Chapter 171: Undying Will

The darkness blew ominously. Swirling into the dense, concentrated orb of darkness that appeared on top of Blackbeard, its size continued to expand, harbouring nothing but Blackbeard's ruthlessness.

"RISE!!!"

Then, upon Blackbeard's call, said orb exploded into countless pieces, ones which flew in all directions.

Upon landing, those pieces wriggled and morphed into humanoid forms.

It was the army of darkness that was unfold before Smoker and his group—

—SWOOSH!

One soldier of darkness was cleaved in half as a Haki-imbued sword passed through its torso.

"Hmph!"

There stood Maynard with his sword.

CLANG—!

The sword of darkness, that one soldier of darkness held, revealed a surprising endurance and resiliency as it met Bastille's huge zanbato—or it seemed, until it collapsed together with its owner as his zanbato crushed them as a whole.

And past Bastille, a figure dashed.

BOOM!

"GRAAAAH!!!"

Aramaki, roaring, slammed his fist reinforced by Haki and momentum, straight into the chest of one soldier of darkness.

And as he did so, another soldier of darkness appeared above him, about to stab him down,

BANG!

its head exploded as a Tobu Shigan was fired from Hina, who stood at a distance.

And as Aramaki looked up, he saw the movement of giants. They, running in a line, kicked and stomped the soldiers of darkness who were rushing over toward them.

"PAVE THE PATH!!!"

Ignoring the wounds and gashes that appeared over his body as he tanked the blows of those soldiers, Saul shouted as he ran,

"DON'T STOP!!!"

On the shoulders of those giants were the warriors of Kuja Tribes, ones who were drawing bows.

Hancock ordered,

"FIRE!!!"

The arrows imbued with Haki were fired at the core of the battlefield where Blackbeard stood.

"AS IF THAT WOULD WORK!!!"

Blackbeard roared as those arrows disintegrated into dust upon entering the proximity.

BOOOM!

Lifting his fist, Blackbeard swung it to the side. The incredible force that rippled throughout the air was generated, which knocked away Shakuyaku who was attempting to sneak attack him from the back.

"Ugh...!!"

Blackbeard's eyes chased after Shakuyaku, who, unable to tolerate the force, ended up letting go of her seastone knife.

"...Hmph,"

Blackbeard's body emanated a dense matter of darkness, one that materialized into a gigantic fist that sprouted out of his back.

And this fist struck Saul who managed to reach nearby him.

"Urgahh!!!"

The blood splattered out of Saul's agape mouth as the fist of darkness impacted his stomach.

However, letting out a warcry, Saul didn't back off; he withstood the pain.

"GO!!!!"

And just when Saul screamed, Smoker stormed in, with his right fist that was imbued with the crackling the black lightning of Conqueror's Haki: Infusion, as well as the emanating glow of Armament Haki: Emission.

Blackbeard turned with his eyes widened in glee.

Then,

PAZZZZZZ!

Smoker's fist met the fist of Blackbeard's own. Once again, two massive Conqueror's Hakis clashed, knocking everyone in proximity away from the two—even Saul.

The black and red lightning overtook the space full of darkness.

"USELESS!!!!"

"Tch...!"

Blackbeard roared, and as he did so, it was Smoker who lost the struggle. His arm pushed through, and Smoker was blasted back for the nth time.

However, a huge hand appeared behind Smoker and prevented his unwanted propulsion out of the battlefield.

"Saul."

Smoker grinned as he eyed the giant whom he hadn't met for years.

"We got lods of catching up to do, Smoker!"

Saul smiled daringly.

"But ya know, now isn't da time!"

Through Observation Haki, Smoker and Saul read each others' minds.

"Huaaaaa!!!"

Saul rotated his body, before throwing Smoker back at Blackbeard.

The lightning crackled once more. With his eyes gleaming in spirit, Smoker rotated his body mid-flight to attain additional momentum, and,

PAZZZZZZZ!

Again, two fists collided. The black lightning sparkled intensely, and Blackbeard's crimson eyes blazed, brimming with power.

Then, the explosive noise arose. And along with this explosive noise, Smoker was blasted back once more.

Within this situation, Blackbeard found himself surrounded.

"All of you..."

He growled as he gazed at them.

Gloriosa, Shakuyaku, Brook, Saul, giants...

"...Never have I expected to meet you again like this, Gloriosa."

The time seemed to slow down as Blackbeard then grasped the air and yanked it down.

