In an instant, lightning ran wild.
Bolts converged from every direction above the Buster Call Fleet.
Before all the Marines could take shelter below deck, Mamaragan descended.
Countless bolts of lightning battered the warships.
The lightning seemed to have a mind of its own.
Whenever a bolt missed or was blocked, it actually changed direction and shot toward the people nearby.
Within moments, many Marines had been knocked unconscious or injured.
At the sight, a Marine Vice Admiral with a long sword at his waist could no longer sit still.
He leaped onto the deck, drew the famous sword at his waist, and coated it in Armament Haki.
With one slash, a meteor-shaped Sword Aura shot skyward, swelling as it cut through the wind.
By the time it pierced the dark clouds above, it was a hundred meters across. Then the Sword Aura exploded.
Like a stone striking the surface of a pond, the Sword Aura spread outward in ripples.
It instantly cleared a vast swath of dark clouds above the fleet, while he directed the soldiers to tend to the wounded.
The officers aboard the other ships also emerged onto their decks and gathered on the warship at the front.
They stood ready for battle, watching the great pirates on the distant beach.
"Mighty Drum!!!"
Charlotte Linlin's furious roar rang out.
Using her power, she drove all the thunderclouds into the gap, piling them up layer upon layer.
The thunder grew ever more frequent as the clouds formed a gigantic thunderstorm.
Then thick bolts of lightning shot out and struck toward the warships, while Sword Auras flew up from their decks to cut through them...
Clack, clack, clack, clack...
The steady, forceful footsteps of someone boarding rang out as combat boots struck the wooden deck.
Golden Lion turned toward the man he had finally been waiting for. His smile widened as he spoke with solemn sincerity.
"Newgate, join me. Let's turn this world upside down."
"Gurarararara! You know none of that interests me, Shiki."
"What I want is... a family."
Whitebeard, the last to arrive, walked over and stopped beside Shiki, gazing out at the sea as he spoke.
He seemed a little distracted, and a faint smile appeared on his face, though no one knew what he had seen.
"Every last one of you, honestly..."
Though he had known the answer long ago, disappointment still welled up in Shiki's heart, and he sighed helplessly.
"All right, Linlin."
"It's time to leave."
He quickly composed himself and addressed Charlotte Linlin, raising his right hand, curling his fingers upward, then turning his hand over and sweeping it forward.
The few remaining pirate ships soared into the sky and flew toward the New World.
After venting her anger for so long, Charlotte Linlin had also regained some of her reason.
Without another word, she had Zeus compress the thunderstorm and send it bearing down on the Buster Call Fleet.
When the thunderstorm was only a few hundred meters from crushing the fleet, the Vice Admiral who had shattered the thunderclouds earlier gripped his scabbard in his left hand and his sword in his right.
He gathered his strength briefly, then pushed off with both feet.
Whoosh!
He appeared a hundred meters in the air, facing the descending thunderstorm, and slashed.
"One Sword Style: Sky Splitter."
An invisible Sword Aura swept out, passing upward through the center of the thunderstorm.
The thunderclouds showed no sign of anything amiss and continued descending.
Then the master swordsman Vice Admiral landed on the deck.
The crisp sound of his sword sliding into its scabbard rang out.
Only then did the thunderstorm seem to react.
With a thunderous crash, it split in two and fell toward the sea on either side of the Buster Call Fleet.
Crackle, crackle...
Endless thunderbolts exploded across the sea, and countless fish and Sea Kings floated to the surface throughout the waters for a hundred miles around...
Meanwhile, Sakazuki had stopped several hundred meters beneath the central battlefield.
He sent thin wisps of Observation Haki upward to probe, then quickly withdrew them the moment they reached the surface.
Unrestrained Conqueror's Haki intertwined across the battlefield.
None of those fighting sensed that fleeting trace of Observation Haki at ground level.
After setting the magma flowing and preparing several eruption routes,
Sakazuki fled into the distance. Only when he neared the outskirts of God Valley did he break through the ground and head toward the shore.
Once their battle shook the island's foundations, or enough time had passed,
Endless magma would erupt, destroying the island in a very short time like an apocalypse.
Along with the numbered super battleship buried beneath it, a vessel that did not belong to this era...
Before you continue