Multiverse Gourmet Hunter

At the ruins of the execution platform, Sengoku had already forgotten about the escaping Ace.

His eyes were locked on Whitebeard, and his expression had turned black as thunder.

"What the hell happened?! What did that man do to him?!"

The Marines had already calculated that Whitebeard’s body was at the end of its rope. He had been grievously wounded, his illness was steadily consuming him, and there was no way he could continue fighting for much longer.

Once Whitebeard fell, victory would essentially belong to the Marines.

Yet Haruto had appeared out of nowhere and, with nothing more than two dishes of unknown origin, somehow restored Whitebeard’s condition to this extent.

That changed everything.

If the Marines now wanted to bring down Whitebeard, the losses they would suffer would increase enormously—something Sengoku could not possibly accept.

No one understood better than him what a Whitebeard capable of fighting at full strength represented.

The three Admirals looked equally grim.

Akainu in particular was furious. He had spent enormous effort inflicting those wounds on Whitebeard, only for Haruto to undo much of that work with two plates of food.

At that moment, Akainu wanted nothing more than to reduce Haruto to ash with magma.

Even Garp, who had been conveniently lying on the ground after letting Luffy punch him away, finally got back to his feet. His expression was completely serious as he looked toward Whitebeard.

With things developing this far, even he could no longer continue pretending not to be involved.

As for the man responsible for all of this, Haruto looked down at the cheering pirates and the imposing Whitebeard with a hint of surprise.

He had expected the food to restore Whitebeard somewhat, but the actual result was considerably better than anticipated.

In that case, there was probably no need for him to do much else.

With Whitebeard in his current condition, he should have enough strength to lead his crew safely out of Marineford.

Haruto ignored the countless gazes directed at him, whether hostile or friendly, and lightly patted Charizard.

Charizard immediately beat its wings with tremendous force and carried him straight toward the sky above Marineford.

Haruto had an obvious reason for gaining altitude.

After helping Whitebeard recover, he had almost certainly become a major target in the eyes of Marine Headquarters. Sengoku and the three Admirals were undoubtedly treating him as a serious threat now.

Remaining close to the ground would only invite the Marines to surround and attack him.

Even if Haruto was confident he could protect himself, there was no reason to get dragged into a pointless battle and waste his strength.

Besides, he had something else he wanted to do.

Find Marshall D. Teach.

Blackbeard had spent decades hiding his ambitions.

He murdered a crewmate to steal the Dark-Dark Fruit, captured Ace and handed him over to the World Government, and indirectly set the entire Summit War into motion.

His goal was simple.

Let Marine Headquarters and the Whitebeard Pirates tear each other apart, then appear at the end to steal the Tremor-Tremor Fruit. Combined with the most dangerous criminals he had recruited from Impel Down, that would allow Blackbeard to leap into the highest tier of forces on the seas in one move.

Unfortunately for Teach, Haruto had just ruined a very important part of that plan.

Whitebeard had recovered.

In fact, his condition was now better than it had been before the war began.

Blackbeard was a man of enormous ambition who had endured patiently for decades to reach this point. Someone suddenly appearing and wrecking his carefully laid plans was hardly something he would take well.

Haruto could practically guarantee that, apart from the Marines, the person in Marineford who most wanted to tear him to pieces right now was Blackbeard.

The feeling was mutual.

Haruto had never liked Teach in the slightest.

Since a confrontation was probably inevitable anyway, he might as well make the first move and drag the rat hiding in the shadows out into the open before Teach could continue waiting to profit from everyone else’s losses.

Charizard climbed several hundred meters into the sky.

From that height, virtually all of Marineford spread out beneath Haruto.

Damaged Marine warships littered the harbor, while across the plaza, Whitebeard’s pirates and the Marines were still slaughtering one another amid smoke, fire, and shattered ice.

Haruto’s eyes swept rapidly across the fortress.

It did not take long before he spotted an enormous figure hiding behind the main Marine Headquarters building.

Calling it "hiding" was being generous.

Even crouched down as much as possible, a body that massive was impossible to conceal.

The "Colossal Battleship," Sanjuan Wolf.

One of the most dangerous criminals formerly imprisoned on Level 6 of Impel Down.

"So they really are here."