Gloriosa's eyes widened, but before anything could be said, Blackbeard acted,

"ALMIGHTY CRUSH!!!"

The entire space rippled centering Blackbeard's hand. Quaking and shattering as the force of the tremor spread, the wave of destruction demolished whatever lied in its path.

The soldiers of darkness were dispelled along with it, unable to handle the force.

Smoker and the group, by quickly encasing their entire body with Armament Haki, endured through—though they bled and were knocked away.

And after the wave passed by, everyone was lying on the ground, huffing. Some grimaced in pain, while some attempted to stand back up, only to fail in doing so.

However, Blackbeard growled.

After all, Smoker hasn't fallen.

Standing firmly even though the blood dripped down from his body, he stood with that of a sheer will.

And watching this, Blackbeard formed a grin full of wrath at the sight of it.

"Of course it would be you again, White Hunter...!!!"

His body blurred, dashing at Smoker at a rapid speed.

Smoker's eyes narrowed, before he hopped back,

BOOOOOM!

The platform which he was standing on top of just a split second ago shattered into pieces as Blackbeard's fist landed.

BOOOOOM!

Twisting his body to the side, Smoker watched as another fist of Blackbeard created a huge gust of rippling wind that spread throughout the area.

BOOOOOM!

Lowering his form, Smoker let the gigantic blast of darkness go past the space above his head. Rotating his body, he clenched his fist, and,

BOOOOOM!

met Blackbeard fist-to-fist.

PAZZZZZZZ!

The black lightning arose for a brief moment before Smoker backed away to evade another blast of darkness that came in flying from above.

And Blackbeard once again kicked off the platform, propelling himself toward Smoker with that of craziness.

Their eyes gleamed in crimson, reading the future and predicting one another's moves.

However, there was a stark difference in desperation. Blackbeard, who possessed a power unlike any other, didn't have to rely so much on Haki, as much as Smoker had to.

In contrast, Smoker pushed through his limits.

What he needed to see wasn't the future further than what Blackbeard could see. As long as both of them could read and be aware of the future, they could alter it, rendering their future sight null.

However, if Smoker could perceive this change in the future much quicker than Blackbeard and act according to it,

he could, perhaps, bring in a variable into this battle.

After two seconds, the spikes made out of those dark matters will rise from below.

Smoker saw,

And as Blackbeard too read this future and lowered his arm, this future ceased to exist.

Smoker suddenly changed his direction of movement and dashed into Blackbeard who was flying straight toward him,

BOOOOOM!

Blackbeard's fist struck Smoker's Haki-imbued torso, right at the same time when Smoker's own impacted Blackbeard's chest.

"Zehahaha..."

Smoker coughed blood and wrinkled up his face. Blackbeard too had a trail of blood dripping down from his mouth.

However, there was a light in Smoker's eyes.

After a second, a blast of darkness will be shot from my blind spot...

'...and just now, as Blackbeard too saw this future and acted against it, said future has just changed.'

Smoker gritted through the pain. 

Then, he grabbed Blackbeard by the neck and threw him downward,

Blue Hole.

Blackbeard was drilled deep into the solidified platform of darkness. He, with his eyes widened, coughed out the blood upon the impact.

"..."

With a darkened expression, Blackbeard stood back up, and Smoker watched as the wounds on the man's body instantly regenerated as the crimson glow intensified, which indicated the activity of his Soul Soul fruit.

Blackbeard's cold eyes were locked onto Smoker, trying to analyze how Smoker's attack succeeded on him.

And once again, the two of them began to read the future, the future in which they were clashing fist-by-fist yet again.

Blackbeard, this time around, expended his Observation Haki with that of a full focus, not daring to embarrass himself again by letting Smoker strike him.

And this was exactly what Smoker was aiming for,

'A misdirection.'

"MORNING WOOD!!!"

Focusing intently on Smoker, Blackbeard failed to realize that Aramaki was by his side, punching his face with what he would consider a pitiful punch.

BOOOM!

Caught off guard, Blackbeard was knocked back to right where Hina was standing by.

Hina then kicked,

"Rankyaku!!"

"What even—"

Raising his hand, Blackbeard fretted off the pressurized air generated by Hina's kicks,

"—Are you doing—"

And as he did so, Smoker, who suddenly appeared right above him, struck Blackbeard's head,

Galaxy Impact.

Blackbeard was blasted down to the ground, and centering him, the platform cracked into multiple pieces.

