The Plan to Counter Gari, A Resolute Counterattack

"Pops, that's how it is," Teach said, returning to Whitebeard's side and relaying the important news.

"What? These Marines, they're targeting us, aren't they?"

"What do we do? We'll suffer huge losses when the time comes."

The surrounding crew members were worried. Over thirty thousand Marines were rushing towards them, and with the Marines on this warship, that was close to forty thousand. The Whitebeard Pirates feared no battle, but they were unwilling to bear the death of their comrades.

Whitebeard also didn't want to see such a situation. "Gurararara! Children, Pops won't let you get hurt. We'll avoid them then."

Whitebeard spoke. Avoiding the Marines was a wise choice; clashing head-on with them was irrational. The Whitebeard Pirates and Sengoku were old rivals, but usually, it was just one warship. Sengoku's main objective in the New World was to monitor the Whitebeard Pirates. His Great Buddha Fruit's shockwaves could contend with Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit without being at a disadvantage. "Since the Marines intend to make a move, there's no need to spare them. The heads of these three Marine Vice Admirals will be a welcoming gift for Sengoku," Teach said with a laugh from the side. "Overall, our strength is slightly weaker than the Marines. To avoid being surrounded and annihilated, we must weaken their strength."

"Pops's ability is practically invincible on the seas. If we don't fight head-on, and he isn't tied down by Admiral Sengoku, maintaining distance, those warships will be nothing but targets. The hunting dynamic will change immediately."

Teach smiled, tying up his hair with a black skull-patterned bandana. "Teach, you're smiling so sinisterly, but I like it," Wyper said with a laugh from the side.

This plan was quite insidious. As long as they didn't face the enemy head-on, Pops wouldn't be tied down by Sengoku, nor would he be hesitant due to worry for his crew, affecting his performance. However, it might tarnish Whitebeard's reputation.

"Gurararara, for my beloved children, Pops is willing to teach Sengoku a lesson and make the Marines remember this," Whitebeard roared with laughter. This plan suited Whitebeard's taste perfectly in this situation, sweeping away the gloom in his heart. For his beloved children, there was nothing wrong with doing this.

"Pops!" The companions beside him were moved to tears. "Pops, you're so handsome even when you're shameless." Whitebeard didn't care about his children's teasing. "Gurararara, children, go all out, don't give them any chances."

"Teach, you've made a great contribution this time," a companion patted Teach's shoulder. After all, the plan was his. If it weren't for him, the losses would have been unimaginable if they had clashed head-on with the Marines.

"Haha, without Pops's immense strength, this wouldn't have been possible," Teach rubbed his head, also very pleased. There wasn't much treasure in the Whitebeard Pirates; Pops had donated all his money to his hometown. What remained was the Devil Fruits collected by the Whitebeard Pirates, some unknown or unvalued ones that required treasure or merit to exchange. They couldn't be given to anyone who wanted them. Devil Fruits were precious items on the sea, and with Teach's merit, he could at least exchange for two Devil Fruits.

The situation on the battlefield was already difficult to maintain. With this order, it immediately collapsed.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" Under the barrage of cannon fire, the warship began to be submerged by seawater and gradually sank into the ocean.

The corpse of Marine Vice Admiral Thomson was buried at sea, sinking along with the warship.

"Vice Admiral Thomson's Vivre Card has burned out," Marine Vice Admiral Tsuru said. They all understood what this meant: they had lost a Vice Admiral, a high-ranking Marine, a powerful fighter.

Sengoku looked at the remaining ashes and took a deep breath. As a Marine general and the commander of this operation, he should not be swayed by emotions.

"Notify Vice Admiral ** and Vice Admiral Rona to speed up. Delay the Whitebeard Pirates before we arrive, don't let them escape." The entire Marine G1 Fortress was mobilized to annihilate the Whitebeard Pirates. Even if they couldn't kill Whitebeard, they could inflict heavy damage on the Whitebeard Pirates with their subordinate Marines, greatly enhancing the Marines' prestige and suppressing the pirates' arrogance.

