23 Chapter 23.

The war of the best. The battle occurred, in the headquarters of the Marine, between the world's strongest man Whitebeard, the captain of the Whitebeard Pirates and his crew against the Marines. The war was tragic as there were enormous casualties. And one of the casualties was the same man dubbed as the 'Strongest Man in the World' Whitebeard who died because of his old age and failing body which was great news for the Marines. However, it didn't mean Marines was the winner. The real winner was the new rising star Marshall D Teach dubbed as 'Blackbeard' captain of the Blackbeard Pirates. After the death of Whitebeard, Blackbeard managed to steal his Devil Fruit which grants the user power to destroy the world even though he already had another Devil Fruit known as Yami Yami no Mi. Blackbeard not long after the war managed to rise into the status of Yonko, the ruler of the sea.

Then why someone like Marshall D Teach was targeting Valentine. The reason was Valentine's unknown Devil Fruit. When Blackbeard was still one of the 7 Warlords, he heard about the Devil Fruit which made him quite curious about it.

Valentine's Devil Fruit was obviously one of the strangest Devil Fruit ever recorded of not the strangest. At first, one would conclude and believe the Devil Fruit allows the user to control some kind of unknown energy since Valentine mainly uses Cero until Valentine changes the appearance of his sword. This would confuse even the most experienced fighters in the world. Aside from its mysteriousness, it also had enough firepower to injure Kizaru. It was the reason why Blackbeard wanted it.

However, he couldn't directly chase after Valentine as he still had a greater plan ahead and Valentine could wait. And after becoming Yonko, Blackbeard once again heard of Valentine. Hence he decided to hunt Valentine which bore fruit not soon after.

***

At the present time.

Valentine didn't wait for his enemy and used Shunpo to appear behind Blackbeard and descended his Zanpakuto. However, the same man who blocked his attack earlier blocked once again.

"Didn't I told you that you have to defeat the underlings before fighting the main boss?" The man asked. He was one of the Ten Titanic Captains of Blackbeard's crew, Shiryu 'of the rain'.

"Zee Hahaha." Blackbeard began to laugh at the event that had occurred. However, he suddenly felt something punching him in the cheek. The punch was strong enough to make Teach kneel on the ground, surprising others who were taking the battle easy as they were fighting just one person.

After taking the punch Blackbeard stood up, wondering what hit him then realized he was surging with power. He let out laughter and walked towards Shiryu and Valentine who was moving so slow at the moment as if the time was slowed down for Blackbeard, prompting Blackbeard to laugh even more for his 'newly' found power. Soon after he arrived and tried to finish off Valentine using his Devil Fruit power. It was the moment he realized something was off. He couldn't use his Devil Fruit power. He then felt another punch on his cheek. At this moment he was back to his previous location with incredible pain, noticing nothing moved that much.

Because of the strange things happening one of the men concluded Valentine must be the one doing it as there was no other visible enemy. Therefore he pointed his gun towards Valentine and shot.

Valentine noticed the bullet. Hence he used Shunpo to dodge the bullet, appearing not far from the enemies.

"All of you stop being careless and ready to attack him at once!!!" Blackbeard ordered as Valentine wasn't easy prey as they previously thought.

As the order came the carefreeness of the crew disappeared and was replaced by seriousness. They kept their eyes on the enemy standing in front of them.

Valentine, on the other hand, summoned Emperor right after using Shunpo, pointed it at the crew, firing with rapid succession. Right at this moment, black ooze like a thing devoured Cero.

Valentine then fired another few times which was futile as the same black ooze like the thing was devouring it. After studying for a while Valentine concluded long-ranged Cero wouldn't be effective as long as one who is using black ooze is there. Henceforth, Valentine had no other choice but to fight in short range.

Valentine then used Shunpo and appeared in front of the man with a rifle as he might be a nuisance and slashed his Zanpakuto. Just as Valentine anticipated the same man who attacked Valentine at first came to block the attack.

