That instant, that moment, their eyes met, and the will to fight was self-evident.

A battle of divine beings was about to erupt.

However, at that very moment…

Four more figures suddenly appeared from the still-unclosed portal of light behind Blackbeard and his crew.

"Ho… it's quite lively." Feng Bujue, who was at the front, took one look at the situation and said with a smile.

"Hmm?" Blackbeard heard the voice, turned his head, and his face immediately showed suspicion. "You…" As he uttered these words, his gaze shifted to Honghu. "No… I should say… 'you' kid… you've done quite well."

"So you figured it out so quickly…" Honghu also looked at Blackbeard and replied in a deep voice, "You really are a clever fellow…"

"Hmph…" Blackbeard said, "If I were clever enough, I wouldn't have only figured it out now…" He paused, then added, "I thought… you were trying to use that suicidal spiritual explosion to cover up those tracking arrows from before. I didn't expect… you were playing reverse psychology with me, with plans within plans; you just wanted me to have that idea, to think I had cracked your tracking methods. But in reality, those tracking arrows were just a decoy. The real beacon you used to track me was… the blood from your body that splattered on me when you launched that move."

"That's right, you're indeed not clever enough." In the next second, Feng Bujue took over and said to Blackbeard, "Saying this technique now is just hindsight… Also, after you entered the phase space, you didn't close the entrance in time, allowing us to follow closely behind… That's clearly also a negligence."

"Heh…" Hearing this, Mad Eye laughed before Blackbeard could respond. He said, "It's not that he didn't want to close the entrance, but that he couldn't."

"Oh?" Feng Bujue cast a questioning look at him.

"As he said…" Blackbeard shrugged and explained to Jue Ge, "The way I open the treasure space is naturally different from you 'treasure hunters.' You don't know the 'spell' for the entrance seal, so you all use the power of 'key items' to teleport in; but I am the one who truly 'opened' the entrance with a spell."

"Oh~" Snow understood and nodded. "So… the opening and closing of the seal must be done from the 'outside,' right?"

"That's no longer important," Blackbeard continued. "Since you're all in here… then, how about we talk about conditions?"

"Want us to help you…" Feng Bujue said, slowly stepping forward, approaching Twenty-Three, and fixing his gaze on the latter, “…deal with her?"

"I won't beat around the bush with you smart people," Blackbeard said. "Let's join forces to eliminate this derivative. I can give you a third of the treasure here."

"Ha! Hahahaha…" Feng Bujue laughed out loud upon hearing this.

Before his laughter ceased, he had already walked to Twenty-Three's side.

The two stared at each other, silent for a moment. Then, Jue Ge spoke first, "So… how much are you prepared to give me?"

"I don't need your help," Twenty-Three said. "You just need to watch from the sidelines. After I've cleaned up the situation, I'll only take one thing from the treasure, and you can have the rest."

Before she finished speaking, Feng Bujue turned to look at Blackbeard, "Did you hear that?"

Blackbeard didn't respond, his expression becoming somewhat gloomy.

"Hey hey… Feng Bujue, I can't pretend I didn't hear that." However, Ken, or rather, Red Iron… standing at the back of the crowd, naturally wouldn't let the situation develop like this. "If Twenty-Three devours all of Blackbeard's power, then next…"

"So what?" Feng Bujue interrupted him before he could finish. "Her abilities will exceed the Z organization's control, surpass Zero? Or even threaten the system?"

"Huh?" Red Iron was stunned for a moment. "Don't you think the three examples in your sentence are all dangerous enough?"

"Whether it's dangerous or not is my own judgment," Feng Bujue replied. "'Unlimited power is definitely dangerous' is just Zero's judgment. I never said I agreed with it."

"Huh?" Red Iron's expression became even more interesting. "Wait, wait… you should know that the four guys who came to kill you earlier were sent by her, right?"

"I know," Feng Bujue replied in a matter-of-fact tone. "But that only means… she was trying to 'send me out of the script before I noticed her existence,' and this intention is not enough to prove that she poses any threat."

Their conversation left Blackbeard and his crew, as well as Honghu and Snow, in a state of semi-confusion, unable to find an opportunity to interject.

After a slightly strange silence, Wing took over Ken's body and said to Jue Ge, "So… what are you going to do now?"

"Hehe…" Feng Bujue was waiting for this sentence. "I have a proposal." He paused for half a second and said, "A three-way deal."

"What kind of deal?" Blackbeard responded first.

As a shrewd pirate captain, he knew very well that he was the weakest party at the moment. If there was an opportunity to avoid armed conflict, he had to seize it.

"I'd like to hear it too," Twenty-Three added.

"Uh…" Snow looked left and right, chuckled dryly, and said to Jue Ge, "We're on your side, right? If you're the fourth party… give us a heads up beforehand…"

"Okay." Feng Bujue rudely interrupted someone's speech again, seizing the floor. "Since it's a deal, everyone has to take a step back…" He first pointed to himself, "We interdimensional travelers don't have high demands…" He looked at Blackbeard, "Just asking for an original translation of the *Ramayana*, and picking out ten or eight not-so-important things from these treasures as souvenirs, isn't too much to ask, right?"

