Acel's fist spun forward like a drill, Armament Haki compressed to a sharp point.
He was trying to pierce through Dark Jade by concentrating everything into a single strike.
Teach smiled.
Acel's raw destructive power was not monstrous. What made him terrifying was his Devil Fruit. It granted him near invincibility, not overwhelming offense.
And Acel did not understand Dark Jade.
It was not just hard.
It was flexible.
It shifted.
It adapted.
Breaking it was not as simple as punching harder.
Still, Teach did not interrupt. He wanted to see where its limit truly lay.
Acel rotated his arm through a full arc and thrust forward. The black sheen of Armament Haki darkened the air around them.
For a brief second, everything seemed to pause.
Then the shockwave exploded outward.
Prisoners who had tried to slip past while Acel focused on Teach were already climbing toward Level Four. Those who remained shielded their faces as the wind howled. Snow and ice lifted like an avalanche and swept across the battlefield.
The ice covering Freezing Hell was blasted away.
At the center, the frozen ground was exposed. That bare circle expanded as the clash continued.
Acel's punch sank into the surface of Dark Jade.
But it did not break through.
The Haki drill was swallowed, wrapped and absorbed by the shifting black surface.
Teach did not waste the opening.
He grinned.
Acel noticed it and tried to withdraw his arm.
Too late.
Dark Jade clung to his fist and surged forward, wrapping around his forearm like liquid iron.
Acel's expression shifted.
He pulled.
Nothing moved.
In the next instant, Teach vanished from directly in front of him and reappeared at his right side.
His hand had transformed into a demonic claw.
"Eight Maidens."
From top to bottom, the claw carved down with vicious precision toward Acel's trapped arm.
At this range, with his limb restrained, dodging was nearly impossible.
Acel reacted from instinct. He twisted into an awkward but precise posture and kicked at Teach's torso.
Another plate of Dark Jade appeared instantly and blocked the strike.
Teach usually kept it concealed beneath his clothing like armor, calling it out only when needed.
The kick failed.
Teach's claw came down.
He felt the sensation of tearing flesh.
But there was no spray of blood. No severed limb.
A few shallow scratches appeared on Acel's arm. Thin streaks of red.
Nothing more.
Inside Acel's body, tens of thousands of faint lights flickered.
Each represented a prisoner in Impel Down.
The damage was divided equally among them.
Across the prison, conscious inmates suddenly felt small cuts appear on their arms in the same place.
They understood immediately.
The Warden was fighting.
Teach clicked his tongue inwardly.
Even knowing the nature of Acel's ability beforehand, facing it directly was irritating.
Unless he used Dark Water to seal it, he was effectively fighting a peak-level opponent who could not be worn down.
Acel acted.
His right arm shrank abruptly as he activated Life Return, compressing muscle mass and shifting strength into his left arm. The reduced volume created just enough space to slip free from the Dark Jade restraint.
His left arm, now empowered, swung with terrifying force.
Teach tilted his head aside just in time. The air burst near his ear.
He countered with a whip kick infused with Haki, the arc of it like a dragon's tail.
Acel caught it.
He had no reason to fear direct exchanges. His fighting style had grown increasingly reckless over the years, shaped by the certainty that damage meant little to him.
He grabbed Teach's leg and slammed him down.
The ground shattered.
Before Teach could recover, Acel lifted him and smashed him down again.
And again.
On the third impact, Teach's body was flung hundreds of meters away.
Acel pursued without pause.
Teach rose, planted his feet, and threw a clean, direct punch to Acel's forehead.
It landed.
It did nothing.
Acel answered with an identical blow.
This one sent Teach flying backward.
From that point on, it looked one-sided.
Teach's counters failed to produce results. Each exchange ended with him being slammed into the ground or dragged across it.
Dark Jade vanished.
He was no longer relying on it.
Nelson frowned from afar. "Is this really fine? Captain's getting hammered. Why not use his ability? If he seals that Devil Fruit, this wouldn't look like this."
Redyat chuckled. "He's warming up. It's been a while since he moved like this. He's enjoying it."
And that was true.
Every punch from Acel hurt.
The pain was sharp and real.
Teach enjoyed it.
Defense. Counter. Impact.
Acel had superior pure physical technique and far more seasoned combat experience. But even so, his punches could not inflict serious damage on Teach.
Teach's Haki absorbed most of it.
For Acel, the frustration grew.
He could not break Teach's Haki.
He could not inflict decisive damage.
And they had already been fighting for half an hour.
Meanwhile, prisoners from Level Six were reaching the first level. Acel could sense it.
Magellan was holding them back with the Venom-Venom Fruit, sealing exits with poison and gas. But that would not last forever. Ability alone could not overcome overwhelming force.
Teach wiped blood from the corner of his mouth.
His grin widened.
Each collision tempered his Armament Haki further. Even though he had mastered internal destruction, that did not mean it had reached its peak.
He was also studying Acel's style.
It carried traces of Rokushiki.
It carried years of reckless refinement born from confidence in his fruit.
Acel was a nightmare opponent for most people.
But this could not drag on.
If the fight became purely a battle of endurance, Acel would win.
And Marine Headquarters would not ignore Impel Down's silence for long.
Both men understood this at the same time.
Their expressions shifted subtly.
The warm-up was over.
Then Teach's eyes flickered.
Acel's aura surged.
Heat radiated from his body.
Life Return.
But not the ordinary kind.
He was burning stamina at an extreme rate to amplify his speed and strength.
Yet it was not truly his stamina being consumed.
It was the stamina of tens of thousands of prisoners.
Across Impel Down, weakened inmates felt their energy draining.
They had little stamina to begin with. Now it was being siphoned away.
Teach's mind raced.
Life Return could burn life itself in exchange for power.
If Acel applied the same logic here, then it would not just be stamina.
It would be lifespan.
And with so many prisoners sharing the burden, the cost to Acel would be negligible.
For others, it was a last resort.
For Acel, it could become routine.
His aura swelled to a new height.
His vitality surged.
Measured against someone like Zephyr, the former Marine Admiral known as Black Arm Zephyr, Acel now stood at a comparable level.
Originally he had been slightly below that.
Now he had closed the gap.
The Connect-Connect Fruit was not merely defensive.
It turned burst techniques into sustained ones.
It reduced backlash to almost nothing.
A terrifying realization settled in Teach's mind.
This fight was about to become far more interesting.