"Shibari, Benihime." Crimson energy appeared on the sword which soon turned into a net with darkish crimson-coloured and bound the man.

"Hiasobi, Benihime, Juzutsunagi." Valentine stabbed the net after successfully binding the man. Right after that red orbs appeared from Valentine's location to the man's at very high speed.

Anticipating the dangerousness of the attack Blackbeard used his darkness power to pull Valentine to him which was successful thinking it would stop the attack. Though Valentine was pulled the attack was already done and a large column of fire enveloped the man instantly knocking him out.

Blackbeard used the power he stole from Whitebeard, Gura Gura no Mi and created a bubble on his right hand ready to deliver a devastating blow on Valentine.

"Bakudo 81, Danku." However, Valentine couldn't allow himself to get hit by this strange bubble and used one of his best defensive techniques.

Blackbeard's attack came into contact with the translucent barrier as Valentine used the barrier as a footing to stop himself from pulling.

The sniper known as Van Augur pointed his gun at Valentine. However, he felt something was standing beside him. He then felt his gun being destroyed. It was Gold Experience which Valentine left behind when Blackbeard pulled Valentine, anticipating the sniper's unwanted intervene.

While this was happening, the sole female of the crew, named Catarina Devon, rushed towards Valentine alongside his pink-skinned comrade known as Vasco Shot as well as sick looking old man riding a horse known as Doc Q.

Valentine knew they would be rushing to him so he summoned Emperor since Blackbeard was in no position to defend his subordinates, firing many Cero.

While firing Cero, Valentine used Shunpo to get momentum and appeared behind the sick looking man slashed his back.

"Razor, Benihime." Crescent-shaped crimson energy travelled alongside the sword and slashed his back. Nevertheless, another man with blue hair blocked the attack, the old man took some damage but it wasn't enough to kill him or make him unconscious.

After blocking the attack, noticing his hand was slightly injured, Avalo punched Valentine. He then noticed a finger pointing towards him creating a Cero. Avalo, knowing Cero had quite a serious firepower, used Armament Haki to cover himself. However, Cero never came as Shiryu attacked Valentine, prompting Valentine to retreat.

After retreating Valentine was again was pulled in a certain direction. On the way Valentine user the same tactic as before which was still successful at blocked every attack of Blackbeard. But this time Blackbeard wasn't alone as others except for Jesus Burgess who was knocked out and Van Augur who was busy meddling with Gold Experience.

"Bakudo 81, Danku." The same translucent barrier appeared and Valentine used it as a footing. Right after that, the crew attacked Valentine at the same time. Because of this Valentine summoned White Album to further increase his defence which was successful.

Shiryu's attack was the first to come which Valentine easily dealt with. And after that many attacks came in all different form be a sword or bullet. Whenever Valentine uses Shunpo to retreat Blackbeard would pull him back so Valentine stopped ot retreating far and used Shunpo to evade incoming blows.

Soon after Valentine was standing in front of Blackbeard Pirates with some injuries as well as crew too and even one of them was on the ground other than Burgess. The man on the ground was Shiryu who received a heavy slash on his chest.

Valentine proceeded to attack after catching a breath. However, at that moment, he felt a sword going inside his body around his left abdomen area. Therefore he looked in the direction, noticing Shiryu who was supposed to be laying on the ground near his crewmates. Even though he was surprised Valentine slashed his sword, prompting Shiryu to retreat.

When Valentine was too focused on the injury, Blackbeard suddenly appeared behind him thanks to Catarina's Devil Fruit's illusion making ability, grabbing his shoulder, sealing Valentine's Devil Fruit power. After that Blackbeard and his crew fired continuously until Valentine was on the ground.

Thud

When Valentine fell on the ground, Blackbeard's crew slowly walked towards them. After the crew was finally here, they chatted for a while, leaving Valentine without supervision.

Suddenly, they heard something.

"Bankai...