The reporter hiding in the shadows was far braver than common sense would recommend. As if sensing what the audience wanted to see, he angled the live broadcast Den Den Mushi downward, focusing on the spot where the giant tentacle had struck.
He had enough strength to withstand Teach's Conqueror's Haki, but he was not suicidal. Staying too close to the battlefield would be an excellent way to become part of it. Fortunately, this particular Den Den Mushi model did not offer fast forward or rewind, but it could zoom in and out.
The image tightened. Beneath the colossal tentacle, a single figure stood.
Teach had not been crushed. He had caught the massive limb as if bracing a collapsing sky.
Both his arms and Jones's tentacle were coated in hardened Armament Haki. The force behind the blow was so immense that Teach's legs drove deep into the ground, planting him like a pair of iron stakes. Even so, he remained upright, bearing the full weight with sheer physical strength.
It was a sight that defied common sense. A human lifting an entire monstrous appendage made it look like the world had made a mistake somewhere.
Teach's expression sharpened. With a surge of power through his legs and arms, he heaved the tentacle upward, creating enough space to slip free. In the heartbeat that followed, he vanished from the danger zone.
The suckers across the enormous tentacle suddenly expanded. They opened wide, revealing rows of tiny mouths inside, each lined with spiraling teeth. A horrifying suction erupted as the mouths gaped hungrily, ready to tear through anything they captured.
Teach felt a chill ripple down his spine. That had been close. The smaller tentacles earlier had only slowed him slightly, but this suction was far beyond that. If it caught him, breaking free would become nearly impossible.
He had already deciphered the secret behind Jones's suction. The ability was not a supernatural force. It existed in two forms. One was the natural adhesion of the suckers, which locked onto whatever they touched. The other was the mouths beneath the suckers inhaling air with desperate greed, creating a powerful vacuum.
This second type was what Jones had tried to unleash now.
Rows of mouths. Rows of teeth. Nothing about Jones's ability made him pleasant to fight. He was like a living boss monster, one that needed to be exhausted and broken down before the kill.
Teach stayed mobile, waiting for the exact opening he needed. Finishing Jones outright would take time. Wear him down first. Strike when the window opened.
Across the battlefield, clashes had erupted everywhere. Gar fought like a storm thrown into human form. Even the two strongest captains of the Central Guard, Oaks and Hocheng, were forced into defensive footing, retreating step by step under the relentless barrage. Their combined strength barely kept them from being overwhelmed.
At the northern gate, Captain Cayo of the Northern Guard and McGill faced Pouf and Miles.
McGill was the more experienced fighter, an old pirate in his forties with a long history of battles across the high seas. His bounty of seventy million berries came from a decade past, yet his skills had improved since then, even if his body had become thicker and softer after years of comfortable living in the Kraken Kingdom.
Miles had only been with the Nightfall Pirates for under two years. He still trailed McGill in experience, but his Zoan transformation more than made up for that gap. Power, speed, recovery, every aspect of his combat ability surged when he took on his human beast form.
McGill had no illusions. If he let the battle drag out, the Zoan user would eventually overpower him. He had to end it quickly.
Not far from them, Cayo targeted Pouf. He thrust a fist upward.
"Wave Fist."
A ripple burst from his knuckles, pushing the air outward in rolling layers that resembled miniature tides. The waves of compressed air surged upward toward Pouf.
Cayo's Wave-Wave Fruit allowed him to convert anything he touched into waves. The stronger and more refined his mastery, the wider and more forceful his waves became. In theory, Teach had warned the crew, a fully matured version of this fruit could even trigger tsunamis.
Pouf sliced downward with a graceful sweep of his sword. A golden slash streaked forward, cutting the first wave, but each layered ripple ate away at the slash until it faded entirely.
More waves followed. Pouf rose higher, beating his butterfly wings to evade.
These waves might have been air, but their destructive force was significant. The power lay not in a single blow but in the relentless pressure of a tide that never stopped advancing, the sort that crushed ships and reshaped coastlines.
Over the past month, Pouf's swordsmanship had sharpened considerably. Witnessing the duel between Teach and Redyat had left a deep mark on him. He now stood only one small step from the realm of true swordsmen.
Even with Observation Haki, even with frequent combat this past month, that last step remained hard to cross. Laffitte had surpassed him by recently reaching the swordsman realm, but Laffitte walked the path for killing rather than artistry. Grand mastery was forever closed to him.
Pouf, however, walked a different road.
And for the first time, he felt the gate before him begin to open.
Cayo slammed his foot onto the ground.
"Turbulent Waves."
The earth changed beneath them. The once stable ground began to flow like liquid, rising and falling in rolling humps. Buildings in the distance warped and collapsed under the shifting terrain.
Miles adjusted quickly, his lion instincts granting him natural balance. McGill clung to a column with both arms.
"Boss, shrink the range. You are messing me up."
Cayo grumbled but complied, allowing the ground to settle. Yet the terrain had already transformed into a distorted landscape of wavelike stone.
Then he raised both hands and summoned a colossal surge of air, a giant wave that swept toward Pouf with crushing pressure.
Pouf felt the air turn into a wall of force. His Observation Haki could not guide him. Even the shimmering scale dust he generated with his ability was blown away before it formed a usable pattern.
He spun midair.
"Butterfly Dance: Triple Concerto."
Three golden slashes tore into the incoming wave. The wave swallowed each one, layer by layer. Pouf slipped through the opening and pulled back to a safe distance, maintaining altitude with quick beats of his wings.
Cayo's voice rang out, filled with confidence.
"It is useless. You cannot reach me while you are facing my waves."
He did not notice that each of Pouf's slashes had grown brighter and sharper.
He did not notice the light in Pouf's eyes.
He did not notice that Pouf had begun using him as a training dummy, his Wave-Wave Fruit creating a perfect moving target that forced Pouf to refine every stroke.
Once the threshold was crossed, Cayo's death would follow soon after.
McGill roared and lunged forward again, swinging a heavy punch. Miles vanished from his sight, using Soru to appear at an angle McGill could not predict. His claws tore the air, but McGill caught the strike on hardened wrist guards.
Miles's tail flicked upward. A silver shimmer raced along it. With a controlled twist of his torso, he snapped the tail forward, releasing a flying blade of compressed air.
At such close range, McGill had no chance to evade. The slash carved into his waist, blood spraying outward. The next instant, Miles's tail smashed into the same spot, sending shockwaves through McGill's core.
McGill staggered back two steps, blood soaking through his clothes. Miles lunged, raking a brutal claw across McGill's torso.
Pain forced McGill into a brief burst of strength. He punched wildly, buying enough space to retreat. Miles fell back, preparing to strike again.
The battles across the kingdom continued to intensify, each clash echoing through the rainy chaos. The Nightfall Pirates pressed forward through every front line, turning the capital into a sprawling battleground.
And above them all, Teach and Jones fought like monsters out of legend.