Blackbeard's Fear

At this moment, on the fourth level of Impel Down, Scorching Hell, Blackbeard and the others, having selected several companions from Infinite Hell, were leisurely making their way up to the next floor.

Earlier, in the bloody slaughter sparked by Blackbeard's words,

Corrupt King Avalo Pizarro, Heavy Drinker Vasco Shot, Crescent Moon Hunter Catarina Devon, Battleship Sanjuan Wolf, and the others had successfully joined Teach's crew.

Many years ago, Corrupt King and the others had already been among the world's most vicious criminals.

Although there was still a considerable gap between their strength and the top powers of the sea, the Admirals and Emperors,

when it came to the harm they had inflicted upon nations and civilians, Pizarro and the others were truly monsters of the worst kind!

"Zehahahaha! Look, those stupid Jailer Beasts have come back to life again. What's going on? Are these animals immortal?"

On the passageway of Scorching Hell, Blackbeard and the others strode down the middle of the road, swaggering forward as though no one else existed.

Their clothes were soaked through by the sweat constantly pouring from their bodies.

The temperature in Scorching Hell was simply too high.

Being inside felt like sitting in a sauna.

As they walked, they suddenly saw several massive figures of different builds pounding down the stone steps at the end of the passage, charging straight toward them.

The bull-headed, human-bodied one holding a black spiked club and dripping snot was the Jailer Beast Minotaurus.

The muscular one wearing steel knuckledusters, with a goofy face, a bear's upper body, and a human lower body, was Minokoala.

Minorhinoceros was bloated and massive, wielding a large club in each hand as he stomped across the ground with heavy thuds, lowering his head and charging fiercely.

At the rear, Minoceros carried a long-handled morning star. He moved the slowest, his eyes full of confusion.

Smack!

A long, slender pink whip lashed viciously across Minoceros's back, making the snot-dripping beast shriek.

"What are you standing around for? Charge over there and capture those prisoners!"

The humanoid zebra who had been whipped immediately had his eyes turn bloodshot. He let out strange howls and broke into a mad sprint.

The woman wielding the whip had curly blonde hair, with bangs covering her eyes. White candle-shaped earrings hung from her ears, and she wore a rose-red skintight leather outfit along with pointed high heels studded with spikes.

She was tall and voluptuous, and her tight pink leather jacket could not conceal her stunning figure.

Two round swells of pale softness pressed together above, forming a dangerously deep cleavage.

She was Sadi, the Chief Guard of Impel Down.

"Zehahahaha! What a hot little thing. Want to be my woman?" Teach grinned at Sadi, who stood behind the four Jailer Beasts.

Hearing Teach's teasing, Sadi's face openly twisted with disgust, and she spat onto the ground in revulsion.

"Blackbeard Teach, you look like a pile of shit. You're even more disgusting than the Jailer Beasts!"

Teach's smile froze.

"Wahahahaha! Teach, a woman just said you look like a pile of crap!"

"Nyahahahaha! Captain, you've completely lost face. How pathetic!"

The old and new crew members all doubled over laughing.

"Zehahahaha! What a fiery woman. You'll never get married acting like that."

As the four gigantic creatures charged at them fiercely, Blackbeard and the others showed no intention of getting out of the way.

Instead of retreating, Teach stepped forward with his left foot, spreading his left hand, which was covered in gemstone rings of every color, toward the Minotaurus charging at the front.

The corners of his mouth split into a grin, revealing several missing teeth.

"You really don't learn, do you, idiot."

"Dark Water!"

Strands of black airflow appeared out of thin air in Teach's palm, forming a continuously spinning vortex.

Whoosh!

The black airflow spun like a windmill, but instead of blowing wind, it unleashed a terrifying pulling force!

"Roar!"

Minotaurus's tall, powerful body suddenly arched. Pulled by that immense force, he immediately flew into the air uncontrollably like a cannonball, hurtling toward Teach's left hand!

Smack!

Teach grinned viciously, his five left fingers like claws as they dug directly into Minotaurus's abdomen, crushing the muscles on the surface of his body.

Bang!

Amid the Jailer Beast's agonized howl, he swung his right fist and punched Minotaurus in the eye socket, sending him flying sideways more than ten meters before he fell straight off the passageway.

Slash!

A dazzling blood-red blade flash streaked across the air, flashing past Teach's side.

Squelch!

Minokoala, who held two large clubs, suddenly had a long diagonal wound burst across his chest. Crimson blood sprayed out like a high-pressure water cannon, dyeing the bridge red in an instant.

The pitiful Jailer Beast did not even have time to scream before collapsing to the ground like a fallen wooden post.

It was impossible to tell whether he was dead or alive.

Behind Teach, Shiryu took a drag from the thick cigar clenched between his lips and casually said with narrowed eyes,

"The four of them are Zoan users, and their Devil Fruit abilities have already reached the stage of Awakening."

"But because their self-control is insufficient, their minds were affected by the desires brought by Devil Fruit Awakening, turning them into monsters with nothing but brute strength and tenacious vitality."

"What? Awakened Zoan users? That's really something, zehahahaha. Were they important figures in the past?"

Having once served aboard the Whitebeard Pirates, Teach's horizons were naturally not narrow.

He had also heard that Devil Fruit abilities could undergo Awakening.

His old man, Edward Newgate, known as the strongest man in the world, had awakened his Paramecia Tremor-Tremor Fruit, granting him world-destroying power capable of freely unleashing Seaquakes and Air Quakes.

Shiryu pondered for a few seconds, his gaze indifferent. "No, they were merely prisoners used as test subjects."

"Crack, crack."

Standing beside Teach, Burgess flexed his wrist joints a few times, then walked forward with a grin and spread his arms toward the charging Minorhinoceros.

"Hahaha! Let me test its strength!"

But before he could make a move, the ground beneath everyone's feet suddenly began to shake violently.

Rumble, rumble.

A hazy purple glow seeped out from underground, spreading in every direction in the blink of an eye and swallowing every visible corner of the prison.

The thick stone bricks of the ground also underwent a strange transformation.

The earth was cut apart in a crisscrossing grid, becoming countless tiny cubes.

These cubes constantly rose and sank like piano keys controlled by an invisible giant hand.

The ground beneath the two remaining Jailer Beasts, who were still charging forward, suddenly collapsed entirely.

The divided ground caved in below with a rumble, revealing a deep and enormous pit.

"Hm?"

"What's going on?"

Before Teach and the others could even process what had happened, two furious roars from the Jailer Beasts suddenly erupted from beneath the shattered hole.

Crack!

Crack!

Two crisp sounds of bones breaking rang out, and the roars abruptly stopped!

Teach's heart skipped a beat as an ominous feeling suddenly surged within him.

The old and new crew members of the Blackbeard Pirates approached the edge of the pit.

Teach leaned over and looked down. In an instant, every hair on his body stood on end, and his entire body went cold.

The shattered hole was deep and dark, like the entrance to hell.

An icy chill poured up from below.

A mountain-like, broad and powerful figure held a Jailer Beast's head in each hand as though gripping two chicks. With an amused smile on his face, he looked up at them!