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When it came to strength, Sakazuki possessed an almost fanatical confidence.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have taken the immense risk during the Paramount War to strike decisively at Arashi.
After all, in that extraordinary circumstance, the battle could be seen as a contest for the title of Fleet Admiral—a fight of tremendous importance.
Yet in that war, he suffered a crushing defeat and lost all face before the entire world.
For Sakazuki, this was a devastating blow—not only to his pride, but to the belief in invincibility he had built through years of conviction and effort.
This harsh failure drove him, upon regaining consciousness and overhearing a conversation in the hospital, to make a shocking decision: to leave the Marines.
Marineford no longer had a place for him. However, when facing the very group he had just rescued, the Blackbeard Pirates—battered and beaten like himself—Sakazuki's shattered confidence suddenly returned.
"I alone am enough to wipe out all of you," he said coldly.
When it came to brute force, there was only one man in the world he acknowledged; not even Whitebeard or the other Emperors of the sea intimidated him.
This was the confidence of the strongest—or rather, the second-strongest—Admiral in Marine Headquarters.
The Return set sail through the vast ocean until it found a deserted island, where they anchored.
Pirates always acted decisively—if the plan was to settle who was boss with fists, then there was no need to wait until tomorrow.
As for their injuries? Heh, who among them wasn't already covered in wounds?
On a barren expanse, Sakazuki and Marshall D. Teach stood thirty meters apart, locked in a silent stare.
The others had withdrawn far, leaving ample space for their duel.
Each face in the crowd showed a different emotion: some sweating nervously, others twisted with madness, mockery, or cold smiles.
Clearly, every member of the Blackbeard Pirates had their own expectations for the outcome.
"Admiral Akainu… no, former Admiral," someone muttered.
"Fate really is strange and unpredictable. Who would've imagined a scene like this?"
"His power as an Admiral is undeniable, but Captain's strength counters all Devil Fruits. This fight… could go either way!" Van Augur's eyes flickered with uncertainty.
Neither Sakazuki nor Teach moved just yet—they continued to stare each other down.
"Zehahahaha… The Blackbeard Pirates welcome your arrival, Admiral Akainu," Teach laughed.
"With your power and mine, we could achieve greatness across the seas! Though our last battle didn't go as planned, it matters not. I'll gain even greater power!"
"This fight is unnecessary. With just the two of us—even Arashi…" He paused, his tone suddenly hesitant.
After a brief silence, he added, "Even he could be defeated."
But he never expected that name to enrage Sakazuki so violently. The Admiral's body erupted with searing magma, his eyes colder than ice.
"You talk too much. If you plan to surrender, then kneel before me. End the war right now."
The instant the words left his mouth, Sakazuki charged. His feet pounded the ground as magma boiled across his body, scorching molten craters beneath him.
"No room for negotiation, huh?" Teach's face darkened, then twisted into a savage grin. "Fine. Then let's settle this with fists!"
He charged forward, cloaked in darkness. Flames and shadows twisted around him as demonic silhouettes loomed behind him.
"Zehahahaha! Let me show you the most dangerous power in the world!"
In the blink of an eye, their attacks collided.
Magma clashed with darkness—but the blazing lava, capable of melting anything, was instantly swallowed by the void. Not a single sound followed.
"What?!" Sakazuki's face twisted in shock. His elemental power… was being absorbed.
"Zehahahaha! Looks like… you all underestimated me, huh?" Teach sneered. His right hand pulsed with a vortex, pulling Sakazuki toward him.
"Whirr!" The suction was so strong, Sakazuki couldn't resist.
Slap! Teach grabbed him—and the roaring magma around Sakazuki suddenly extinguished.
"Though that man gives me headaches," Teach muttered, "he's the only one who never underestimated me."
"But in your eyes…" His expression darkened, left fist clenching and covered in Armament Haki. "Am I just some clown?"
With that, he punched Sakazuki hard in the chest. The brutal force sent blood flying from Sakazuki's mouth, his expression full of disbelief and rage.
In his heart, Sakazuki had never taken the Blackbeard Pirates seriously. To him, they were nothing more than background extras—easily crushed.
The only reason he had rescued them was because Teach possessed the world's most dangerous ability.
But in that moment of contact, Sakazuki realized how wrong he had been.
This man… had been hiding his true self all along. Beneath that loud and reckless exterior was a ruthless, cunning, and ambitious heart.
"You bastard!" Sakazuki roared, fists tightening, his own Armament Haki now surging. He struck again—but Teach met his punch directly, swirling vortex in hand.
Smack!
Sakazuki's magma-fueled punch landed—but its power vanished into the darkness. Teach didn't suffer a scratch.
It was unbelievable, especially for Sakazuki himself. He was being completely suppressed. In close combat, his Magma-Magma Fruit was useless.
All he had left was hand-to-hand fighting, but even his punches were devoured by the darkness.
So this was the world's most dangerous ability. Sakazuki finally understood its terrifying nature.
"Zehahahaha! See now, Admiral Akainu? My power can rule the world! As the deadliest ability on the planet, it's far beyond what you imagined!" Teach laughed wildly, pride flooding his face.
