"The clash of Conqueror's Haki is over, the real one-on-one battle is about to begin!"
Vic activated his Observation Haki, and the images reflected back into his optic nerve played back, showing him the intense battle between Luffy and Doflamingo.
" Vic! Look at the field!"
"Um?"
Vic's attention was drawn back to reality by Aokiji, and he saw Blackbeard extend a claw, and a large amount of black substance emerged from his palm and surged toward Sabo was standing on the last spot of the ring!
Then, Sabo, who was holding the Devil Fruit and preparing to eat it, suddenly felt his hand go empty. Vic saw it clearly: Blackbeard had released a black substance that absorbed the Devil Fruit from Sabo's hand. However, the speed was too fast, and Sabo, who was hesitating about whether to eat the Devil Fruit, did not react at all!
Just moments ago, while Vic was watching the live footage of Luffy's battle with Doflamingo in his mind, Sabo shattered the arena with a single Dragon Claw Fist, leaving only a small piece for him to stand on. He then found the fighting fish carrying the treasure chest and stole the Devil Fruit.
Sabo examined the Devil Fruit in his hand, but he had no recollection of it at all. He had looked at the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia before coming here, and a force like the Revolutionary Army wouldn't lack one.
Sabo wasn't interested in seeing what the Tremor-Tremor Fruit looked like, because the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia didn't even have a picture of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit's appearance; it only had descriptions of its abilities and attributes.
After Whitebeard obtained the Tremor-Tremor Fruit's power, he never described the fruit's appearance to anyone else. Sabo was looking at the Devil Fruit encyclopedia to eliminate those with the appearance listed in it. If Doflamingo had found a Devil Fruit marked in the encyclopedia to replace it, Sabo would have been able to identify it immediately!
However, Doflamingo wasn't stupid. He also had Devil Fruit Encyclopedia, both the new and old versions. So he found a Devil Fruit appearance wasn't shown in the encyclopedia and hid it in the treasure chest. His thinking was quite meticulous.
Doflamingo's actions here involve an element of gambling. Any Devil Fruit encyclopedia could be the Tremor-Tremor Fruit. It all depends on whether you can gamble correctly. If you gamble correctly, you make a fortune, while Doflamingo loses a fortune. This also confirms the rumor that he specializes in giving people powerful Devil Fruit abilities!
However, the probability of this is very low. There are many Devil Fruit that are not listed in the Devil Fruit encyclopedia. The probability that Doflamingo would happen to choose the Tremor-Tremor Fruit and put it in the treasure chest is probably one in several tens or one in several hundred. Doflamingo would not believe that he would be that unlucky, which is also why Sabo hesitated!
Seeing the Devil Fruit in Sabo's hand, the spectators who came for the Tremor-Tremor Fruit didn't rush to snatch it. Instead, they were examining the Devil Fruit's appearance. Or rather, they were comparing it to the appearance in the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia. Although the comparison process was short, it still took time!
Most larger powers have Devil Fruit Encyclopedia; even Sanji's family, Germa, has one, despite being a small country without fixed territory. Other powers certainly wouldn't be without one!
Blackbeard acted without hesitation, because he didn't need to know what kind of Devil Fruit Sabo possessed, even if it was listed in the Devil Fruit encyclopedia. He had already made a plan: to seize it first!
Devil Fruit isn't listed in the encyclopedia, go back and have someone eat it to find out what its power is. If it's truly the Tremor-Tremor Fruit's power, then steal it; you can also steal the power of a stronger Devil Fruit.
If it's an ability already listed in the Devil Fruit encyclopedia, then we'll see what that ability is. Anyway, we had already come up with a plan beforehand, so Blackbeard took advantage of the situation and sucked the Devil Fruit from Sabo's hand!
" Jesus Burgess! Swim over here!"
After Blackbeard snatched the Devil Fruit, he shouted, causing Jesus Burgess, who had fallen into the water after the arena shattered, to swim towards him. He needed to get out of there as quickly as possible; he had felt a chill down his spine earlier, and something unfavorable might happen to him. Blackbeard was very sensitive to these things and always trusted his intuition!
"Oh dear! It looks like he's going to run away."
"Trying to escape? Not so easy! This is a double cage!"
" Teach! Where are you going?"
Blackbeard's actions were too obvious; he wanted to leave as soon as he got what he wanted. However, the two shackles set up by Doflamingo were not so easy to break. With this time difference, Vic could easily manipulate him. At this moment, Vic stopped hiding and directly removed his illusion disguise with a loud shout!
"It's you! Thunder God Vic! What are you doing here?"
Upon hearing that familiar voice, Blackbeard's heart skipped a beat, his dark face instantly paled, and even his pupils shrank. Turning around, he saw the figure behind him that sent chills down his spine—the same ruthless character who had almost killed him twice!
No wonder I felt like I was being watched earlier, and experienced a great deal of palpitation. It's not surprising that I was being watched by Vic! It's just that my luck...
It's not that Blackbeard was unlucky; everyone was there for the Tremor-Tremor Fruit. With such obvious information, those with designs would naturally gather here!
"Is that Vic, Four Emperors?"
"It really is him. Could it be that he's also interested in the Tremor-Tremor Fruit?"
"That's Whitebeard's Devil Fruit, who wouldn't be interested?"
"Even a big shot like Four Emperors has come! Could that Devil Fruit be real?"
"Won't a major battle break out? Blackbeard isn't weak either; let's not get caught in the crossfire!"
" Blackbeard is not weak, but it depends on who he's compared to. His opponent is one of the Four Emperors! Back in Marine Headquarters, he easily crushed the Blackbeard Pirates single-handedly. Blackbeard has no chance of winning!"
"To actually meet such a big shot as the Four Emperors here! This life has been worthwhile!"
"Hey! Are you trying to get someone to pick you up?"
Seeing Blackbeard holding Devil Fruit in one hand and a long tube resembling Smoke Flower in the other, Vic chuckled. He wasn't worried at all about the people Blackbeard summoned; there were Birdcage outside the arena, how could they possibly escape? Vic would rather Blackbeard summon all the Blackbeard Pirates crew members so he could take them all out at once.
Although Blackbeard was somewhat startled to see Vic, he didn't stop what he was doing and still launched the Smoke Flower signal in his hand, his ruthless nature unchanged!
With a series of whooshing sounds, a small fireball rose into the air and exploded into a huge, dazzling Smoke Flower. This time it wasn't Birdcage, it was a real Smoke Flower!
"Looks like you're still not satisfied! Your stage is finally coming to an end. I didn't expect Doflamingo's tournament to do me a small favor."
Seeing that Blackbeard still hadn't given up struggling, Vic was somewhat moved. This was his butterfly effect that had brought Blackbeard here. If he hadn't saved Ace, Blackbeard wouldn't have come here in person!
"Um?"
Just as Vic was hesitating whether to make a move now or wait for Blackbeard's reinforcements to arrive, a person suddenly appeared beside Blackbeard. Vic recognized the person at a glance: Blackbeard Pirates's sniper, Van Augur!
"Take Jesus Burgess with you! Let's go!"
"Court death!"
Blackbeard saw Van Augur appear beside him and said anxiously, "I have no confidence that I can escape from Vic safely. The first time was because Akainu distracted me, and the second time was because of Marco and the others. Both times I only managed to escape by taking shortcuts!"
Even now that Van Augur has the power of the Warp-Warp Fruit, he doesn't dare to be careless. He's really afraid of Vic's speed. If he doesn't teleport away quickly, something unexpected might happen in the next moment!