Teach's laughter echoed in Raftel. It was loud enough to send shivers down the spine of the humans in Cresta. The darkness gathered around him with his body in the sky making him look like a demon king woken from his slumber.
And what a demon they allowed to wake.
His right hand held the power of darkness while the other was holding the scorching lava that used to belong to Akainu.
"Zehahaha! How laughable to see all of you beneath me. All of you looked like ants, easy to squash with just one flick of my fingers, your pity little lives will be gone. Like this." He flicked his finger, sending an attack in a random direction. The darkness swallowed that area with flickers of fire coming from the lava within. It was menacing and dangerous. A portion of the Raftel was swallowed as if it was nothing. All living creatures of that area died within that black hole Teach created. It never mattered if those that died were enemies or an ally. Teach swallowed them, creating a land of the dead.
Everyone began to panic. Fear emanated in their eyes as they looked up, wondering how they could defeat him.
Whitebeard's face was solemn, worried for the safety of the High Princes and High Princesses. The threat of Big Mom and Kaido was looming over them. It never mattered if Teach killed many of his soldiers. The war was still unstoppable.
The death of Teach's allied soldiers did not make the rest hesitate, or fear that they might be next. Instead, they turned crazed, happy to see someone strong on their side. It was as if the idea of killing all Raftelians drove them insane.
At that moment, Whitebeard noticed the dark energy surrounding the enemy soldiers. Their eyes have turned redder with hints of darkness as if they were all under a dark spell.
"Teach has to die," Whitebeard said. The situation was not going well for them. The prisoners of Purgatory may have helped them even the numbers, but the presence of Teach was a threat they need to eliminate.
If they cannot kill him, everything will be for naught. They will all die.
Everything rests on the shoulders of the High Princes and High Princesses.
===XXX===XXX===XXX===
Shivers ran down their spine while looking at what Teach had become. He was the reincarnation of darkness ready to swallow everything under the light. The trembles in the air can be felt around them. It was like ripples of dark energy consuming their minds, making them hazy.
Teach's attention went toward the High Princes and High Princesses whose resistance remained unrelenting. With a wave of his hand, he sent attacks to them. It felt like a blade slicing through the dimension that the High Princes and High Princesses had trouble dodging it.
It was phenomenal to feel the encompassing of the attack. Despite trying their best to defend themselves, they still felt the effects of the dark magic, sucking through their will and power.
'Let's attack together!' All of them agreed. Marco led the charge by waving his talons followed by an ear-piercing cry from Kidd, unwavering as he rushed into the blue fire caused by Marco's attack. His claws made contact with Teach's arm, ripping the skin off before it turned into black smoke.
The wound shocked Teach, prompting him to step back and this was the moment for Zoro to send his sword attacks. A precise attempt to gain an advantage but futile as they were sucked into the abyssal powers.
The High Princesses along with Achilles and Kiyone. Teach never shied away from attacking them relentlessly, switching between the dark magic and the burning power he took from Akainu.
"What's the matter? Is this all the ancient power you all got? Zehahahaha!" The taunt directed at them made them lose their composure. The slight frown on their faces brought satisfaction to Teach knowing that the pristine and powerful Royalties of Raftel were weak.
They continued to exchange moves with Teach, trying to gain an advantage that seemed to slip past their hands. When they thought they can hurt him, he would send back an equally powerful attack, breaking the High Princes and High Princesses' momentum.
He was having fun seeing the bothered look on their faces. Even if they manage to wound him, it was not enough to defeat him at all. The status remained in stalemate, frustrating them to no end.
"Too weak!" He sent another wave of darkness toward Sab and Kiyone. The defense they built was not enough to avoid injuries. "Your powers are a waste on all of you. I might as well absorb all of them!" He was eyeing Kiyone with greedy eyes, flashes of ideas going through his head on how to use Kiyone and Sab's magical powers once he absorbs them.
"No, you won't!" Kidd flew to attack Teach, an act to prevent him from acting against his mate. The red-haired High Prince will rather sacrifice himself if it meant saving Sab from danger.
"Too late!" Teach shouted. The other High Princes moved to stop him at once but the man was prepared, grinning maniacally as if he knew they would fall for his trap.
And fell they did because all of them appeared in front of Teach, making it easier for him to execute an attack to swallow all of them. The darkness obstructing their eyesight along with the hot lava surrounding dealt them neverending pain. It was torture. They felt as if their souls were being sucked out of their bodies, leaving them breathless.
Each of them went through nightmares. The surroundings felt like voices in the dark, whispering to them to give in, rest, and succumb to the pull from the void to face their worst nightmares.
When the darkness permeated into Marco's mind, he instantly saw flashes of memories during the Great war. He was standing on the battlefield like a ghost watching the scenes unfold. The ground shook, cries of rally echoed in his ears, and the next he knew was the inevitable clash happening right before his eyes. Blood rained on everyone. Some Raftelians found themselves on the ground, eyes wide open but breathless. The sight had Marco shivering. It was like the dead were looking at him.
