Under their officers' command, the Marines used their numerical advantage and the terrain to form a solid defensive line, holding back the advancing pirates.
Countless people fell with every passing second, and blood stained every inch of Oris Plaza.
At the center of the battle, the surrounding environment had already begun to change. No one dared approach, leaving a forbidden zone of death.
Next, Sakazuki and Du Yang clashed several more times.
Akainu felt a humiliation unlike any he had ever experienced. His magma fists seemed utterly powerless before the enemy's Western-style sword, wreathed in black lightning.
Or rather, the other man's Conqueror's Haki was simply that powerful, able to clash head-on with or even neutralize the power of his Magma-Magma Fruit.
The fearful gazes of the Marine soldiers around him,
the grave expressions of his comrades in the distance,
the faint cheers of the pirates across the battlefield—
all of it filled him with anguish.
He... Sakazuki... how had he ended up in such a predicament?
According to his plan, he was supposed to personally bring the era of Whitebeard to an end and watch these heinous pirates crumble.
How had he ended up being suppressed instead?
"Unforgivable."
Akainu knew he couldn't let this continue.
Magma erupted around him like a volcano run amok. The ground beneath his feet melted into a pool of blazing lava, the moisture in the air evaporated in an instant, and even the light warped around him.
His next attack... He would defeat that brat with his next attack.
"Brat, burn to ashes."
Akainu crossed his arms over his chest. Endless magma seemed to surge out of his body, then compress, turning him entirely into a deep crimson mass of molten rock.
The aura unleashed by this top-tier Admiral drew the attention of both Whitebeard and Garp.
"Hellhound!"
Akainu's entire body turned crimson, like a demon from hell. He thrust out both fists, unleashing heat that seemed capable of incinerating everything as it surged toward Du Yang.
Everything in its path burned—even the air, leaving a vacuum in its wake.
Facing what could be called Akainu's strongest attack, Du Yang's gaze remained calm. Beneath that calm, however, lay a vast power like the depths of the ocean.
The dark red Conqueror's Haki around him no longer merely wreathed the sword in his hand. It now circled his entire body.
In the next instant, that Haki enveloped him completely, black lightning coursing across it like veins.
Du Yang didn't even try to block. He simply let Hellhound strike him.
BOOM!!!
An indescribably loud explosion rang out, as the terrifying red glow of magma clashed wildly with the dark red light of Haki.
The devastating shock wave swept across the area once more, even hurling several Marine Vice Admirals and pirate captains who had been fighting nearby into the air.
Yet when the light began to fade, everyone saw a scene they would never forget.
Du Yang was still standing where he had been. The glow of the Conqueror's Haki around him had dimmed only slightly, while the black lightning crackling across it had grown even more frenzied.
Akainu's ultimate move hadn't even made his opponent take a single step back.
The expression on Akainu's face froze. He looked as if someone had doused him from head to toe, and then a hint of terror crept into his eyes.
"Impossible."
He murmured to himself. His strongest attack, unleashed with everything he had, hadn't even managed to break through his opponent's defenses.
The gap between them was actually this immense.
Sengoku saw what had happened and seemed to realize something. He cried out, "Conqueror's Haki of this caliber... Rocks? Impossible. You should be dead!"
Garp the Hero found it hard to believe, too. He could count on one hand the people he'd seen wield Conqueror's Haki to this extent.
Imu was one,
Rocks, when he was demonized, was another,
and Roger at his peak was a third.
But this man was clearly in full control of himself.
Du Yang raised the Western-style sword in his hand. The Conqueror's Haki covering his body instantly vanished, converging on the unremarkable blade like countless rivers flowing into the sea.
The blade turned as black as ink, as if it had absorbed all the light in the world.
What emanated from it was no longer a sharp sword intent, but a surging, overwhelming power.
It was Haki that seemed capable of towering above everything.
To be honest, after sharing the powers of Marvel Duyang, a level-five Mutant with the Mangekyō Sharingan, Naruto Du Yang, and Under One Person Duyang, who had reached the Triple Inverse Life realm, the power he could potentially wield had become terrifying.
The next moment, Du Yang assumed a stance.
"Akainu's in danger!"
On the Execution Platform, Fleet Admiral Sengoku's pupils contracted. He could no longer keep his composure.
He instantly transformed into his golden Buddha Form and charged toward the Execution Platform.
"You damn bastard! You really think nothing of the Marines!"
Garp roared and shot forward.
Aokiji and Kizaru, the two Admirals, rushed toward Du Yang at once as well.
Facing the full force of Fleet Admiral Sengoku, the Marine hero, and two Admirals, Du Yang's gaze remained as placid as still water.
He merely raised the seemingly ordinary Western-style sword in his hand, slowly lifting it above his head.
"BOOM!"
Conqueror's Haki far more violent than before erupted, like an ancient dragon awakening from its slumber.
Black lightning seemed to transform into countless roaring black dragons, coiling around the blade.
It was as if the sword swallowed all the light in Marineford, plunging it into darkness.
"Slash."
A blade of darkness, black as eternal night, appeared out of nowhere, like an ink stroke tearing through a painting.
It was no longer merely a sword wave, but something more like a roaring black dragon.
Sengoku, Garp, Kuzan, and Kizaru were all repelled by the overwhelming Conqueror's Haki, unable to reach Akainu.
"How is this possible?"
The four of them were simultaneously thrown into turmoil. They felt as though a powerful force field were violently pushing them away.
His Conqueror's Haki was so strong that it could actually do this.
The four strongest Marines were directly repelled by the power of that one slash.
They hadn't been injured, but what they had witnessed had completely overturned their understanding.
The black blade wave continued forward without losing momentum. After blasting the four men away, it gave Akainu no time to react before passing straight through him.
The blade wave swept onward, carving a trench dozens of meters wide through the earth and stretching all the way to the horizon, as if splitting Marineford in two.
Time seemed to stand still.
Akainu lowered his head and looked at his body.
A fine black line appeared across his chest. In the next instant, his elemental transformation failed completely.
He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. The light in his eyes faded away.
The Marine Admiral, Akainu Sakazuki, had fallen.
Silence.
A deathly silence fell over the entire battlefield.
Neither the Marines nor the pirates could believe what had just happened. It was as if they were dreaming.
Before you continue