This "Parasite" was clearly a very powerful monster.

As a "biological weapon," it had two forms: first, its original form, like a metal sphere; second, its combat form, which evolved based on the body of the organism it parasitized.

In its original form, the Parasite possessed a remarkable ability to "erode." With this power, it could parasitize almost any living creature... even an existence at the level of Udine, a Time Official, would find it difficult to resist.

Of course, this didn't mean that the Parasite's ability would work against a true Time Official...

The Parasite's "erosion" required preconditions to succeed—if the host's mind and body reached a certain strength or possessed special attributes, the erosion would fail.

For example, if Smodier encountered the Parasite, he definitely wouldn't be affected... Mentally, he had the power of faith from the Illusion Demon Church as his backing; physically, he was a satyr whose origin was "corrosive power," so it would be good if he didn't infect others, let alone be infected by someone else.

Unfortunately, Udine's race was "human," and he didn't have any special attributes. Moreover, the sum of his mental and physical strength values wasn't enough to withstand the "erosion," only delay it for a while at most.

Therefore, after spending more than half an hour, the Parasite finally destroyed the host's consciousness, successfully seizing its body and entering "combat form."

In combat form, the Parasite had more abilities.

First, it replaced all the host's bodily fluids and some of its internal organs with its own body—a silvery, semi-solid substance.

This gave the body the characteristics of ignoring pain and a certain degree of self-healing ability.

Second, it modified the host's brain, making it completely immune to mental control abilities.

Third, it could catalyze the host's body to achieve "proliferation" or "mutation," causing its size to change and greatly increasing its physical combat capabilities.

In short, the current Udine... or rather, the Parasite that had eroded Udine... was undoubtedly more powerful in terms of combat power than the original Udine, except for some things like wisdom, will, and experience.

A monster like this was enough to kill many people, even on the Queen Anne's Revenge.

But... even so, Blackbeard still didn't plan to take action.

He certainly wasn't afraid...

Nor was he trying to hide his strength.

In fact, Blackbeard desperately wanted to tear this monster that killed his confidant into pieces with his own hands, and only in this way could he slightly calm the guilt and anger in his heart.

But he held back...

Because he knew that letting the crew deal with this guy was the most appropriate choice at this time and place.

Compared to his personal anger, the anger of this crew was more urgent to vent.

Furthermore... as the overlord of the Chaos Sea, the captain of the Queen Anne's Revenge, and the legendary pirate... he wouldn't and couldn't easily take action.

The "opponents" who could make Blackbeard draw his sword had to have a certain "qualification."

For example... Feng Bujue could; the former Four Pillars Gods could; Crazy Eye... barely qualified.

However, a "weapon" like the Parasite, manufactured by others, a rude "monster," definitely didn't have that qualification...

...

"Avenge the first mate!"

"roAr~"

"Tear him to pieces!"

As Blackbeard had predicted, after hearing his eulogy and the phrase "kill him," the pirates' morale exploded instantly.

The flames of revenge burned fiercely, and roars filled with killing intent rose and fell.

Led by a group of "officers," the crew swarmed forward, launching a tidal wave of attacks on the Parasite.

At this moment, the Blackbeard Pirates were even more terrifying than when they fought Crazy Eye's forces; the Parasite, being in the thick of it, also clearly felt that the aura of these people was vastly different from when it boarded the ship.

And this amazing change made the Parasite... feel fear.

This emotion, which was still very unfamiliar to the Parasite, quickly suppressed its innate desire to kill and gave rise to a very rational and correct idea—escape.

As a "biological weapon," the Parasite had no determination to fight to the death, nor did it have things like beliefs or hatred... Therefore, when it lost the "desire to kill" as its driving force, even if it still had the combat power to "fight to the death and perish with some of the enemies," it wouldn't put it into action.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh—

Just as the Parasite hurriedly turned around, preparing to jump into the sea and escape.

Suddenly, there was a burst of rapid wind breaking sound.

That... was the sound of the ropes on the Queen Anne's Revenge flying out.

No one was controlling those ropes, and no one had even touched them...

The ship seemed to have its own will, reaching out her "hand" and firmly grabbing the "enemy" who was about to escape.

"Cough... cough... uh—" The Parasite was entangled by the ropes and pulled into a "big" shape in mid-air. It squeezed out a few struggling groans from its throat, but the ropes wrapped around its neck immediately suppressed the sound.

The Parasite, which could easily break the light arrays emitted by Honghu, was actually unable to move when entangled by these ropes; obviously... this legendary pirate ship itself contained some kind of powerful force.

Seeing this scene... Honghu and Snow both felt a little lingering fear. Just imagine—if Blackbeard had turned against them just now, if they had stood on the opposite side of this pirate group, perhaps... death would have come more suddenly and fatally than they had imagined.

...

The battle didn't last long.

Perhaps it couldn't even be called a "battle," it was more accurate to call it an "execution."

The Parasite's previous words and deeds had earned it enough hatred. Anyone who saw its dying state could confirm... there was absolutely no possibility of this thing self-healing again.

In a sense, its "self-healing" ability became a burden that added to its pain in the process of being killed...

Ten minutes later.

Just as the crew was almost done "venting," Blackbeard reappeared on the deck.

He didn't say much, just glanced faintly at the silvery substance all over the ground, then issued an order to "set sail again in twenty minutes" and returned to the captain's cabin.

After the captain entered the room, except for some of the younger crew members who needed to stay and repair and wash the deck, the other pirates dispersed.

At this moment, Feng Bujue thought of an idea and said to the two teammates beside him, "You two... let's go help wash the deck too."

Honghu and Snow both understood that this guy definitely had some conspiracy again, and they asked in a questioning tone at the same time, "What do you want to do?"

"Heh..." Feng Bujue smiled lightly when he saw this, "I just want to... take advantage of the heat to collect a little 'sample'."