'You will die,' the whispers from the dead grew stronger. 'You shamed your parents. Look at them,' and as if in trance, he followed the directions of the dead, pointing to the two familiar people. These were the people he admired. The smiles from his mother felt familiar, and the approving gaze from his father had Marco's heart swollen in pride knowing he was making him proud. The familiar warmth was comforting but it did not last long. The moment he blinked his eyes, the sight of his parents changed. Swords pierced their chests, blood flowing from the wound.
They were looking at him in confusion.
'Why? Why did you not save us? Save us, Marco!'
'Save us, son! Come, save us!'
Their hands extended, begging their son to save him. Marco felt lost. These were one of his regrets. He regretted when he was unable to save his parents that day. He lost count of how many times he berated himself for being useless. Perhaps today will be different. Perhaps he can save them.
As he stepped closer to his parents, someone appeared on the battlefield. It was Ann.
She experienced a similar nightmare a while ago but successfully escaped. For she knew she could no longer save her parents. They bid her goodbye the day she regained her sealed powers. These thoughts let him escape from the darkness and found Marco who was on the verge of being consumed by it.
She watched him step into the unknown, deeper into the darkness. This was a living nightmare for her - to see Marco walking away, leaving her behind.
"Marco!" She shouted. The dead bodies on the ground clung to her, symbolizing the darkness that Teach sent. They prevented her from stepping closer to Marco. "M-Marco! No! Snap out of it!" She struggled to break free from the chains of darkness as she shouted for him once again. It was futile. The hands pinned her to the ground, preventing her from getting closer to Marco.
She was helpless as she watched him a step closer to his parents. As the ground started swallowing her, Ann closed her eyes and pulled the strings of their connection.
She was calling his name while struggling to keep her consciousness from being corroded. As her body sinks deeper, leaving only her hand, she felt herself losing it when there was no response from Marco. Until she felt a warm hand reach for her, pulling her out of that darkness.
Breathless, Ann slumped her body against the familiar body embracing her. A smile appeared on her tired face.
"Marco..."
"Thank you. Your voice woke me, yoi."
"I thought you would never hear my voice." She looked up to meet the most beautiful blue eyes she had ever seen.
"Almost. But I realized my parents were too proud to beg me to save them. They will never encourage me to throw my life away, leaving my mate behind, yoi."
"Good. Because I won't allow you to leave me behind. Now, let's find the others."
As much as they want to bask in each other's warmth and comfort, they must find each other before it's too late.
===XXX===XXX===XXX===
Somewhere in the dark world created by Teach, something similar was happening. It was Kidd who was facing the worst nightmares.
It started with his parents, shouting at him for being weak and useless. The words thrown at him felt like a knife, cutting wounds in his heart.
Those were the worst emotions he kept inside him. He almost succumbed to the nightmares had it not been for the memory of Sab. That was when he realized these were nothing but a nightmare. His parents were dead. What he was seeing was hallucinations caused by Teach.
Just when he thought he snapped out of his stupor, another nightmare appeared before him, worse than the first one he saw. It was the same scene he witnessed back when Sab was kidnapped by Blackbeard's men. The blood dyed the ground red. It was overflowing and she was lying in the middle, lifeless. Little by little, the blood was consuming her body, dragging her underground. Kidd was beginning to panic. He ran toward her but felt the irresistible force preventing him from doing so.
"Sab!" He growled. His desperate cries must have woken Sab from that stupor. She groggily looked at Kidd, begging him to save her. The helplessness in her eyes broke Kidd apart. The instincts were hammering him in saving his mate.
He watched her cry for him, reaching out with shaking hands that were inches away from Kidd. Just as he was about to reach her, he realized one thing.
Sab was not the type of person to desperately cry to be saved. She was not helpless. Kidd knew her to be feisty, strong, and intelligent. She was selfless not to drag Kidd to nothingness.
Realizing all of these, he retracted his hand and looked down at Sab. He stopped struggling.
"You're not Sab. You're weak. She wasn't."
"How could you?! I am your mate! How could you not save your mate?! You should die for me, your mate!"
"Sab is not pathetic like you. She would rather die than beg me to die for her. This is why she is the only true High Queen of Beogia. You're nothing more than illusions created by this world. Begone!"
Little by little, the illusions started blurring. He looked around and walked aimlessly in search of his mate while hoping she was not in the same predicament. The vague connection they shared alarmed him of her presence nearby. He trusted his instincts to guide him. As he arrived at where she was, Kidd witnessed how Sab stomped her feet on the ground, beating the living life out of Kidd's incarnation.
