Two hours after Blackbeard lost his hearts.
Drip, drip.
Blood ran down Werther's cheek. He was badly wounded.
His left arm hung limp. The bones in his hand were probably broken, leaving it useless.
"You're impossible to understand. You have a Devil Fruit this powerful, yet you still covet others. Just how greedy are you?"
Werther planted Intent Blood in the ground, took a bottle of S.3 Drug from the Pocket Watch, and drank it.
But after taking too much S.3 Drug, Werther had developed a resistance. For now, it would do almost nothing.
"Fusion, Thunder Swordsman. I want to fuse three Devil Fruit powers. I chose the Dark-Dark Fruit and the Tremor-Tremor Fruit with great care.
"If the fusion succeeds, I'll be the strongest."
Blackbeard raised both arms, though his left hand was gone. The clean cut showed that Werther had severed it.
"Fusion? Hah. Ridiculous."
Werther gave a scornful laugh and thought of a nation that had perished because it studied Devil Fruits.
"Bullshit! I'm about to succeed."
Blackbeard argued desperately, but Werther's faint, knowing smile stuck in his throat like a thorn.
"About to succeed? If you really do, you'll learn what despair means.
"Do you honestly think the 'devils' inside Devil Fruits will let you control them?
"You couldn't be more wrong. The moment you succeed will be your end. Devil Fruits are far more terrifying than you imagine. I once saw the 'devils' inside them destroy an entire nation with ease.
"Eight hundred years ago, even the World Government didn't dare provoke that nation. Yet Devil Fruits destroyed it in no time."
Blackbeard stared at Werther in disbelief.
"You're lying. You have to be lying! After all the time I spent working for this, you're saying the only thing waiting for me is destruction? No.