One Piece: Nobody knows Devil Fruits better than me.

Chapter 232 Teach is dead? I don't believe it!

[The fruit user 'Marco' has been identified]

[The Devil Fruit has been confirmed as a 'Zoan-type Mythical Zoan-type Phoenix-type'. It is currently being analyzed and stored in the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia.]

[Effects at Each Level]

[LV3: Gain all fruit effects, transform into the phantom beast 'Phoenix', possessing the unique physique and stamina of a phantom beast, able to fly, and ignited by 'Regeneration Flame', allowing for elemental transformation. The Regeneration Flame is non-offensive but can be used for defense, and has a burning effect on the soul, nullifying all attacks. As long as stamina is not exhausted, even if reduced to ashes, one can revive in the flames. Requires 15 billion Berries to unlock]

[LV4: Can use the Flame of Regeneration to heal others, but the healing effect is not as good as that of the user. Since its essence is to restore 'life force', it is effective even against viruses and diseases. Requires 60 billion Berries to unlock]

[LV5: Fruit Awakening - Phoenix Fire, the fruit awakens, and the body is enveloped in flames unique to Zoan-type awakenings, comprehensively enhancing all attributes. At the same time, it can form a special 'Flame of Life' contract with allies. All damage received by the contracted ally will be transferred to the Devil Fruit user until the Devil Fruit user voluntarily breaks the contract. Requires 126 billion Berries to unlock]

[Analysis Progress: Completed]

Listen to the fruit encyclopedia's report in your ear.

The monkey sitting on the somersault cloud was quite satisfied.

The Phoenix Fruit—the first Mythical Zoan-type Devil Fruit to appear in the original work, and also one of the top-tier Mythical Zoan-type Devil Fruits.

The fruit's exceptional flight ability, its even more exaggerated 'mythical beast elementalization' compared to Logia-type Devil Fruits, and its true immortality all make its effects quite astonishing.

The only drawback is that the awakening effect of this fruit isn't very powerful in combat; it's more of a support effect.

But he was naturally happy to get such a top-tier fruit for free.

At this moment, he and Marco were flying towards the dueling arena.

"."

On the way, Marco clearly saw the crowds of people gathering towards the dueling arena below—most of them were injured.

Since the dueling arena can only accommodate one-third of Dressrosa's population, most people, despite their efforts to squeeze into the arena, are unable to do so and can only gather outside.

"Lord Shenhou!"

"Lord Shenhou, I beg you—defeat Doflamingo!"

"Your Excellency of the Twelve Constellations, you saved my child! You are a hero of Dressrosa!"

"Mom, who's that next to Lord Shenhou? Is it the other Rooster of the Twelve Zodiacs you mentioned? He looks a lot like a chicken!"

"Don't talk nonsense. He wasn't wearing a sea beast headdress; he must be Lord Shenhou's attendant."

"Hey! Don't talk nonsense, those are from the Whitebeard Pirates."

Meanwhile, the people below were also discussing among themselves as they watched Shenhou and Marco flying in the sky.

"."

Marco, the 'follower', clearly had excellent hearing. He looked at Shenhou with a dark expression and said, "You're quite popular here."

Shenhou replied matter-of-factly, "Of course, after all, I'm not a pirate."

Marco: "."

There's no way to argue with that.

“That guy ‘Heavenly Demon’ really always does things that are disgusting.”

However, seeing the miserable state of Dressrosa, Marco's brows furrowed slightly.

He is a principled and calm person.

Most of the time, he would not rashly intervene in other people's disputes in order to avoid causing trouble for his partners.

But as a 'doctor', he also genuinely dislikes seeing innocent people suffer.

Of course, so did his father, Whitebeard.

Although he wasn't one to meddle in other people's business, if Whitebeard saw anyone bullying the innocent elderly or weak in front of one of the Four Emperors, he would also wipe out those who displeased him.

Of course, Whitebeard himself would never admit his true thoughts.

"Hey, don't think I'm doing this to protect you guys."

Every time he wiped out those evil pirates, he would laugh and tell the people he was protecting.

"I'm a pirate, so of course I'll get rid of anything that gets in my way. Gurarara!"

Upon realizing this, Marco withdrew his thoughts.

Fortunately, the people of Dressrosa didn't encounter Whitebeard, but they did encounter this guy next to him.

He is very clear.

With Shen Hou's strength, dealing with Doflamingo shouldn't be a problem, so there's no need for him to meddle in other people's business.

However, I was still thinking about it.

"Oh? We're here—the one down there, is that the person you're looking for?"

