(How truly idiotic.)
Black mist coiled around the heavy, pitch-black knight's armor.
Sherlock remained silent, wordlessly dispelling the surrounding weapon mirrors. Then, with a provocative air, he beckoned the "Champion" over with a curl of his finger, looking utterly smug.
"I'll kill you! I'll kill you!"
At the sight of this, the already enraged Burgess saw red. He stomped the ground with such force that he launched himself toward the Sorcerer like a cannonball.
The heavy black armor also abandoned its previous hit-and-run tactics. It cooperated perfectly, charging straight at Burgess with the speed of a black bolt of lightning, the red glow of its eyes trailing a long, blood-colored streak in its wake.
Burgess's face was a mask of ferocity. He raised a fist the size of a sandbag and let out a roar, swinging it violently toward the Sorcerer's face.
Sssss—
This blow, fueled by Burgess's fury, was extraordinary. Even the air let out a tooth-aching tear as it was ripped apart!
Facing this mountain-toppling punch, the black armor didn't dodge. Instead, it spread its arms wide, looking as if it intended to give its opponent a massive hug.
"You're asking for death!!!"
His mind clouded by rage, the Champion didn't stop to wonder at this abnormal behavior. Instead, he threw even more power into his fist.
BOOM!!
Burgess's fist slammed squarely into the black armor's face. Under the influence of that explosive force, the Sorcerer's head was sent flying—exactly as he had hoped!
"Hahaha!! It wasn't an illusion! ...Wait, what? How?!"
The expected spray of blood never came. The ferocious grin on Burgess's face froze instantly. To his horror, he realized that the thing he had just punched off was merely a metal helmet. Furthermore, the black armor standing before him was nothing more than an empty shell!
"Crap! It's a trap!" Burgess's heart sank to his stomach. He tried to pull back and retreat, but it was too late.
Clang! Clang! A series of metallic grinding sounds rang out.
Taking advantage of his opponent's momentary lapse, the headless knight's armor lunged forward and locked Burgess in a death grip. Its limbs twisted at exaggerated angles, pinning the Champion to the ground with a series of bizarrely executed joint locks.
"Damn it! I was careless!"
Burgess struggled with all his might. His monstrous strength was indeed terrifying, but the power of the heavy knight's armor—a fusion of five mirrors—was not to be underestimated. Moreover, the sophisticated joint locks made it impossible for him to exert his strength properly. He wouldn't be breaking free from this restraint anytime soon.
"It seems the joint locks I 'borrowed' from Robin are quite effective after all."
Accompanied by a clear, refined male voice, Sherlock's silhouette slowly emerged in the distance. He calmly brushed non-existent dust from his black trench coat. Gazing at the immobilized Champion, he gave his glasses a gentle nudge, his lips curling into an elegant arc.
"To be honest, I'm much more accustomed to fighting like this. After all, close-quarters combat is... well, it's just so inelegant."
"You bastard! When did you get out of the armor?!"
Burgess's eyes looked ready to burst. He panted heavily, his voice harsh: "Damn you! Sorcerer! If you've got the guts, let me go! We'll fight again, fair and square!"
"Fair and square? I think this is already quite fair and square, isn't it?"
Sherlock let out a scoffing laugh. Then, he raised his right hand, his will manifesting.
Whish! A blood-red shadow flashed as a long spear appeared by the Sorcerer's side. It was entirely crimson, looking as if it had been forged from pure blood.
"I 'fairly and squarely' captured you..."
The blood-red spear drifted slowly into the air, its sharp tip leveling toward the grounded Champion.
The moment that strange spear pointed at him, an unprecedented sense of crisis washed over Burgess. Every hair on his body stood on end, and his pupils shrunk to the size of pinpricks.
"And now, I shall 'fairly and squarely' kill you..."
—Five-Fold Mirror Fusion!
Vwoom! The red light on the spear flashed, and it instantly expanded into a massive sphere of crimson light. It burned in the sky like a baleful, blood-red sun—menacing, radiant, and exuding a soul-crushing pressure. It cast an eerie, enchanting hue over the already dimming sky.
"Ugh... my head hurts!" Sherlock let out a low groan of pain.
The moment that sphere of light appeared, Sherlock's face turned deathly pale. It seemed that forcibly controlling two five-fold fused mirrors was pushing his mental endurance to its breaking point.
(If only I had something to increase my mental energy...)
Sherlock clutched his head in pain, then forced a faint smile as he continued to drive his fruit ability.
—God-Slaying Spear...
(I'm going to die! I'm going to die! I'm going to die! I'll die! Ahhhh!!!)
Burgess's mind screamed in a frenzy. A powerful instinct for survival granted him a burst of strength. The armor restraining him groaned under the strain, but it remained locked in place, holding him fast.
"I live 'fairly and squarely,' and you die 'fairly and squarely'..."
Though his head felt like it was splitting open, Sherlock's smile grew increasingly brilliant. As he watched the despair on Burgess's face, a faint sense of pleasure stirred within his heart.
Perhaps some consciousness deep within him was quietly awakening...
At the boundary between twilight and night, under that eerie crimson glow, the Sorcerer's lenses reflected a cold, white light. His mysterious smile made him look like a demon returning from the abyss, pitilessly mocking the fragility of life.
"No... No! Captain! Save me! Captain Teach!!!"
Burgess was so utterly terrified by Sherlock's smile that he gave up struggling and began to scream for help.
"This is the 'fair and square' I'm giving you!"
—Gungnir!
Having said his piece, Sherlock prepared to swing his hand down. It seemed that in the next second, that eerie sphere of blood-red light would transform into an undodgeable spear of death, obliterating this suicidal muscle-brain into dust with thunderous force!
However, at that very precipice!
"Black Vortex!" [Translator's Note: Kurouzu]
A coarse, gravelly male voice rang out abruptly from nearby.
!!!!!
Sherlock's expression shifted violently. But before he could even move, his body was pulled toward the source of the voice against his will, as if drawn by an irresistible magnetic force.
(What's happening?)
It all happened too fast. Combined with his extreme mental exhaustion, Sherlock only realized what had happened when a rough, massive hand clamped onto his arm.
What horrified Sherlock even more was that the moment that hand touched him, his Devil Fruit powers vanished miraculously!
Simultaneously, the God-Slaying Spear: Gungnir in the sky and the Black Knight restraining Burgess on the ground shattered like a broken mirror, dissolving into countless tiny fragments before vanishing into nothingness.
"If you go around murdering my crewmates 'fair and square' like that, it's going to make things very difficult for me, Sorcerer! Zehahahaha...!"
Blackbeard looked at the stunned and horrified Sherlock, his laughter wild and unrestrained.
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