Summit War · Rescue

"Crack! Crack!"

A series of splintering sounds rang out as the entire execution platform was engulfed in a massive cloud of dust. The moment the platform collapsed, Sengoku, who had been standing on the high stage, grabbed Ace and leaped away.

Naturally, as Sengoku retreated with Ace, the assault on Chen Qiang ceased, granting him a chance to regain his footing.

Chen Qiang stood up, glanced at the spot where Sengoku had landed, and decisively abandoned the idea of attacking again.

After that brief skirmish, Chen Qiang fully understood the gap between them. The man didn't even need to get serious to thrash him single-handedly, and he finally recognized the true extent of his own current strength.

The reality was that even if Chen Qiang disregarded his own physical limits—pushing himself until his muscles tore and his bones shattered—the power he could unleash barely reached the level of a Vice Admiral. Defeating an Admiral was fundamentally impossible, let alone the Fleet Admiral, Sengoku.

Thus, Chen Qiang wisely refrained from charging at Sengoku again, instead engaging the surrounding Marines who had encircled him. Of course, this did not mean he was giving up on rescuing Ace; he was simply waiting for an opportunity.

As he fought, Chen Qiang subtly maneuvered the skirmish toward the area where Sengoku had previously been positioned.

While Chen Qiang was battling the Marines beneath the execution platform, Luffy and his group regained consciousness on the central ice field and joined the fray.

With their arrival and the Whitebeard Pirates launching an all-out offensive, the Marines' true preparations began to surface.

The previously hidden Pacifista robots were deployed, launching attacks against the Whitebeard Pirates. In an instant, the forty-three subordinate pirate crews under Whitebeard suffered heavy losses.

It was also at this moment that Whitebeard was betrayed. The assassin was Squard, a captain of one of the subordinate crews, who had been manipulated by Akainu; playing on the man's hatred for Roger, Akainu goaded him into striking at Whitebeard.

However, this act only served to enrage Whitebeard. After forgiving his foolish "son" for the assassination attempt, he vented his fury upon the Marines.

For a time, no one on the battlefield could withstand Whitebeard's onslaught. His actions bolstered the pirates' morale, and they managed to suppress the Marines' frantic offensive, once again creating a stalemate.

The moment Whitebeard made his move, the three Marine Admirals—Akainu, Kizaru, and Aokiji—struck simultaneously, barely managing to halt his advance.

It was during this chaos that Chen Qiang, fighting through the Marine encirclement, once again neared the location of Sengoku and Ace.

"Ace! I'm here to save you!"

At that exact moment, Marco, the First Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, utilized his flight ability to reach Sengoku and Ace first, launching an attack on Sengoku in an attempt to rescue Ace.

"Now is the time!"

Seeing this, Chen Qiang would not let the opportunity slip. The long blade he had just seized transformed into a massive, blood-red tiger, scattering the surrounding Marines.

"Clatter!"

As the Marines were pushed back, Chen Qiang's movements didn't stop. The Seastone chains that had been wrapped around his body slid off, and with a flick of his left hand, they flew rapidly toward Ace.

Taking advantage of the moment Sengoku was distracted, the chains coiled around Ace. Chen Qiang pulled with all his might, yanking Ace away from his spot and dragging him toward his own position.

But before Ace could reach him, Sengoku swatted Marco away with a single palm strike. Having spotted Chen Qiang's maneuver, Sengoku dashed from his position, intent on reclaiming Ace before he could fall into Chen Qiang's hands.

Clearly, Chen Qiang had anticipated this; he knew a powerhouse like Sengoku couldn't be stopped by Marco alone. So, the moment he threw the chains, his other hand began to move.

"Blood Barrier!"

The Marines whom Chen Qiang had previously wounded suddenly felt the flow of blood within them accelerate. The small wounds that had already stopped bleeding began to gush fresh blood once more.

As this blood left their bodies, it surged into the air, coalescing into a massive sphere of gore.

With a wave of Chen Qiang's hand, the sphere enveloped Ace just as he was being pulled toward him.

At that moment, Sengoku arrived, reaching out to grab Ace. But upon touching the blood sphere, even a powerhouse like Sengoku felt his own blood flow accelerate, as if it were trying to burst through his skin and surge outward.

Faced with this bizarre phenomenon, Sengoku shifted his grip into a palm strike, forming a massive shockwave that blasted the blood sphere away.

"Heh! You fell for it!"

Seeing Sengoku's reaction, Chen Qiang couldn't help but chuckle. While the sphere contained blood drawn from the other Marines, the majority of it was his own. Throughout the battle, every time he wounded a Marine, he had infused his own blood into those wounds.

This was the secret to his ability to manipulate their blood. As for the pulling sensation Sengoku felt, it was merely a bluff created by the high concentration of Chen Qiang's own blood—it was meant to intimidate, as it lacked the power to actually rip the blood from an opponent's body.

The increasing intensity Sengoku felt was a result of Chen Qiang's deliberate control, exploiting the fact that the Admiral lacked knowledge of his specific ability and dared not risk a direct confrontation with it.

For a clever man like Sengoku, such psychological tactics were most effective. Someone reckless like Luffy, for instance, would never have abandoned his goal even if he felt such a pull.

Seeing Sengoku blast the sphere away, Chen Qiang smiled and began his next move.

He didn't wait for Ace to fly toward him; instead, he dashed forward. Just as Ace was about to be slammed into the ground by the shockwave, Chen Qiang appeared beneath him, leaped up, and with a flick of his left hand, pulled Ace free from the blood sphere.