Zehahahaha! Look at this! I didn't expect to find anything more interesting than Vegapunk's head!"
The voice of Marshall D. Teach echoed like the hiss of a snake amidst the wreckage. The Blackbeard Pirates—Van Augur with his aimed rifle and Shiryu of the Rain cleaning his blade with cold blood—stood behind their captain. Teach's eyes were greedy, shining with a strange glint as he looked at the purple aura emanating from Rayle.
"Captain... this boy is not ordinary," Van Augur whispered, adjusting his rifle's scope. "His energy erases the surrounding Haki. Bullets won't reach him."
Teach laughed harder and raised his right hand, from which thick black smoke began to rise. "Darkness absorbs everything, Augur... Haki, fruits, and even light! I don't care what era this kid came from, his fruit will be the third jewel in my crown!"
On the other side, Saint Saturn was boiling with rage. The presence of Blackbeard was an insult to the Government, but the presence of Rayle was a threat to existence itself.
"Filthy pirate... and a fugitive 'sin'," Saturn roared, striking the ground with his massive spider leg, releasing shockwaves of black Conqueror's Haki. "I will erase you all here, and nothing will remain of Egghead but ashes!"
Rayle stood in the center, trapped between "Darkness" and "Absolute Authority." He looked at Dragon, who was watching the situation cautiously, then turned to Teach.
"You talk about absorption, Teach?" Rayle said in a calm tone that sent shivers through those present. "Your darkness is 'mass' that attracts things to it and stores them... but my void is the 'absence' of everything. Darkness needs something to absorb... but the void needs nothing but to exist for reality to fade."
Teach lost his patience. "Let's test that then! Kurouzu (Black Hole)!"
Teach unleashed his massive gravitational pull toward Rayle. The ground was cracking and being pulled toward Teach's palm, and even the nearby Seraphim began to stagger from the force of the attraction. But Rayle didn't move an inch. Instead, he extended his left hand and drew a small circle in the air.
"Void: Absolute Negation!"
The moment the threads of darkness touched the purple circle, something happened that Teach had never seen in his life. The void wasn't absorbed into the darkness; instead, the darkness itself began to "corrode." The threads of black smoke Teach took pride in were disappearing as if someone were erasing ink from a white paper.
"What?!" Teach screamed, recoiling in terror. "My hand... I can't feel my darkness! You erased my power?!"
"Not exactly," Rayle replied, stepping forward. "I negated the 'existence' of your energy in this space of the void. You are strong, Teach, but your body carries three different heartbeats... and that makes you unstable before the void, which accepts only one or zero."
Both Dragon's and Teach's eyes widened. How did this boy know the secret of Blackbeard's body just by looking at him?
At this critical moment, Saturn took advantage of their distraction and leapt high into the air, fully transforming into his monstrous demonic form, and unleashed a massive "acidic spit" containing immense destructive power toward everyone.
"Die, you insects!"
The attack was wide-ranging, covering the entire plaza. Dragon raised his hands to create a hurricane to protect the area, and Teach tried to use Whitebeard's "Quake" to shatter the attack.
But Rayle did something different.
He placed his palm on the ground and closed his eyes. "Awaken... O you who slept with me in the shadows."
Suddenly, the entire island of Egghead shook with a vibration that wasn't caused by earthquakes. From beneath the rubble, and from behind the giant laboratory, the "Ancient Giant Robot" (Emeth)—which everyone had failed to operate—began to emit a terrifying metallic hum.
Its eyes, which had been dormant for centuries, ignited with a purple glow matching Rayle's aura.
The giant robot raised its massive arm and, with one movement, shattered Saturn's attack in mid-air. Then it slowly bowed, placing its metal forehead on the ground before Rayle amidst the shock of everyone, including Dragon and the Gorosei.
And with a deep metallic voice that shook the ocean, the robot uttered a single word:
"M-a-s-t-e-r... Y-o-u h-a-v-e r-e-t-u-r-n-e-d."
The blood froze in Saturn's veins. "This is impossible! This robot only moves with Nika's energy! How... how does it submit to you?!"
Rayle smiled a mysterious smile and looked toward Luffy, who was fighting in the distant horizon. "Nika is the light that moves hearts... but I am the engine that created that light. Teach, Dragon, Saturn... the real game has begun now."
Suddenly, before anyone could grasp the situation, a cloud portal opened above the island, and a crimson red light appeared... and Vegapunk's broadcast began to change to show an image no one in the world expected.
It was an image of "Imu-sama" sitting on the Empty Throne, but directly behind him was a stone mural carrying the image of someone who looked exactly like "Rayle"!