"What is that thing?! God!!"
When the G-1 Branch commander's scream, filled with utter horror and disbelief, cut through the Den Den Mushi's static and drove into the heart of everyone in the Fleet Admiral's Office at Marineford like a red-hot iron, Sengoku felt his head buzz, his mind going completely blank.
It's over! That bastard really did start running wild the moment he arrived!
What on earth did he do? How could he make the battle-hardened commander of a Marine Branch lose his composure and scream like he'd witnessed a divine miracle?!
Meanwhile, in the New World, in the waters around G-1 Branch.
The place had become a burning hell. Hundreds of pirate ships formed a steel defensive line that blotted out the sky, their black skull flags whipping wildly through the smoke like an army of demons crawling out of the depths of hell.
Countless shells trailed long tongues of flame, raining furiously onto G-1 Branch's enormous steel fortress like an impenetrable meteor shower of death. Each explosion burst into dazzling fire against the indestructible alloy outer walls, shaking the entire island violently.
Inside the fortress, the atmosphere in G-1 Branch's command center was oppressive to the extreme.
"Report! Number Three battery on the western side has been destroyed! Requesting fire support!"
"Report! The outer wall in Sector B has been breached! Pirates are attempting to land!"
"Report from the medical department! We're full of wounded! We're almost out of bandages!"
One despairing report after another was shouted by the communications soldiers like spells hastening their deaths, turning every face in the command center as pale as paper.
The commander, a battle-hardened Headquarters Vice Admiral with a vicious scar across his face, stared fixedly at the enormous nautical chart before him. His bloodshot eyes were filled with helplessness