On the screen, two people are facing off.
One is Flame Hunter Ace, with flames soaring into the sky.
The other is Blackbeard Teach, surrounded by thick, black undercurrents that devour all light.
Ace pursues Teach.
The Second Division Commander hunts down a defected former member of the Second Division.
But he lost.
The scene fast-forwards to the conclusion of the battle.
Ace is covered in blood, lying face down on the ground.
Teach stands before him, looking down at him.
Then…
Sea Stone handcuffs are snapped onto Ace’s wrists.
The scene shifts.
Marshall D.
Teach used his former Second Division Commander, one of Whitebeard’s most beloved sons, as a bargaining chip…
On the Light Screen, Teach drags Ace before a group of Marines.
The iron chains drag across the ground, making a piercing metallic sound.
Ace’s face is buried in the mud, unable to move.
He personally handed him over to the World Government in exchange for the title of Seven Warlords of the Sea.
On the deck.
Ace sees the image of himself being dragged along the ground.
Like a dead dog.
The man he once called brother sold him like merchandise.
Sold him to the Marines.
Sold him to the World Government.
In exchange for a position in the Shichibukai.
The flames covering Ace’s body begin to shrink.
No one speaks.
But everyone has a question: Teach?
How did he do it?
What exactly is the power of the Dark-Dark Fruit?
Whitebeard’s footsteps also stop.
The old man grips Murakumogiri and stands in place.
The culprit behind everything is the Teach standing right before him.
Whitebeard thumps Murakumogiri onto the deck.
The entire ship splits down the middle—no, not the ship, but the sea beneath it.
The sea cracks in all directions starting from the Moby Dick.
The crack spreads for three hundred meters before stopping.
Seawater pours down into the fissure, making a thunderous roar.
Every living creature within ten nautical miles in the New World—Sea Kings, sea beasts, and schools of fish—all flee desperately in the opposite direction at this very second.
Whitebeard doesn’t look at Teach.
He looks up at the Light Screen.
His gaze passes through the golden images, through that young voice with the strange accent, through everything.
The old man speaks; his voice isn’t loud, but it can be heard across the entire sea.
Continue.
Tell everything he has done, without missing a single word.
This isn’t about letting Teach off the hook; it’s about making sure he understands exactly why he’s dying.
He didn’t know that the most terrifying old man in the entire sea had just issued a command to him.
Teach kneels on the ground, shaking like a leaf.
Can he move now?
Yes.
The attention of the surrounding Commanders has been partially diverted by the Light Screen.
But he doesn’t dare move.
Whitebeard is standing just ten steps away.
One move means death.
The ranking on the Light Screen continues.
But the Shichibukai was just a stepping stone.
Teach’s true goal…
The scene cuts.
Impel Down.
The Great Underwater Prison.
Using his status as a Shichibukai, he broke into Impel Down and released the Level 6 prisoners.
These are the most Heinous Criminals whose existence the World Government wanted to keep from the outside world, erased from history.
On the screen, massive figures in prison uniforms emerge from the darkness one by one.
Teach gave them a choice: kill each other in their cells, and those who survive join the Blackbeard Pirates.
In the plaza of Marineford, Sengoku’s hand slips from the windowsill.
He finally hears the content he least wanted to hear.
Impel Down.
Level 6.
Monsters whose names have been deleted from all archives.
Is Impel Down’s security zero in the face of one of the Four Emperors?
Sengoku’s voice is very low.
He wasn’t one of the Four Emperors then, Aokiji interjected.
At that time, he wasn’t a Yonko.
He went in with his Shichibukai credentials.
The credentials we issued ourselves.
Sengoku doesn’t respond.
This is a hundred times worse than he imagined.
The Shichibukai system was something he personally pushed for and maintained.
If this system was used as a stepping stone by a madman who had been undercover for twenty years…
Abolish it, Akainu says.
Sengoku and Aokiji look at him at the same time.
The Shichibukai system, Akainu’s voice leaves no room for negotiation, must be abolished.
Kizaru pushes up his sunglasses and nods with rare seriousness: I agree with Akainu’s opinion this time.
Sengoku rubs his temples.
Abolishing the Shichibukai system could trigger a massive chain reaction; it’s something that needs to be done.
But how to go about it is a headache.
On the Light Screen, the footage isn’t over yet.
Austin’s voice lowers again.
Every time he lowers his voice, everyone knows the following content won’t be easy to hear.
The Marineford War.
Marineford.
At the moment when Whitebeard was heavily wounded and on the verge of death.
On the screen, Whitebeard is covered in wounds, kneeling on one knee.
Teach appears with his new crew members.
The entire Blackbeard Pirates…
opened fire collectively on Whitebeard.
On the Light Screen, gunfire erupts.
Bullets strike Whitebeard’s body from all directions.
Whitebeard remains standing.
One shot…
two shots…
ten shots…
twenty shots…
Blackbeard has a hideous smile on his face.
Blood spurts from every bullet hole on Whitebeard’s body.
But he stands.
Then, Teach, from Whitebeard’s corpse…
Austin pauses.
Seized the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit.
The entire sea falls silent.
This silence lasts for about three seconds.
Then, on the Moby Dick, the voices of sixteen hundred people explode simultaneously.
What?!
Stealing Pops’ fruit?!
How did he do it?
How can one person have two Devil Fruits?!
Marco’s flames burn through the deck beneath his feet.
Vista’s sword is already unsheathed, and he hasn’t even noticed.
Everyone’s gaze darts back and forth between the Light Screen and Teach.
Teach kneels on the ground, his lips moving, but no sound comes out.
On the Light Screen, Austin’s narration continues.
No one knows how Teach managed to possess two Devil Fruits at the same time.
In the known records of the Great Pirate Era, this is the only instance.
Some speculate it’s related to his physical constitution.
But whatever the reason, the result is right here.
The Dark-Dark Fruit plus the Tremor-Tremor Fruit.
The world’s most evil fruit combined with the world’s most destructive fruit.
All concentrated in one person.
This man’s name is Marshall D.
Teach.
One of the later Four Emperors, Blackbeard.
A Bounty Poster appears on the Light Screen.
Teach’s face takes up most of the frame.
The bounty amount is absurdly high.
Marineford.
Sengoku’s hand presses onto his desk, leaving fingerprints in the wood.
Dual fruits.
The words are squeezed out from between his teeth.
This man absolutely cannot be left unchecked.
Sengoku turns abruptly and picks up a Den Den Mushi.
Issue an order!
As of today, Marshall D.
Teach’s bounty level is raised to the highest rank!
Send the Wanted Poster to all four seas and throughout the Grand Line!
All Marine bases…
He pauses and glances at the numbers on the Bounty Poster on the Light Screen.
Capture alive is the priority, but if capture is impossible…
kill on sight.
Akainu snorted.
This should have been done long ago.