The Paramount War, Part Twenty-Five

Across the battlefield, spear strikes filled the sky, almost blotting out the entire field.

The Nine-Tailed Snake and Wind Tanuki were miserable.

To lessen the punishment they were taking, they had already abandoned Aokiji, who was no use to them now, and stopped shielding him from attacks.

You were beating Aokiji like you wanted to kill him on the spot. Now that you have the chance, why won't you finish him off?

Both felt bitter. After they were smashed into the ice and beaten yet again, they sighed inwardly.

They could guess some of what Whitebeard was thinking.

Ace, the man at the center of this war, was still on the execution platform, and Sengoku had announced over the loudspeakers that his execution would be brought forward.

Whitebeard was keeping Aokiji alive as a hostage to hold the Marines in check.

But the battle was being broadcast to the entire world. As the side representing justice and order, the Marines could never be seen compromising on certain things.

Trading Aokiji's life for Ace's, for instance.

Even if Sengoku agreed in his heart, as the face of the Marines, he could not say it before the whole world. If Whitebeard actually made that demand, there would be only one outcome.

Ace would be executed at once, and Aokiji's life would be used to show the world that the Marines would never compromise with pirates.

Whitebeard plainly understood that. He made no threats, merely spared Aokiji for the moment, reaching a strange, unspoken understanding with Sengoku.

That understanding would last until Ace's scheduled execution time.

Until then, each side had time to rescue its own.

Once that moment came, however reluctant they might be, the Marines would execute Ace immediately, and Whitebeard would show no further mercy.

Understanding all this did the