Along with this phenomenon, the dome of explosion arose, before the force of explosion rippled throughout the air.

"...Is that all?"

Blackbeard, emerging back up and growling in rage as his body regenerated without any scar, then faced,

the hundreds of his enemies—ranging from marines to giants—running toward him.

"""RAAAAAA!!!!!"""

They let out a war cry as they ran. Standing in the front were the giants whose steps generated small quakes, quite close to Blackbeard.

"How many times must I remind you..."

Blackbeard roared,

"THAT IT'S USELESS?!!!"

Everyone was caught off guard as the dome of darkness exploded, blasting them away in an instant, effortlessly.

"BOW DOWN TO ME, BUGS!!!!!"

Blackbeard couldn't understand.

He attained it all. The power, fame, wealth—everything was his.

And yet, why did they keep on opposing him, even when they could see that it was impossible to beat him?

"CAN'T YOU SEE?!!! YOU CANNOT DEFY THE FATE!!!!!"

Blackbeard shouted hysterically without any sign of amusement and mockery. His roars were based on nothing but a genuine inability to understand his foes.

Holding his hand up and clenching it, Blackbeard began to gather the darkness into an incredibly dense swirl.

The might of the miniature black hole was revealed, which he further amplified through the augmentation with the energy provided by the power of souls.

The tremors of particles generated sparks within the darkness, and they made it seem as if Blackbeard was holding... an entire galaxy.

And he 'threw' such a thing straight at his enemies,

"BIG!!!! BANG!!!!!"

Everyone watched such an embodiment of energy explode in front of them,

as well as someone, one wearing a white coat with the word engraved on it, stepping up in front of them at the final moment.

"""SMOKER—"""

Then, the light rose within the dark, and the explosion occurred, one greater than any other.

...

"Cough, cough...!"

Within the darkness, Hina coughed as she regained her senses.

"Huff... huff... what just..."

She looked around as the dust began to clear.

Bastille, Aramaki, Senor Pink—everyone was down, groaning or huffing as they slowly returned to consciousness.

Plop.

Hina's blurry vision focused. She looked around and saw that giants and warriors of Kuja Tribes too were down, visibly wounded.

Then, she saw.

At the front, Smoker was standing, painted in red—by his own blood.

"Do you understand now?"

And Blackbeard growled without even a hint of exhaustion,

"This is the full might of my power, of what I am capable of!!! Your resistance is futile!!! I AM FATED TO WIN!!!!!"

However, instead of revealing any sign of resignation, Smoker, with his blood-stained hair covering his eyes, grinned.

"In the first place, what even is the fate anyway?"

He then walked, toward Blackbeard.

Staring at Smoker in that of wrath, he raised his hand for the second time.

"...A simple question, isn't it?"

Then, he spoke,

"I am fate."

And in an instant, the embodiment of the energy that resembled the galaxy, one that took over them just a few minutes ago, was generated once more.

"W-WAIT!!!"

Hina shouted in a panic, however, couldn't do anything but watch as Blackbeard blasted straight onto Smoker.

BOOOOOOOOM!

The incredible magnitude of the explosion was accompanied by the force that knocked everyone back.

And as if that wasn't enough, Blackbeard formed it gain for the third time,

BOOOOOOOOM!

Then another,

BOOOOOOOOM!

BOOOOOOOOM!

BOOOOOOOOM!

The devasting explosion occurred over and over, non-stop. The platform of darkness shook, cracked, and regenerated over and over, and upon each explosion, the light flashed non-stop, one that was so bright that everyone seemed as if they were going to go blind.

"SMOKER!!!!"

Bastille roared, full of devastation.

"Ugh..."

Aramaki gritted his teeth, feeling helpless under the disaster in front of them.

"..."

And Robin seemed flabbergasted, as she stared at this phenomenon in disbelief.

And then, Hina realized.

"The extent of force... has decreased...?"

BOOOOOOOM!

BOOOOOM!

BOOOM!

Boom.

The dust cleared, and Smoker, still standing, was revealed right in front of Blackbeard, with his hand holding onto Blackbeard's fist.

"...Huh?"

Hina's eyes widened, and so did everyone else's.

"You..."

Blackbeard growled.

"Futile? Useless? Wahahaha... how laughable."

Smoker grinned, and in correspondence, the immense Conqueror's Haki arose and crackled, encasing his entire body.

Full Body Infusion of Conqueror's Haki.

It was willpower unlike any other, the mightiest Haki that anyone ever witnessed.

