"Pops, that's what happened." Teach returned to Whitebeard and passed along the important news.
"What? The Marines have set their sights on us?"
"What should we do? We're bound to take heavy losses."
The members around them were worried. More than thirty thousand Marines were on their way, and with the Marines aboard this warship, their numbers were close to forty thousand. The Whitebeard Pirates weren't afraid of fighting, but they couldn't bear the thought of losing their crewmates.
Whitebeard didn't want to see that happen either. "Gurararara! My children, I won't let you get hurt. We'll avoid them when the time comes."
Whitebeard spoke up. Avoiding the Marines was a very wise choice; it would be foolish to fight them head-on. The Whitebeard Pirates and Sengoku were old rivals, though usually they only had to deal with a single warship. Admiral Sengoku's main purpose in the New World was to keep watch on the Whitebeard Pirates. The shock waves produced by his Great Buddha Fruit could contend with Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit without falling behind. "Since the Marines are planning to make a move, there's no need to show them any respect. We'll give Sengoku the heads of these three Marine Vice Admirals as a greeting gift," Teach said with a grin. "Our overall strength is slightly below the Marines'. To keep from being surrounded and wiped out, we have to weaken them."
"Pops' power is practically invincible out at sea. If we avoid fighting head-on and keep our distance so Admiral Sengoku can't tie him down, those warships will be sitting ducks. Then the roles of hunter and prey will be reversed in an instant."
Teach smiled, his hair tied up and covered by a bandanna patterned with black skulls. "Teach, you look so devious when you smile, but I like it," Wyper said with a laugh.
It was a devious plan. As long as they didn't face the enemy head-on, Pops wouldn't be held back by Sengoku or worry about his crewmates, which might affect his performance. Still, it could hurt Whitebeard's reputation.
"Gurararara! For the sake of my beloved children, I'm willing to teach Sengoku a lesson and remind the Marines to watch their step." Whitebeard laughed. This plan suited him perfectly. The gloom in his heart lifted. There was nothing wrong with doing this for the sake of his beloved children.
"Pops!" His crewmates were moved to tears. "Pops, even your shameless side is so handsome." Whitebeard didn't mind their teasing. "Gurararara! Children, give it everything you've got. Don't give them a chance!"
"Teach, you've done a great service this time." One of his crewmates patted him on the shoulder. After all, Teach had come up with the plan. Without him, they might have fought the Marines head-on and suffered much greater losses.
"Haha, none of this would've been possible without Pops' strength." Teach rubbed his head, pleased. There weren't many treasures aboard the Whitebeard Pirates' ships. Pops donated all his money to his hometown, and what remained was the Devil Fruits the Whitebeard Pirates had collected. Some were unknown, while others weren't to anyone's taste. They had to be exchanged for treasure or merit; they couldn't simply be given to whoever wanted one. Devil Fruits were precious commodities across the sea, and with Teach's achievements, he could at least trade for two.
The situation on the battlefield had already been difficult to maintain. At that command, it collapsed at once.
"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" Amid a series of cannon blasts, the warship began to flood and gradually sank beneath the sea.
The body of Marine Vice Admiral Thomson was buried in the sea, sinking along with the warship.
"Vice Admiral Thomson's Vivre Card has burned away," Vice Admiral Tsuru said. They all knew what that meant: they had lost a Vice Admiral, a senior Marine officer and high-ranking combatant.
Sengoku looked at the small pile of ashes that remained and took a deep breath. As a Marine General and the commander of this operation, he couldn't let his emotions sway him.
"Tell Vice Admiral Xi and Vice Admiral Rona to hurry up. Before we arrive, hold the Whitebeard Pirates there. Don't let them get away." The entire G1 Marine Base had mobilized to wipe out the Whitebeard Pirates. Even if they couldn't kill Whitebeard, the Marines under his command could still deal the pirates a heavy blow, greatly raise the Marines' reputation, and suppress the pirates' arrogance.
