Under the watchful eyes of the entire world, Teach finally revealed himself.
His young face remained calm, his dark eyes deep and unreadable, while an overwhelming aura of dominance radiated from his body. Standing high above the battlefield, he exerted terrifying pressure on the five remaining CP0 agents below.
They understood immediately what that pressure meant.
It represented a gap in strength so vast it resembled the distance between heaven and earth.
Even without deliberately releasing Conqueror's Haki, Teach's mere presence made hearts tremble.
When a person's strength reaches a monstrous level, their very existence begins to influence the surrounding world. Their life force, spirit, and magnetic field naturally suppress weaker beings.
Pito's terrifying Observation Haki worked through that same principle.
The clearest manifestation of that invisible magnetic field was Conqueror's Haki itself. Whether it was a clash of wills or advanced coating, overwhelming spiritual force generated those violent black-red lightning arcs.
Now, with multiple CP0 agents appearing alongside Teach's grand entrance, the war's overall level of combat power rose to an entirely new height.
"It's him…"
Far below, Lemor punched his opponent backward while in his human-beast form. As he stared toward the sky, his fists unconsciously tightened.
Teach was over a thousand meters above the battlefield, far beyond what Lemor's eyesight could clearly perceive.
But he knew.
He would never mistake that presence.
Teach had killed both of his brothers. If not for the terrifying vitality granted by his Ancient Zoan Devil Fruit, Lemor himself would have died back then.
His emotions toward Teach were complicated.
Hatred?
Not really.
The difference in strength between them was too overwhelming for hatred to even take root. Revenge was even more impossible.
Although his blood relatives had died at Teach's hands, Teach had also spared his life. In a twisted way, that moment became Lemor's turning point. He joined the Beast Pirates afterward and finally stepped onto the path he truly desired.
Kaido's arrival in the Kate Kingdom back then had also been part of Teach's plan.
Lemor knew that.
He had even told Kaido personally.
In a certain sense, Teach could almost be considered one of Kaido's benefactors. Back then, Teach had still been young, his power nowhere near Kaido's level. Even so, he used Kaido to secure the foundation of his future empire.
That territory became the starting point for the Nightfall Pirates' explosive rise.
It was also the basis of the cooperation between both sides.
Pirates were unreliable by nature and betrayal was common, yet gratitude still held value on the seas.
Eight years had passed since then.
Lemor had grown into one of the Beast Pirates' great calamities, a major figure feared throughout the New World.
But Teach?
Teach had become something even more terrifying.
So terrifying that he felt untouchable.
"Here's a little welcoming gift for you all."
Teach chuckled softly.
The five remaining CP0 agents were not even worthy of his full attention. The only ones among them who posed even slight trouble were "Gentleman" and the red-masked CP0 leader, both of whom possessed Admiral-level combat power.
Still, Teach feared neither.
His abilities had been developed to an almost perfect level.
Dark energy swirled around his raised hand.
At the tips of his five fingers, spheres of condensed darkness rapidly formed. Tiny black spheres floated there quietly, resembling miniature black holes.
The moment they appeared, the expressions of the CP0 agents changed drastically.
Many people watching across the world immediately recognized the technique as well.
Teach's abilities had long been studied in depth. Through battle footage, combat analysis, and endless forum discussions, many techniques of the Dark-Dark Fruit had already become famous.
This move, however, stood above the others.
Teach had never officially named it.
It had only appeared once before, during the World Expo.
That single attack had instantly devoured and killed "Crescent Moon Hunter" Catarina Devon, a powerful Mythical Zoan user, leaving absolutely no resistance.
Even space itself seemed distorted by the attack.
The impression it left on people was unforgettable.
Nobody dared underestimate a power that tampered with space itself.
In a town square somewhere in the world, countless civilians sat gathered together watching the war broadcast.
The instant Teach formed the dark spheres, a young boy suddenly leaped to his feet.
"It's the Explosive Space-Time Distortion Reincarnation Devourer Orb!"
His excited shout echoed throughout the entire square.
Silence followed.
Then countless gazes turned toward him.
What an embarrassingly chuunibyou name.
People nearby stared at him with amused expressions.
"Idiot!" another child shouted immediately. "That's obviously the Ultimate Super Mini Annihilation Star!"
The two children instantly began arguing, nearly coming to blows on the spot.
Unfortunately for them, the battle on screen resumed immediately, forcing both to shut up and refocus.
"Dodge!"