The High Prince of Beogia knew that was not him, but someone who wore his face, but he couldn't help but wince at the sight of his mate beating it.
"Sab." He called out to her.
"Kidd! I knew that was not you."
"Yes. It wasn't me." Kidd shivered while looking at the bloody mess that Sab put the illusions into while secretly gratified that was not him. "We have to go now. We have to join the others and get out of this."
"It's too dangerous to be left here. I can feel my magic power being drained at a faster rate." Sab answered while looking at the glow on her hand.
The longer they stay here, the more they feel Teach becoming more powerful.
"I agree. I cannot sense Achilles."
"I cannot sense Kiyone either."
"Let's go. We might bump into them if we search." Kidd took Sab's hand and they walked into the darkness together.
===XXX===XXX===XXX===
The endless darkness can drive anyone into madness. Whenever Luffia closes her eyes, she can hear the voices of people - the darkness itself.
They were crying.
The darkness tempted her to succumb. Sometimes it will take the form of her parents or her sisters. Then, Zoro. They were asking her to help, to reach out to them and join them in the darkness. Luffia only frowned. While she was happy to see her parents once again, she knew in her heart they passed away. The desperation in their eyes was foreign. What Luffia remembered were the smiles decorating their faces as they looked at her.
So, she ignored those calls no matter how tempting it was. She walked away while feeling the darkness embracing her, whispering cries of agony.
"Luffia!" She looked at the person who called her name. Unlike the illusions she saw, the person running toward her was real. It was her Zoro.
"Zoro!"
"Good thing I found you."
"Hmm." She nodded and turned her attention back to the darkness surrounding them. Zoro told her that he tried to get out of this darkness but to no avail. There were no exits or entrances. Before Luffia could voice what was on her mind, she felt her sisters getting closer to her.
Each of them experienced the same thing. What they saw were their nightmares and fears. Had their wills been weaker, they would have succumbed to the endless darkness.
"What should we do now?" Ann asked.
"There had to be a way to get out of here."
'Light.' Kiyone said. 'When there is darkness, there is light,'
"Our fire?" Kidd asked, lighting the palm of his hand using his fire. The buzzing sounds they hear grew frantic and louder. When Marco followed suit, they instantly felt the buzzing sound echoing in their ears. They groaned in pain, especially Luffia who can hear their voices.
"They are asking for help." She said while covering her ears. "Their voices are crying."
"What do you mean?" Zoro asked.
"Don't you hear them? The voices!" It bothered Luffia that she can continuously hear their voices in her head.
'Help.'
'Let this end.'
'Let us rest'
Sab and Ann closed their eyes and focused on their surroundings. The more they focus, the more they hear what Luffia was talking about. It's as if the darkness surrounding them were filled with the souls of people.
"Teach absorbed Akainu's power. He might have absorbed other people's essences before this, yoi."
"Do you mean absorbing their souls?" Kidd asked, shivering in disgust at the thought of Teach consuming people's souls.
"We cannot allow him to live." Ann's determination skyrocketed. If they don't leave now, they will be absorbed by this darkness.
"What should we do now?"
"Light. Fire." Ann was the first to unfold her wings and release a powerful energy. The shrieks of the voices in the darkness grew more intense as if the voices sensed the tremendous power coming from Ann, endangering their existence.
Marco followed suit, releasing a calming fire from his Phoenix origins. It was a balance between Ann's raging fire and Marco's soothing and cold ones. It helped lull the voices around them, but it was not enough to get them out of this darkness.
"I don't like using fire, but hell, I can't wait to get out of this bloody dark place." Kidd did not wait any longer as he spread his wings and lit them to join Marco and Ann. While Beogians have the fire on their wings, they rarely use it. They are widely known to use their physical prowess. Yet now is not the time to pick what power he should be using if it meant they can kill Teach.
Sab hid a smirk upon feeling Kidd's reluctance. She followed suit nonetheless by releasing her magic and the little fire she shared with Kidd. She thought of nature and the greeneries that she loved being surrounded by instead of the loneliness this dark place provided them.
"Are you not going to transform and breathe fire?" Luffia asked Zoro who was grimacing at the situation. Not like he had any choice whatsoever given that it would be utterly humiliating of him to breathe fire while in his demi-dragon form. Luffia will never let him live without teasing him if she ever gets to see Zoro doing such acts.
He transformed into a small dragon, small enough not to overcrowd them, and released a fire right into the circle, joining the rest of them.
"Light and Fire," Luffia muttered and closed her eyes. She willed for her power to come forth, directing them to her palm. She felt it was not enough to release them from their imprisonment so she searched for something.
The voices. They may have died for a long time, swallowed by Teach's darkness but their consciousness still lived there. A thought passed by her mind.
If Al Draig can be used to weaken their enemies, why not use it to strengthen them?
Bringing that idea earned frowns from her sisters and their significant others but she insisted.
