Ultimately, this was the result of Momousagi underestimating King's strength. If it were Kaidou or Whitebeard in front of them instead of King, the Navy wouldn't say a word and would definitely turn around and leave.
As for Blackbeard? They can temporarily ignore his existence; after all, only those Sea Emperors are the real threat in the eyes of the Navy.
"Vice Admiral Yamakaji, today might be the most dangerous day."
"It seems so. Maybe I'll die here, but I expected such things since joining the Navy."
Removing his hat, Yamakaji took out a cigar, striking it with two fingers to create a spark. After lighting his cigar, he took a deep drag.
"I hope the World Government can act as fast elsewhere in the future."
The World Government doesn't trust pirates, and pirates equally distrust the World Government. The current Seven Warlords of the Sea have their own agendas, only leveraging the Warlords' status for their actions.
Protecting countries, stealing intelligence, planning futures, reducing troubles—none are working for the World Government selflessly.
So when Blackbeard made a trade, he demanded the World Government publicize the information first, then conduct the trade, and fully recognize him as a Warlord post-transaction.
Prior to this, though he was a candidate for the Seven Warlords, it was already widely known, but many details weren't disclosed. Outsiders only knew that someone called Teach had joined the Seven Warlords.
With the dual impact of Strawberry's death and the newspaper announcement, Momousagi now had no choice but to fight to the death.
Seeing Momousagi and Yamakaji's intentions, Blackbeard finally exhaled a sigh of relief, only for a burning blade to flash past him once more. As before, using King's attack on him, Blackbeard tried to use his Dark-Dark Fruit ability to make contact with his body, weakening his battle power.
Even weakened, King's defense was beyond their comprehension; without the Dark-Dark Fruit to restrain him, there truly was no way.
Previously, King had always avoided being caught by Blackbeard, frequently switching forms, which was annoying, but this time it was different. King actively let Blackbeard grab his wrist.
And leveraging the defense from his Blue Flame Mode, he withstood the subsequent attacks.
"Blackbeard, is your vitality strong, or is it a special trait from your fruit ability?"
"Hmm?"
"I just want to test this question. Without your fruit, will you die?"
A dangerous smile appeared on King's face. Twisting his wrist, he pointed the hilt at Blackbeard.
Bang!
An ill-timed gunshot rang out as King once again surpassed the cognition of Momousagi and Yamakaji.
This guy obviously had tremendous strength, yet was equipped with all sorts of devious tools.
At this moment, the end of King's sword hilt transformed into a gun barrel, and the gunshot came from there. A sharp nail shot from the hilt, piercing the skin and embedding in Blackbeard's body.
"This kind of trick... Seastone!?"
Blackbeard hadn't expected King to use such a trick, and hadn't thought that someone would make Seastone into bullets; even the Navy only used large Seastone pieces to make prison nets.
"The outside world can't process Seastone finely, but Wano Kuni is different. They can process Seastone into all kinds of detailed shapes, even achieving more unique things."
Slash!
King's blade pierced through Blackbeard's eye socket, then exited through the back of his skull. Accompanied by a tragic cry, Blackbeard fell feebly to the ground, trying to pull out the nail in his chest but unable to do so.
That piece of high-purity Seastone posed a deadly threat to ability users and was also King's method of dealing with certain ability users.
Despicable? Shameless? He never cared about those things. So long as he could resolve his enemies and become the final victor, he didn't mind the process.
Hidden Finger Tigers within the gloves, shark-toothed blades, all were to target different kinds of enemies. The Seastone bullet within the hilt was just for a surprise attack on ability users.
Some complex abilities are extremely tricky; even Haki suppression is hard to handle, whereas Seastone is much quicker against ability users compared to Haki.
Beasts who occupy the original source of Seastone won't leave it unused.
Craftsmen who can create such high-purity Seastone weapons are rare and are highly treasured in Wano Kuni.
"Your brain should have been pierced by now, seemingly your tenacious vitality comes from your body. So, if burned to ashes, can you still live?"
The barrier that had been steadfastly protecting expanded around King, forcibly pushing Momousagi and Yamakaji out, then blue flames completely engulfed the area.
"Captain Teach!!"
The high temperature caused the air to nearly distort, preventing Laffitte from approaching the battlefield below; it was unclear what Blackbeard had become amidst the blazing fire.
"I say, isn't it a little too hot here? Ice Age!"
"Admiral Kuzan!"
A thick layer of ice spread towards the center of the island, freezing both Blackbeard on the ground and King, who was about to continue swinging his sword.
As a result, the flames on the ground were extinguished, leaving a large amount of steam behind. Ordinary ice couldn't instantly extinguish King's flames, as his flames had already surpassed the level of the Flame-Flame Fruit user in temperature.
Although Kuzan froze King, it only lasted a moment; the next instant, the ice on his body surface directly vaporized, and King regained his freedom once more.
"Headquarter Admiral Aokiji... The Navy's personnel really have too much free time."
From Vice Admirals, Admiral Candidates, to current Admirals, the Navy's speed in mobilizing troops even made King feel annoyed.
"Ah la la, I didn't expect to encounter someone like you here either. Aren't you supposed to be by Kaidou's side as his right-hand man?"
Without continuing the conversation with Aokiji, King swung his sword, intending to decapitate Blackbeard; yet Aokiji instantaneously appeared before King, blocking him.
Though the height difference was significant, the sense of oppression was extremely strong.
"Your Navy sure is diligent for the Seven Warlords of the Sea."
"If you had found him a few days earlier and killed him, it would've been fine, but your actions lag behind those newspapers, making it troublesome.
What's more, there's Strawberry involved; your searing flames ought to cool down in Impel Down."
Strawberry's body already lay to the side. The death of a Headquarter Vice Admiral was already considered a major incident, and how to handle it afterwards was up to the higher-ups. Kuzan didn't intend to let King leave just like that.
But he was just ice, unable to catch the pterodactyl bathed in blazing flames; with Blackbeard half-dead and no one able to restrain King's abilities, there was no stopping King, and ultimately, Kuzan could only watch as King flew away from the scene.