An invisible force appeared on the once-noisy battlefield at some unknown moment. At first, the sounds vanished, followed by everything slowing down.
Whitebeard was the first to react. His expression changed. "This feeling...?"
Under the invisible aura, space seemed to freeze solid, and the colors of heaven and earth rapidly faded until only black and white remained.
Whoosh, whoosh!
The sound of the wind gradually faded away!
A fallen pirate suddenly realized that his descent was growing slower and slower. In the end, he eerily stopped in midair, frozen in the very posture of his fall.
The seawater no longer churned, and even the ice crystals shaken loose by the battle were suspended in midair.
"Th-This is...!"
Akainu, still in the midst of throwing a punch, spoke in shock. His fist had already been launched, and he could even see the magma flowing across it. Right before him was Ace, and behind Ace stood that overconfident Straw Hat brat.
He had been certain that this punch would pierce straight through Ace. So what if he had the Flame-Flame Fruit? Logia powers were not invincible. Besides, his Magma-Magma Fruit was the natural nemesis of that inferior flame fruit. The damage it inflicted would definitely be fatal.
Yet that tiny distance, so close at hand, had become an impassable chasm. Akainu could retain clear awareness, but he could not control even a single finger.
It was not just him. Everyone in Marineford was the same, including Whitebeard.
Suddenly, the sea of clouds on the horizon surged. As countless rays of rosy light rose, a clear and ethereal sacred hymn echoed through the sky.
It was a rhythm beyond description, like the praise of heaven and earth speaking as one, yet also like the singing of countless holy spirits beside their ears.
Amid