Whitebeard was indeed still alive.
But he was in terrible shape.
Still suspended in midair, he felt as though two walls had closed around him, squeezing him so tightly he could barely breathe.
Blood spilled from his mouth.
The ribs in his chest had been crushed and broken.
That strike had injured him badly. Even coating his entire body in Haki at the critical moment had only softened the blow.
His body was trapped between the palms, with no room to move.
He struggled to raise his elbows against the terrifying force.
He tried to force the two palms apart.
But it was useless. Even his inborn monstrous strength could not budge those enormous palms.
In that position, he could hardly bring his full strength to bear.
And every moment, force pressed inward from both sides.
He had even tried using his tremor power against the attack, but it had done nothing.
The thing was simply too massive.
Besides, the true heart of the attack was not the two giant palms woven from Black Tendons.
It was Mobius behind them.
Whenever Mobius wished, he could command more Black Tendons to join in.
After all, this supermonster had more than a thousand arms.
Mobius knew Whitebeard was not dead.
If he could, he would not mind killing Whitebeard right now.
Of course, he would not do that.
He knew Whitebeard was still useful to the Kingdom.
He understood the situation at sea, too.
He did not want the Kingdom's plans against the World Government disrupted because of him.
Whitebeard might be a pirate, but pirates were the Kronos Kingdom's principal pawns.
That was also the main reason Mobius looked down on other pirates.
A flicker of disappointment crossed his eyes.
He had known this move would be powerful, but if Whitebeard