Since Kizaru withdrew voluntarily, Marco, no longer needing to confront him, returned to Whitebeard's side. "Father, it's said that the Marines received notice of Ace's execution ahead of schedule."
"I heard about it. Where are Squard and the others?" Whitebeard sensed Marco's approach but didn't turn around.
"They're locked in a fierce battle with the Vice Admiral at the head of the bay," Marco, somewhat worried about his brother. "Should I fly over and support them?"
"No, wait, deliberately leaking information to make us anxious, that should also be part of that guy's plan," Whitebeard still had a high opinion of Sengoku. "That guy would never make a mistake like letting us overhear something. That's just the kind of man he is."
"Don't get too cocky. How could I let you break through so easily?" Just as Luffy was about to reach the wall and enter the plaza thanks to Naruto and the others clearing the area, Kizaru, who had been observing, stepped forward and used a Flash Kick to clear the area, leaving only Luffy, who was charging from the front, standing still.
Luffy vividly remembered the Kizaru standing before him. "You're Admiral Kizaru from Sabaody!"
"That's right, it seems you still remember me, Straw Hat Boy." It was still his signature sarcastic tone. "You managed to escape last time, but you won't be so lucky this time."
As they were talking, Kizaru once again conjured his lightsaber, the ' Ame no Murakumo no Tsurugi '. Before making his move, Kizaru glanced at Hinata behind Naruto. Hinata, who possessed the Byakugan, a divine Hinata for observation, immediately understood and activated her Tenseigan.
" Summoning Technique!" This time, Hinata didn't rush into close combat. Instead, she used the eye technique inherent in her Tenseigan to summon a giant stone statue, which appeared in front of Naruto and blocked the attack from Kizaru.
As a large amount of light spilled out, the crowd could finally see the scene that had been illuminated by the previous brilliance: a 20-meter-tall stone statue, now pierced through the chest, lay sprawled on the ground.
However, it was obvious that the hole in the Giant's chest was shrinking rapidly. In just a moment, the statue stood up again and swung its fist at Kizaru at its feet.
The enormous stone statue attacked with tremendous force, but compared to Kizaru, its speed was rather slow. No matter what kind of attack the stone statue used, Kizaru would dodge it, and even manage to strike the stone statue with a sword while dodging. It can be said that in front of Kizaru, the stone statue had no advantage other than its ability to resurrect indefinitely.
Once again, Kizaru used the ' Yasakani Sacred Jewel ' to shatter the stone statue. He then tried to prove he wasn't slacking off with his explanation. "It seems you've grown quite a bit. Compared to the technique that directly destroyed Sabaody Archipelago last time, you've even developed this ability to wear down your opponents."
"What? She's actually Hinata Hyuga with a single sword strike?" The surrounding Marines were indeed fooled and immediately began to pay close attention to Hinata's every move.
It can only be said that people's imaginations are truly terrifying. With preconceived notions, the Marines present were able to see countless ingenious duels in Kizaru and Hinata's paddling.
"Did you see that? Admiral Kizaru always waits until the statue is completely restored before attacking. Isn't that a bit...?"
"What do you know? This is because the Admiral discovered a flaw in the opponent's ability! You think restoring the statue didn't consume any resources? You're wrong. Only when the statue is fully restored is the opponent's resource consumption at its peak. The Admiral is trying to take advantage of the opponent's high resource consumption to wear them down in return. This is the wisest choice!"
"But... couldn't the Admiral just go and attack Hinata Hyuga's real body? Why does he have to struggle against this stone statue?"
"You're really being hypocritical, getting the benefit and still complaining. Didn't you hear what Admiral Kizaru said? The opponent is that powerful figure who cleaved several islands in two with a single sword strike. I heard that Admiral Kizaru only managed to dodge the attack by transforming into his elemental form. If it comes to close combat, and the opponent uses that kind of move again, the Admiral certainly don't need to worry, but what about us after we've shattered the islands?"
"Ah, I see. As expected of a senior, now that you've explained it, I understand Admiral Kizaru's good intentions. He decided to use a war of attrition to wear down the enemy's stamina and prevent them from using that island-splitting attack for our safety!"
Hearing that many Marines were discussing this, Kizaru became even happier, and even took the initiative to move the stone statue aside to make way for Luffy.
Just as Luffy continued his charge forward, another laser beam suddenly shot out from a distance, heading straight for Luffy. Sasuke wanted to rush forward to help, but someone was faster than him.
" Death Wink!" The secret of this move lies in using growth hormones to enlarge one's face, followed by an explosive attack through rapid blinking.
"Are you alright, Straw Hat Boy?" Emporio Ivankov quickly stepped forward to ask.
Luffy, who was sent flying by the shockwave from the collision of the two attacks, scrambled to his feet. "That was close! Thank you, Ivan."
"My mission is to protect your life!" Ivankov was eager to impress his young master.
However, the danger was not over. Another light appeared in the distance, and the two quickly looked over.
"That guy is the bear-like guy who bounces us around in all sorts of places." Bartholomew Kuma has become a shadow in Luffy's heart. Every time he thinks of his crewmates being bounced around in front of him, Luffy feels like it's a nightmare.
"Spinning Beauty!" Ivankov quickly spun around to dodge the incoming beam. "Bartholomew Kuma, you've gone too far! Even if you have the standing as Seven Warlords of the Sea, you can't fire such a dangerous laser at your old friend! What are you...?"
Before Ivankov could finish speaking, the Bartholomew Kuma's laser shot out, piercing through part of Ivankov's head and creating a huge blast wave behind him.
"Little Ivan!" Luffy shouted as he saw that Bartholomew Kuma's target was the other person.