He had suffered in silence for years just to gain the Dark-Dark Fruit—so that one day, the entire world would chant his name.
"How will you defeat me?"
"How can you?"
"I already possess the power of a ruler!"
Sakazuki's eyes turned icy. Despite being suppressed at every turn, he instantly saw the truth—Teach's physical combat skills weren't as refined.
In a flash, Sakazuki twisted free from the pull, blinked forward, and delivered a powerful leg sweep. Teach couldn't react in time and staggered back, wounded.
But moments later, another vortex burst from Teach's hand. "Black Vortex!"
Sakazuki was caught again. This time, a heavy blow broke his ribs, spraying more blood and turning his face ghostly pale.
Though already injured, Sakazuki's fighting spirit didn't falter. He pulled back, widened the gap, and gasped for breath.
Bent over, chest heaving, Sakazuki stared at Teach with unwavering focus. He had to admit—the man before him could not be underestimated.
Their injuries were similar, but Teach's abilities countered his own perfectly.
What shocked him more, though, was that Teach's physical skills and Haki were just as formidable.
"I never imagined... someone like you existed in this world," Sakazuki said quietly.
Teach blinked, then burst out laughing. "Thanks for the compliment, Admiral Akainu!"
"That wasn't a compliment," Sakazuki replied coldly.
"Zehahahaha! To me, it's all the same!" Teach's laughter grew sharper, his eyes even more frigid.
A former Admiral, walking right into his arms—Teach would never let such power slip away.
"Heh… I'm starting to think maybe my choice wasn't so bad after all," Sakazuki suddenly chuckled.
At the same time, magma roared along his right arm, bubbling and boiling.
"At the very least, I've run into some interesting people."
He swept his eyes across the Blackbeard Pirates. The scorn and disdain in his gaze were gone, replaced by solemnity.
Only now did he realize just how dangerous these people were. Each of them carried strange, terrifying powers.
If this force could be controlled, it might truly shake Arashi—and maybe even destroy him!
In the next instant, his eyes locked onto Blackbeard with deadly intensity. The first step… was to crush this man!
His right fist shot skyward. A barrage of molten meteor fists erupted into the air, blotting out the sky and covering half the island.
"Meteor Volcano!"
Fiery red meteors, shaped like fists, arced across the heavens. As they reached their peak, they suddenly reversed direction, plummeting down.
With a sharp whistling sound, they sliced through the air like divine judgment.
Whooosh!
Marshall D. Teach looked up, eyes wide in awe. The rest of the Blackbeard Pirates wore similar expressions of shock.
This was nothing short of a natural disaster—an attack capable of annihilating an island.
"No wonder he was a Marine Admiral," Teach muttered.
The world's strongest warriors all possessed terrifying destructive power.
Edward Newgate, the man known as the strongest in the world, could shatter the sky and land with ease. Kaido and Big Mom also wielded overwhelming force.
Marine Admirals were no different—they too could unleash natural catastrophes. At such a level, the differences in sheer destructive power were negligible.
In other words, to stand at the top of the world, one must possess disaster-class abilities that could make the earth itself tremble.
"Zehahahaha!" "What a terrifying disaster of a scene!" Marshall D. Teach exclaimed in admiration.
But the moment his voice fell, the demon-like shadow of darkness behind him suddenly swelled and burst with a bang, shattering into countless specks of black light that shot out in all directions.
Immediately after, he slammed both hands onto the ground.
"Black Hole Path!" A tide of pitch-black darkness surged forward like ink, spreading in the blink of an eye and engulfing everything in sight.
"Let the whole world fall under the reign of darkness!" With a manic expression, Marshall D. Teach flung his arms skyward.
The darkness coating the earth suddenly twisted upward, shooting like black rivers into the sky, crashing straight toward the falling magma.
Glug, glug!
In utter silence, the meteor-like magma fists were devoured completely by the darkness. Then, Teach let out another loud laugh and looked ahead at Sakazuki.
"Failure doesn't mean there's nothing to gain! For example, through the repeated battles and defeats against that man, I've become even more proficient in controlling the darkness and its power!"
He swept his arm fiercely. Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! From the dark ground, countless sharp black tendrils burst forth, like antennae, stabbing at Sakazuki with terrifying speed and force.
In an instant, they interwove into a dense net of spears. Within just a few heartbeats, it was as if the sun over the island had been swallowed— Everything grew dim and bleak.
Sakazuki's face changed dramatically as he dodged rapidly, yet he was still grazed by the flurry of attacks.
He noticed the edges of his wounds had turned black, and his expression darkened.
At that moment, he started to believe—this madman might actually succeed. As the assault ended, Sakazuki wiped the blood from his lips and let out a cold laugh.
Then he charged forward again. He would never admit defeat in this fight!
Having left the Marines, he had no path left but this one. He would see it through to the bitter end. The camera zoomed out, showing the island from across the sea.
Crimson magma clashed against darkness, unleashing endless bursts of light.
...
At the same time— The New World, Wano Country, Onigashima.
Gulp! Gulp! Gulp! A thick neck bobbed as liquor spilled from the corner of the mouth, dripping onto the floor.
