Chapter 531: The Shifting Tides of Battle (Part 3)
The three once-distinct battlefields had now been reduced to one. Only the Whitebeard Pirates' front was still holding on. The Rockefeller Pirates and the Big Mom Pirates, having annihilated their respective opponents, were now steadily advancing under Esdeath's leadership toward the last remaining battlefield.
"This! What is going on?" Kong's heart felt as if it were being twisted by knives. Of the fifty thousand elite Marines he had brought to the New World, only around ten thousand remained.
"Fleet Admiral, now is not the time to lose yourself! The Marines are waiting for your command! Pull yourself together!" Sengoku shouted, supporting Kong's swaying body.
In the brief moment Sengoku was speaking with Kong, Charlotte and Charlotte Linlin surrounded them.
"Charlotte Linlin, what did you do? How did Sengoku end up here?" Charlotte demanded, his face dark as he stared at her, demanding an explanation.
"Hmph. Sengoku wanted to leave. The legs are on his body; he can go where he pleases!" Charlotte Linlin shot back, not the least bit intimidated by him.
Charlotte's expression soured, but he didn't argue further with her. The main objective now was to kill as many Marines as possible.
"Demon Sword!"
"Ikoku!"
Charlotte and Charlotte Linlin launched their attacks simultaneously. Two unstoppable slash attacks shot towards Sengoku and Kong.
Sengoku immediately stepped forward. The giant, golden form of a Buddha appeared in front of Kong, radiating a brilliant light. Facing the two fierce attacks, Sengoku pressed his palms together, and his eyes flew open.
"Buddha's Radiance!"
Sengoku pushed his hands forward. A powerful golden light shone forth, and a shockwave erupted from his palms, rapidly colliding with the two slash attacks.
Bang! Boom!
The powerful impact instantly obscured everyone's vision.
"Fleet Admiral, go quickly!" Sengoku had no intention of fighting Charlotte and Linlin. He grabbed Kong and headed towards Zephyr, intending to pull him out of his own fight.
Zephyr's body was currently steaming, a side effect of using Life Return. The contest of pure hand-to-hand combat had taken an immense toll on both him and his opponent, and the physical damage sustained required a constant drain of energy to recover from.
"Zephyr, don't get entangled! Let's go!" Sengoku and Kong arrived at Zephyr's side, and together they repelled Bullet's attack.
Seeing Sengoku, Kong, and Zephyr united, Bullet didn't dare to press the attack.
"Sengoku!" Charlotte's furious roar echoed as he and Linlin gave chase.
But Sengoku didn't hesitate for a second. Without waiting for Zephyr to snap out of his daze, he grabbed him and made for Garp. The battle on the lower levels was already lost; Sengoku would not allow his top-tier forces to suffer any more losses. Both Zephyr and Garp were indispensable assets to the Marines; their loss was unacceptable.
Bullet reacted quickly. Seeing his captain and the others closing in, he immediately moved to intercept the three retreating Marine leaders. But faced with their unified determination to withdraw, he couldn't stop them.
Bang!
Bullet was sent flying, his massive body hurtling towards Charlotte and Linlin. Charlotte immediately reached out and caught his subordinate's flying form.
"Are you alright?" Charlotte asked with concern.
"I'm fine, Captain. I was careless. The three of them ambushed me," Bullet said, then fell silent, staring after the three distant figures of the Marine leaders.
"Forget it. The Marines have no hope of winning now. Let's go support the Whitebeard Pirates," Charlotte ordered.
The three of them didn't hesitate and immediately turned towards the Whitebeard battlefield.
While they had been engaging Sengoku, Esdeath and Smoothie were integrating their two pirate crews—a combined force of over forty thousand—and attacking the Marine forces on the Whitebeard front. However, thanks to an advance warning from Onigumo and the other Vice Admirals, the Marines were not caught by a surprise rear attack as before.
When Vice Admiral Momonga saw Onigumo and the others retreating in such a sorry state, he could hardly believe his eyes. Vice Admiral Onigumo had actually been defeated. He had sent thirty thousand allied soldiers as reinforcements just last night. How could they have been routed in a single night?
This happened at the precise moment Momonga was launching another offensive against the Whitebeard Pirates. Just as he was on the verge of pushing them back again, disaster struck from behind. Momonga had no choice but to abandon his attack and pivot to deploying all his forces to defend against the combined might of the Rockefeller and Big Mom Pirates.
As for the Whitebeard Pirates? After a full day and night of fighting, the Marines had thoroughly figured them out. They were a paper tiger—all bark and no bite. Aside from their impressive resilience, which allowed them to quickly regroup every time they were scattered, they possessed very little actual combat strength.
"Quickly, establish a defensive line!" Momonga ordered, forced to use the ships embedded in the ice as a temporary defensive position.
"Onigumo, what in the world happened? Why are the Rockefeller and Big Mom Pirates here?" Momonga demanded, striding over to the other Vice Admiral after giving his orders.
"I don't know. The Rockefeller Pirates appeared suddenly behind our attack force and caught us completely by surprise. We were routed before we could even react," Onigumo said, shaking his head. Heaven knew what had happened. One minute he was locked in a fierce battle with Cracker, and the next, the Rockefeller Pirates had stabbed them in the back, and the Marine lines instantly collapsed. He himself had only escaped when he saw the enemy about to surround him, taking advantage of a moment when Cracker was also stunned by the development.
"Regardless of what happened, take your officers and block the attack from the Rockefeller and Big Mom Pirates! Buy us time!" Momonga, as the acting commander, immediately ordered.
"Sir!" Onigumo acknowledged and went to carry out the command. The combined pirate force was drawing near.
Back on the Big Mom Pirates' original battlefield, Katakuri and Kizaru were still fighting within the awakened space of Katakuri's Devil Fruit. Katakuri's scarf was long gone, revealing his terrifying, fanged mouth. The sweat on his brow and the heaving of his chest showed that he was severely exhausted. Maintaining his awakened ability while simultaneously using Armament Haki and Observation Haki to see the future was increasing his energy consumption exponentially.
Outside this space, Esdeath stood before the wall made of mochi. The reason her strength had grown so much over the past three years was largely thanks to her battles with Katakuri. She was no stranger to this awakened space. She had tried to break through the barrier from the inside many times, but every attempt had ended in failure.
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