Rage boiled in Sal's blood, directed at Garp. This was his first real battle. The last one with Magellan didn't count; it was just a scuffle. And the beatings and fear from Venom brought no satisfaction.
Ace's pupils flared dark red again, and his blade rose, engulfed in crimson flames.
"God forbid,"Sal whispered.
"The descent into the abyss of the sea," Garp replied.
"Baa-aam…!" It thundered as if a mini-nuclear explosion had erupted.
Lightning streaked across the sky, waves surged as if in fury. The Marine Headquarters, barely holding on, collapsed under the impact of the shockwave.
"Snap… Baa-aam…!" came the crack and explosion.
Dust from the collision covered a quarter of the battlefield...
"Garp and Roger—two scoundrels…" thought the mighty golden Buddha Sengoku, unable to intervene. Whitebeard, his opponent, was bleeding again from the wound in his chest, but his attack did not weaken. Rage, mixed with despair, boiled within him. It was a battle to the death, consuming his life force.
Fortunately, Whitebeard's overall reaction speed had noticeably decreased, and even burning his life energy couldn't compensate for this drawback.
Sengoku recoiled from the vibration of the shockwave, and cracks appeared on his golden skin, like that of a Buddha. Whitebeard noticed his opponent's attention was diverted.
"Gura-ra, Sengoku, don't look away, I won't let you get away, the guys will definitely save Ace!" he growled, gritting his teeth.
The ground under his feet shattered into pieces.
"So confident, Whitebeard? Sakazuki won't let them succeed," Sengoku remarked calmly.
"I believe in them..." Whitebeard stood firm.
"Well, let's see..." Sengoku agreed, though he didn't like Akainu. If he had to choose a successor for the Marshal, he would've preferred Aokiji.
But personal preferences are tricky. As a Fleet admiral, he trusted Akainu more in terms of executing orders. To achieve his goals, Akainu would do anything, even things that disgusted Aokiji and Kizaru. Such a subordinate is most valuable to a leader.
And most importantly, Sakazuki was the strongest of the three admirals. The golden Buddha relentlessly swung his fists, each strike demanding all of Whitebeard's strength, while Kusukui's blade sliced through the incoming attack.
With each clash, Whitebeard's breathing grew heavier, sweat soaking his entire upper body, yet determination never left his face.
Whitebeard used the vibration ability to repel the golden Buddha's fist once again, and the Murakomugiri blade suddenly flared a crimson color, sparkling with dark red lightning. It was his first use of the Conqueror's Haki since the war began, and moreover, he put all his strength into it.
Standing six meters tall, Whitebeard looked like a child next to the Buddha, but when faced with this powerful attack, Sengoku's pupils narrowed, and he reacted instantly.
"Ba-a-a-ng…!" thundered the sound, and a cloud of dust rose.
The shockwave soared into the sky.
The area of destruction in the harbor rapidly expanded, almost indistinguishable from the results of clashes with Sarkapa and others. The battle between such mighty beings shook the already shattered Marineford once again, as if it were thanking an old friend for the company.
At the same time, underneath the scaffold, Akainu, clad in a red suit, brought a giant lava fist down on Jinbe, and the boiling magma splashed onto the ground. Despite using maximum defense with Armament Haki, Jinbe suffered severe burns, and the pain made his eyes narrow.
Fighting Akainu on land is suicidal. If he keeps going like this, he'll end up as a fried fish-man.
Ivankov, at this moment, had no concern for anything else. He was engrossed in a battle with the Tyrannosaurus, which had turned into a war machine. Ivankov's shouts had no effect; the beast attacked with terrifying force. Luffy was left alone, constantly trying to break through the wall of lava to reach the scaffold, but time and again he was blocked.
"Monkey D. Luffy, descendant of the devilish man, this is the end for you!" Akainu coldly looked at Luffy.
The Admiral sent a fiery hound straight toward the enemy's heart like a lightning bolt. He had no intentions of holding back, even though the target was Garp's grandson.
Fortunately, Crocodile quickly created a wall of sand to block the lava, but a bit of magma still singed Luffy, causing him to scream in pain.
