At the outer edge of the battlefield, the PX-1 units moved across the ice, focusing their attacks on Whitebeard's subordinate pirate crews.
The barrage of lasers, electromagnetic cannons, and Plasma Cannons forced even these New World pirates into a steady retreat, gradually suppressing and driving them back.
Golden flashes lit up, converging into brilliant beams that passed over the pirates' heads and struck their ships, triggering enormous explosions.
The vermilion beams of the electromagnetic cannons flashed past, piercing pirate ships and nearly breaking them in half.
Ships in the pirate fleet sank one after another under the assault. A sense of impending doom gradually crept into the pirates' hearts.
...In the air.
This was Flashlight's first time seeing the PX-1 units in actual combat. Previously, he had only watched them at the testing grounds.
Compared with Titans' Imperial Guard, they were stronger and packed more firepower. After all, the difference in "capacity" was plain to see.
But they filled entirely different niches. Standing seventeen or eighteen meters tall, the PX-1 units could only be deployed for war.
"...Hmm-"
Flashlight let out an affected sigh, then turned into electricity and vanished.
A hooked claw of blue flame swept through the spot he had just occupied.
Electricity gathered in the distance, forming Flashlight's body.
"Marco, you're a veteran, yet you have no honor. You trick me, you ambush me, a newcomer. Is that right? No, it isn't."
The phoenix wreathed in blue flames spun, transforming into his hybrid form.
His arms remained outspread wings of flame, keeping him suspended in the air. His lower legs and feet were phoenix talons, while magnificent phoenix tail feathers extended from his lower back.
His head, torso, and thighs returned to human form amid scattering blue flames.
"You've been around for almost five years... so you're