"I am the one who decides who I am. You? A fate?"

Blackbeard, even with an overwhelming power in him, found a chill down his spine.

Behind Smoker were the footprints of blood.

He couldn't understand, of how Smoker was able to walk through such a bombardment of attacks, of how he was able to grit through.

Smoker then declared,

"You don't mean a shit to me, Blackbeard."

"WHITE HUNTER!!!!!"

Enraged, Blackbeard's Conqueror's Haki exploded at the point-blank range from Smoker.

Smoker met such a Haki head-on, and began, the clash, the struggle between two wills of Supreme Kings.

The black lightning splattered in all directions, continuously and endlessly. The chaos arose, ranging from the gust of wind and the screech of darkness to the intense vibrations that quaked throughout heaven and earth.

Hina's eyes shook. At the same time, she found,

that right in front of her, there lied a knife—the seastone knife that Shakuyaku was holding previously. Bouncing up and down due to the intense quakes, Hina stared at it in a trance.

"This..."

Hina, slowly reaching her hand out at it, grasped it by its hilt.

She realized her role.

Biting her lips, her eyes sparkled with hope.

"SMOKER!!! TAKE IT!!!"

Then, she threw, and at the same time, Smoker held his hand out.

Within the clash of wills, Blackbeard flinched as he turned his head toward Hina. By then, Smoker was already holding onto the knife.

With his eyes widened, Blackbeard gritted his teeth. His Conqueror's Haki became more intense than it already was, and in response to such a calamity, Smoker's Conqueror's Haki too increased in vigor, intensifying by multiple folds.

"You... won't...!!!!"

Blackbeard growled through his grits, but felt his heart thumping as the seastone knife under Smoker's possession was approaching him slowly, as Smoker pushed through Blackbeard's Conqueror's Haki.

And at the last moment, a doubt entered Blackbeard's heart, and losing to his instinct, Blackbeard ended the struggle and jumped back to evade the strike.

This proved to be a fatal mistake, as Smoker immediately blasted himself toward Blackbeard.

Time seemed to slow down. Blackbeard, morphing his body into that of darkness, tried to swirl out of Smoker's proximity.

And while doing so, Smoker slashed the knife, and the seastone blade managed to nick the edge of darkness.

The trickle of blood was drawn, and Blackbeard's eyes revealed that of a panic.

Then, just as the seastone knife became disintegrated upon coming in contact with the crushing impact of darkness that Blackbeard's body morphed into, the effect of seastone, at the same time, nullified Blackbeard's power for a split second.

The sky full of darkness cracked.

A very small portion of it broke, and onto right where Smoker stood, the sunlight shone down. Receiving this sunlight, the grains of what used to be the seastone knife glittered.

And Smoker wasn't the one to let go of this opportunity, as his body blazed into that bright white,

"White World."

Within this split second, the aether instantly expanded centering Smoker and pushed back the dense darkness.

And within this split second, Smoker's eyes blazed in a brilliant white,

Seimei Kikan: Zenith.

Blackbeard choked blood as a crushing blow, one enough to form a gigantic hole right on his body, arrived. 

Then, a punch at his face.

A punch at his leg.

Arm, chest, head, whatever it was, his body was bombarded with fists that broke through the speed of sound.

And when the darkness quickly overtook the aether and sealed the sky once again,

BOOOOOOOOOM!

Blackbeard was completely decimated and blasted onto the platform of darkness.

"Huff... huff..."

Though his body began to regenerate, the sky full of darkness began to crack, due to him having lost his focus on his power, and, as Smoker, with the power of his Devil Fruit evaporated, landed back on the ground,

The darkness around the world completely shattered, revealing the bright sky.

"This..."

Hina felt that her Devil Fruit power had returned. Similarly, Aramaki was able to generate plants all around. Robin could bloom her limbs. Everyone could use their Devil Fruit powers.

"Y-You..."

And in this state, Blackbeard, still regenerating, stood up in a wobbly manner.

The infinite energy granted by Joy Boy's heart was currently being used up by the Soul Soul fruit, using up the last bits of reserve that Blackbeard had to heal him.

"...Now is our chance. This state won't last for long."

Hancock whispered.

And everyone shouted in unison,

"""CHARGE!!!!!"""

And Smoker, whose body was lit up in the blazing flame of white for the second time, clenched his fist as he turned to gaze at Blackbeard's crimson eyes with his white ones.

"Let's put an end to this, Blackbeard."