"A Marine Vice Admiral? Leave him to me, Pops..." Marco flashed an excited smile, his body instantly engulfed in blue flames as he charged forward.
As the First Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, he was second only to Whitebeard in strength. He would never shrink from the task of leading the charge.
Facing the incoming Marco, Aokiji raised one hand. The surrounding temperature dropped several degrees, and a glint of frost appeared in his palm.
"Uh..." Surprise appeared on Marco's face. Before he could react, ice spread across his body, turning him into an ice statue in an instant. With a bang, he crashed onto the frozen sea.
"Heh heh, Kuzan is one of our Marine Headquarters' strongest Vice Admirals. If you want to deal with him, Whitebeard, you'd better do it yourself." Not far away, Warring States Period wore a smug smile. This time, the Marines had spared no expense. They desperately needed a battle to prove that they were still the strongest force on the Grand Line.
"Is that so?" Whitebeard merely responded calmly to Warring States Period's smugness. Then, as his voice fell, azure flames surged up. Marco shot into the sky like a phoenix, the shattered ice covering his body already melted away.
"A Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit?" A flicker of astonishment crossed Warring States Period's face in the distance. He remembered that Marco had not possessed such an ability before. It seemed that Whitebeard and his crew had also been steadily improving over the past few months.
"Gurararara... Surprised, Warring States Period? This was loot we obtained before. With a Mythical Zoan ability even rarer than a Logia, even you won't be taking Marco down easily."
Whitebeard laughed smugly, and the many pirates behind him naturally joined in, their laughter rolling out in waves