The Summit War had been raging for some time, and Captain Buggy was active once again.
His subordinates had managed to snatch a Den Den Mushi, and they used it to broadcast footage of Buggy live.
What was more, the pirates heaped praise on Buggy, making his broadcast all the more hilarious.
"Look! That Red Nose is Buggy the Clown. He's here too!"
"What? Buggy the Clown is that gutsy? Could he be a great pirate too?"
"What did he come here for? Is he here to rescue Fire Fist Ace as well?"
In an instant, people all over the world began imagining all sorts of things about Buggy, convinced that he was an incredibly powerful pirate.
Sengoku was so furious he nearly started steaming. He immediately ordered his men to cut off the pointless broadcast.
On Luffy's side, he fought desperately under the others' protection, falling time and again, only to rise each time through sheer force of will.
He even ran into Admiral Kizaru. Fortunately, since our Kizaru was a seasoned actor, Luffy managed to get through the encounter by the skin of his teeth.
The Marines had sent out the Pacifista army early on, bombarding Whitebeard's forces with a relentless barrage.
On the Execution Platform, Sengoku remained just as vigilant. He picked up a Den Den Mushi and gave the order: "Activate the Siege Wall plan."
In an instant, huge metal walls rose with a thunderous roar on the inner side of Marine Headquarters' Harbor Plaza. Like the bars of an enormous iron cage, they were meant to trap every invading pirate inside the harbor, including the main Whitebeard ship.
At the same time, countless gun ports opened in the walls, their cold barrels aimed at the trapped pirates.
"This is bad! It's a trap!"
"We're surrounded!"
The pirates fell into a panic.
Once the Siege Wall fully closed, they would be trapped like rats in a barrel, at the mercy of the Marines' guns.
One of Whitebeard's adopted sons, Squard, had been manipulated by Akainu. Whitebeard himself was stabbed in the back, taking a knife to the chest.
When the Maelstrom Spider Squard plunged his blade into Whitebeard's chest, tears streamed down his face.
Time seemed to freeze in that moment.
Every pirate who witnessed it wore the same look of stunned disbelief and confusion.
"Squard, you..."
Whitebeard's massive body trembled slightly. He slowly turned to look at his son, tears streaming down his face, but there was no reproach in his eyes.
"Why would you do this, my son?"
Squard sobbed uncontrollably.
"You lied to us. You made a deal with the Marines, trading the lives of every pirate under your banner for Ace's and the commanders of the Whitebeard Pirates, didn't you?"
"Ace is Roger's son. You want him to become the Pirate King."
Just moments ago, Akainu had found him and told him the truth: Ace was Roger's son.
However, the Marines and Akainu had underestimated Whitebeard.
In their eyes, the entire Whitebeard Pirates depended on Whitebeard's strength. Once he was gravely wounded and fell, the others would immediately scatter, allowing the Marines to win without a fight.
Whitebeard, the giant whose chest still bled freely, suddenly straightened up.
He grabbed Squard by the head. Just as everyone thought he was about to crush the traitor's skull, he instead drew Squard into his arms.
"Squard." Whitebeard's voice rang in every pirate's ears and, through the Den Den Mushi, carried across the world. "You actually believed the Marines' stupid lies? You're a son I cherish, you fool."
After a speech that shook the heavens and the earth, the Whitebeard Pirates, whose morale had sunk to rock bottom, were instantly fired up again.
Squard himself finally understood. Tears streamed down his face as he bitterly regretted what he had done.
Whitebeard's words instantly dispelled the pirates' suspicions and gloom. Pops had never abandoned them.
Through sheer force of personality, Whitebeard managed to bring the commander back into his ranks.
Seeing how underhanded the Marines were, calculating against them at every turn, Whitebeard was enraged.
With just a few effortless moves, he took down a Marine Vice Admiral who was a giant. Then the muscles in his arms bulged, and white, spherical halos formed around his fists. He slammed them into the air on either side of him, unleashing the power of his Tremor-Tremor Fruit to its fullest.
He no longer aimed at any particular target. Instead, he unleashed a sweeping assault on the air around him, the ground beneath his feet, and the Marine buildings before him.
Air Quake! The earth split! A tsunami rose!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The earth split open into bottomless chasms. Sturdy fortresses and defensive structures collapsed like houses of cards, while the water in the harbor surged skyward before falling back down like a torrential rain.
Even space itself trembled and groaned. Whitebeard was proclaiming to the entire world that, despite his grievous wounds, he was still the strongest man alive.
Crack—
The ceaseless tremors made all of Marineford shake violently.
The sturdy defenses of Marine Headquarters began collapsing even further.
Whitebeard unleashed the full force of his Devil Fruit, making the earth quake and the sea split. The Marines were terrified.
The full force of a fighter on the level of a Four Emperor roused the world to fear.
Whitebeard let loose with his power, his Devil Fruit's might seeming capable of destroying heaven and earth.
Amid this cataclysmic storm of tremors, the fiercest shock wave, like a white dragon, shot straight toward the heart of Harbor Plaza: the Execution Platform.
A deafening explosion rang out, and the entire Execution Platform vanished into a cloud of smoke.
The Marines watched anxiously, terrified that the platform had collapsed.
But when the smoke cleared, three figures appeared almost simultaneously right in front of the Execution Platform.
Each radiated a different kind of terrifying presence, yet all were equally chilling.
The highest fighting force of Marine Headquarters—the Three Admirals—had joined the battle.
At the very center, directly facing that devastating impact, stood Admiral Akainu Sakazuki.
Akainu was extraordinarily tall and powerfully built. Even among the Admirals, he stood out as especially imposing.
He wore a white Marine Admiral's coat embroidered with the word "Justice." Beneath it was a neat, dark suit, with a crimson tie knotted at the collar. Every detail was immaculate.
A Marine cap sat on his head, its brim casting a shadow that conveniently concealed part of his gaze.
His features looked as though they had been carved with a knife and chisel, and the corners of his mouth habitually turned downward.
Yet almost no one noticed the handsome young man standing extremely close to the Execution Platform, wearing an eerie smile as if some scheme of his had succeeded.
Nor did anyone imagine that Admiral Akainu Sakazuki—the Marine's sharpest spear and sturdiest shield, one of the Three Admirals—was being watched like prey by someone. In this war, he was the most terrifying enemy Whitebeard's forces and all the other pirates would face.
He himself hadn't noticed a thing.
Du Yang could barely contain his impatience. He was even thrilled.
Now, Marine Admiral Akainu was so close to him.
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