"Davy is the original cursed clan."
That was something Teach had known since childhood.
The ancestor of Davy committed an unpardonable grave sin — to atone for that sin, the Davy clan shouldered a responsibility sufficient to crush everything.
They were despised by the world, hunted by the world, and had to live incognito on the sea.
Generation after generation of Davys were discovered and killed.
And Teach naturally wondered — why, under such circumstances, could the Davy clan still survive?
The answer was very simple. Because of the curse.
Just as the Celestial Dragons signed a contract with the Abyss, thereby obtaining supreme and eternal power — and some Celestial Dragons even managed to obtain 'strength' and 'immortality' — the agreement Davy Jones made with the Abyss back then also carried special power.
In God Valley back then, Teach learned the meaning of this curse for the first time.
"Catch them!"
"That mother and son — they are the Davy clan!"
"They are 'escaping rabbits' worth a lot of points."
On that day, while the Davy clan living incognito in God Valley was being hunted down, the young Teach huddled in his mother's embrace, hearing the greedy voices coming from behind.
Those were all Celestial Dragons participating in the God Valley hunt.
Their malice was glaringly obvious.
However, fortunately, his father came to save them.
"Alice, take Teach and return to the Lulusia Kingdom first... I will come find you!"
With these words, Rocks fought his way towards the depths of God Valley.
Alice didn't find anything unusual at the time, merely following her lover's instructions to flee. She ultimately escaped by the skin of her teeth with the help of Bartholomew Kuma's ability.
But Alice did not know — while she was fleeing with her son, a voice had come into Teach's mind.
"Descendant of Davy."
"Rocks will kill us, helping us find release — but this knowledge must be passed down!"
"Originally, it would be best to entrust these things to your father. But Rocks is an unruly guy — he doesn't acknowledge the ancestor's plans. You must not learn from him."
"Remember — the responsibility of the Davy clan can never be forgotten."
Those countless, continuous voices — Teach knew who they came from.
His grandfather, his grandmother — those voices came from all the Davys on God Valley at that time.
They were all controlled by the power of the Abyss and subjected to Black Transmutation Control, about to be killed by Rocks.
It was at that time that Teach learned the characteristics of the Davy clan.
The soul of Davy will never be bound — that was the agreement and curse Davy Jones, who yearned to seize the world, had reached with God.
Because of this agreement, the Davy clan possessed an innate characteristic.
Their souls would be far stronger than any normal race. Every Davy clan soul possessed twice the strength of a normal person.
Their powerful souls resulted in all Davys being able to communicate telepathically without words within a fixed distance.
Besides that, members of the Davy clan could fuse their souls with close relatives, obtaining the other party's memories and soul power.
This was also the reason why, despite the long passage of time and the Davy clan experiencing who knows how many hunts and turmoils, everything regarding the Void Century could ultimately still be preserved.
Just like the situation in God Valley — even after being subjected to Black Transmutation Control, with their bodies no longer listening to their own control, all Davys could still use their souls to pass on their knowledge to Teach.
Because of this, Teach carried the expectations of the Davy clan and returned to the Lulusia Kingdom with his mother.
There, he also met his two younger sisters — Marshall D. Verdandi and Marshall D. Skuld.
They were similarly the children of Rocks and Alice, but hadn't followed Alice to God Valley, thus escaping that disaster.
After that, Alice hid in the Lulusia Kingdom with her three children.
They heard the news of Rocks' death, but later met Rocks himself — who had successfully escaped from God Valley — and learned of the existence of Star Lord from him.
Everything seemed to be developing in a good direction. The inheritance of the Davy clan was preserved as always, and Rocks had even found a brand new hope.
But the only problem was — Marshall D. Teach didn't see it that way.
After learning of Star Lord's existence, learning of Joy Boy and Davy Jones' plan, and inheriting the knowledge of the Davy clan — in Teach's heart, that seed named 'ambition' had long sprouted.
He perfectly inherited his father's rebelliousness — he scoffed at the ancestor's so-called plan.
At the same time, he perfectly inherited the ambition of his ancestor — he yearned to seize the world.
Thus, two plans quietly took shape in his heart.
Plan One: Use the Parasite-Parasite Fruit to obtain Star Lord's power. This was the highest priority.
Plan Two: Follow Davy Jones and Joy Boy's plan. The Dark-Dark Fruit, the Nika Fruit, and the Nidhogg Fruit could also allow one to obtain power similar to a god. This was the secondary plan.
Of course, for Teach, he had an even greater ambition in his heart. That was — he wanted it all.
He wanted to acquire the Divine Power of both, and use this to truly claim the throne of God in this world.
And for this, he had a necessary condition. That was... extra souls.
Yes.
The soul of Davy will not be bound, so as long as he obtained the souls of other close relatives, they could act as substitutes for his soul.
And each soul could allow him to consume an extra Devil Fruit.
In other words—
"One soul used to occupy Star Lord's body."
"Three souls used to consume those three fruits."
And the coincidence lay exactly here.
His blood relatives, excluding that father who had already gone to his death after making his choice, happened to number exactly three.
Thus—
"You killed your mother and sisters?"
Uma said softly.
"Killed? No... they are coexisting with me."
Teach laughed.
He seemed to have no guilt about this whatsoever.
Even now, he could still recall the events that happened in the past.
His mother, that woman named Alice — as expected of the wife Rocks chose, she indeed possessed considerable acuteness and observation skills.
She discovered some of Teach's anomalies, so Teach had to initiate his plan ahead of time.
