Two Against One

Marineford Plaza had now completely become a slaughterhouse of flesh and blood.

The pirates trampled over the corpses of comrades and enemies alike, brandishing bloodstained blades and axes as beastlike roars tore from their throats.

Wave after wave, they crashed against the Marines' seemingly solid defensive line, which had in truth already begun to waver.

Across the ice field and the plaza.

It was impossible to tell where the ice ended and the blood began. Severed limbs and shattered weapons lay tangled together.

Every step forward came at the price of blood.

And in this brutal war of attrition, many of the variables from the "original story" had quietly been erased.

Sengoku had actually made exceedingly thorough preparations for this war.

One of them had been to arrange for Akainu to turn one of Whitebeard's subordinate captains—"Great Maelstrom Spider" Squard—against him.

The plan was for Akainu to falsely claim that "Whitebeard has already struck a secret deal with the Marines, trading the lives of you subordinate captains for the safety of Ace and the main force of the Whitebeard Pirates."

The goal was to lure this foolish young man, who both revered Whitebeard and was prone to obsessing over things, into stabbing Whitebeard in the back at a crucial moment.

If this move succeeded, it would not only grievously injure Whitebeard, but also shatter the morale of the Whitebeard Pirates. It was vicious beyond measure.

But Zoro's sudden appearance and departure had set alarm bells ringing in Sengoku's mind.

Forcing him to make the decision to "carry out the execution early."

This also directly enraged Whitebeard completely, making him unleash his full strength ahead of schedule.

The pace of the entire battle abruptly accelerated.

And Squard?

He had originally been carrying a heart full of conflict and grief, intending to