The Summit War

To get back to the point, Du Yang was now headed for Marineford, the very site where the Summit War was set to take place.

But there was a problem; everyone was calculating the time, and the Summit War was likely about to begin. At the speed of a warship, they simply wouldn't make it in time.

Luffy was incredibly anxious; after all, his brother Ace was about to be executed.

Du Yang, however, knew for a fact that they would definitely make it.

Luffy possessed the protagonist's halo. How could such a grand stage as the Summit War be missing the protagonist's active participation?

Over on Buggy's side, he continued to boast that with him around, they would surely arrive on time.

The pirates continued to cast looks of admiration toward Buggy.

Sure enough, because Whitebeard had unleashed the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit at Marineford, the resulting reaction created an unimaginably massive tsunami.

The warship carrying Luffy and the others happened to be caught right on the crest of that giant wave.

The massive wave surged toward Marineford at an incredible speed.

In the end, because Aokiji unleashed the power of his Devil Fruit, he froze the crest of the wave solid.

The warship they were riding became awkwardly stuck on top of the frozen crest, and with the slightest shift, everyone fell off the icy peak.

No, it would be more accurate to say that Luffy was too impatient and led the group in stomping the ice until they broke through.

During the rapid descent, Du Yang couldn't help but look back at the blue sky, which looked so enchanting.

Crocodile, Ivankov, Jinbe, Buggy, and the others all fell in a free-fall.

Fortunately, they all landed in the seawater. Although the pirates of this world were famous for their physical prowess, they were still far from being supermen.

Falling from such a height would surely have resulted in being smashed to pieces.

However, Du Yang didn't stay happy for long. After submerging into the water, he suddenly felt as if he were being restrained by some force, slowly becoming powerless, and then sinking on his own.

Like a stone, he could only thrash and struggle in the water.

"?? What kind of international joke is this? I'm a great swimmer."

He suddenly realized the truth: he had inexplicably become a Devil Fruit user.

Aside from the Advanced Conqueror's Haki he had realized on his own, his Mangekyou Sharingan, Triple Inverse Life, and the level 5 Omega mutant's Purification Power had all been converted into Devil Fruit abilities.

What were they called?

Inverse Life Fruit?

Purification Fruit?

Eye-Eye Fruit?

If he had the chance in the future, he would definitely have to overcome the weakness of being a landlubber that came with being a Devil Fruit user.

But becoming a landlubber wasn't a big deal; after all, Luffy, with his protagonist's halo, was also a landlubber, and so were many other Devil Fruit users.

Although Du Yang had become a landlubber, their group was quite united, and there were plenty of people who weren't.

Jinbe rescued them one by one and finally pulled him up.

Du Yang reacted strongly; while spitting out the water he had swallowed, he said to Jinbe, "Thank you so much."

Jinbe even apologized, saying, "My apologies. Luffy is just too reckless. By the way, you are a Devil Fruit user, and you were a landlubber to begin with."

Du Yang coughed twice, not intending to answer.

In fact, back on the warship, Jinbe had already noticed Du Yang and felt that he was different from the other released pirates—he was extremely composed.

Moreover, throughout the entire journey, he had gathered that no one had ever seen Du Yang make a move.

This led him to believe that Du Yang was very mysterious.

At the same time, Jinbe exchanged a glance with the former Shichibukai, Crocodile; both seemed to have sensed something unusual about Du Yang.

They had once been big shots who dominated their own territories, and their observational skills were formidable.

Du Yang's little thoughts couldn't fool them.

Du Yang exhaled a breath of stale air. It seemed the feeling of drowning after falling into the sea had been terrible. Now that he had cleared his head, he realized he was at Marineford, the battlefield of the Summit War.

In such a grand scene, it seemed that one person couldn't decide much of anything.

After their respective verbal sparring, Whitebeard's side and the Marines began to clash.

What filled Du Yang's ears were the shouts of both sides charging, the sound of cannonballs exploding, and the clashing of cold steel.

The two sides officially engaged in a brutal fight, with everyone seemingly giving their all—fists hitting flesh, hot blood spraying everywhere.

Whitebeard's side wanted to break through the various defensive lines as quickly as possible to rescue Ace.

The Marines, for the sake of their own reputation, had to stop them from executing Ace in front of the world to maintain their authority.

Looking around, everyone seemed to be locked in a chaotic melee, and Du Yang felt his blood boiling from the atmosphere.

Compared to the grand scale of the Summit War, his previous exploits as a pirate were nothing more than child's play.

In reality, Du Yang was very clear that on Whitebeard's side, the only one with the combat power of a Yonko-Admiral level was Whitebeard himself.

Judging by the latest plot of the God Valley War, Whitebeard in his prime could reach the combat power of a Pirate King, but now, plagued by illness and in poor physical condition, he could at most be considered Yonko-Admiral level.

As for the Navy, with the three Admirals, plus Garp and Sengoku, they had at least five combatants at the Yonko-Admiral level.

One had to look at Garp; in his prime, he possessed Pirate King-level combat power, and together with Roger, he defeated the demonized Rocks and chased down a group of Yonko or future Yonko in their youth.

Honestly speaking, Whitebeard's side had absolutely no hope of winning.

Of course, this was without even mentioning the Five Elders and Imu.

Imu was a god-level powerhouse who wouldn't even be afraid to go head-to-head against six legendary powerhouses.

Moreover, aside from Rocks, she didn't take anyone else seriously.

The foundation of the World Government could be seen from this; it was simply terrifyingly strong.

On the Navy side, regarding the Yonko-Admiral level combatants.

However, with him present, the situation was completely different.

People spent all day arguing about whether a Yonko or an Admiral was stronger, but weren't they all just Yonko-Admiral level combatants?

Off to the side, Luffy stood at the bow of the warship and shouted with all his might:

"Ace!!!"

"I've come to save you!!!"

Luffy's shout was deafening, but to both Whitebeard's side and the pirate side, it sounded as if he were saying:

"Don't get in my way, my grandfather is the Navy Hero Garp!"

Understood, the "all-hands acting" mode has been activated.

By the way, Admiral Akainu didn't seem to hear it.

He seemed to not take any Yonko-Admiral level fighters seriously at all; on such a dangerous battlefield, he was frantically drawing everyone's attention, acting with reckless ferocity.

The others nearby were quite startled by Luffy's outburst.

Du Yang was already used to it; the guy had protagonist plot armor, so no matter how much he goofed off, nothing would happen to him.

If it were an ordinary pirate without a background like him, he would have been taken down in three seconds flat.