Around him, pirates in ox-horned helmets looked up nervously and fearfully at the massive figure before them.
His overwhelming aura pressed down like a mountain— So intense that it made their scalps tighten.
"Yow-row-row-row-row!"
The massive man tossed aside the empty sake barrel, smashing it on the ground with a crack, then suddenly burst into strange laughter, face flushed red.
"How ridiculous, Whitebeard! To think you were captured by the Marines! All that glory—gone in a day!"
The mockery and disdain in his voice couldn't be more obvious.
The pirates around him trembled, legs weak, because they realized— Their captain was drunk and everyone who had experienced that before knew it only led to terror.
"Ridiculous!" Suddenly, a low, menacing roar thundered from above. A giant foot crashed into the waist of a nearby pirate, sending him flying with a scream.
"Ridiculous! Ridiculous! Absolutely ridiculous!!" The man howled, tears pouring from his eyes.
"A great pirate of such renown... actually fell into the hands of the Marines!"
"Whitebeard! I should've been the one to take your head!"
He wept and laughed and shouted, his emotions completely unhinged. Frightening all the surrounding pirates.
Just then, a cold figure stepped through the doorway, a flame burning behind him and a metal mask shaped like a bird's face.
"Lord King!" The pirates were stunned—then breathed a sigh of relief. With King here, their captain's attention would shift away from them.
King's cold eyes scanned the room before resting on the drunken Kaido.
He paused briefly, then said in a flat voice: "Kaido, you've seen the news about the Whitebeard Pirates, haven't you?"
The towering figure flinched slightly, then turned his head. He was none other than one of the Four Emperors of the sea—Kaido of the Beasts.
Dubbed the world's strongest creature across land, sea, and sky.
"King! Can't you see? I'm mourning Whitebeard!"
Tears streamed down Kaido's face, reflecting in the dim light. The sight left King speechless. After a pause, he sighed.
"You might not understand just how heavy the Whitebeard Pirates' losses really were."
Kaido blinked in confusion. "Oh?"
King took a deep breath. The pair of eyes behind his mask grew somber.
"From the first warships that returned to the New World...In that battle with the Marines, aside from Whitebeard's uncertain fate after being captured—"
"Over half of the Whitebeard Pirates' peak manpower is gone. Numerous warships were completely abandoned at Marineford."
Hearing that, Kaido froze and stared blankly at King. The streaks of tears on his face made the mighty Emperor look almost comical.
"This might mean the Marines' power… has surpassed our expectations. Especially that man—Arashi."
At the mention of that name, Kaido sobered instantly, his body jolting. The dazed look in his eyes faded, replaced by a piercing gleam.
"Arashi, huh? I've heard his name thunder through the last era." He growled coldly.
"To take down Edward Newgate—Whitebeard—the world's strongest man, and Red-Haired Shanks, the most domineering of men… together…That level of strength… perhaps…"
King glanced at Kaido, his gaze flickering. "…is already greater than yours."
The sudden comment made Kaido's pupils contract, then he erupted in laughter.
"Wo-row-row-row!" He looked at the man before him—his most trusted right hand.
"King! I've stood at the summit of this world for so many years! It's lonely up here, you know?"
"Do you understand? Even a mountaintop gets cold and desolate." He sighed softly. Still, Kaido would never admit defeat with words. After all, he and Arashi had never fought before.
But recalling how he tried to stop Whitebeard and Shanks not long ago— Only to be repelled by the two working together— A serious look came over his face.
He was nearly certain… Even he alone was no match for Arashi. If even Whitebeard and Shanks combined couldn't win, Kaido finally felt a weight press down on him.
For the first time ever, he felt true pressure. Even without meeting face-to-face, That overwhelming force still pressed in from afar.
"We might need to start preparing early," King said quietly. "If the Marines make a move…" He didn't finish his sentence. But the meaning was clear.
After wrapping up the war, the Marines would handle follow-up actions— But what then?
With the strength they've shown, they'd definitely begin stepping into the world of pirates. That's what the Marines have been working toward for decades.
Kaido's eyes narrowed slightly. The red flush on his cheeks faded, replaced by a serious and focused expression.
"The world…Is getting more interesting."
.....
Far away from Wano, in another pirate kingdom— Whole Cake Island.
Huff, huff, huff, huff!
Heavy snoring echoed through the palace. "Brother Katakuri! A report just came in from Marineford! It's about the Marine's recent execution of Ace!"
A woman, visibly shaken, clutched a newspaper as she trembled. The tall man before her stood straight as a spear.
He turned and snatched the paper from her hands, Then lowered his gaze to read.
Instantly, Katakuri's expression grew solemn. After a moment, his brow furrowed deeply.
"Whitebeard and Red-Haired—two emperors of the sea—joined forces, and still lost?"
The Marine Headquarters had broadcasted the entire war live to the world, But this pirate-controlled region wasn't authorized to view it. So they had only vague information.
"Arashi, huh?" Katakuri murmured, eyes fixed on the image in the paper— A tall, muscular man with a cropped head, clearly highlighted.
"The Strongest Man?!"
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