At that moment, Shenhou simply said "Oh".

And so, Marco did indeed see it—not far away, he could already see a dueling arena.

The fierce battle continues in front of the five gates of the dueling arena.

However, in the midst of the battle, four figures had already gained a clear advantage, standing at the very front of the four gates.

Those are naturally Kaido's three calamities, and...
The burly man who was constantly wielding invisible air cannons, blasting away the enemies beside him.

then
"Assoria!"

Shenhou then heard Marco's angry roar.

next moment.
"bake!"

The second-in-command of the Whitebeard Pirates flapped his wings and rushed downwards at an extremely fast speed.

"Marco cough cough, etc."

At that moment, Assoria, who had already arrived at the entrance of the dueling arena, turned around and saw Marco, and his expression changed drastically: "I am already the winner of Gate Four, and according to the rules—you can no longer attack me... cough cough, that hurts!"

As he spoke, he continued to spit out blood.

This made Shenhou frown slightly.

But clearly, Marco didn't care about any of that at the moment.

"rule?"

He simply flew past, sneering, "Whose rules?"

As he spoke, intense flames erupted from his bird feet.

Armament Haki enveloped him, and his figure swooped down.

"."

Only now did Assori seem to realize the error of his thinking.

Yes.

According to the rules set by Doflamingo, the winners of the five gates in the dueling arena will enter the final match to compete for the right to Caesar.

But the key point is—Marco didn't come for Caesar, and he won't be blackmailed by Doflamingo using Caesar as leverage.

In this situation.
"I actually want to use Doflamingo's rules to restrain the Whitebeard Pirates?"

At that moment, even Assori himself found it incredible.

When exactly did this absurd idea appear in his mind, and how did he come to believe it so deeply?
"Phoenix Seal!"

But at that moment, Marco's attack came.

Therefore, Assori disregarded everything else.
"Air cannon, fire!"

He raised his hand, and a powerful air cannon was formed from his two hands.

At the same time, his body began to transform into elements.

[Natural Type - Air-Air Fruit]

[Fruit Effect - Can manipulate air, become air itself, but cannot make air disappear]

And saw this scene.

Shenhou found it even stranger.

"So weak."

He subconsciously came to this conclusion.

Yes—very weak.

Assoria's Devil Fruit ability is certainly not weak; it's even considered a decent Devil Fruit among Logia-type Devil Fruits.

His title of Supernova is well-deserved—with the power of his Logia-type Devil Fruit, he is more than capable of dominating Paradise.

However, his development of the Devil Fruit's power was visibly primitive.

In the face of a powerhouse like Marco, such large-scale elementalization is almost tantamount to suicide.

"How could someone like that kill a member of the Whitebeard Pirates?"

Shenhou was genuinely curious.

But only for the next moment.

Shenhou's curiosity turned into surprise and disbelief.

Because at this moment
"As expected. I noticed beforehand that you're weak!"

At this point, Marco naturally came to a similar conclusion to that of the monkey.

He gritted his teeth, a rare display of anger appearing on his usually calm face: "With your strength, there's no way you could kill Teach." These words...

Beneath Shenhou's mask, Luo Yi's expression instantly hardened.

"Teach?"

He repeated the name in his mind, incredulously.

Then, he finally realized what Marco had said.

"Was the Whitebeard Pirates member this guy killed Marshall D. Teach?"

To be honest, ever since I arrived in Dressrosa...

This was almost the most incredible news Roy had ever heard.

Who is Teach?

Son of Rocks, the future 'Blackbeard' and one of the Four Emperors.

That guy... is dead?

He died at the hands of that rookie named 'Assoria'?

"impossible!"

Roy came to this conclusion instantly.

He knows Teach so well, he might even be one of the people who knows Teach best in the world.

He knew very well that Teach was one of the greatest villains in the entire pirate world.

In order to obtain the 'Dark-Dark Fruit,' one of the most unique Devil Fruits in the world, he infiltrated Whitebeard's ship for decades, simply because he believed that Whitebeard was the most likely great pirate to obtain this fruit.

For decades, he has kept his strength hidden—even though he is a powerful man who could hurt Shanks with his own strength, he has managed to pretend to be an honest, simple crew member without any guile.

He was even prepared to spend his entire life on Whitebeard's ship.

When the Dark-Dark Fruit appears, he can abandon all his past accumulations without hesitation and kill his former 'comrades' to obtain this power.

This is Teach—a 'monster' who acts solely for his own ambitions, is deeply cunning, and will never act without absolute certainty, but once he does, it is absolutely fatal.

