Sal Arrives

Of the three Admirals, two had already made their moves in succession, and the last one, Kizaru, could no longer find an excuse to slack off. He turned into light and flew into the air directly in front of Whitebeard, crossing his hands as he gathered light.

"Yasakani no Magatama."

Countless beams of light shot from Kizaru's fingers, but before they could reach Whitebeard, another figure stepped in front of his captain.

Marco spread his azure flame wings and charged into the barrage, his blue flames locking the light beams in a deadlock.

After blocking every attack aimed at Pops, Marco completely transformed into an azure phoenix and flew at Kizaru. He did not dodge any of the beams along the way, instead enduring them head-on with his outrageously powerful regeneration, until he reached his enemy and brought down a kick.

"Bang..."

Kizaru blocked with one hand. The top-tier Armament Haki wrapped around his opponent's foot forced him to turn into light and retreat with the force, crashing directly into the building behind him.

Yet moments later, when Kizaru reappeared, not even his clothes had gathered a speck of dust. The ineffective attack made Marco's expression turn grave.

"Admirals really are troublesome."

Kizaru returned to his position among the Admirals and had no intention of attacking again for the time being. At the start of the war, top combatants like them could not attack recklessly; they had to seize the right opportunity to land a fatal blow.

With his sleazy expression, Kizaru said something utterly shameless.

"Four Emperor commanders really are terrifying."

The two locked eyes across the distance once more.

As Admirals, Shichibukai, and Four Emperor commanders entered the fray one after another, the war gradually reached its climax. No one could stay uninvolved. Some Marines were experiencing such a terrifying battlefield for the first time, and thoughts of desertion arose in their minds.

What those deserters did not know was that deadly magma was waiting for them.

Suddenly, enormous footsteps sounded from the sea. A Giant nearly fifty meters tall appeared before everyone. Little Oars Jr., descendant of the Continent Puller Oars and a member of the Whitebeard Pirates, had officially entered the war.

His fifty-meter height put tremendous pressure on the Marines. With one swing of his blade, Oars carved a long gash more than ten meters wide into the ice. He was like a living war machine.

Sengoku, who had been watching the battle, issued an order.

"Giant Vice Admirals, deploy! Don't let him get close to the execution platform."

Sengoku knew well that Giants like Oars might not be particularly powerful, but their enormous size alone was enough to disrupt the Marines' formation.

The eight Giants who had been waiting charged toward Little Oars Jr. However, the Giant Vice Admirals, only fifteen meters tall, looked like children before him. His immense strength left even the Marine Giant Vice Admirals fighting together without the ability to fight back.

Before long, the Giant Vice Admirals were taken down one after another, and Little Oars Jr. had already approached the execution platform.

Whitebeard also gave an order to his children.

"Cover Little Oars Jr. and break through to the execution platform."

Under the cover of countless pirates, Little Oars Jr. could see only Ace.

"Ace, I'm here to save you!"

His friends were risking their lives to save him, and tears filled Ace's eyes as he had been prepared to die. At that moment, his desire to live surged anew.

Suddenly, a white bubble shaped like a bear paw drifted before Oars and exploded. An invisible, terrifying shockwave swept across the battlefield, while Little Oars Jr., at its center, was instantly left covered in wounds and bleeding from all seven orifices.

It was Tyrant Kuma, one of the Shichibukai, who had attacked. One of the Paw-Paw Fruit's abilities allowed him to compress air and create terrifying shockwaves.

Severely wounded, Little Oars Jr. knew he could no longer fight. To ease his companions' burden, he wanted to take at least one Shichibukai down with him. His enormous palm came crashing down toward Doflamingo.

Doflamingo gave a sinister smile. Before the huge hand could crush him, he leaped behind Little Oars Jr. and activated his String-String Fruit power, severing both of Little Oars Jr.'s lower legs.

The enormous figure lost his balance and fell toward the execution platform. Moria, directly in front of him, burst into wild laughter.

"Hahaha, Oars's corpse is mine! Shadow's Asgard!"

As Moria formed a shadow spear, he pierced straight through Little Oars Jr.'s jaw with a single blow. The combined assault of three Shichibukai brought down the descendant of the Continent Puller in mere moments.

Little Oars Jr.'s fall greatly boosted Marine morale, and they reorganized their battle lines.

With their breakthrough point gone, the pirates were once again blocked on the ice by the Marines, and the battle fell into a stalemate.

Ten minutes earlier.

On the sea not far from Marineford, Sal and Rayleigh's ship sped forward.

The two looked at the towering wall of the Gate of Justice in the distance. The Gate of Justice ahead had already opened, and Sal said to Rayleigh with relief.

"Good thing the Gate of Justice is open. Otherwise, you'd have had to climb up there and fight, Rayleigh."

"Get lost. If anyone had to fight, it would be you climbing up there. Still, this saves us some trouble."

Rayleigh smiled and cursed at him, while thinking that at seventy-six years old, he could still find that old feeling again. At the thought of meeting those old fellows, it felt as though hot blood was surging through his aged body.

Suddenly, the sea level dropped rapidly, and the receding currents dragged their ship back dozens of meters.

Sal and Rayleigh exchanged a glance and instantly understood what had happened.

"Whitebeard's Seaquake."

"A Seaquake, huh."

Soon, as they expected, the sea behind them rose. A tsunami that blotted out the sky came sweeping toward them. Facing a natural disaster of such magnitude, neither of them was the slightest bit flustered. Neither had eaten a Devil Fruit, so ordinary tsunamis posed no threat to them.

The memories of the once-in-decades tsunami they had experienced during the Edd War still remained in their minds.

"Perfect. It'll give us a ride. I was worried we might not make it in time, and that brat Ace would get butchered by the Marines."

Two slashes split open the far-left side of the tsunami, keeping their ship from being overturned as it rode the lingering tail end of the wave toward the Gate of Justice.

The raging currents crossed over the Gate of Justice and crashed toward the entire island of Marineford.

Suddenly, the towering waves of the tsunami froze over, and the ice spread toward them at incredible speed. The two promptly steered their sailboat away from the tsunami's tail and continued toward the bay with the wind.

At this moment, most of the forty-three pirate ships on the battlefield's outskirts had been frozen. Only the Ice Witch's icebreaker could easily shatter the ice, leading the remaining pirate ships through to support their companions on the main battlefield.

More than a dozen pirate crews assigned to cover the rear were locked in fierce combat with the encircling Marines. Most of these pirates were at the bottom of the Whitebeard Grand Fleet, and the only one stronger than a Headquarters Vice Admiral was Great Whirlpool Spider Squard.

Wielding a massive long blade, Squard forced three ordinary Vice Admirals into a steady retreat.

At the edge of the battlefield, Sal and Rayleigh's small sailboat encountered no interception and smoothly approached the bay. What they did not notice was that an Admiral in a red suit had found Squard.

The sailboat stopped at the edge of the ice, and Sal and Rayleigh stepped onto it, officially joining the war.

"Rayleigh, don't charge too far ahead. I'm afraid someone will break your old bones."

"Sal, you should worry about yourself instead."

The two calmly dealt with the Marines blocking their way. The sight of Little Oars Jr.'s severely wounded body in the distance even made Sal feel some regret.

Suddenly, the ice churned. A Giant Vice Admiral who had been knocked down by Oars woke up beneath the sea. His enormous cleaver came slashing down at the two of them.