Teach spun around as a chill touched his spine.
He saw Rolan standing behind him.
"Rolan!!!" Blackbeard bellowed in terror, eyes wide.
Rolan did not hesitate. He reached forward and snatched Luffy out of Blackbeard's grip.
"Hey Rolan This is my fight Don't interfere!" Luffy tried to push forward.
But Jinbe stepped in with a steady tone: "Luffy‑kun, Rolan doesn't want to waste time We need to save Ace."
Luffy quieted, tension still heavy in his voice but restrained by reason.
Hannyabal, held by Jinbe, stopped struggling completely. Rolan and Blackbeard were both Pirates. Better they fight and weaken each other than distract Rolan's mission.
"Captain!"
"Captain be careful!"
Laffitte and the others watched as Rolan appeared before Blackbeard, alarm tightening their throats.
Burgess charged forward with brutal momentum, swinging a heavy fist at Rolan's back.
Rolan didn't even turn.
Burgess's punch connected.
Just then, a blade of crackling blue lightning emerged from Rolan's left chest, piercing Burgess's fist.
Instantly Burgess felt suffocating pressure and dizziness flood his body as his vision flickered.
Before he could even react, Rolan's figure faded from sight.
"Is that…an afterimage" Burgess muttered, then collapsed.
"Burgess!" Blackbeard growled.
But Rolan didn't stop.
His form reappeared in front of Doc Q in a split second and with a single motion cleaved man and horse in two.
"Doc Q!" Blackbeard roared, but Rolan's speed wasn't something even Observation Haki could track at that moment.
Van Auger had just raised his firearm when suddenly his vision blurred wildly.
Before he could react his neck was struck by a blue blade.
His body collapsed to its knees and then to the ground.
His head thudded onto the stone floor and everything turned black.
"Van Auger!"
Blackbeard was too slow to intercept.
Rolan had killed Van Auger before he even knew what happened.
Seeing Burgess fall Laffitte sensed danger and shot upward into the air.
But nothing could save him.
A cold voice echoed in his mind: "It's your turn."
The tone was hollow and merciless.
Rolan raised his Electromagnetic Blade and severed Laffitte cleanly down the middle.
Then in the blink of an instant, Rolan vanished from sight, reappearing ten meters in front of Blackbeard.
Bang
Bang
Laffitte's severed halves slammed to the ground behind him, silent and still.
It all happened in a heartbeat.
"Rolan!" Teach shouted through blood and fury. "Why"
Rolan looked down at Teach with that same nonchalant expression.
"You know why," he said.
"Is this over Ace" Blackbeard asked, voice trembling still.
Rolan nodded once, cool and precise, "Yes."
Blackbeard sputtered out a bitter laugh.
"I only killed Thatch and took the Dark‑Dark Fruit I didn't touch Captain Ace Captain Ace chased me all the way to Paradise I begged him for mercy but he refused I knew if I was caught it would mean death So I did what I did."
Rolan's brow flickered with irritation.
Blackbeard was smooth with his words — too smooth.
He was one of the few true Pirates in history, from his days hiding in Whitebeard's crew to the moment he found the Dark‑Dark Fruit.
By defeating Ace and becoming a Shichibukai, Blackbeard walked through the Gates of Justice into Impel Down, recruiting deadly crewmates like Avalo Pizarro and Catarina Devon.
Step by careful step he seized Whitebeard's territory and rose to become one of the Four Emperors.
Rolan let out an unimpressed noise.
"You speak well," he said, "I protect my own That is true But that is not the only reason I'm here."
Teach's brow creased deeper.
"I've never offended you before Have I" he asked.
In Blackbeard's memory the only conflict they shared was with Ace — no personal grudge.
Rolan didn't flinch.
"The other reason is simple I intensely dislike you."
Blackbeard nearly laughed — it was absurd.
Luffy watched closely, trembling with awe at Rolan's ruthless efficiency.
He remembered how many times bones broke on the Breaking Ship during training with Ace — more times than he could count.
Jinbe could only stare in disbelief.
This man known as Rolan was usually calm, even smiling — yet here he stood in the thick of carnage eviscerating enemies without hesitation.
No wonder the world called him the God Slayer.
Hannyabal was frozen in horrified shock, having never expected this seemingly harmless man to butcher foes as easily as cutting wheat.
Rolan's fist sparked with nuggets of energy, crackling subtly with power.
"Rest in peace."
Teach felt the cold weight of death emanating from Rolan's resolve.
There was no running from this.
"Zehahahahaha Rolan Do you really think you have me cornered" Blackbeard barked with a warped grin.
Everyone in the world knew Rolan was an Electromagnetic Fruit user and Blackbeard himself was confident that a Devil Fruit user could be dealt with if captured.
He believed that capturing Rolan and stripping him of his ability would tilt the battle.
If he succeeded everything would go according to plan.
The mere thought made him laugh.
"Zehahahahaha it would be interesting if you the World's Strongest Man were captured."
Rolan shook his head, unimpressed by Blackbeard's strategy.
Even if Devil Fruit abilities had quirks with his power, Blackbeard had no hope of besting him at strength alone.
Rolan condensed Conqueror's Haki and Armament Haki onto his right fist.
Red and black sparks danced violently around it.
An Electromagnetic Instant Transmission flickered beneath him as he closed distance.
Teach braced himself and coated his own fist with Armament Haki to meet the strike.
The moment their fists connected Teach realized this was unlike Luffy's attack.
There was no stalemate.
Blackbeard was sent flying backward by the force of a single punch.
Before he could even register the fall Rolan was above him again.
Rolan then condensed both Haki types into his right foot.
He brought it down with murderous precision toward Blackbeard's head!
Bang
The impact drove Blackbeard into the ground with terrifying power.
Cracks spidered outward across the stone floor.
Crack
The ground beneath couldn't withstand it and shattered open.
Rolan's foot continued to drive Blackbeard down through levels of Impel Down.
Bang
Level Three cracked
Bang
Level Four fractured
He drove deeper — finally halting around the Fifth Level.
Even the Fifth Level shattered outward from the intensity.
Rolan looked up at the newly formed hole overhead.
He scratched the side of his head in mild irritation.
"Is this Impel Down supposed to be the World's toughest prison This happened with only thirty percent of my strength."
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