"From a pirate's point of view… it's acceptable," Blackbeard replied in a deep voice.

His answer was very clever, because the subtext was probably—"From my personal point of view, screw your mother!"

"Okay, okay…" Feng Bujue said with a smile, turning to Twenty-Three, "Twenty-Three's request, she said it just now, that… you only want one thing, right?"

Twenty-Three didn't respond to Feng Bujue, but looked directly at Blackbeard and said, "I want the 【citywork CEO's red tie】 that you keep in the 'inner space'. I'm not interested in anything else."

"What?" Blackbeard rarely showed a look of surprise and suspicion. "You just want that thing?"

"Is there anything special about that thing?" Feng Bujue took the opportunity to ask.

"The person who wears that tie will immediately suffer from multiple personality disorder," Blackbeard said.

"That's all?" Jue Ge glanced at Twenty-Three out of the corner of his eye as he asked this question.

"Yes, that's all," Blackbeard said.

"Then why did you put it in the 'inner space'?" Feng Bujue said.

"Of course, it's to prevent my guards from wearing that thing out of curiosity or boredom, and then doing… hmm… God knows what they'll do," Blackbeard said.

"Oh." Feng Bujue nodded. "So… you agree to this condition?"

"Before agreeing, I have a question… to ask that Derivative Miss," Blackbeard wasn't so obedient. Even though the situation was unfavorable, he had to fight for some benefits for himself.

"Ask," Twenty-Three replied calmly.

"The guard responsible for watching over my treasure…" Blackbeard didn't explicitly say in this sentence that the guard was his son, nor did he show any concern as a father should, so as not to have the other party lie after learning this information, "...has he been killed by you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Twenty-Three replied without thinking. "When I entered this space, there was no one here."

"Hmm…" Blackbeard groaned. "This… is unlikely…"

The meaning of his words was plainly this—“I don’t believe it.”

"Then I wouldn't know… I haven't been on this island for long," Twenty-Three said. "Perhaps… during the time I wasn't on the island, something happened between your guard and those Nine Gods, or with those traitors from the Phantom Demon Church. You can investigate the specific situation yourself…" She paused, "According to my estimation, there should still be some survivors on the island."

"Understood…" Blackbeard was also a very rational person. After a little analysis, he judged that Eighty percent of what Twenty-Three said was the truth. "Alright… I'll deal with it myself. I hope you…"

"Don't worry," Twenty-Three knew what he was going to say, so she interrupted. "Those people are useless to me now. You can do whatever you want with them."

"Hmph… that's good." Blackbeard sneered, then turned his gaze to Jue Ge again. "Feng Bujue, you said a three-way deal, but all I've heard so far… is me suffering losses. May I ask… what can my side gain?"

"Is getting all the treasure left after we take our items, and walking out alive, not enough?" Feng Bujue's voice also became very cold, his expression and tone were also aggressive.

"Hehe… taking away the treasure that already belongs to me… and my life?" Blackbeard smiled and replied helplessly. "Alright, sounds fair."

"Since you have no objections, then this deal is…" Feng Bujue struck while the iron was hot, wanting to finalize the matter quickly.

But, Red Iron and Wing, naturally wouldn't stand by idly.

"Feng Bujue," Red Iron's tone also became less friendly at this time. "May I assume… that on the matter of Twenty-Three, you've already sided with her?"

"I didn't say that," Jue Ge replied. "One thing at a time, after this three-way deal is done, we can slowly discuss this…"

Before the last word "matter" could be uttered, suddenly, something happened that even Jue Ge didn't expect…

"Sorry…" As she said this apology, Twenty-Three's hand had already pierced through his back… and penetrated Feng Bujue's chest, "If possible… I'd like to ask you to leave Thriller Paradise for a while."

"You…" Feng Bujue slowly turned his head, as if wanting to say something.

Twenty-Three, with a cold expression on her face, lowered her eyes, avoiding Feng Bujue's gaze.

Jue Ge's words couldn't be spoken, because in that instant, a stream of colorful, variegated light began to spread from the wound on his chest… and began to erode his body at an extremely fast speed.

"Damn it!" Seeing this, the first to rush out was Red Iron, but seeing his figure flash, he had already killed his way to Twenty-Three's side, wanting to use a kick-chop to sever the other party's arm.

But…

"You guys aren't good enough." Twenty-Three's somewhat wistful voice rang out, and at the same time, she stretched out her other hand and lightly tapped her fingertip in the direction of Red Iron.

Instantly, a transparent ripple bloomed in the air, enveloping Red Iron like a water pattern, causing that lightning-fast body to stagnate in mid-air.

"This is… the River… of… Time…" In the next second, Red Iron and Wing's voices overlapped from Ken's throat, but after barely squeezing out half a sentence, even their voices were "stopped."