Chapter 225

All alone as he was, where did he get the confidence to say such a thing?

Not just him—'Wu' and Brunote were the same, clearly not believing that Blackbeard could take on three at once.

"Gyahahahahahaha… it doesn't matter, anyway in a little while you'll all be dead men."

Blackbeard laughed with an utterly casual expression, his brazenness almost making the veins on the foreheads of the three opposite him pop.

As strong ones, when had they ever suffered such contempt and humiliation.

"President Hades, how about leaving it to me."

Seeing that the Demon Seven Familiars had already departed and with no worries behind him, Hades was just about to make a move when he heard Brunote's voice ring out.

Though his expression was as usual, Hades—who knew Brunote extremely well—was clear that the man before him had already been angered.

The next second, without waiting for Hades to reply, Brunote leapt into the high sky and struck.

"You bastard can fly!"

Boom boom boom—!

Magic power surged explosively, beneath endless gravity.

The earth split apart, and the next second dozens of meters of ground rose into the air, smashing toward Blackbeard.

The moment he struck, Brunote directly displayed two different uses of gravity magic—gravitational pull and gravity—without holding back in the slightest.

However…

Black mist surged forth from Blackbeard's hand, transforming into a lake.

The falling ground vanished in an instant within the darkness.

The next second,

Seeing this, Hades' eyes narrowed slightly as he called out loudly to Brunote.

"Be careful of the opponent's black mist, it seems to possess some kind of devouring ability."

"I'll return it all to you!"

The words had barely fallen when Blackbeard had already begun his counterattack!

Boom—!

Through the black mist, the ground Brunote had released flew out together with the Dark Flame of God that Zankruro had unleashed earlier.

Nature Type · Dark-Dark Fruit

Called the most fearsome ability in the history of Devil Fruits, it possesses the gravity of a different darkness, capable of drawing in everything it touches with darkness, compressing and crushing it, and even storing it,

able to release the things stored within the darkness at any time—Blackbeard himself is essentially a small black hole.

The Dark Flame Zankruro had unleashed earlier was stored within his body, and now, along with the ground peeled away by Brunote's gravitational release, it is returned with double the force.

Almost in an instant, Brunote's mind had run through every possible image of Blackbeard's counterattack, yet he never imagined the opponent would counter in such a way!

However, Brunote was no simple character either; with a wave of his right hand, gravity released, and the attack flying toward him instantly dropped to the ground.

Yet this was not over—clasping his hands together, terrifying weight instantly descended upon Blackbeard's body.

Boom—!

【32】 An invisible pressure fell from thin air; centered on Blackbeard, the ground instantly collapsed dozens of meters, and the surrounding swath of trees also crumbled under the impact.

An invisible pressure descended from nowhere, and with Blackbeard at its center, the ground instantly collapsed dozens of meters deep, while the surrounding swath of trees, battered by the shockwave, crashed down with a thunderous roar.

If the surrounding trees were already like this, needless to say Blackbeard at the very center.

The weight he bore was several times more than that at the edge!

However…

Under this gravity, Blackbeard, with black mist emanating from his entire body, seemed completely unaffected as he walked step by step.

"Th-this… how is this possible!?"

"Is Brunote's magic really having no effect at all?"

"Could it be that Brunote didn't use his full strength?"

……

Although they had escaped the battle's center, Ultear and the others had not gone far.

Piloting their airship, they flew to midair, watching this battle.

But when they saw Blackbeard still unharmed within the gravity space, their eyeballs nearly fell out.

One must know that before 'Wu' joined the Demon Heart, Brunote was the strongest mage second only to President Hades.

The strength of his power was such that even Ultear, the leader of the Purgatory Seven Familiars, was no match.

Not just them—President Hades and President 'Wu', watching from the side, were also shocked by the scene before them.

"No good, Brunote alone cannot take down the opponent; that fellow called Blackbeard is far too strange."

Hades' gaze sank slightly; clearly the power Blackbeard had displayed was somewhat beyond his expectations.

In fact, Blackbeard's performance even surprised Lin Cheng, who was controlling him, somewhat.

· ·······Seeking fresh flowers···· ·····

Wrapped within the black mist, Blackbeard barely felt any pressure at all.

"It seems the ability of the Dark-Dark Fruit is far stronger than I originally imagined."

Although Blackbeard had now been raised to two-star rank, in fact aside from an additional Conqueror's Haki, the two-star Blackbeard's special effects had no other enhancements.

The Nature Type · Dark-Dark Fruit is called the most fearsome ability in history, but in fact in the original work the Blackbeard who possessed the Dark-Dark Fruit was still very weak.

Even when Ace was pursuing him, they still managed to exchange blows back and forth.

In Lin Cheng's view, what truly made Blackbeard worth the price of 300 million emotion points was the ability based on dual Devil Fruits.

Only upon reaching the three-star rank and awakening the Fruit's ability can the power of the Dark-Dark Fruit truly be displayed.

But unexpectedly, when Lin Cheng tried using the Dark-Dark Fruit's ability to resist the opponent, the opponent's gravity, upon falling into the black mist, seemed to plunge into a void, sinking into the darkness.

"It seems the saying that there is no useless Fruit ability, only useless people, is really true."

Lin Cheng shook his head and sighed.

Although the Devil Fruit could grant a person tremendous power, if one did not develop it, did not cultivate it, in the end one could never bring out the fruit's true ability.

And now, although the Dark-Dark Fruit was held by Blackbeard, the one actually controlling it was Lin Cheng.

Through battle, the Dark-Dark Fruit had instead been developed by him to a brand-new layer!

"No good, Brunault is no match for the opponent. If the fight continues, Brunault is bound to lose, and might even be in mortal danger."

"Strike together. Take care of that guy as fast as possible."

On the other side, Hades, who had been watching the fight in silence the whole time, slowly spoke.

After several exchanges, although he had not yet completely seen through the opponent's ability, it had given him a vague sense of some blurry probabilities regarding Blackbeard's power.

He had not stopped Brunault earlier precisely so he could observe the opponent's strength. Seeing that Brunault could not take the opponent down directly, he immediately ordered 'Wu' to join forces with him.

The opponent had just launched one attack — who could be sure whether the opponent really only had one person, or whether there were some hidden trump cards no one knew about.

Without absolute certainty, taking down the opponent as fast as possible was the true way to survive.

Fair?

That is merely a rule among the weak.

And rules, in the eyes of the strong, exist to be broken. Yi.