When Teach came to, he could only vaguely see Whitebeard standing where he had been, while he himself had been blasted several hundred meters away. A warmth trickled down his forehead; he reached up and found his hand covered in blood.
At that moment, the muscles in Whitebeard's arms were shredded and ruined. Since he hadn't undergone the tempering of the River of Death, he remained in the state he was in at the time of his death; that last move had taken too great a toll on his vessel.
"Honestly... take a rest for a moment."
The blood pool at Alucard's feet flowed toward Whitebeard, allowing his body to slowly sink into the depths.
The carnage between the pirates, Marines, and the Styx Army raged on; no one had the luxury to worry about what Alucard was doing.
Ace, finally nearing the harbor, caught sight of the situation in the center of the plaza. He gritted his teeth. "Dammit! What did that 'Immortal' bastard do to Pops?!"
Before he could finish his sentence, a blade suddenly slashed through Ace's neck. Being a Logia user, the strike passed through him without dealing a fatal blow.
Ace turned to look at his assailant, his expression freezing in shock. "McGuy?"
The man who had attacked Ace had a lightning-shaped mustache and a long, horse-like face. "Thunder Lord" McGuy, one of the captains under the Whitebeard Pirates.
But looking at his glowing eyes and his treachery against a comrade, it was clear: he had become Alucard's puppet.
McGuy attacked relentlessly. Ace, unable to bring himself to strike back, could only dodge repeatedly. "Hey! McGuy! Wake up!"
"Death Wink!"
Suddenly, Ivankov leaped from behind Ace, winking fiercely at McGuy. The powerful shockwave sent the puppet flying.
Ivankov landed in front of Ace and barked, "Ace-boy! He is already dead. He's become Alucard's puppet; he doesn't recognize you at all!"
"But..."
Ace started to argue, but a punch slammed into his face, sending him tumbling twenty meters away. He scrambled to his feet and his face darkened. It was another captain of the Whitebeard Pirates: Ninth.
He, too, was in the same state as McGuy, nothing more than a pawn for Alucard.
"Gentle methods won't work. They feel no pain and won't back down for any reason," Sabo said, leaping to Ace's side. The brothers stood back-to-back. "If you don't harden your heart and beat them until they can't move, they'll just keep attacking."
"Allow me to escort you away, Ace-san!"
Ace turned to see Jinbe.
"Being caught between you and Alucard-san puts me in a difficult position, but for now, I must do what needs to be done." Jinbe lifted Ace onto his shoulders and called out to the others, "We don't need a ship! I will swim and take Ace-san away, and it's much faster. Please, everyone, buy us some time!"
"Understood!"
"We're counting on you, Jinbe!"
Sabo, Ivankov, and a large group of surviving Whitebeard Pirates formed a wall against the enemy.
The Marines, occupied with the Styx Army, shouted, "Whitebeard may be dead, but we cannot let Fire Fist Ace escape!"
"Pursue them! After them!"
"Teach... no, Blackbeard."
Alucard walked toward Teach with a smile. "The war isn't over yet. If you want to take the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, come find me."
With that, Alucard drew his right hand from his coat pocket. With a low hum, a silver-white translucent sphere of energy coated Alucard's fist.
It was unmistakably the power of Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit!
Those who weren't fully aware of Alucard's capabilities stared in slack-jawed horror. It was one thing for Blackbeard to master two Devil Fruit powers, but for Alucard to possess this ability as well? Was he trying to completely shatter their understanding of the world?
Alucard shifted his hand into a knife-hand strike position, as if drawing a blade. "Let's try this move. It might have a different effect."
He laughed and swung his hand-blade forward, imbued with the quake power.
The vibration energy took the shape of a crescent moon. A small portion bit into the ground as it flew forward in a crisscrossing pattern, obliterating the terrain for every foot it traveled.
"That's definitely Pops' quake ability-yoi." Marco felt the tremors rising from the earth. Though he hated to admit it, it was the truth.
"Absorption!!"
Teach unleashed Dark Water from both hands, forming a shield in front of him to swallow the shockwave Alucard had sent his way.
"The power of the Dark-Dark Fruit... this is why I don't like using Devil Fruits."
Alucard gave a slight shrug. "Well, let's try one last thing."
Silver-white halos erupted from both of Alucard's hands. While not identical, the stance was strikingly similar to the one used by the Styx-version of Whitebeard earlier.
WORLD TREMOR!
Alucard slammed both hands into the ground. The earth shattered, and then a wave of white, semi-transparent energy rose like a tsunami, surging forward. If Teach used the same move as before, there was no way he could block this.
"Liberation!!!"
Darkness erupted from Teach's body like a rising tide, clashing against the quake wave in a counter-surge.
Black and white collided in the center of the battlefield. The entire island vibrated; the earth cracked, creating several new bottomless fissures and "cliffs."
Countless combatants froze, bracing themselves for several seconds until the tremors subsided. If one were to look down at Marineford from the sky, they would be shocked to find that not a single inch of the island remained intact—it was completely fractured!
Teach was forced back dozens of meters before finally grinding to a halt, gasping for air. "Dammit... I was so close to getting that old man's power..."
Opposite him, Alucard flexed his fist, looking dissatisfied. "As I thought, this method doesn't suit me... these aren't a Vampire's fighting techniques at all."
He looked at Teach and let out a low chuckle. "If you want this ability that badly... I'll just give it to you."
Teach froze. There was no excitement in his eyes, only endless caution. What is he plotting now? he thought.
Just then, the eye-covered pool of blood flowed out from the coffin behind Alucard. With a low whisper from the vampire, a tall, imposing figure slowly rose from the crimson depths...
Teach's pupils dilated.
Whitebeard!