Raging Demonic Energy

"Lord Gebinz!"

"You filthy man!"

As these two voices rang out, several nearly transparent threads and a few arrows tipped with heart-shaped heads shot toward Doma the Knight of Flares and his companions.

In the distance, Doflamingo had noticed Zhu Mang's movements the moment he acted.

He showed no reaction to the man's brutal killing style, which spared neither friend nor foe.

"The strong are kings" and "might is justice" had always been his own philosophies.

Seeing Gebinz take action, he even felt a surge of excitement.

He had been looking forward to this moment for a long time!

"A New World pirate with a bounty of hundreds of millions, an elite Vice Admiral of Marine Headquarters—none of them are a match for Lord Gebinz! I knew I wasn't wrong; Lord Gebinz's strength has truly transcended the mortal realm!"

With that, he killed the [Puppet] he had been controlling with his strings, stopped his own movements, and prepared to enjoy the show.

Yet, for some reason, after killing a few people, Lord Gebinz suddenly stopped in his tracks!

Seeing Doma the Knight of Flares' attack about to land on his neck, Doflamingo didn't have time to ponder the cause.

He let out a shout, thrusting his hands forward to rapidly weave a defensive shield made of Five-Color Strings behind Lord Gebinz's neck.

The heart-tipped arrows, meanwhile, had come from the Empress.

She, too, had noticed Gebinz's movements.

But as a woman, her insight into certain matters was clearly more delicate than Doflamingo's.

She keenly sensed that something was wrong with Gebinz at this moment.

His aura now was like that of a completely different person compared to before!

Previously, he had been like a devil-may-care, roguish aristocrat—an impression of nobility derived primarily from the confidence brought by his immense strength, though mostly just her own imagination.

But now, he resembled a butcher, his hands stained with blood, eager to devour anyone in his path!

Could this be his true face?

The Empress furrowed her brows, but seeing that Zhu Mang seemed lost in a trance and was failing to dodge the incoming attacks, she still subconsciously reached out to help.

"Bah, you Marine lapdog!" Facing the attacks of two Shichibukai, Doma the Knight of Flares dared not continue his offensive and had to retreat several steps to pull away.

He spat on the ground, preparing to strike again and kill this Monkey-Tailed Man who had murdered his friend.

However, after glancing at the Empress and Doflamingo, he turned his head back only to find a pair of blood-red eyes staring at him.

"Who did you call a lapdog?"

Zhu Mang grinned hideously, slamming his hand onto the man's face.

"Go to hell! Two-Sword Style: Jade-Cutting Slash!" Doma the Knight of Flares roared, swinging both blades toward Zhu Mang.

BOOM!

A massive surge of energy erupted from Zhu Mang's hand, engulfing the upper half of Doma the Knight of Flares' body.

In the blink of an eye, his upper torso was completely swallowed by the energy, flesh and bone alike vanishing without a trace.

But the energy wave did not dissipate.

It continued to fly forward, and everything in its path—Marines, pirates, ships, and buildings—was consumed by the wave and erased from existence.

The energy wave flew all the way past the harbor, finally landing near the pirate ships that had been forced to dock because the frozen sea blocked their path.

Hum—

A massive, semi-circular dome of light suddenly appeared and expanded rapidly, followed by a deafening explosion that brought total oblivion to the ships, pirates, and seawater trapped within.

The chaotic battlefield fell into an eerie, sudden silence.

Even Whitebeard, Aokiji, and Kizaru, who had been locked in fierce combat, stopped in their tracks.

Whitebeard whipped his head around to look, seeing that on the sea, more than half of his fleet of forty-three great ships had vanished. The remaining ships, which were further away and had not been directly hit, were all damaged to varying degrees; some had even fallen apart, drifting as mere planks upon the water.

From that single strike alone, a conservative estimate placed the number of pirates killed while guarding the ships at over ten thousand!

He turned his gaze toward the person in the distance who had launched the attack.

Not tall, not particularly muscular, and with a monkey tail growing from his backside... who was this?

Was there such a person in the Marines?

Why were the Heavenly Yaksha and the Pirate Empress standing beside him?

Was he a Shichibukai?

Impossible!

There were only a handful of Shichibukai, and they were far too recognizable; he was certainly not one of them!

Who on earth was he?

What Whitebeard did not know was that Aokiji and Kizaru were currently harboring the very same confusion.

They were aware of the deal between Gebinz and Fleet Admiral Sengoku.

Fleet Admiral Sengoku had traded the training methods for the Six Powers and two types of Haki in exchange for one opportunity to call upon his assistance when necessary.

In truth, Fleet Admiral Sengoku had also mentioned that they would likely never need to use this favor.

His only reason for doing so was to attempt to recruit the powerful Gebinz into the Navy's ranks.

At the very least, he wanted to ensure he wouldn't side with the pirates.

Judging by the current state of the battle, the Navy was clearly in a position of advantage!

Especially after that stroke of genius from Akainu just moments ago, which had blown away nearly half of Whitebeard's face.

Whitebeard appeared as if nothing had happened, but in reality, his current state could only be described as a "final flare of life."

Therefore, Kizaru and Aokiji were merely using crowd-control attacks to stall him, preventing him from freeing up his hands to deal with other naval officers.

As long as they dragged it out for a while, once this period passed, Whitebeard would be theirs to slaughter!

Perhaps they could even capture Whitebeard, use that to expand their victory, and then wipe out the entire Whitebeard Pirates fleet!

Yet now, Gebinz's sudden intervention had clearly exceeded their expectations.

"Could it be that Fleet Admiral Sengoku is so eager to expand the victory that he decided to cut off the pirates' retreat once and for all?" Kizaru and Aokiji exchanged glances.

Although they weren't particularly close, they were long-time colleagues, and a certain level of tacit understanding existed between them.

In the rear, Sengoku, who had yet to join the fray and remained guarding the Execution Platform, stared at the scene with wide eyes.

"Who told him to act?"

"That bastard, he's killing Navy soldiers too! He killed Strawberry and the others!" Garp cursed.

"Something is wrong, Sengoku," Tsuru said, squinting at Zhu Mang while breathing slightly heavily.

She had previously joined the battle, using the power of the Wash-Wash Fruit to take out several capable pirates, but given her age, her stamina wasn't what it used to be. The vice admirals had sent her back to help oversee the situation, which was effectively a way to let her rest.

"What's wrong..." Sengoku muttered instinctively, then looked closer and noticed something amiss. "...It does seem wrong; he is radiating demonic energy!"

"Demonic energy?"

"It's killing intent, the kind of aura emitted by a bloodthirsty Demon!"

"I felt this kind of aura from Rocks, but his aura is far more terrifying—countless times more terrifying than Rocks'! Just how many people has he killed? Where on earth did you bring him back from?" Garp's tone was heavy with gravity.