Haruto narrowed his eyes.

"The Blackbeard Pirates."

If Sanjuan Wolf was present, Teach and the others had to be nearby.

Haruto followed the giant’s enormous silhouette downward and soon spotted several figures standing within the shadow cast by the headquarters building.

At the front stood Marshall D. Teach himself.

Blackbeard’s gap-toothed mouth was pressed into a tight line, his face dark with irritation as he stared fixedly toward Whitebeard on the battlefield. Beneath his cloak, his fingers were clenched so hard that his knuckles cracked.

Beside him stood Jesus Burgess, the massively muscular "Champion."

Leaning against the wall with an extraordinarily long rifle in his hands was Van Augur, the "Supersonic," his gaze as cold and distant as ever.

Nearby sat Doc Q, the "Death God," on his sickly white horse, Stronger. His face was so deathly pale that he looked as though he might stop breathing at any moment.

The strange, top-hatted Lafitte, the "Demon Sheriff," stood close by.

And those were only Blackbeard’s original companions.

There was also the arrogant Avalo Pizarro, the "Corrupt King"; Vasco Shot, the "Heavy Drinker," clutching an enormous jug of alcohol with drunken eyes; and Catarina Devon, the "Crescent Moon Hunter," whose strange appearance and vicious gaze practically radiated madness.

Finally, there was the former Chief Jailer of Impel Down, Shiryu of the Rain, a cigar between his teeth and a cold, bloodthirsty aura hanging around him.

Ten people in total.

Every single one of them was the kind of monster whose name alone could terrify ordinary people.

At the moment, the entire Blackbeard crew had suppressed their presence and hidden in the building’s shadow, clearly intending to wait until the Marines and Whitebeard Pirates had completely exhausted one another before emerging to claim the spoils.

Haruto looked down at them and muttered,

"You guys really think you get to sit back and watch the show for free?"

He had no intention of allowing Blackbeard to comfortably hide until everyone else had finished fighting.

If Teach wanted to wait for both sides to destroy each other before making his move, Haruto would simply force him onto the stage early.

Haruto slowly raised his right hand, palm facing downward, his fingers pressed together like the edge of a knife.

The next instant, Nen surged from his body like a rushing tide and gathered around his hand.

The aura rapidly condensed into the shape of a translucent phantom kitchen knife.

"Flying Knife."

Haruto swung his hand toward Blackbeard.

The phantom blade instantly became an almost invisible streak.

There was no earth-shattering explosion and no dazzling display of light. It simply moved with terrifying speed, crossing several hundred meters in the blink of an eye and shooting straight toward Teach’s chest.

Blackbeard sensed the incoming attack almost immediately.

His expression briefly froze when he saw the strange translucent blade racing toward him, but he reacted quickly.

Teach thrust out his right hand, palm aimed directly at the projectile.

"Black Vortex!"

Darkness poured from his palm like a tide, forming a rotating black vortex.

A terrifying gravitational force erupted from it, so intense that even the surrounding light seemed to be swallowed by the darkness.

This was one of the terrifying abilities of the Dark-Dark Fruit.

Its darkness could draw in Devil Fruit powers and nullify them, while its gravitational pull could even drag Devil Fruit users themselves directly toward Teach.

But in the next instant, Blackbeard’s expression completely froze.

Disbelief replaced his confidence.

The phantom kitchen knife ignored the enormous gravitational pull of the darkness entirely.

It passed through the black vortex as though moving through ordinary air, without slowing down in the slightest.

"What?!"

Teach’s pupils contracted.

Every hair on his body stood on end as he tried to throw himself aside.

Too late.

Pshk!

The phantom blade struck him squarely in the chest.

And at that moment, the drawback of the Dark-Dark Fruit made itself painfully apparent.

Unlike most Logia users, Teach could not transform his body into an element to allow attacks to pass harmlessly through him.

Worse, the fruit caused him to experience pain far more intensely than an ordinary person.

"AAAAAGH! IT HURTS! IT HURTS LIKE HELL!!"

Blackbeard doubled over and crashed heavily to the ground.

Clutching his chest, he began rolling around wildly, cold sweat pouring down his forehead like a waterfall while his entire face twisted into a grotesque mask of agony.

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