"Pwaah!!!"
Blackbeard's eyes bulged as blood mixed with fragments of his organs sprayed wildly from his mouth!
His massive body curled like a shrimp as he hurtled diagonally toward the ruins at a terrifying speed!
That punch was enough to instantly incapacitate an ordinary Emperor-Class fighter, or even leave them at death's door!
Yet, at that critical instant when Blackbeard was still flying through the air, his body thrown out of control by the impact-
A figure who had calculated everything slipped precisely alongside Blackbeard's backward trajectory.
On Van Augur's perpetually deadpan face-
There was no expression whatsoever, only an icy, resolute gaze.
Even with the gruesome sight of Jesus Burgess's recent death right before him, he did not hesitate.
Because he understood perfectly well-
Blackbeard, Marshall D. Teach, was the unquestioned heart and soul of their Pirate Crew.
He was the only person who could unite this band of unruly villains and lead them to the "top."
If Blackbeard fell here, not only would the remaining officers have no chance-
Of surviving the combined pursuit of the Navy and the World Government that would follow-
But the ambitions and future for which they had sacrificed everything, even betrayed every moral principle and creed, would vanish completely!
Saving Blackbeard meant saving themselves. It meant preserving their last hope!
"Teleportation: Trajectory Swap!"
Van Augur called out in a low voice and extended his right hand, without touching Blackbeard directly.
Instead, using his Devil Fruit ability, he precisely anticipated a spatial point ahead of Blackbeard's flight path and activated his power!
An invisible spatial ripple spread outward.
Blackbeard should have continued hurtling into the distant ruins under his own momentum-
And suffered another devastating impact upon landing-
But the instant his body touched the ripple, it blurred and vanished!
A moment later,