PIRATES: I WORK IN NAVY FROM NINE TO FIVE

The casual remark from Luo Yu left everyone frozen in place.

Those familiar with the new Admiral's temperament all knew one thing—his obsession with bonus pay was real.

But right now, they were still trapped within a seemingly impenetrable dome of darkness.

Blackbeard had already escaped, fleeing more than eight or nine nautical miles into the open sea.

In this situation, what else could they do but accept his escape?

That's what should've been the case.

Ulti, bound tight like a dumpling, suddenly shouted out with urgency.

"You think Blackbeard's just gone because you said so? So what if he ran—there's nothing you can do! Don't forget, he's a target of the World Government. Even if you meet again, you won't have the right to act!"

As a CP0 agent, Ulti still burned with humiliation after being crushed despite revealing her identity. For her, it didn't matter whether Blackbeard escaped—as long as Luo Yu looked bad doing it, it was enough.

But Luo Yu paid her no mind.

Instead, his right hand calmly grasped the "Mock Cane"—a weapon he rarely used, more ornament than blade—and murmured:

"Nothing much. I'll just cut everything down."

Buzz—

A pitch-black grimoire materialized before him, suspended in midair.

As its pages began to flip rapidly, the very air around them seemed to freeze.

A moment later, a massive magic circle, dark as ink, expanded outward.

BOOM!

A column of black light erupted from Luo Yu's body, piercing into the heavens.

It wasn't just a display—it ripped straight through the all-encompassing veil of darkness.

The wave of unleashed magical power crashed outward like a tsunami, pressing down on everyone aboard the warship like a mountain. The Marines found themselves struggling to breathe under its weight.

But more than the pressure, what shocked them most was the feel of this energy.

That black beam surging from Luo Yu…

It felt identical to Blackbeard's Dark-Dark Fruit.

No. It was even stronger.

If Blackbeard's darkness was like a vast, smothering cloth, covering everything but lacking lethal edge—

Then Luo Yu's darkness was a blade honed to perfection, slicing cleanly through all in its path.

The difference between them was no longer one of mastery—it was one of nature.

And that shattered every preconception the Marines held.

After all, Devil Fruits were supposed to be unique—only one of each kind could exist at a time.

Yet here Luo Yu was, wielding a power stronger than Blackbeard's… despite already showing abilities similar to Sengoku's.

How could he possibly have a second fruit?

Confusion tore through their minds—but their eyes never left Luo Yu.

His previous words echoed again:

"I'll just cut everything down."

Was he serious? Could he really sever something more than eight nautical miles away?

As if in response, Luo Yu's fingers clenched tightly around the Mock Cane. The torrent of dark power surged into the blade.

His eyes snapped open—his intent locked directly onto Blackbeard's position across the sea.

Then—

He swung.

No flair. No flash.

Just a single, precise cut through space itself.

BOOOOOOM!!!

A black slash burst skyward like a divine thunderbolt.

On the deck, everyone's pupils shrank. Their eyes widened in horror. Even Ulti collapsed to her knees, jaw slack.

It cut through.

The veil of darkness.

The sea.

The sky.

All of it—cleaved in half.

A single slash, like a black flash of lightning, roared across the ocean—shattering reality itself.

Outside the veil—

Blackbeard had just begun to relax. After fleeing over twelve nautical miles, he turned to glance behind.

What he saw made his heart stop.

"Wh-What…?"

Even Burgess and Lafitte stood dumbfounded.

The dark shroud behind them had been ripped apart, pierced by a column of darkness even more terrifying than Teach's own.

And from that rupture—

A black slash of apocalyptic magnitude surged forward, slicing through everything in its path.

The veil, the sea, the sky—all bound together and annihilated.

Ten nautical miles meant nothing.

They now understood the truth behind that earlier sense of death pressing upon them.

From the very beginning, they'd never escaped the Reaper's reach.

As the slash expanded in their vision, Burgess screamed in terror.

"Captain! That guy's fruit—it's gotta be a fake! That's not the real Dark-Dark Fruit!"

"Shut up! Just help me block it!" Blackbeard roared, now fully unleashing the power of the Dark-Dark Fruit.

"Damn it! How can there be two of these damn things?!"

BOOM!!!

Darkness collided with darkness.

The resulting shockwave rocked the sea like a twelve-magnitude quake, unleashing tidal waves that swallowed the sky.

Even from over ten miles away, aboard the Marine warship, Smoker and the others were drenched by the downpour of seawater.

The skies above had been ripped open.

The sea torn into a gaping vacuum, with torrents of water crashing inward.

At last—they understood.

This wasn't a dream.

This was reality.

And Admiral Luo Yu—the one who almost never fought—

When he did, he cleaved the world itself.

"S-So this is why he never fights…" Tina muttered, her voice trembling. "He's not just an admiral… He's some kind of secret weapon, isn't he…?"

Ulti collapsed completely on the deck, her face pale as chalk.

She could barely breathe.

Her mind flashed back to her foolish attempt to have Jack provoke Luo Yu into action.

"Dancing on his grave," she muttered. "That's what I was doing…"

If Luo Yu had unleashed that slash yesterday—

If Jack had chosen to take it head-on—

She didn't doubt it for a second:

Even a Calamity with a billion bounty would've been sliced in two.

At the bow, Luo Yu calmly sheathed his blade.

Took another swig of his cheap spirits.

Then sighed.

"No wonder it's called Yami-no-Mitsurugi: Dimensional Severance from the Other Shore…"

"Guess this'll save me some trouble chasing bonus pay in the future."

A pause.

Then he frowned faintly.

"I just hope… Old Man Sengoku doesn't stiff me on the reward for stealing Kizaru's target."

"Would be very annoying if he tried to duck my bonus again."