Sengoku frowned, a dark cloud seeming to hang over his heart. "What's wrong?" Tsuru asked, knowing Sengoku well. "I don't know. I just have a bad feeling."
Before long, two warships approached from the distance, one after the other, taking positions on either side. It seemed they wanted to trap the Moby Dick between them. "What about Thomson? Has he sunk already? Useless. He couldn't even hold out until we got here," Xi said. There were rivalries between Marine Vice Admirals, fueled by personal grudges, factional clashes, and conflicts in ideology.
"Don't gloat, Xi. Vice Admiral Thomson has fallen. Let's hurry up. We're dealing with the Whitebeard Pirates, after all," Vice Admiral Rona said.
"Take aim at the Whitebeard Pirates! Fire!" Vice Admiral Rona gave the order. The cannons were already prepared. To hold the Whitebeard Pirates back, they couldn't engage them head-on. Keeping their distance and bombarding them was the best option, a common tactic used by both Marines and pirates at sea.
Usually, the Whitebeard Pirates might have played along and engaged them in a chase. But things were different now. The Marines' plan had been exposed, and the pirates had become their prey. Before the large force led by Admiral Sengoku arrived, just as Teach had said, they would give Sengoku the heads of the three Marine Vice Admirals as a greeting gift. It would not only deal the Marines a heavy blow, but also declare that the Whitebeard Pirates would not be provoked without consequence.
"Trying to buy time? Forget it." Whitebeard saw that the two warships were keeping their distance and understood what they were planning. He waved his massive hand. "Children, full speed ahead! Don't let them get away!"
"We'll take care of these cannonballs. We can't let you damage our Moby Dick! This is our home, after all." Vista swung his Flower Sword. "Flower Sword: Dance of Blossoms!"
Beautiful petals seemed to appear in the air, each as sharp as a blade. They sliced through the incoming cannonballs. For an instant, time seemed to stand still as the shells hung in midair. Then—"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The cannonballs exploded all at once.
The Marines aboard the two warships soon realized something was wrong. It was no surprise that the cannonballs had little effect on Whitebeard; they hadn't expected them to accomplish much. But they now saw that the Whitebeard Pirates were rapidly closing in. The distance between them had already been cut in half.
"The Whitebeard Pirates are coming straight at us! How can this be? Have they set their sights on us?"
"They killed Vice Admiral Thomson, and now they're after us? Since when have the Whitebeard Pirates been so aggressive toward the Marines?"
They still hadn't realized that the Marines' plan to target the Whitebeard Pirates had been exposed.
The Marines' movements were so extensive that there was no way to keep them hidden from the various forces in the New World. They all had their own spies in the Marines, but in such a short time—just a few dozen minutes—they couldn't learn much. They didn't know the Marines' purpose, and couldn't have imagined that their target was the Whitebeard Pirates, who were roaming all over the New World.
"We can't resist Whitebeard's power. Full speed ahead! Open up the distance between us and the Whitebeard Pirates! Keep firing—don't stop!" Xi stared at the approaching Moby Dick and issued a string of orders.
As soon as he finished speaking, both warships began to shake violently. A powerful current of air rushed toward them from the Moby Dick. The Marines could barely keep their feet and tumbled to the ground. It had happened too suddenly, without the slightest warning. They were thrown around inside the warships as screams and groans filled the air, along with the splash of one person after another falling into the sea.
Cracks appeared all over the outside of the warships. Xi clung to a handrail and shook his dizzy head. "Damn you, Whitebeard!" He hadn't even attacked them head-on. Just one strike from a distance had already caused heavy losses and shattered their morale. "Is this really power a human can wield?" The Marines struggled to get up off the decks, unable to hide the fear on their faces. Some had injured their feet, others their hands, and still more had fallen unconscious. Those unlucky enough would never wake again.
Vice Admiral Rona hung in midair, his feet rapidly stepping against the air. He had reacted first and used Geppo, one of the Six Powers, to leave the warship. But he couldn't avoid an attack of such a wide area. A fierce gale rushed toward him. He forced down the nausea rising in his chest and barely avoided being swept into the sea.