Sengoku frowned, a dark cloud seeming to linger in his heart. "What's wrong?" Tsuru, who knew Sengoku well, asked. "I don't know, I just have a bad feeling."

Not long after, two warships approached from the distance, one after the other, seemingly trying to sandwich the Moby Dick between them. "Where's Thomson? Already sunk? So useless, can't even hold on until we get here," ** said. There were rivalries among Marine Vice Admirals, personal grudges, conflicts between different Marine factions, and clashes of different ideologies.

"Stop with the sarcastic remarks, **. Vice Admiral Thomson has already sacrificed himself. Let's speed up. They are the Whitebeard Pirates, after all," Vice Admiral Rona said.

"Target the Whitebeard Pirates, fire!" Vice Admiral Rona gave the order. The cannons were already prepared. To delay the Whitebeard Pirates, they couldn't fight them head-on. Maintaining distance and bombarding them was the best option, a common attack method for Marines and pirates at sea.

Normally, the Whitebeard Pirates might play along, engaging in a chase, but things were different now. Knowing the Marines' actions, they had become the prey. Before the main force led by Admiral Sengoku arrived, as Teach had said, giving Sengoku the heads of these three Marine Vice Admirals as a welcoming gift would not only cause great losses to the Marines but also declare the Whitebeard Pirates' inviolability.

"Trying to buy time? Don't dream about it." Whitebeard saw the two warships maintaining their distance and understood their intentions. He waved his hand. "Children, full speed ahead, don't let them escape."

"We'll handle these cannonballs. How can we let you hurt our Moby Dick? This is our home," Vista said, swinging his flower sword. "Flower Sword: Flower Dance."

It was as if streams of beautiful petals appeared in the air, but they were as sharp as knives, slicing through the incoming cannonballs. Space seemed to freeze, and every cannonball stopped in mid-air, followed by "Boom boom boom!"

The cannonballs exploded simultaneously.

Soon, the Marines on the two warships discovered something was wrong. It was expected that the cannonballs wouldn't have much effect on Whitebeard; they didn't expect these cannonballs to achieve anything. However, they noticed that the distance between them and the Whitebeard Pirates was rapidly closing, reducing the distance by half.

"The Whitebeard Pirates are rapidly approaching us. How can this be? Have we been targeted?"

"They've already killed Vice Admiral Thomson, and now they're targeting us? When did the Whitebeard Pirates become so crazy, targeting us Marines?"

They still hadn't realized that the Marines' plan to target the Whitebeard Pirates had been exposed.

The Marines' actions were significant and naturally couldn't be hidden from the various forces in the New World. They had their own informants within the Marines, but in such a short time, within tens of minutes, they couldn't gather any information or understand the Marines' objective. They couldn't imagine that the Marines' target was the Whitebeard Pirates, who were roaming the New World.

"We can't resist Whitebeard's power at all. Full speed ahead, widen the distance from the Whitebeard Pirates, continue bombarding, don't stop," ** commanded quickly, staring at the approaching Moby Dick.

As soon as he finished speaking, the two warships began to shake violently. A strong gust of wind suddenly swept towards them from the direction of the Moby Dick. They couldn't even stand steady and fell to the ground. It was too sudden, without any warning. They crashed into each other inside the warships, with screams and groans everywhere, and the sound of people falling into the sea.

Cracks appeared on the exterior of the warships. ** held onto the railing with one hand, shaking his slightly dizzy head. "Damn Whitebeard!" Before even engaging in a frontal assault, a single distant strike had caused them heavy losses, shattering their morale. "Is this power something a human can wield?" Marines struggled to get up from the deck, their faces filled with unconcealed fear. Some had injured legs, some had injured hands, and some were unconscious. Those who were unlucky would never wake up.

Vice Admiral Rona's body stopped in mid-air, bobbing up and down, his feet constantly treading on the air. He was the first to react and used the Marines' Rokushiki technique, Geppo, to leave the warship. However, such a large-scale attack was not something he could easily evade. A strong hurricane swept towards him, forcefully suppressing the urge to vomit in his chest. He was almost blown into the sea by the wind.