The red-masked CP0 agent roared.
The terrifying aura contained within those dark spheres made even him unwilling to take them head-on. He did not believe Armament Haki alone could resist such power.
The five agents instantly scattered in different directions.
The tiny black spheres drifted slowly through the air toward them under Teach's control.
At the same time, overwhelming gravity descended upon the five CP0 agents, attempting to suppress their movement.
This attack possessed terrifying destructive power, but its travel speed was relatively slow. The unstable miniature black holes required careful control. Excessive acceleration could destabilize them prematurely.
Under the combined effects of gravitational suppression and tracking control, only the two strongest CP0 agents could still move properly.
The remaining three were directly dragged upward by the pressure, their bodies almost floating helplessly in the air.
Airborne movement was already slower than movement on land.
Without footing or leverage, combined with Teach's overwhelming gravitational restraint, dodging became nearly impossible.
"Attack them! Force them to explode early!"
The red-masked CP0 agent reacted instantly.
Drawing from his combat experience and his memory of the technique's previous appearance, he quickly identified a possible weakness.
Even if the strategy failed, they had no choice but to try.
Every CP0 agent standing here had survived countless life-and-death situations.
Since childhood, they had endured brutal training, murder, and constant elimination inside the World Government's intelligence system.
They feared death the least.
At the same time, they desired survival more than anyone.
The five agents resisted the pressure and attacked simultaneously.
"Gentleman" swung his blade first.
A massive blood-red slash tore through the air and struck directly toward one of the dark spheres.
The instant the slash touched it, the miniature black hole lost stability and exploded outward.
Terrifying gravitational force erupted violently.
The slash itself twisted and distorted before being swallowed completely without leaving even the slightest ripple.
"Flying Finger Pistol!"
Several CP0 agents immediately followed up.
As masters of the Six Powers, long-range Finger Pistol techniques were naturally part of their arsenal.
Compressed air bullets shot through the sky toward the approaching dark spheres.
Long-range attacks were indeed the best way to deal with this technique.
However, the dark spheres were still under Teach's gravitational control.
The true weakness of the move was not piercing attacks like Finger Pistol.
Wide-range shockwaves, vibrations, or sound-based techniques were far more effective because even slight contact could destabilize the spheres instantly.
Finger Pistol attacks were too narrow.
Teach also had no intention of allowing them to connect.
His Observation Haki had already locked onto every attack trajectory.
Wide-range Observation Haki users like Teach and Pito were actually extremely rare.
Most people relied primarily on visual awareness in combat.
But Teach's perception extended far beyond normal limits.
Deep within his eyes, a red light flickered.
Future Sight activated.
The constantly shifting trajectories of every Flying Finger Pistol appeared clearly in his mind.
The gravitational suppression became especially terrifying in midair.
Had the CP0 agents remained on solid ground, they could have resisted much more effectively.
Coming into the sky had been their greatest mistake.
With future trajectories already visible to him, how could Teach possibly allow them to escape?
Had they stayed together, they might have supported one another.
Unfortunately, there was no such thing as "if."
The dark spheres bypassed the Finger Pistols and exploded directly before two agents.
Space collapsed instantly.
Terrifying gravity distorted everything nearby.
One CP0 agent was swallowed whole. His body twisted violently as the overwhelming gravity stretched and tore him apart. His clothes shredded instantly under the pressure.
The second reacted much faster.
He kicked the air explosively, generating a shockwave that destabilized the approaching dark sphere.
But the distance was too close.
The edge of the collapsing gravitational field caught one of his legs.
His expression changed instantly.
Without hesitation, he chopped downward with his hand.
Blood sprayed through the air.
He severed his own leg before the gravity could consume the rest of his body.
The detached limb was instantly devoured by the miniature black hole.
The man escaped, but at terrible cost.
For martial artists, legs were often more important than arms.
Losing one leg practically crippled him.
Only monsters like the future Kyros could continue fighting normally after such injuries.
Unfortunately for him, Kyros was already dead.
The atmosphere instantly grew heavy.
The battle had barely begun, yet four of the eight CP0 agents had already fallen.
One more had been crippled.
"Retreat!"
The red-masked CP0 agent made the decision immediately.
Fighting Teach in the air was suicide.
Battling an enemy stronger than them while also fighting on his preferred terrain was simply courting death.
Teach's only true weaknesses were seawater and the amplified pain caused by the Dark-Dark Fruit, yet none of them believed they possessed enough attack power to break his defense.
