hecatoncheires were dozens of meters thick. With just a wave, Monkey Rock truly became a reckless monkey unable to escape the five-fingered mountain.
Those giant claws, after tearing Monkey Rock apart, continued their momentum undiminished, reaching for Momoshiki above, as if intending to crush him like that.
But Imu had also greatly underestimated Momoshiki's power.
One must know that the scenes just now, resembling Logia users unleashing ultimate moves, were merely casual actions for Momoshiki fused with Karin, simply used to buy time.
"Mere monkeys from the surface, stop your boasting!"
A greedy smile spread across Momoshiki's face. The Rinnegan in his palm suddenly widened, gathering a massive crimson energy sphere above it.
He had to admit, for a mere ten-year-old Ninja, the life energy within Karin's body was terrifyingly abundant.
And this energy, brought by the Mythical Zoan fruit and Pure Gold, after being converted by him, became an inexhaustible supply of Chakra.
Moves like the crimson Rasengan he had used to attack Naruto and Sasuke before his death could now be casually deployed like ordinary attacks.
So he simply compressed the Chakra further, packing even more energy into the limited space.
The crimson Rasengan condensed in his hand now contained over twenty times the energy of the one he had released previously.
If this were to fall upon Konoha… tsk tsk, no matter how those annoying Ninjas struggled, it would be useless.
Boom!
Imu's ringed eyes reflected the increasingly bright crimson. The unknown energy sphere directly pierced through the approaching arms, continuing its momentum undiminished towards his position.
"Dark Vortex: Deploy."
The sense of crisis was upon him.
He had to focus fully on utilizing Teach's Yami Yami no Mi, gathering all dark matter before him, forming a giant 'shield'.
Of course, the essence of this shield layer was still opening a portal to another dimension, using spatial asymmetry to transfer or neutralize the opponent's attack, or counterattack through [Liberation].
His plan was perfect, but reality was cruel.
Having existed for so many years as the apex being of this world, Imu had probably never imagined that there was a race where almost everyone could wield spatial power.
"Naive!"
Seeing the opponent indeed use that black substance, Momoshiki's smile widened. His golden Rinnegan spun rapidly.
Yomotsu Hirasaka!
Just before the dark vortex formed its black shield, the spatial gate of Yomotsu Hirasaka opened first, 'swallowing' the crimson Rasengan.
Almost simultaneously, another spatial gate opened beneath Imu. Crimson light could not be restrained from bursting through the gap of Yomotsu Hirasaka.
'What?!'
'Just how many abilities does this guy have!?'
This time, even Imu was taken aback.
The crimson Rasengan was about to explode at close range. Imu could only muster all matter under his control before him, simultaneously unleashing a powerful blast of Conqueror's Haki.
Few knew that Conqueror's Haki could affect the stability of other energies.
If it were Joy Boy's Conqueror's Haki, it could even directly interrupt his Domi Reversi.
His action did indeed have some effect.
Originally, Momoshiki had intended to let the crimson Rasengan fully emerge from Yomotsu Hirasaka before detonating it. Unexpectedly, the Chakra reacted prematurely upon being affected by Imu's Haki.
Humm—
An explosion, loud enough to instantly kill an ordinary person, resounded a thousand meters high. The blast wave directly formed hurricane-force winds spreading dozens of kilometers. Even the seawater was split apart by the impact, revealing various shipwrecks below.
Momoshiki himself was sent flying backward by the premature detonation of his own attack.
"Cough... quite troublesome, huh..."
Momoshiki covered his face with one hand, blocking the force from the explosion.
Imu below wasn't so lucky.
If even the one who unleashed the move couldn't avoid the recoil, the target naturally fared even worse.
The explosion's power exceeded his expectations. Even though he had prematurely detonated it, the blast radius still reached him.
More precisely, it reached Blackbeard's body.
'Tsk... can it also suppress regeneration like Haki?'
Imu thought unwillingly, looking at his half-destroyed body.
Originally, after he took over Teach's body, even the previously pierced heart had healed. But now, only half a heart remained in this body.
If not for his Domi Reversi power maintaining Teach's life, the man would already be dead.
'No...'
'I couldn't continue to wear down with this guy. Most of my power wasn't here now... just this guy's body alone was insufficient to deal with this monster before me.'
That's right.
Even someone as strong as Imu had to admit internally that Momoshiki, utilizing one hundred percent of Karin's power, was now an outright 'monster' of the seas.
Not even the Emperors, not even Roger, were as troublesome as this guy.
With this thought, a pentagram array immediately unfolded beneath his feet.
Before Momoshiki could react, Imu had already used long-distance teleportation to transfer away Blackbeard's half-destroyed body.
"Huh?! Bastard!!"
"He actually ran away!?"
"Don't you have even an ounce of dignity as a strong individual?"
Confusion first appeared on Momoshiki's face, then disbelief, and finally turned into humiliation and anger.
'Running away after just this little injury? How could this guy be such a coward?!'
'How was I supposed to 'eat' him then?!'
"...You were helpful just now, but now, it's time to come back."
Misfortunes never come singly. Along with the failure of his devouring plan, the voice Momoshiki least wanted to hear came from within his consciousness.
"No! This isn't how it should be!"
"You can't do this!"
"Damn female monkey! Lowly creature!"
"If not for me, you would have died long ago!"
"The one who should possess this body is me! You don't even have the ability to use this power!"
"No!!!!"
Unfortunately, no matter how unwilling Momoshiki was, the white bird-man rapidly transformed back to gold.
"That was... close..."