【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

"Thief hahaha! Captain Thatch, what are you doing outside so late?"

Thatch was interrupted from his original thoughts by the sudden voice. He turned sideways to look at the person who spoke and asked with a smile, "Teach, why are you still awake?"

"I'm on duty tonight, Captain Thatch, what about you?" Teach said softly, as if not wanting to wake anyone.

"I just finished cleaning the restaurant, but I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight anyway," said Sage with a smile.

"Why?" Tikki asked softly.

"Because of that devil fruit, I wanted to figure out what kind of devil fruit it was, but until now I still have no clue." Thatch said helplessly.

"Why don't you let me take a look? Maybe I'll know something. I know something about devil fruits." Teach said with a smile.

"Really? Thank you so much, Teach!" Thatch said excitedly, then walked to his room, took out the treasure box containing the devil fruit from the cabinet, then walked out the door and showed the devil fruit in the box to Teach. "Do you know what devil fruit this is?"

"Of course." Tikki said as he looked at the devil fruit carefully. "This is the devil fruit I have been looking for for many years."

"What...?" Thatch felt something was wrong with the aura emanating from Teach. He quietly retracted the devil fruit a little and retreated cautiously.

"Let me tell you, this is a nature-type devil fruit." Teach said as he took out the knife that had been hidden behind him.

The moment Thatch saw Teach take out the knife, he reacted immediately and subconsciously turned around and ran towards the room. His weapon was in the room, but it was obviously too late. From the corner of his eye, he saw Teach had already raised the knife and stabbed at him.

“Stop!! Teach!” Lucci shouted angrily, and as he shouted, a powerful domineering color emanated from Lucci’s body.

“Oh no!” Teach resisted the domineering aura emanating from Lucci, his expression was a little solemn, he quickly pulled the dagger out from Thatch's back, then picked up the devil fruit on the ground and quickly jumped into the sea. He had already prepared an escape boat below, so he could escape even if he was discovered. “Thief hahaha, you’re late, vice-captain!”

"Damn it!" Lucci did not chase after the fleeing Teach, but quickly ran towards Thatch who was lying on the ground. He had just found out what type of devil fruit Thatch had, so he immediately came to find Thatch and wanted to tell him, but he never expected to see this scene.

"Hey! Sachi, are you okay? Wake up! Don't die!" Lucci shouted in panic, pressing hard on the wound on Sachi's back, trying to reduce the rate of blood loss, but the wound was too deep and near the heart. Now there was only one way to help Sachi.

He pressed the wound harder and said, "Transfer!" As the devil fruit was used, the blood from Thatch's wound was draining slower and slower, and the original wound gradually became smaller. At the same time, cold sweat continued to appear on Lucci's face, and his face under the mask became paler and paler.

He held the wound tightly, pressing down hard, sweat dripping down his forehead.

“Transfer!”

As the devil fruit was used, the blood that was originally gushing out gradually slowed down, as if it was restrained by an invisible force. The originally hideous wound became smaller and smaller at a speed visible to the naked eye as time passed, and then slowly disappeared.

As the Devil Fruit was used more and more, Lucci's face under the mask gradually turned pale. The excessive use of the Devil Fruit's power put his body under tremendous pressure. When his consciousness was about to fall into darkness, he vaguely heard the sound of running footsteps in the corridor. In the last moment before closing his eyes, he seemed to see a blurry figure running towards him.

……

When a powerful domineering aura penetrated the entire Moby Dick, the Whitebeard crew members who were still mumbling suddenly became quiet, and when the captains of each division felt this powerful airflow, they woke up from their dreams and quickly ran to the deck where the movement occurred.

Ace felt the powerful energy fluctuation and was instantly awakened from his sleep. When he realized that Lucci, who was reading in the room before he went to bed, was gone, Ace was panicked for a moment, especially when he heard the sound coming from the deck.

Ace immediately ran to the deck, and because he was worried about Lucci's safety, he ran faster than ever before.

"Lucci!!" As soon as Ace reached the deck, he saw Lucci falling unconscious, while Thatch was lying on the ground covered in blood next to him.

Ace quickly caught Lucci who was about to fall to the ground. Looking at the unconscious Lucci, Ace's heart sank. He quickly checked Lucci's body and breathing, and realized that Lucci just fainted due to exhaustion. He immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

The moment Ace caught Lucci, the other Whitebeard captains all ran to the deck. Marco quickly approached Thatch who was lying on the ground and quickly checked whether Thatch was still alive, checking his breathing and heartbeat.

Marco felt Thatch's heartbeat and breathing, and realized that Thatch's condition was not that bad, he was still alive, just unconscious. Although he didn't understand why Thatch only had a small wound on his body, there was a lot of blood on his body, and it was obviously his own. Marco quickly picked up Thatch and walked towards the infirmary.

"what happened!?"

"What happened to Thatch and Lucci?"

"Why is there so much blood on Thatch!"

The Whitebeard pirates shouted anxiously, but they all knew that these questions could only be answered after Lucci and Thatch woke up in the infirmary.

……

Half an hour later, Ace, Harta, Izo and several others were waiting on the deck. The sudden outburst of Conqueror's Haki might have an impact on the sleeping crew, so Marco was sent by his father to check if anyone else was injured.

Everyone was furious at this sudden attack. Considering that they were in the middle of the ocean, it was impossible for other enemies to break into the Moby Dick and hurt Thatch and Lucci. Although it was unbelievable, it was very likely that someone on the ship attacked them.

......

Ace leaned on the railing, trying not to look at the blood on the deck and ignore everyone who walked past him. He held the railing tightly with both hands and looked at the sea stubbornly. The lights on the deck swayed with the waves. Ace trembled and closed his eyes.

'betray.'

He never thought that this word would appear among them. They were like a family every day, eating, drinking and fighting together. He thought his friends were like his family.

But it was clear that Marshall D. Teach didn't think so. When they found that Teach had disappeared along with Thatch's Devil Fruit, they still held out a glimmer of hope, thinking that he might have been held hostage or something.