Akainu vs. Whitebeard

"Gecko Moria... is dead?"

They looked at Moria, whose head had been crushed beneath a foot, his death utterly gruesome.

The battlefield around Bullet fell into deathly silence.

A great pirate deemed worthy by the World Government and granted the legal right to plunder the seas.

One of the mighty Seven Warlords of the Sea.

Had he really been killed so easily?

Everyone who witnessed the scene, whether pirate or Marine, was stunned. It felt like a dream, completely unreal.

"This is what happens when strength does not match status. Moria's strength simply did not deserve the title of Seven Warlords!"

"In fact, even if he had somehow survived this war, his title as one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea would have been revoked afterward."

Momonga spoke calmly.

"But Vice Admiral Momonga, if Moria was so weak, why did the World Government invite him to become one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea in the first place?"

A Marine voiced his confusion.

Momonga gave a faint laugh. "Why? Heh heh."

"You may not know this, but over twenty years ago, Gecko Moria was one of the most dazzling supernovas of his era. He even fought the current Four Emperor, Kaido of the Beasts, on equal terms."

Amid the Marines' astonished discussions, he looked toward Bullet's mountain-like, imposing back and murmured,

"Even the former Warlord, Jinbe the Sea Knight, has joined his crew."

"Not only that, Crocodile, another Warlord, and Marshall D. Teach, Blackbeard, have both attached themselves to him."

"Jinbe the Sea Knight possesses strength that utterly crushes Moria."

"Crocodile may be somewhat similar to Moria. But he possesses Logia abilities and cannot be underestimated."

"And Blackbeard defeated Fire Fist Ace, who had once received an invitation to become a Warlord, even before he himself became one of the Seven Warlords!"

"Beyond that, a great number of powerful Impel Down prisoners have joined his pirate crew."

"The Demon God Pirates may have only just been established, but they already possess the scale of a Four Emperor crew!"

"If they are allowed to return to the New World, they will inevitably cause unimaginable chaos!"

"We must bury both the Whitebeard Pirates and the Demon God Pirates here in this war!"

With that thought, Momonga tightened his grip on his long sword and led a large group of Marines in a charge toward the pirates and prisoners.

As for powerhouses like Bullet and Whitebeard, the Admirals would naturally deal with them.

The center of the battlefield was the most chaotic area.

The core combat forces of the two pirate crews had all gathered there, jointly resisting Admiral Kizaru, the Pacifistas, and the remaining three Seven Warlords.

Shiryu and Vista faced Hawk-Eye Mihawk.

The clash between the three master swordsmen sent terrifying slashes sweeping across the battlefield, keeping allies and enemies alike from daring to approach.

Marco temporarily held back Kizaru, but it was clear that he was already losing ground.

Because of Bullet's arrival, Kizaru had finally gotten serious and revealed the formidable combat power of a veteran Admiral.

If not for Marco's Phoenix Fruit ability and its astonishing regenerative power,

he would likely have already been defeated by Kizaru.

Crocodile and Doflamingo, two longtime rivals, faced each other.

Although Crocodile was at a disadvantage,

Doflamingo clearly had not used his full strength. He merely let out his strange "fufufu" laugh while attacking in a casual, unhurried manner.

Jozu, Shot, and the others, meanwhile, faced the terrifyingly powerful Kuma.

Amid the surging paw-shaped shockwaves and laser blasts filling the sky, they fought with great difficulty.

From the looks of it,

even while facing two pirate crews at once, Marine Headquarters still held an enormous advantage.

Fortunately, Marco, Shiryu, and the others were generally stronger than Marine Headquarters' Vice Admirals and had the ability to keep Admirals occupied.

Otherwise, if the Marines had extra Admiral-level combat power available to deal with Bullet or Whitebeard at the same time,

the balance of the war would likely be shattered immediately.

However, at the execution platform, the Marines still had two combatants at least on the Admiral level who had yet to join the battle.

One was the "old soldier" Whitebeard had mentioned, the Marine hero Garp, who remained unshaken no matter how the winds and waves rose.

The other was Fleet Admiral Sengoku the Buddha.

Many years ago, Sengoku himself had been a Marine Admiral codenamed "Sengoku."

The two appeared old, but in the hearts of the Marine officers, their weight actually surpassed that of the current three Admirals.

Especially the hero Garp, a legend among legends.

This old man, who possessed no Devil Fruit ability, had fought nearly every powerful pirate across the seas, his exploits spanning several pirate eras.

"Whitebeard, you are old! This battlefield will be your burial ground! It will also be where the Whitebeard Pirates are destroyed!"

"Hell Hound!!"

At the edge of the battlefield, Marine Headquarters Admiral Akainu was fiercely exchanging blows with Whitebeard.

The ground within several hundred meters was covered in scorching crimson magma, making it the most dangerous area on the entire battlefield.

A blood-red magma fist compressed to the extreme was viciously hurled by Akainu, transforming into a blood-red dog's head that roared as it lunged to devour Whitebeard's head.

The extreme heat had already caused the surrounding air temperature to rise rapidly.

Even with Whitebeard's powerful body, he did not dare make direct contact with the terrifying magma.

He could only use his powerful Armament Haki to keep all heat at bay.

"If you can do it, then try it, magma brat!"

"Air Quake!!"

The massive Pheasant Blade cleaved down as if splitting heaven and earth, shattering the blood-red dog head rushing at him before slashing toward Akainu's forehead.

Akainu raised his right leg high and stomped Whitebeard's Pheasant Blade heavily into the ground.

His right fist condensed once more, blasting a great roaring tide of magma toward Whitebeard's chest.

"Great Eruption!"

"Air Quake!"

Whitebeard released the Pheasant Blade and clenched his right fist. A pale spherical shockwave gathered around it before he smashed it toward the torrent of magma.

Crack crack crack crack!

The air split with spiderweb-like fractures, like a massive barrier that blocked the entire crimson magma torrent.

The next instant, an immense shockwave crushed forward, blasting the magma torrent into a rain of fire that bore down on Akainu.

Akainu's expression did not change. Before the shockwave reached him, his body melted into magma first, and he plunged into the magma beneath his feet, vanishing without a trace.

"What a troublesome brat."

Whitebeard frowned slightly and released powerful Observation Haki, trying to catch Akainu's trail.

But the surrounding area was filled with magma radiating intense heat, and even the air was warped by the high temperature.

The abnormal environment greatly hindered Whitebeard's Observation Haki, making it even harder for him to track Akainu.

More troublesome still, Whitebeard's Armament Haki was being rapidly depleted every moment to keep out the magma and heat.

And compared with Akainu, his stamina was clearly beginning to fail him.

"Time shows no mercy. This old man truly is old."

Whitebeard sighed inwardly.

With a splash, the hard ground beneath his feet split apart like water.

A scorching crimson stream of magma shot upward from below, viciously striking toward Whitebeard's lower abdomen.

Whitebeard's face darkened. With a cold snort, he leaped high into the air as a dense pale shockwave erupted around his right leg and crashed down fiercely.

Boom!!