Maintaining their composure, they chose the most rational option.
The red-masked CP0 agent and Gentleman each grabbed one injured comrade and forcefully broke free from Teach's gravitational suppression before diving downward toward the battlefield below.
Teach immediately pursued them.
He had no intention of letting such prey escape.
"I'll stop him!"
Sweat covered Gentleman's forehead as he suddenly turned back mid-descent.
His sword flashed repeatedly.
Countless blood-red slashes filled the sky and swallowed Teach's vision whole.
An overwhelming aura of slaughter erupted from the attacks.
An ordinary person would likely collapse mentally just from sensing it.
Teach remained completely unaffected.
His body weaved effortlessly through the incoming slashes.
Several unavoidable attacks approached head-on.
A Dark Orb instantly expanded before him, forming a hemispherical shield.
The slashes struck the surface and only left shallow marks before the black shield rapidly regenerated.
How do you fight an enemy whose defense you cannot even break?
Before this battle, CP0 had never truly prepared for a direct confrontation against Teach himself.
They had anticipated possible pirate reinforcements.
Perhaps another Emperor-level pirate.
Perhaps hidden New World legends.
Perhaps elite commanders.
But Teach?
They had never seriously considered fighting him directly.
The difference in strength was simply too large.
Even all of them combined were not comparable to Arest in the skies at night.
Nor were they comparable to Redyat.
And against Gaia on land, they also stood no chance.
Against the Dark Emperor himself, their odds were even worse.
Their only hope now was returning to the ground and stalling until stronger reinforcements arrived.
It did not take long to descend from such altitude.
Gentleman's attacks bought them precious seconds.
Soon, the four surviving CP0 agents landed together on the battlefield below.
Only by combining forces could they hope to resist Teach.
Meanwhile, Teach suddenly stopped midair.
His gaze shifted sharply sideways.
A monstrous aura rapidly approached.
Violent power tore across the sky like a meteor.
"TEACH!"
A furious roar exploded across the battlefield.
A massive figure instantly appeared before Teach.
Fleet Admiral Kong.
The World Government's hidden trump card.
Their final reserve force prepared specifically to suppress unexpected disasters during the war.
And also the strongest combatant currently present on the battlefield.
Teach had known Kong was nearby.
However, his focus had remained fixed on the CP0 agents.
That brief lapse in attention weakened his awareness just enough.
By the time Teach fully sensed Kong's presence, it was already too late.
This was also Teach's first direct clash against Kong.
Even though he had estimated Kong's strength beforehand, he still underestimated him.
Kong was too fast.
Before Teach could fully react, Kong had already crossed the distance between them.
Terrifying explosive power erupted from his body.
A massive fist smashed directly toward Teach.
Instinctively, the Dark Orb shield moved to intercept.
Boom!
The collision detonated like thunder.
The impact shockwave alone forced nearby cannonballs off course, causing them to explode far from their intended targets.
The smoke blanketing the battlefield was blasted away instantly.
For a brief moment, the battlefield even brightened.
Then Teach's expression changed.
Cracks rapidly spread across the Dark Orb shield.
Kong's Armament Haki was terrifying beyond expectation.
The hardened darkness trembled violently.
Even Teach's control over the Dark Orb was disrupted by the sheer force behind the strike.
The fused shield consisted of four compressed Dark Orbs layered together.
Its hardness had not increased, but its thickness and durability had.
Even so, Kong shattered it.
The shield exploded apart instantly.
That terrifying fist continued forward unabated.
Teach's eyes narrowed sharply.
Haki surged across his body.
He crossed both arms before himself, coating them with flowing Armament Haki.
BOOM!
Kong's punch landed directly.
An earth-shattering explosion erupted.
Teach's body shot backward like a cannon shell.
Intense pain exploded through his arms.
Veins bulged violently across his forehead.
Cracks spread across the bones in both forearms.
Even the Dark Orbs surrounding him momentarily destabilized.
His body smashed violently into the frozen battlefield below.
The terrifying impact split the ice apart instantly.
A massive fissure stretched across the battlefield in his wake.
Countless people were thrown away by the shockwave alone.
Teach's body continued crashing deeper through the ice before finally plunging beneath the frozen sea itself.
A towering wave erupted skyward.
Everything had happened far too quickly.
For a brief moment, countless people across the world stared blankly at the screen, unable to process what they had just witnessed.