The pirates sat and forgot, and they really believed the nine truths and one lie.

Almost simultaneously, Kisame and Kakuzu, the two ninjas who had just been fighting to the death, took a few steps back in perfect unison.

The tense atmosphere between the two suddenly changed, replaced by a wariness that arose when facing a common, more powerful threat.

They may belong to different camps, or they may each have their own ulterior motives, but at this moment, they all felt a danger from this self-proclaimed madman of the fighting faction under Blackbeard, a danger far beyond their own conflicts, a naked threat to their very lives.

In the brief silence, Kakuzu's eyes, gleaming with greedy green light, quickly scanned Akaza and the distant Marineford direction several times.

His shrewd business mind was working at high speed.

He joined Whitebeard for the heart of the so-called strongest Tremor-Tremor Fruit user, but what if his partner were the ambitious Blackbeard?

Kakuzu broke the silence first, "Blackbeard wants Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit, that's not entirely out of the question."

"As long as Marshall D. Teach offers a tempting enough price, I don't need much."

"After Whitebeard dies, his heart, which contains the power of Tremor, will belong to me. As for the Devil Fruit itself, you can deal with it yourselves. We will each take what we need, and our interests will not conflict!"

Upon hearing Kakuzu's blatant talk of a transaction, Kisame couldn't help but let out a low, sneer.

His small, shark-like eyes glanced at Kakuzu with a look of utter disbelief, a disdain for the ugliness of human nature. "Humans really are a bunch of treacherous and cunning monsters..."

He thought to himself, especially an old monster like Kakuzu who has lived for nearly a hundred years, he probably saw through all the hypocrisy in the world long ago, and only his obsession with money remains, the only thing that will never betray him.

Akaza seemed to turn a deaf ear to Kakuzu's tempting offer of cooperation.

His tattooed face showed only a kind of pure impatience. He was an extreme martial artist, a monster who existed in pursuit of a higher level of power.

In his eyes, all conspiracies, deals, and profit distributions were utterly boring nonsense.

The only reason he temporarily cooperated with Blackbeard was because he was interested in Teach's ability to steal Devil Fruits.

Teach promised that if Akaza took a liking to a certain fruit, he would do his best to help him obtain it; this was the only thing Akaza cared about.

As for which specific fruit it was, he didn't really care. It would most likely be a Zoan-type fruit that could greatly enhance his physical body, especially those legendary mythical beasts. But such things are rare and hard to come by, and there's no rushing them.

"Wordy!"

Akaza let out a low growl of dissatisfaction, and his feet slammed into the sea. A dazzling circle of ice-blue snowflake-shaped magic array suddenly spread out from him.

The powerful energy within his body surged skyward as if it were tangible. "To fight or not to fight, my hands are itching!"

His gaze, like two red-hot knives, was fixed on Kisame and Kakuzu. "I just want to see your ninjutsu. As for Blackbeard..."

Akaza leaned forward slightly, assuming a flawless offensive stance, his muscles tensing instantly. "Let's talk after we've finished fighting!"

Akaza's intensely concentrated killing intent surged forth like a tsunami, crushing towards the two ninjas, and a 1v2 battle was about to erupt.

Just as Akaza was about to take that earth-shattering first step, Kisame Hoshigaki suddenly let out a cold snort with an ambiguous meaning.

His small eyes quickly swept over the thick fog of the unfathomable Devil's Triangle behind Akaza, a hint of extremely heavy fear flashing in his eyes.

God knows how many Blackbeard Pirates members, like this monster, are hiding in that damned black fog.

Stay and fight this madman to the death? Completely pointless!

It might even get you killed, so it's better to use "Water Release: Water Transformation Technique"!

Kisame acted decisively, forming an extremely simple hand seal. The next moment, his massive body instantly became transparent, as if it were about to melt, wanting to perfectly merge with the surrounding seawater.

Akaza's senses were incredibly sharp; almost at the same moment Kisame's body began to turn into water, he noticed the abnormality and thought, "He wants to run away!"

"Destruction Kill - Air Style!"

Without a second thought, Akaza unleashed a punch at Kisame's location from afar. A condensed, icy blue air cannon punch tore through the air, emitting a piercing shriek as it struck.

The seawater was blasted into towering waves, but there was no trace of Kisame. Only a few splashing water droplets proved that he had just been there.

Kisame, with his affinity for the sea and his strange water-transformation ninjutsu, merged into the seawater the instant Akaza made his move.

Using the underwater currents, it fled rapidly towards Marineford without looking back!

He needed to immediately report the astonishing discovery that had occurred here, especially the possibility that the Blackbeard Pirates might be involved, to Fleet Admiral Sengoku and Artoria Pendragon.

"You despicable coward!"

Akaza stared at the empty sea, veins bulging on his forehead, his tattooed face contorted with extreme rage.

"As a naval admiral, doesn't he even have a shred of decent manners?!"

He never expected that this seemingly fierce merman general would flee so decisively without a fight, which was a complete betrayal of Akaza's fighting spirit.

For a moment, only Akaza, with a gloomy expression, and Kakuzu, whose eyes flickered and seemed lost in thought, remained on the sea.

On the sea, the atmosphere suddenly became somewhat awkward. Kisame Hoshigaki decisively transformed into water and fled, leaving Kakuzu alone to face Akaza, a martial arts maniac whose fighting spirit was boiling.

Although Kakuzu's face, covered with stitches, didn't reveal much expression, the hearts inside him all beat slightly faster in unison.

He was well aware of his strengths, which lay in his five elemental ninjutsu, but facing a monster like Akaza, who had honed his physical skills and close combat to the extreme, a head-on confrontation would be unwise.

Especially on this vast, undefended sea, his earth-遁 (earth-遁 is a technique that allows him to escape through the sea) abilities are greatly diminished, making a direct confrontation a poor choice.

Akaza clearly had no intention of giving up so easily. His eyes, burning with the flames of war, were like those of a tiger eyeing its prey, fixed firmly on Kakuzu.

The icy blue battle aura around him began to surge and rise again. "Then you can train with me properly!"