"Zehahahaha..."
Blackbeard suddenly burst into loud laughter, though his laughter was icy cold.
Even a fool could sense the boundless killing intent within it.
After his laughter subsided, he spoke coldly. "Good... This way, I can make you taste the pain of losing a comrade too."
As soon as he finished speaking, he turned and charged toward Baby-5's location.
Despite his bulky build, his speed was by no means slow.
But...
"Soru..."
Lancelot instantly vanished from his original position, reappearing right in front of Blackbeard to block his path.
The moment Lancelot appeared, the corners of Blackbeard's mouth curled upward slightly, revealing a mix of triumph and malice.
This was exactly the effect he wanted... He threw a punch directly at Lancelot.
This punch held nothing back.
He wanted to make this Marine taste the power of his fist.
However, Lancelot seemed to have anticipated it all along.
Shusui in his hand was already positioned defensively in front of him.
Crash...
The next second, Blackbeard's fist slammed fiercely onto Lancelot's Shusui.
Immediately, terrifying power continuously clashed between fist and sword.
"Crack crack crack..."
This time, the two were evenly matched.
Then, in the next instant, a fearsome force erupted from Blackbeard's body, converging onto his fist.
Instantly, something resembling black lightning appeared around his fist.
'Oh ho...'
Because Lancelot recognized it at a glance—this was Conqueror's Haki Infusion.
Had to admit, Blackbeard still had some tricks up his sleeve.
No wonder he could leave a scar on Red-Haired Shanks' face...
But what did he have to fear?
Although he hadn't mastered Conqueror's Haki Infusion yet, his Armament Haki had already reached an extremely high level.
Armament Haki surged forth, forming Ryuō that entangled around Shusui.
Simultaneously, it extended outward, intertwining with Blackbeard's Conqueror's Haki Infusion.
This was a clash between Conqueror's Haki and Armament Haki, and also a contest between Armament Haki Entanglement and Conqueror's Haki Infusion.
"Boom rumble..."
With the addition of Conqueror's Haki and Armament Haki, their respective powers intensified, and the collision grew even more violent.
Forming waves of terrifying impact force that swept outward in all directions.
Wherever it passed, the ground seemed to experience a category 10 typhoon.
Everything was swept up into the air.
And the ground itself appeared to have undergone a magnitude 10 earthquake.
The ground centered around the two began to crack, with fissures rapidly spreading outward and growing larger.
Soon, the ground within two hundred meters couldn't withstand the pressure and completely shattered.
Even floating mid-air within the shockwaves before ultimately turning into endless dust under the impact.
Just as the two reached a stalemate, Lancelot transformed into his human-dragon form.
His power instantly received a terrifying boost... nearly doubling.
Though described slowly, this transformation was completed almost instantaneously.
Before Blackbeard could react, he felt himself struck by an irresistible force and sent flying, crashing heavily a hundred meters away.
"Zoan Ability User?" Lafitte in the air was shocked once again.
Considering the power Lancelot had already displayed was terrifying enough.
In his view, the entire West Blue couldn't produce anyone who could match him.
But he never expected this Marine to still have such a "trump card" up his sleeve.
"Pfft..."
Blackbeard, a hundred meters away, struggled to his feet.
He then spat out a mouthful of blood—clearly, Lancelot's strike had inflicted significant damage.
"Soru..."
Instantly, Lancelot appeared about ten meters away from Blackbeard, staring intently at him.
Simultaneously, Blackbeard also stared fixedly at Lancelot, his eyes containing traces of terror.
"You're actually... a Zoan Ability User too."
Most importantly, Lancelot now reminded him of someone from the New World.
One of the Four Emperors—Kaido of the Beasts.
"Gulp..."
Blackbeard swallowed hard.
At this moment, he was genuinely feeling panicked!
He couldn't understand—what kind of monster was this Marine before him?
Rokushiki, Great Swordsman-level swordsmanship, Armament Haki, Observation Haki—these alone were already monstrous enough.
But unexpectedly, he was also a Zoan Devil Fruit Ability User.
And what's more, it was a powerful fruit similar to Kaido's Azure Dragon Fruit.
"Huff..."
However, Blackbeard truly lived up to his reputation as a future emperor.
He took a deep breath to calm himself, then couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth upward before extending his hand toward Lancelot.
"Dark Vortex!"
Blackbeard activated his Darkness-Darkness Fruit ability against Lancelot.
As long as the target was an Ability User, they would be countered by the Darkness-Darkness Fruit.
At this moment, he felt confident again.
This technique utilized the infinite gravitational pull of a black hole nature to draw opponents toward himself.
No matter how far away they were, escape was impossible - even for those possessing the speed of light.
When making contact with an Ability User, their Devil Fruit powers would become ineffective.
It could also absorb fruit-based attacks, though only small-scale ones.
Admittedly, under normal circumstances, this move was indeed the natural enemy of all Devil Fruits.
However, the opponent Blackbeard now faced wasn't Ace from the original story - who had developed the Flame-Flame Fruit to its limits but had weak physical combat skills and Haki.
So when Blackbeard used this technique...
And Lancelot felt that irresistible pulling force, he was momentarily stunned before completely failing to suppress the smile on his face.
Because in his view, this was an extremely foolish move.
He even sheathed Shusui back at his waist, then put on an act of desperately resisting.
Finally "unable to withstand" the pull, he was drawn toward Blackbeard.
"Zehahaha..."
Blackbeard watched Lancelot getting closer and couldn't help but let out his signature laugh.
When Lancelot reached him, he clenched his fist and threw a punch directly at Lancelot's abdomen.
"Armament Haki... Tetsu - Empty Wood!"
In the next instant, Lancelot's entire body became enveloped in Armament Haki.
"Boom..."
The next second, Blackbeard's fist, infused with Haki Entanglement, slammed into Lancelot's abdomen.
A powerful shockwave erupted between them...
Immediately after, Blackbeard was sent flying backward, crashing down dozens of meters away.
When he stood up again, his left hand was clutching his constantly trembling right hand.
His right hand was now completely twisted and deformed.
He couldn't even form it into a fist.
"How is this possible?"
Blackbeard wore an expression of utter disbelief.
He simply couldn't comprehend how Lancelot's body, enhanced by this Zoan fruit, had become so formidable.
Not only had he taken the punch head-on without any damage, but he had also shattered Blackbeard's right hand... What was most unacceptable was that he couldn't absorb this injury using his Darkness-Darkness Fruit ability.
Seeing this, Lancelot couldn't help but smile.
Full-body level Armament Haki, combined with Tetsu, plus the terrifying enhancement from the Ancestral Dragon Fruit.
His defensive capabilities definitely weren't inferior to Kaido and Big Mom.
Blocking Blackbeard's attack wasn't difficult at all.
However, he had spontaneously decided to use the special Tetsu technique "Empty Wood," combined with external Armament Haki release, to shatter Blackbeard's hand.
This turned out to be an unexpected bonus.
From now on, he had gained another powerful method to injure enemies.
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