It was Whitebeard who made the move. "Gurararara, trying to escape? Marine brats, you have no chance." With his immense power, it was easy for his Observation Haki to cover a small to medium-sized island. He had already been watching these two warships, constantly monitoring the situation on board. When he learned that these two warships intended to flee, Whitebeard didn't hesitate and decisively attacked.

"As expected of Pops. Since Pops has made a move, these Marines won't escape," the companions gathered around Whitebeard on the Moby Dick cheered.

"Oh! As expected of Whitebeard. His power is always so astonishing every time I see it," Kozuki Oden's eyes sparkled.

A flicker of heat flashed in Teach's eyes. This was indeed the Devil Fruit he had always wanted to obtain in the original story. The Tremor-Tremor Fruit was synonymous with power. However, relatively speaking, the Tremor-Tremor Fruit had an extremely powerful recoil force. In his youth, Whitebeard could easily resist it with his powerful Physique, even using the Tremor-Tremor Fruit's vibrations to strengthen his Physique. But after his peak period passed, his physical functions began to decline, and old injuries would be triggered. His body could no longer withstand the recoil force of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, nor could he unleash its true power. The stronger the vibration he used, the stronger the corresponding recoil force would be.

But now, in Whitebeard's prime, he truly possessed the power to destroy the world. Whitebeard could still ascend, still grow stronger. He had never displayed the true power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, that power that made the world tremble. Even in a head-on confrontation, once Whitebeard was provoked, not a single ship from Sengoku's fleet would remain; all would be annihilated.

After eating the Dark-Dark Fruit, he could easily absorb the recoil force generated by the Tremor-Tremor Fruit and easily display the Tremor-Tremor Fruit's true power. That was why Teach, after stealing the Tremor-Tremor Fruit's ability, directly displayed the terrifying power that destroyed Marine Headquarters, Marineford.

However, before obtaining the Dark-Dark Fruit, he wouldn't scheme for such power. There were many powers comparable to it.

"Quick, quick, full speed ahead, don't let them catch up," Vice Admiral Rona shouted.

"No, bad news, Vice Admiral Rona." As soon as he finished speaking, a Marine ran out from below the ship, looking very anxious. He staggered, holding onto the wall to steady himself, his face extremely pale. He didn't even have time to catch his breath. "The warship's power system has been destroyed."

"What? What about the other one?" Rona turned to look at the other warship, his heart already seeming to know the answer, but he still held onto a sliver of hope. Soon, his hope vanished as he received the news that the other warship's power system had also been destroyed. Even more cruelly, both warships were already taking on water, and there was no time to repair the leaks.

The outcome seemed inevitable, but at such a desperate moment, it seemed as if all reservations were gone. These Marines would unleash even greater power.

They took out their weapons, swords, guns, and cannons, their hearts seemingly resolved.

"In that case, let's fight! Killing a few more pirates is a profit," ** and Rona stood at the forefront of the warships. "Fight to the death and drag them until Admiral Sengoku arrives. Then, even death will be without regret."

At this point, all personal grievances were set aside. There was only one thought in their minds: for justice!

"Har har, to unleash such astonishing conviction before death, truly worthy of the Marines. In that case, this sea will be your graveyard. Allow me to hold a grand funeral for you," Teach laughed, personally orchestrating all of this, unable to hide his excitement. "Pops, I'll go first."

The Moby Dick had approached. Teach drew his twin swords, Raijin in his left hand and Purgatory in his right, stepping on Geppo, and charged straight ahead. Teach had been stuck at the level of "cutting iron" for a long time and had now touched the threshold of a Swordmaster. Although Teach had learned Observation Haki, the Swordmaster's "Breath of All Things" felt different from Observation Haki. Although both were forms of Observation Haki, there were subtle differences.

To break through by sensing the Breath of All Things through Observation Haki would take at least another year. But Teach couldn't wait that long. He would use this battle to break through himself and become a true Swordmaster.