Even with the butterfly effect at play, Roy would never believe that such a person would simply die silently at the hands of a supernova.

But it is precisely at this moment
"boom!"

Marco's attack shattered the air cannon fired by Assoria in an instant.

His bird claws struck Assoria, sending him flying—but before he could even get far, Marco grabbed him and lifted him up.

The intense Armament Haki made it impossible for Assuria to use her elemental form to evade.

Immediately afterward, Assoria heard Marconana's clenched teeth as she asked, "Tell me the truth, what exactly happened that day!? How did Teach die?"

In his anger, he asked about his second purpose in coming to Dressrosa.

Just as the news reported.

Not long ago, Whitebeard Pirates crew member Teach and some lower-ranking members of the crew encountered and clashed with this supernova for unknown reasons while on their way to purchase supplies.

The Whitebeard Pirates dispatched reinforcements immediately, but when the reinforcements arrived, they found only wreckage.

The 'supply' ship that Teach and the lower-ranking members of the Whitebeard Pirates were on, as well as Assolia's 'Air Pirates', have all been destroyed.

At the same time, Teach's 'Voice Card' left in the Whitebeard Pirates was completely burned out—that signified his death.

Marco and others naturally could not accept this.

They didn't seem to care about the exaggerated reporting by the World Economic News Agency.

But Teach had been a member of the Whitebeard Pirates for many years, and they considered him part of the 'family' long ago.

The deaths of their family members naturally saddened them—and it's worth noting that Teach, as a veteran member, had fought many battles against pirates under the command of the Four Emperors.

They simply couldn't believe that Teach would be defeated by a newcomer.

So, Marco rushed over after hearing that Assoria had reappeared in Dressrosa.

“Teach.”

But after hearing Marco's question, Assoria struggled incessantly.

To Marco's surprise, Assoria's expression was strangely blank at that moment.

"Who is Teach?"

"what?"

Upon hearing this, Marco's anger intensified: "You idiot, you're playing dumb."

He was annoyed and wanted to ask a question, but then he suddenly realized something.

"Ok?"

The blood Assoria was spitting out and the weakness in his body seemed to become even more intense at this moment.

"Wait, this guy."

Marco was startled—he hadn't used that much force in his attack just now.
But the next moment, he decisively made the best choice.

"bake!"

The flames of regeneration instantly spread towards Assoria, enveloping him.

Marco's expression also changed abruptly.

What's wrong with your body?

At this moment, as a doctor who could also use the Flame of Regeneration to probe the other person's vitality, he had already discovered it.

Although Assoria's body appeared strong, it was actually extremely weak.

His body seemed to have been hollowed out by something—his internal organs, blood, and vitality had all deteriorated to the extreme.

This level of weakness meant that even his 'Flame of Regeneration' couldn't restore the opponent.

This guy is about to die!
And this is indeed the case.

“Teach.”

At this moment, Assoria was still murmuring this name.

As he lay dying, he realized that many of his thoughts and ideas during this time seemed chaotic, as if another person was inside his head.

Or perhaps at some point, he seemed to become someone else, merging into himself.

And now, the name Marco mentioned also felt familiar to him.

It was as if the other person he became was named Teach.

He opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something.

"."

But in the end, he couldn't say anything.

His head lolled to the side, and his hands fell limply to the ground.

he died.

"Hey! Hey!"

Marco's expression was grim as he looked at Assoria, who had suddenly died.

"Looks like your mission isn't going too well?"

But at that moment, he heard Shenhou's voice from the side.

"."

Marco glanced at the Zodiac sign but said nothing—wasn't it obvious?

But it followed closely behind.
"If you really want to find out the truth, you can leave his body behind."

He then heard Shenhou say such words.

"A corpse?"

Upon hearing this, Marco frowned instantly, then looked surprised: "What do you mean?"

"The death of an insider signifies the demise of the secret."

Shenhou grinned as he said this: "But for the twelve constellations, it's not necessarily the case—even the underworld has to give my boss some face."

Upon hearing this, Marco naturally thought of the rumor—that at the end of the Battle of Totto Land, the Star Lord himself appeared and took away Big Mom's soul.

In other words...
"You mean, the Star Lord can..."

Marco already had that incredible guess in his mind.

But Shenhou did not answer him at this moment.

"I'll explain the specifics to you later."

He just waved his hand.

Then he turned his gaze to the dueling arena not far away, and to Doflamingo on the throne in the center of the arena.

"Now."

"I have things to take care of first."

　I'm going back to my wife's hometown today, so this is the only chapter I'll write. Consider it a New Year's Day holiday.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)