Evenly Matched?

Rayleigh's Evil Karma clashed with Teach's Dark Weak Water. Both attacks were incomparably powerful, and the shockwaves they released seemed to make space itself cry out in mournful wails!

However, Rayleigh's Evil Karma was ultimately water without a source! As time passed, the power of Rayleigh's Evil Karma steadily weakened. Meanwhile, Teach's face grew increasingly pale, cold sweat continuously streaming down it.

At last, Teach's stamina reached its limit, and the energy of Rayleigh's Evil Karma was nearly exhausted as well! After a tremendous roar, the ground was once again left riddled with holes!

The onlookers stared at the wounds carved into the earth in shock. Merely the aftershocks of these two fighting had devastated the ground to such an extent. If their attacks had struck the earth directly, this entire island would probably have been torn to pieces!

"Zehahahaha! As expected of Mr. Rayleigh! Your strength really is formidable!" Teach rose to his feet again, utterly unfazed by this defeat.

"Hahahaha! What an admirable junior!" Rayleigh pulled out the flask at his waist and gulped down its contents in one go. "I lost this round!"

The moment Rayleigh finished speaking, the surroundings fell into deathly silence.

What had they just heard?

The legendary right-hand man of the King of the Pirates, the great pirate of the old era, Dark King Rayleigh, had actually admitted defeat to a junior!

"Zehahahaha! Mr. Rayleigh, there's no need to be modest! At most, this can only be called a draw! I don't have any strength left either!" Teach said as he recovered his stamina.

As expected of a Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit! In just this short while, he had already recovered thirty percent of his stamina!

Rayleigh gave Teach a meaningful look, then burst out laughing. "Fine, then we'll call this one a draw! I'll take these youngsters with me! If there's a chance, this old man will treat you to a drink!"

With that, Rayleigh stood and beckoned to Luffy and the others, intending to take away this fresh blood of the pirate era.

But how could the Marines watching from the side possibly agree?

The Marine colonel hurriedly looked at Blackbeard Teach and anxiously said, "Mr. Blackbeard, Straw Hat attacked a Celestial Dragon! If we let them go, Fleet Admiral Sengoku will be furious! Please, have you and your men capture them!"

"Zehahahaha! You want me to make a move? I already did! But that was Dark King Rayleigh over there! I held him back by myself, yet you bastards stood around watching the show! Now that Straw Hat and the others have escaped, you're blaming me? Tell me, what use are you Marines?!" Teach's tone grew darker and darker, while the colonel's face became increasingly flushed with shame.

"Hmph! Let me tell you, this mission's failure has nothing to do with me! I've already fulfilled my duties as a Shichibukai. Even if Sengoku came himself, he wouldn't have anything to say to me! Boys, we're leaving!" Teach led Laffitte and the others away. Before leaving, he did not forget to remind them, "Oh, right. If you don't go in and save that Saint whatever soon, he'll probably die in a moment!"

Hearing Teach's words, the colonel's expression changed drastically. Damn it, how had he forgotten that Celestial Dragon pig!

"Quick! Hurry and save that pig—ah, no! Save Saint Charlos!" In his panic, the colonel accidentally blurted out what he was truly thinking. Fortunately, every Marine present was his subordinate. Otherwise, if words like that reached the ears of the Celestial Dragons, his life would probably be forfeit!

"Captain, why didn't you use your third Devil Fruit ability in your duel with Rayleigh just now?" Fuckyou looked at his captain in confusion. Burgess also spoke from the side, "Yeah, Captain. You should have won that match!"

Teach looked at the two idiots who had dragged down the intelligence of the entire pirate crew and said helplessly, "You two morons! Marine HQ has long known that I possess the Dark-Dark Fruit and the Tremor-Tremor Fruit! That's why I dared to use them openly! As for the third Fruit, it's not that I didn't want to use it—it's that I couldn't!"

Seeing that Fuckyou and Burgess were still utterly bewildered, Teach scolded them in disappointment, "Remember this: when you're out in the world, you must always keep a trump card hidden! That trump card might be the key to turning the tables in a critical moment! Understand?"

Only then did Fuckyou and Burgess slowly nod. "So, we need to hide our true abilities, right?"

"You finally understand!" Teach let out a long sigh of relief, but at that moment, the Den Den Mushi in his arms began to ring.

"Purururururu, purururururu..."

Teach reached into his arms and pulled out a Den Den Mushi with distinctly his own features. This was not the one he had snatched from Vice Admiral Kesha. The one in his hand was his personal Den Den Mushi, and currently, only a few members of the Whitebeard Pirates had its contact information.

"Moshi moshi, Teach speaking!" Teach answered the Den Den Mushi, which instantly took on the appearance of a man with a pompadour hairstyle.

"Hey! Teach!" A friendly voice came from the other end of the Den Den Mushi.

"Thatch! You bastard, why did you suddenly think to call me? Is something wrong?" Teach pulled out another small, pure-white Den Den Mushi. This one could not make calls and had only one purpose: preventing eavesdropping! After all, with his current status, if anyone discovered that he was still in contact with members of the Whitebeard Pirates, there would definitely be plenty of trouble!

"Aren't you always traveling around outside? I just wanted to ask whether you've seen that bastard Kuris!"

"Kuris?" Teach searched his memories carefully. After a moment, he finally found a vague recollection. Kuris was a vice-captain in a pirate crew under the Whitebeard Pirates, with a bounty of 90 million Beli. He was someone with almost no presence, and he was cowardly by nature. Teach had no idea what could have made him do such a thing!

"I haven't heard anything about him. Did something happen?"

"You haven't heard from him either? That damned bastard killed his captain, violating the only iron rule on our ship! You know I've just gained the power of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, so I volunteered to come out and capture that guy!"

"Do you have any leads on him?"

"Not yet, but it seems that guy fled near the Marine G1 Branch! What a bastard! All right, be careful out there. I won't keep you any longer! When you come back, I'll make you Cherry Pie again!"

With that, Thatch hung up the Den Den Mushi!

Marine territory?

Teach's pupils contracted as a sense of foreboding rose in his heart...

What exactly... was going on...