On the coast, inside an enclosed curtain.
Every now and then, sinister laughter drifted out, along with eerie black mist. Shiryu sat boredly on a reef, wiping his blade and quietly waiting for the final result.
Just then, a News Coo seemed to notice the commotion here. It fluttered down and gazed at Shiryu with its adorably foolish eyes.
"A newspaper? Might as well buy one." Growing bored of waiting, Shiryu muttered to himself, tossed down a coin, and took out a newspaper.
"A confrontation between Marine Headquarters and Cipher Pol? They even printed something like this in the paper. Looks like Longinus is having a much more comfortable time as acting commander-in-chief than Steel-Bone Kong did as the official commander-in-chief. He's even managed to take control of CP0, the highest intelligence agency!"
"In twenty years, he climbed step by step from the bottom of the world to its very peak. That man is truly terrifying! Still, none of that has anything to do with me anymore." Shiryu gave a self-mocking laugh and turned the page. When he saw the contents of the second page, his gaze suddenly froze!
Just then, the curtain was lifted, and Blackbeard walked out looking refreshed. From the corner of the curtain, one could even see some pirate who had been drained dry!
"Darkness Power, Wave Power..." Blackbeard clenched his fist. The black mist swirling around it rapidly spread out in waves, destroying everything while swallowing all those substances. "Just as I imagined, two Devil Fruits have raised my strength to a level even I couldn't imagine. Zehahaha!"
"Now, I should truly be qualified to go toe-to-toe with those fellows standing at the summit!" Blackbeard laughed boldly, sweeping away the dejection he had suffered recently. "Shiryu, we... Are you reading today's news? Let me take