Burgess went down without taking even a single move from Stella, making the Blackbeard crew realize how badly they had underestimated her.
Lafitte, known as the Demon Sheriff, drew the blade hidden in his cane, spread the wings on his back, and darted at Stella to thrust.
Unhurried, Stella raised her sword to meet him. Their blades rang in a rapid series of metallic clashes.
Doc Q reached into the basket slung at the side of his prone, skeletal horse and pulled out several apples, then hurled them at Charles and Stella.
At the same time, Van Augur raised his rifle again and took aim.
Fire lit in Stella's eyes, and her body began to dragonize.
"I said, don't interfere with Charles's fight!"
"Feilong Great Maw!"
A fire dragon came clawing and roaring out, forcing Lafitte to beat a retreat with Burgess in tow, and also swallowing the dangerous apples thrown their way.
The apples exploded the moment the dragon ate them, the blast so powerful it tore a chunk out of the fire dragon itself. They weren't fruit at all but high-yield bombs.
The fire dragon wheeled and swept, corralling everyone but Blackbeard into Stella's combat zone.
After that, Charles could be certain none of them had the spare strength to meddle in this fight.
Blackbeard hadn't wanted to watch his comrades get suppressed so miserably, but Charles had him locked so tightly he didn't dare make a rash move.
There was nothing left to say now. It was simply… you die or I do.
Blackbeard's wrist turned black, seeping ominous black smoke. If he didn't move, he was going to be crushed under Charles's presence. Realizing that, he acted at once.
"Dark Vortex!"
Even having seen how strong Charles was, Blackbeard didn't believe he was doomed to lose. His confidence was the Dark-Dark Fruit he'd obtained by hiding in the Whitebeard Pirates for twenty years and killing a crewmate.
It could draw in Devil Fruit users and seal their abilities. There was a reason it was called the most malevolent of Devil Fruits.
In his view, Charles was also some sort of unknown ability user, which put him within Blackbeard's counters.
His darkened hand grabbed for Charles and indeed pulled him toward him.
Then Blackbeard's expression changed, because Charles wasn't flustered in the slightest—it was as if closing the distance had been his intention.
Dark Vortex primarily targeted ability users, but it affected physical bodies as well.
Charles, not a Devil Fruit user, let himself be drawn in to use the pull to close on Blackbeard.
By the time Blackbeard realized something was wrong, it was too late. Charles's fist had already come in.
Because of the height difference, Charles's uppercut slammed into Blackbeard's abdomen, flipping his eyes and nearly knocking him out.
Blackbeard only stepped back half a pace, then caught Charles's wrist with his darkened hand.
No matter how strong you are, once your power is sealed, a flaw will show! That's what Blackbeard thought, and that's how he acted.
What happened next, though, left him so shocked he was full of openings.
Charles's one wrist was caught. His other hand lifted, flames coiling up it, and he smashed Blackbeard in the gut again, sending him flying.
"So painful! It's burning!"
Blackbeard hit the ground and rolled, howling in agony. Burns are among the most unbearable pains a man can feel, and Blackbeard was feeling them doubled.
More than the pain, what scrambled his mind was that even though he'd grabbed Charles, the man was still using that flame-controlling power.
Blackbeard's screams didn't stir any sympathy in Charles; by his senses, the fluctuations in Blackbeard's aura weren't nearly as intense as his voice.
Charles had thrown that punch with full force. Taking it was not far off from taking a battering ram to the body, plus being scorched by the flames. But aside from loud screaming, Blackbeard showed no sign of actual injury.
"The Dark-Dark Fruit's damage-absorption, huh? I don't believe that power has no limit!"
Muttering low, Charles lunged.
Blackbeard didn't dare roll on the ground any longer. He kip-upped, his heavy body bouncing upright.
Black mist billowed from him, making him look like a fiend climbing from the abyss.
"How could my ambition end here!"
A vast slick of black sludge spread in an instant, intent on swallowing everything within range.
Inside it, Charles's speed slowed. With Blackbeard pouring in effort, he truly generated the "infinite" gravity he'd claimed in the original tale.
"Liberation!"
With Blackbeard's shout, a mass of debris spewed from the darkness. For a split second, as Charles pushed against the gravity, the sudden "overexertion" made his body wobble.
That was the opening Blackbeard had waited for. He rushed in and threw a punch.
His timing couldn't have been better—but unfortunately, his opponent was Charles.
The fist that could have nearly snapped Ace's neck was kicked off-line by Charles, and the fireball cupped in Charles's hands came crashing down.
Blackbeard screamed again, but this time Charles saw burns appear on his body—and then vanish quickly.
Just then came the crack of a fired pistol. Gritting through the pain, Blackbeard drew the gun at his waist and executed a gunslinger's quick draw at Charles.
Charles's arm flickered in a flurry of afterimages, and when it stilled, several rounds fell from between his fingers.
Taking advantage of the moment, Blackbeard retreated, using the black mist surging from his body to push back the flames.
Charles had no intention of letting him go. He chased straight in and lashed a Fire Dragon's Claw kick.
Blackbeard crossed his forearms down to block, but he couldn't suppress that indescribable power.
Like a kicked ball, Blackbeard flew up, smashed a corner of a rooftop in the distance, and crashed to the street beyond in a rain of debris.
Pushing against the ground to rise, he saw a black shadow spreading underfoot. Instinctively, he made a clumsy donkey roll aside, just dodging Charles's stomping strike.
When Charles turned back, a mass of black fog was surging toward him.
Swallowed by the fog, Charles lost all perception, and a crushing pressure bore down on him from head to toe.
Bloodshot-eyed, Blackbeard poured in his strength without regard for cost, intensifying the devouring darkness. Then he saw crimson vertical pupils flare within the black.
The fog didn't hold long. It tore apart under a pillar of flame that roared skyward, and Charles stepped out wreathed in fire, his body marked with signs of dragonization.
"W-wait. Let's talk this out! There's no need for us to fight!"
"You didn't forget who started this, did you?" Charles said coldly. "Fair's fair—how it ends is for me to decide."
He blinked forward in an instant, and his fist crashed in without mercy.
At this point, Blackbeard's vicious streak exploded. He met the punch head-on with one of his own.
His punch was fast—so fast it clipped Charles's chest a fraction earlier, and then Blackbeard's shoulder took Charles's blow a heartbeat after.
Truly, the man who scarred Red-Haired Shanks even when Shanks wasn't off guard was not to be taken lightly when he got serious.
Both torsos twisted aside, then snapped back to center, and the two of them threw again.
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