Whitebeard had made his move. "Gurararara! Trying to run, Marine brats? You've got no chance." At his level of strength, extending Observation Haki across a small or medium-sized island was easy. He had been watching the two warships all along, keeping a close eye on what was happening aboard them. When he realized they were trying to flee, he had attacked without hesitation.
"As expected of Pops! Now that Pops has made his move, there's no way those Marines are getting away." The crewmates gathered around Whitebeard aboard the Moby Dick cheered.
"Oh! That's Whitebeard for you. His power amazes me every time I see it!" Kozuki Oden's eyes shone.
A burning glint flashed in Teach's eyes. The Tremor-Tremor Fruit was indeed the Devil Fruit he had always wanted to seize in the original story. It was synonymous with immense strength. But in exchange, it had an extremely powerful recoil. When Whitebeard was young, his powerful body let him withstand it with ease. He could even use the vibrations of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit to strengthen his body. But after his prime had passed and his physical condition began to decline, his old hidden injuries would flare up. His body would no longer be able to withstand the recoil or unleash the fruit's true power. The stronger the vibrations he used, the stronger the recoil would be.
But now, at the height of his power, Whitebeard truly possessed the strength to destroy the world. He could still grow stronger, and he had never yet shown the Tremor-Tremor Fruit's full power: the force that would make the entire world tremble. If Whitebeard were enraged during this head-on confrontation, not one of Sengoku's support ships would be left. They would all be destroyed.
After eating the Dark-Dark Fruit, Teach would be able to easily absorb the recoil produced by the Tremor-Tremor Fruit and unleash its full power. That was why, after stealing the Tremor-Tremor Fruit's ability, he had immediately displayed the terrifying power to destroy Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
But before he obtained the Dark-Dark Fruit, he wouldn't plan to acquire such power. There were plenty of other powers that were almost as strong.
"Quickly! Full speed ahead! Don't let them catch up!" Vice Admiral Rona shouted.
"N-no good, Vice Admiral Rona!" A Marine hurried over from below deck, looking frantic. He swayed as he ran and steadied himself against the wall. His face was grim, and he didn't even have time to catch his breath. "The warship's propulsion system has been damaged!"
"What? What about the other one?" Rona turned to look at the other warship. He seemed to know the answer already, but still held on to a little hope. Soon, that hope vanished too: he received word that the other warship's propulsion system had also been destroyed. Even worse, both warships were taking on water, and there wasn't enough time to patch the leaks.
Their fate seemed sealed. Yet the more hopeless the situation became, the less the Marines seemed to care about anything. They were ready to unleash even greater strength.
They took up their weapons, one after another—swords, blades, guns, and cannons. They seemed to have made up their minds.
"If that's how it is, then we fight! Killing a couple more pirates will make this worthwhile." Xi and Rona stood at the bows of their respective warships. "Fight to the death! Hold them off until Admiral Sengoku and the others arrive. Then we'll have no regrets, even if we die."
At a time like this, all personal grievances and grudges were cast aside. There was only one thought in their hearts: to fight for justice!
"Zehahaha! What an incredible show of resolve to make right before your deaths. The Marines truly are something else. In that case, this sea will be your graveyard. Allow me to give you a lavish funeral." Teach burst into laughter. He was directing it all himself, and could barely contain his excitement. "Pops, I'm going in first."
The Moby Dick had drawn close. Teach drew his twin blades: Thunder Fang in his left hand and Purgatory in his right. He stepped on Geppo and shot straight toward them. Teach had been stuck at the Iron-Cutting level for a long time, but had now reached the threshold of Swordmastery. Although he had learned Observation Haki, a Swordmaster sensed the breath of all things, which was somewhat different from Observation Haki. They were both forms of Observation Haki, yet there were still distinctions between them.
Using Observation Haki to sense the breath of all things, he would need at least another year to break through. But Teach couldn't wait that long. He would use this battle to break through and become a true Swordmaster.
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