"Aokiji!" Blackbeard's strike meant for Marco was blocked by Kuzan. Burning with rage, he spun and leaped high from the flagship, black smoke churning around him as he smashed down at Kuzan's head. "Is this your choice?"
The Dark-Dark Fruit's properties had been thoroughly studied throughout the New World over the past two years. Known as the nemesis of Devil Fruits, the Dark-Dark Fruit was considered something no Devil Fruit user should ever carelessly confront head-on. Wary of its power, Kuzan did not take the attack directly. He twisted away, stepping through Rokushiki—Shave—and flashed more than ten meters away in an instant. Blackbeard's blow struck the deck, shattering the two pirate ships packed together and flooding them with seawater.
"I chose the future I wanted!" Kuzan swept his hand back, frost surging from his palm as a beam of cold light shot out and struck Blackbeard in the chest. "And you showed me a world that runs in the opposite direction!"
Blackbeard raised his left hand, and the cold light that had just touched his chest was instantly swallowed by black vapor. The Dark-Dark Fruit's devouring power immediately neutralized Kuzan's attack.
"But you forgot—this is the world we live in!" Once the Dark-Dark Fruit had swallowed the frost, Blackbeard threw a fierce punch into empty air. The Tremor-Tremor Fruit's devastating force slammed into the void, and a horrifying shockwave suddenly erupted across a vast area around him.
"Crack! Crack! 463"
Kuzan flipped away, raised both hands, and released Armament Haki to meet Blackbeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit power head-on.
Yet Blackbeard's attack covered an enormous area, with no regard for whether the pirates around him lived or died. Kuzan blocked only one side of the impact; everywhere else was blasted apart by Blackbeard's tremor shockwaves. Countless pirates had every bone in their