Crocodile, who attacked Akainu, was decapitated by a white blade, turning into sand. Yet even without his head, he managed to strike with his poisonous hook, blocking Doflamingo's blow.
"Fufufufu, Crocodile, didn't expect you to reconsider teaming up with me and help Straw Hat. Forgot who defeated you and threw you into Impel Down?" Doflamingo asked.
Crocodile's head reformed. The time spent in Impel Down had cleared his mind. He was no longer obsessed with seeking ancient weapons.
"I just made a deal with August D. Sal, and I hold no feelings towards you, despicable villain," he said with icy calmness.
"Fufufu, you've connected with Pirate King Roger, no wonder you disdain my Don Quixote blood and try to save Roger's son. Go on, keep flattering, Crocodile..." Doflamingo smirked.
Crocodile snapped instantly. He couldn't stand the slander, his pride wouldn't allow him to remain silent.
He unleashed a sand tsunami on Doflamingo, and the two "Seven Warlords of the Sea" clashed with full might.
Seeing Luffy repeatedly ending up in danger, Ivankov, still fighting the bear, gave up trying to restore its sanity. He injected the bear's head with a hormonal solution, and by activating the power of his fruit, several ghosts materialized from the bear's enormous head, surrounding it.
"Galactic Gaze!" Ivankov shouted, and lethal gazes descended upon the bear from all sides.
The bear's powerful body collapsed to the ground, unable to move. The Tyrannosaurus lost control of its mind, and its strength noticeably diminished.
Even with Ivankov back in the battle, he could barely contend with Admiral Akainu and soon found himself covered in wounds.
At the moment when Akainu blocked Jinbe's strike and was about to deliver a deadly blow, a figure clad in Shi rushed toward him at tremendous speed—Jozu appeared unexpectedly and led Akainu away from the execution site under the cover of hellish lava.
"For Ace, brother Ace," he said.
Jozu arrived just in time to help because his opponent, Gecko Moria, had been defeated. In this war, where even the vice admirals of headquarters could not protect themselves, Gecko Moria's strength was insufficient.
At this time, Moria lay on the ground, half-alive. His bulky frame appeared much weaker than it had twenty years ago. The man who once dared to compete with Kaido, who had become the strongest at that time, had turned into a pitiable villain entangled in fear. The only constant was his concern for his comrades.
As the one responsible for delivering a deadly blow to Oars, Moria naturally earned full-fledged hatred.
Seeing that the main threat, Akainu, had left, Jinbe and Ivankov together attacked the two vice admirals of headquarters, who already realized something was amiss.
Luffy advanced along the narrow road, cut through by lightning, toward the scaffold.
Luffy reached the scaffold and saw Ace nearby, looking at him with tears in his eyes. Brothers, not bound by blood, were reunited, and tears shone on both of their faces. Luffy pulled out the prepared key and shouted
"Ace, I've come to save you!" shouted Luffy.
"Luffy..." whispered Ace.
A friend in need is a friend indeed. Ace realized today that there were still many people willing to risk their lives for him.
Unfortunately, their reunion was soon interrupted. The final line of Marine Patrol defense stood between them. Marine vice admiral Tsuru looked at Luffy impassively.
"Grandson of Garp, step back now, and I can pretend I didn't see anything," Tsuru said coldly.
"Old lady, let me pass. I want to save Ace," Luffy replied.
Seeing Luffy, Tsuru, with her slender body, felt a fierce rage. She spared no enemy, regardless of who they were—even Garp's grandson.
"Monkey D. Luffy, I won't let you go," she hissed.
"Damn it, Third Gear, Giant Hammer!" roared Luffy.
Facing the incoming giant fist, Tsuru only thought about how reckless the grandson of Garp was, attacking without knowing anything about his opponent's abilities.
The old hand touched Luffy's fist, and a strange energy surged into his body, causing his face to contort. But the prey caught in the hunter's grasp couldn't escape its fate.
Amidst the confusing sounds, Luffy was turned into laundry drying in the sun and spoke words that went against his own desires:
"Why… become the Pirate King? I want… to become a Marine."
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