Blooming Darkness

"Zehahahaha..."

Blackbeard's face was strained despite his hazy consciousness, yet he still laughed wildly. In an instant, he reached out and tightly grabbed Buggy's calf. "I lost...? How could I possibly lose?!"

Buggy frowned slightly and, using nothing but pure physical strength, hurled the sharp stone in his hand at Blackbeard's wrist!

Armament Haki endowed the sharp stone with immense penetrating force. It not only pierced through Blackbeard's wrist, but also buried itself deep in the ground, firmly pinning his hand to it.

Blackbeard cried out in pain and instinctively let go. Buggy quickly retreated some distance away, feeling his sealed power surge back through his body. He looked calmly at Blackbeard. "You lost. Neither the past nor the present will ever be your era..."

"Is that so? I lost... Zehahahaha..."

Blackbeard's laughter grew even more arrogant. Bloodshot veins filled his eyes as an incomparably dense darkness emerged around his body and shot skyward in an instant. "Then let me, Marshall D. Teach, open the first chapter of this entire era of turmoil!!"

Buggy's expression changed. He sensed an overwhelmingly powerful energy hidden within that darkness. If he touched it, his entire body might be torn apart. Even with his Chop-Chop constitution, he would be unable to escape the darkness's pull.

The billowing black fog was like a desert sandstorm, blotting out the sky as it engulfed everything within a hundred meters. Tangible darkness swallowed even the clouds on the horizon without leaving a trace!

All the pirates still fighting felt the immense pulling force and immediately stopped. They stared in disbelief at the black fog atop the central platform, a darkness from which not even light could escape. Just one more glance made them feel as though their bodies and souls would be drawn inside.

What... what was happening?!