"They were caged into this nothingness. We can awaken their desire to leave and be free." Her argument convinced the others to comply. Her sisters nodded and reached into the consciousness of the voices hidden behind this darkness, willing them to help and fight for the freedom they sought.
===XXX===XXX===XXX===
Teach stood right next to the dark globe he created. Little by little he can feel his magic powers increasing. The level of magic these Raftelian Royalties held was immense he could not swallow it directly.
Their resistance to his power proved to be challenging. At times, he could feel their magic burning his powers, dissipating them into nothingness.
But he did not give up. Not now when he can see what lies ahead of him. A world where he can do whatever he wanted, a world where no one will look at his birthright, a world where he can rule through his power.
He released more nightmares, descending them towards the minds of these royalties. The voices of the souls proved to be great when torturing those who live in their fears and nightmares. He has awoken their fears by letting them see what they were, letting them succumb till there was nothing but an empty shell for him to suck them dry of their power.
Their vitality will be of great importance to him. Marco's longevity will be needed. Zoro's sturdy body made of his dragon scales will be his best defense and Kidd's nature as a Beogian will be his asset should he need to fight in close combat to use his sheer strength.
Everyone he absorbed contributed to his power.
"When I am done with you six, I will be absorbing those left in Raftel. That is if they are all still alive. Zehahaha!"
It was as he envisioned it years ago while he was nothing but a nobody in Raftel. An orphan boy with no power, no status, nothing. He saw Royalties sit back while wielding such great power. Envy is a simple word to describe what he had felt back then. What he felt was an utter mockery. Why sit back when you can stand to rule them all?
Akainu shared the same sentiments and Teach, for quite a time felt he found someone who truly understood what he desired. As time grows, Akainu grew more powerful, and following him did not sit well with Teach. Akainu sought power to get revenge for being set aside in favor of Rauscher and prove to everyone else he could be more powerful than she ever was.
But Teach didn't share the sentiments. What he sought was power for himself. And he quickly realized that he could never achieve it if he simply follow Akainu. He must seek power.
And he did. By sacrificing the lives of people he never knew. He madly absorbed Halfborns into his darkness, delightful for their pleas for mercy. What awaited them was only a peal of laughter as he relinquished their existence into nothingness, into darkness.
Now, it is time for him to absorb the High Princes and High Princesses.
Just when he thought he had them in his palm, he felt the resistance growing stronger. One by one, till he felt the six of them resisting.
"You all will die!" He shouted and released more darkness descending within the orb. "Swallow them for me! Make them succumb!" He was willing the darkness to extinguish whatever resistance the Raftelian Royalties have. The last time he did this, it worked without a doubt, but right now, shock reverberated in Teach when he felt the resistance coming from his power. "What?! Impossible! What did you pests do?! You will pay!"
He struggled with all his might but the more he struggled, the more he felt his hold and control falling apart. He descended his consciousness into the world of darkness, shouting at his slaves to do his bidding.
When his consciousness entered the world of darkness he created, he was blinded by the light and fire the Royalties created. Enraged, he released his power with madness, willing the darkness to swallow the High Princes and High Princesses.
"You killed so many. It is time to set them free." It was the voice of the youngest princess that penetrated Teach's mind.
"No! No!" He struggled to hold his power together, but the moment Luffia spoke, he lost control of the world of darkness. It dissipated into nothingness, with the light swallowing it till it turned into specks of dust. "NO!" He bellowed in anger. All the souls and powers he consumed had been dissipated. He intended to add the High Princes and High Princesses to that collection to make him the strongest, but to his dismay, they were gone. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"
Teach stumbled. The shock still affected his state of mind. Decades of hunting Halfborns and Raftelians were gone because of these Royalties.
"We freed them, you fucker!" Kidd cursed, panting heavily. Releasing too much power while fending off his sanity against the consciousness in the dark proved too much to handle. Not just him, but the rest were in the same state. No one prepared them for experiencing such menace.
While they were resisting, they had to watch the scenes unfold before them. Memories from countless lives that fell at the hands of Teach. Calling them memories would be far too paled to what they were.
It was hell. It felt like they were the ones who were experiencing the hell of drifting into the endless darkness, nothing around them and constantly being manipulated to this bastard's bidding.
Even now, the six of them felt their hearts shivering from the number of hellish nightmares they had to experience while dispersing Teach's control over that darkness.
"It is time to pay for your sins, Teach. This world no longer deserves to have your presence in it." Marco said.
"If you think you've weakened my power just because you were freed, you were wrong! I will rule the world! Not you! I am the most powerful and when I absorb your power and your souls, I will cast the six of you to an eternity of darkness, torturing your souls! Your loyal subjects will follow suit and I will have what I lost!"
"That leaves us more reason to kill you!"
And once again, they battled the darkness.