"Unfortunately, she discovered some problems. But it is always very difficult for a mother to suspect her own child."
"After she drank that cup of poison, I tried to persuade her. But she clearly didn't want to talk much with me, and chose death herself — this is a pity, because I actually hoped more to obtain my father's soul. Through her, there was actually a chance to find the whereabouts of my father's corpse and soul."
"As for my younger sisters... they were too naive, too stupid."
Teach sighed.
The final outcome was obvious — those three souls he had split off previously clearly came from his mother and sisters.
"After they died, I was in a difficult position for a time — after all, I wasn't very old, and hadn't found the fruits I needed. But fortunately, I heard news of Pops 'Whitebeard' back then..."
And Uma knew what happened after that very clearly.
"..."
Even Uma couldn't help but sigh. "You truly are a piece of trash."
This guy and Loki were simply two extremes.
Loki was despised by the people of Elbaf since childhood, considered a cursed existence, but due to Ida, he grew into a qualified elder brother and son.
Teach was different — loved by his mother since childhood and desperately rescued by his father, he was a natural-born, heartless piece of trash.
"Zehahahaha! Say whatever you want!"
But Teach seemed completely unbothered.
He merely felt his soul gradually occupying this body, experiencing that feeling of gradually coming alive.
"It's a pity — because of you, I had to give up my plan."
But his heart was filled with hatred.
What he was performing now was the Eternal Parasitism of the Parasite-Parasite Fruit — after this parasitism, he would completely lose the ability to change bodies.
At the same time, he was forced to give up the souls of his mother and sisters, making him unable to consume multiple Devil Fruits anymore.
From any angle, this was a massive blow to Teach's ambition.
But it didn't matter.
"A man's ambition never stops."
Since the original two plans couldn't continue, he would just find new methods.
Having failed to obtain the power of Uranus, he would go find Poseidon.
For him, who held the greatest secret of this world, he would always find a way to realize his ambition.
"However, to not even have the courage to engage in a soul confrontation with me — you guy really are weak..."
Teach sneered.
Although he was confident that even after losing the souls of his mother and sisters as materials, his own soul was absolutely sufficient to triumph over Uma's soul.
But the fact was — after his soul entered Uma's body, he didn't even feel Uma's obstruction.
The other party only conversed with him through consciousness, but from beginning to end, he never felt the location of the other party's soul.
"Trying to delay time by hiding? What's the point of that... Hm!!?"
While Teach growled lowly, he suddenly let out a sound of uncertainty.
Because—
Tap!
He slowly stretched out a hand, finding he could already control Uma's body.
The sense of touch, the breathing — everything was so real.
But the problem was...
"Where is this guy's soul?"
Teach thought subconsciously.
But quickly, he realized a possible fact.
"He has no soul?"
He murmured in disbelief.
But the next moment—
"No, of course I have a soul."
Uma's voice came into Teach's mind once again. "It's just not in this body, that's all."
As the words fell, Teach faintly perceived something, widening his eyes and letting out a sound of disbelief.
"Wait, this body... he is..."
As his soul completely merged into this body, Teach clearly perceived its uniqueness.
It was not a truly existing body, but a creation of an ability.
Even the abilities within the body were operating in a way Teach completely couldn't understand.
"This is a slice... no... impossible..."
As someone who had seen the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia, Teach instantly associated it with the Slice-Slice Fruit, but he also felt it was impossible — how could The Zodiac be slice clones? If they were clones, where did their abilities come from?
But clearly, Teach's doubts could not be answered.
"Did he lose?"
Loki, sitting to the side defending against the falling branches and leaves of the World Tree while observing Uma, murmured softly.
Looking at Uma — whose facial features had changed and who clearly displayed Teach's aura — he thought Uma had ultimately failed in the soul struggle against Teach.
So he also immediately lifted Lightning, already prepared for battle — just as mentioned before, he never intended to let Teach leave here.
But exactly at this moment—
"Hold on."
A calm voice reached his ears.
The next moment—
VMMM!
Diffused starlight circulated.
Then Loki saw that figure with a mask — wreathed in the brilliance of the stars — had appeared beside Uma at some unknown moment.
That was exactly...
"Star Lord!?"
Teach exclaimed in shock, and the exclamation made Loki's expression freeze instantly.
Star Lord?
He similarly looked at that existence — was that the man Rocks had told him to wait for?
But before he could speak, he saw Star Lord had already reached his hand towards Uma, whose body was occupied by Teach.
"Wait, are you trying to—"
Teach, who had faintly realized the essence of Uma — or rather, The Zodiac — also seemed to guess what Star Lord was trying to do.
He frantically raised his hand, wanting to activate an ability.
But—
VMMM!
When he touched the Book of the Stars, he found his hand actually passed right through that book flickering with starlight.
"Fool."
Uma's voice was still coming from within his mind.
"Did you think occupying the body meant you could gain the ability of the Writer Fruit?"
"How could such a thing be possible?"
His words carried a distinct sneer.
Yes.
The so-called Zodiac, the unique abilities they used essentially had a required condition — and that was the fruit slots provided by the Fruit Encyclopedia.
And the Fruit Encyclopedia was an ability unique to Roy Amos.
Even though Blackbeard occupied the body of this slice clone Uma, he couldn't possess the ability of the Fruit Encyclopedia.
So logically, he simply couldn't drive Uma's abilities.
And conversely—
Tap.
The next moment, Star Lord's hand had already slowly patted Uma's body.
(End of Chapter)
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