Sudden Change

"I'll take on Straw Hat Luffy's ability."

"And at the same time, transfer the Jailer Beast's ability into Straw Hat Luffy's body?"

Teach's face was filled with astonishment.

He had never expected Bullet to come up with such a method on the spot.

But then Teach gave a bitter smile. "But if you want to seize an ability, you first have to kill its user. Even if you find him a replacement ability, you can't bring a dead man back to life. That's a paradox."

"You don't need to worry about that. You only need to carry out the experiment I described."

"After the experiment is complete... can you... let me go?" Teach stopped dwelling on it and asked tentatively.

"No." Bullet's answer was crisp and decisive.

Teach: "..."

Seeing Bullet's cold gaze and expression,

Teach knew that whether he wanted to or not, he had to carry out this experiment.

Under Bullet's watchful eyes, Teach reluctantly walked between the two raised stone platforms.

He pointed at the unconscious Luffy and the Jailer Beast.

"If you want to draw out their abilities, you first have to kill the Devil Fruit users. So, what do you think?"

Without another word, Bullet stepped forward and jabbed out a finger.

Splat!

A hole instantly appeared through the front and back of Minotaurus's chest, right where its heart was.

The heart inside had been pierced clean through by that finger.

Powerful force erupted from Bullet's finger in all directions, completely shattering the unlucky Jailer Beast's heart into pulp.

Then he slapped a hand onto unconscious Luffy's head.

Boom!

The massive hand coated in Armament Haki came down. Luffy's skull remained intact, but the brain matter inside was scattered by the force of the blow.

Unconscious Luffy's body suddenly arched upward. His eyes flew open, and his pupils dilated at once.

After a while, his pupils gradually lost focus.

His body slackened as well, losing all breath as he lay quietly on the stone platform.

Monkey D. Luffy was dead.

Bullet spread his Observation Haki and thoroughly inspected Luffy's body, inside and out, but found no sign that the body would revive.

"Why didn't he do a sit-up and come back to life?"

"Was it because the Rubber-Rubber Fruit hadn't been developed enough?"

"So before the Rubber-Rubber Fruit awakened and transformed into the Nika Form, Straw Hat Luffy could still be killed?"

After killing Luffy and the Jailer Beast, Bullet stepped aside and signaled that Teach could begin.

Watching Bullet slaughter Straw Hat Luffy on the spot without the slightest hesitation,

Teach felt a chill run through his heart.

This guy was truly insane.

If news of Straw Hat Luffy being killed by him got out, who knew how many people would come hunting him down because of it.

Pushing aside the distracting thoughts in his mind, Teach began the ability-transfer experiment.

He spread open both hands, and streams of black air continuously poured from his palms.

The black air formed spiraling rings of airflow, releasing powerful suction.

Within the sealed Dark Room, powerful currents of air appeared out of nowhere.

"Dark Vortex!!"

Teach shouted as he pressed his hands against Luffy's and the Jailer Beast's chests respectively.

The power of the Dark-Dark Fruit was fully activated.

Terrifying suction erupted completely.

It was as though it could rip a person's soul out of their freshly dead body.

When Teach's palms touched their chests,

the two bodies' torsos abruptly rose, their entire bodies bending under the pull of the immense suction.

Teach gritted his teeth, a sharp gleam bursting from his eyes.

The power of the Dark-Dark Fruit continued to surge from his hands.

Time passed bit by bit.

There was no sound in the Dark Room, only two dense black vortices spinning at high speed.

Streams of black air slowly began to seep into Luffy's and the Jailer Beast's bodies.

The black currents writhed and twisted, like living tentacles searching for something inside Luffy and the Jailer Beast.

Thirty seconds passed, and Teach's forehead was already covered in sweat.

Then he suddenly roared. The fingers of his right hand curled inward as though they had caught something, and he violently yanked upward from the Jailer Beast's chest!

"Come out!"

Buzz!

A sharp light flashed in Bullet's eyes. His powerful Observation Haki spread out and filled the entire secret chamber, locking onto Teach's right palm.

"Has the Devil Fruit ability been drawn out?"

"What exactly is the essence of a Devil Fruit?"

Bullet's breathing quickened slightly.

Perhaps today, he would learn the truth behind this question!

The next instant,

Bullet's eyes narrowed.

Empty.

There was nothing in Teach's right hand!

Yet judging by Teach's movements, he had clearly seized some kind of substance.

Something without form, something invisible, inaudible, and scentless.

Moreover, Bullet could see Teach's fingers twitching from time to time.

Clearly, holding onto that invisible substance required tremendous effort.

That thing seemed to possess a will of its own. It was struggling, trying to escape Teach's grasp!

The Armament Haki within Bullet's body formed into a transparent thread and extended forward, slipping through the gaps between Teach's spread fingers.

It still did not touch anything!

"Ahhh! What's going on? Why hasn't Straw Hat Luffy's Devil Fruit ability separated from his body yet?"

At that moment,

Teach suddenly let out a ghostly shriek.

Bullet turned to look.

Teach had already repeated the motion of pulling upward from Luffy's chest several times.

He wanted to draw out the Rubber-Rubber Fruit ability from Luffy's body just as he had taken the Jailer Beast's ability.

But now, he had encountered a difficult problem.

Luffy's Rubber-Rubber Fruit ability seemed to be completely dormant within that dead shell, showing no sign whatsoever of leaking out!

Blackbeard had never seen anything like this before!

Normally, once an ability user died, the Devil Fruit ability within their body would completely dissipate in a short time, return to the sea, and form another identical Devil Fruit.

The time it took to dissipate changed depending on the user's depth of ability development and compatibility with the fruit.

Teach guessed that the deeper an ability was developed, the more compatible the Devil Fruit was with its user, and the more thoroughly the ability fused with the body.

That also made it harder to draw the ability out!

Straw Hat Luffy had only developed the Rubber-Rubber Fruit superficially. He was obviously still far from Devil Fruit Awakening.

Meanwhile, the Devil Fruit ability within the Jailer Beast had awakened long ago.

Yet even so, it had only taken Teach a few dozen seconds to draw Minotaurus's ability out.

But the trash Paramecia Rubber-Rubber Fruit inside Straw Hat Luffy's body seemed to have taken root within him, refusing to come out no matter what!

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Black currents suddenly began rapidly pouring out from Teach's palms in every direction.

It made Teach look like an octopus spraying ink.

The Dark Room was immediately filled with dense darkness, becoming so black that one could not see a hand in front of one's face.

Bullet maintained his Observation Haki and could still clearly "see" everything.

Teach's body was shaking violently, as though he were having a seizure.

His eyes were bloodshot, the veins on his face bulging as he snarled at Bullet beside him with difficulty:

"Bullet!! Do something, now!"