"Don't worry about me, you go quickly, leave this to me." Ivankov stopped Luffy and urged Luffy to hurry up and save Ace, because he sensed a different meaning from the attack just now.
As Luffy broke through the obstruction of the Admiral and the Seven Warlords of the Sea, many Marines blocked his Luffy, but due to the difference in strength, he easily shook them off.
" Straw Hat Boy, you're still as imposing as ever. Oh, right, I need to cut your shadow again; it seems Oars is making his move again." A Shichibukai, Gecko Moria, is preparing to Luffy.
Seeing this, Sasuke, who had been stopped from making a move earlier, immediately stepped in and stood behind Luffy, saying, " Luffy, just keep going, I'll take care of him."
Many who hadn't yet directly joined the fray and were still observing were astonished by what they saw. 'The Straw Hat Pirates are all incredibly strong! Before, there was this little girl who could hold her own against Kizaru, and now there's someone who dares to fight Seven Warlords of the Sea.'
Seeing that his opponent had changed from Luffy to two, Moria didn't seem to care. After all, this was a battlefield, Moria's home turf. "Come forth, zombie soldiers!"
As Moria's Devil Fruit power was activated, countless fallen soldiers and pirates rose from the ground, and due to their location, the majority of the corpses were Marines. "Alright, zombie soldiers, bring them here."
The other marines still engaged in battle nearby glared angrily at Moria for witnessing this desecration of a corpse, but refrained from saying much due to his status as Seven Warlords of the Sea.
" Shuriken Manipulation Technique." Sasuke took out a large number of Shuriken from his ninja tool bag and threw them. Against the zombies that were actually ordinary soldiers, these Shuriken were enough to kill them.
As Sasuke up a large number of Shuriken fell down in large numbers. However, these zombies would get up again soon after falling, and new corpses would join the ranks of the zombie soldiers.
"Damn it, it's increased." Sasuke had anticipated this, after all, this kind of technique to manipulate corpses existed in the Ninja World, but Luffy found it somewhat unbelievable.
Moria, standing to the side, was quite pleased with Luffy's reaction. He raised his hands high and laughed heartily at Luffy: "That's right, this is a battlefield! The more dead people there are, the more zombies will appear. I'm invincible here!"
"Invincible? Delusion." Sasuke was very dissatisfied with the arrogant Moria in front of him. Having already gained some understanding of this world, he had actually thought of a solution.
" Lightning Release: Scattered Strike!" After Hand Seals, Sasuke conjured two spherical balls of lightning on his hands. These two balls of lightning radiated outwards indiscriminately at all times. With the enhancement of the Sharingan, Sasuke's precision in controlling chakra was further improved, and he directly launched the two balls of lightning into the pile of zombies.
A large amount of lightning emanated from the lightning ball and was conducted to the surrounding zombies. Using Lightning Release to deal with the opponents was a strategy Sasuke had decided on long ago. After all, the essence of these zombies was actually the shadows within their bodies. If there was a way to directly deal with those shadows, wouldn't that solve the problem of the zombies at its root?
As for the Shuriken thrown earlier, they weren't just for confusing the enemy. When Sasuke used his unique throwing technique, he secretly infused the Shuriken with Lightning Release. He then threw them together with other unprocessed Shuriken to observe the effect. The result was that the Shuriken without Lightning Release release had no effect on the zombies, while the zombies that were hit by Lightning Release never got up again.
It was because of this test that Sasuke used a wide-range Lightning Release to avoid wasting his chakra. After all, in his view, the war had only just begun, and he didn't want to be forced to retreat early due to insufficient chakra.
"What? Impossible!" Moria immediately sensed that the connection between himself and the shadow within the zombie's body had been severed. This seemed impossible to him; as Devil Fruit User, his control over shadows should be absolute, and it was absolutely impossible for it to fail.
" Luffy, you should hurry up and go. I'll handle Moria." Sasuke urged Luffy again, to prevent him from hindering him.
"Ah, okay, Ace, here I come!" Before, he was worried that Sasuke wouldn't be able to handle Moria, but now Luffy decisively ran towards the Execution Platform.
However, Ace, standing on the Execution Platform, didn't think that way. After all, he could see clearly from his vantage point that there were still several Seven Warlords of the Sea, and even the Navy still had a considerable number of high-level fighters. Even if some of Luffy's friends were exceptionally strong, they still wouldn't succeed in the end.
"Don't come any closer! Luffy!" This shout surprised everyone who heard it, and they all wanted to hear what Ace would say next. Even the outcome of the battle on the high platform was somewhat unexpected.
At this moment, Ace was filled with remorse, regretting that his own mistakes had implicated so many people. "You should understand, you and I are both pirates, meant to sail the seas as we please. I have my adventures, I have my crew. You have no right to interfere in my affairs. A coward like you actually came to save me? Do you think I would allow it?! For me, nothing could be more humiliating than this! So, hurry back! Luffy!"
Garp, standing to the side, softened his expression upon hearing Ace's words. He looked at Ace, whose eyes were filled with tears, but said nothing, knowing that Ace didn't want to drag Luffy with him.
"I am," Luffy completely ignored Ace's long-winded explanation, his reason simple and direct, "Your brother!"
This left many people present at a loss for words.
"He just said he was his brother, so he's also Roger's son?" This shows a complete lack of understanding.
" Ace's parents should have died from birth, so how could he have a younger brother?" Even those who knew a little bit of the inside story were dumbfounded.
Luffy kept running, "Pirate rules and stuff, what do I care!"
"Why don't you understand?" At this moment, Ace was both Luffy and angry at Luffy. Suddenly, he understood Garp's feelings.
"What are you all doing? Don't let a mere newbie disrupt the battle." Sengoku, seeing the situation was getting out of hand, immediately used Den Den Mushi to stop everyone's wild thoughts.