"Aokiji's Ice-Ice Fruit is truly terrifying on the open sea," Bege remarked, his expression serious as he looked down at the frozen ocean surface. "Freezing such a large area must have taken a toll on him. I wonder how much power he'll have left for the battle to come."
Just then, a young man leaped down from the Big Mom Pirates' ship. He was tall and powerfully built, with a striking three-pronged hairstyle of fiery golden-orange. He was shirtless, wearing only a cape, and had gloves on his hands. Landing on the ice, he removed the gloves, and his hands immediately began to glow red, becoming scorching hot.
"Hehehe, you can freeze the sea, but I can melt your ice," he declared. He pressed his hands against the surface, and the intense heat rapidly melted the ice layer. The heat surged forward from his palms, and the ice in front of him quickly turned back into seawater, which was heated to a rolling boil.
This was one of Big Mom's sons, Charlotte Oven, user of the Heat-Heat Fruit. To a certain extent, his Devil Fruit ability was a natural counter to ice-based powers.
With a roar, Oven unleashed the full extent of his ability. Searing heat frantically melted the frozen sea, intent on undoing the entire ice field.
"Kizaru, Akainu, it's your turn," Aokiji said, frowning as he glanced at Oven. He turned to look back at Kizaru and Akainu, who had already arrived behind him.
Black smoke billowed from Akainu's body, half of which had already turned to magma. The bandages he wore were incinerated to ash. His face was devoid of expression, but his eyes burned with an endless, terrifying killing intent.
"Let all this trash burn to cinders under my fists," Akainu roared. He slammed his fists toward the sky, and countless giant magma fists shot into the air before arcing down like a parabola, crashing toward the pirate ships ahead.
"Great Eruption!"
The innumerable magma fists fell like a meteor shower, a cataclysmic event. The sky turned red, and most of the pirates looked up with expressions of pure terror. "Great Eruption" was Akainu's most powerful wide-range attack. By unleashing his strongest move right at the start, he intended to annihilate a portion of the pirate forces before the battle truly began.
He wasn't the only one. Kizaru also leaped into the air, kicking off the sky to ascend high above the battlefield. From his hands, he fired a barrage of countless light particles. He, too, had unleashed his most powerful area-of-effect attack.
This was the Marines' strategy: to use the immense destructive power of the Logia-type Devil Fruits to destroy a portion of the pirates first.
"Hoh hoh hoh, the combined attack of the three Marine Admirals is truly something else," Bege said, watching the magma fists and light beams rain down from the sky. He turned to his men with a smile. "But we can't just let them have their way."
"Understood, Godfather," Enel replied, eager to act. He spun his golden staff, pointed it to the sky, and a bolt of lightning shot up, blasting a magma fist apart. The scattered magma still rained down.
Modi watched the searing magma fall, drew his sword, and with a single slash, unleashed a gale of wind that swept the molten rock away.
Wiper threw a punch, and countless bolts of lightning shot forth, colliding with and destroying all the light beams.
On the Whitebeard Pirates' ship, Whitebeard himself stood at the prow, holding his bisento, completely unfazed by the falling magma and light. His commanders, Marco and the others, instantly moved to intercept the attacks.
On the ships of the Beasts Pirates and the Big Mom Pirates, the Yonko Kaido and Big Mom also remained motionless. Their crew members dealt with the incoming attacks, and their fleets suffered no damage.
The other pirate ships were not so lucky. Even the first-rate pirate crews saw their ships take damage, and the weaker crews fared even worse. One after another, pirate ships were blown apart by the magma fists, their crews incinerated into charcoal, some leaving not even bones behind. The splashing magma also burned many pirates. The countless beams of light pierced through ships and sailors alike.
In an instant, nearly half of the massive pirate alliance fleet was destroyed by the cataclysmic attack, and an unknown number of pirates perished.
At the same time, five figures shot out from the pirate ships. Two of them were the fastest, moving as streaks of crackling lightning. The two bolts of lightning pierced through the void, heading straight for Kizaru.
"Thunder God... Thunder Beast," Kizaru's expression changed abruptly when he saw the two lightning streaks. He stopped his attack and fired off a series of light beams that struck the bolts.
The lightning was pierced, revealing Enel and Wiper. The wounds on their bodies healed instantly.
"Kizaru, today I'm gonna take your damn life!" Enel declared, hoisting his golden staff onto his shoulder, his posture supremely arrogant.
Kizaru's mouth twitched, and a strong killing intent flashed in his eyes. He transformed into a beam of golden light and shot toward Enel.
"Enel, be careful," Wiper said in a low voice, his body erupting with lightning, his expression grave.
"Don't worry. Even if we can't kill him together, we can at least fight him to a draw," Enel laughed. He knew, of course, that the two of them together couldn't possibly kill Kizaru; he was just talking big.
In an instant, the two transformed into lightning and collided with the golden light. Flashes of gold and thunder entwined and clashed in the sky.
A streak of blue flame arrived at the battlefield next. It was Marco, heading straight for Aokiji.
A flaming dragon shadow was even faster than him. It was King, who had transformed into his Pteranodon form, and he had already engaged Akainu.
The last to arrive was Katakuri. He stood on the ice, looking at the opponents who had already been claimed, his face quite grim.
"Garp, come out and fight me!" Suddenly, a powerful, thunderous voice boomed across the frozen battlefield. A terrifying, ferocious aura swept over the area. It was Whitebeard, issuing a challenge.
Simultaneously, an equally powerful aura erupted from the Marine side, clashing with Whitebeard's. A figure shot through the air to meet him.
"Gurararara!" Whitebeard leaped up, piercing the void to collide with the figure. With a tremendous boom, a circular shockwave expanded in all directions, devastatingly powerful.
The two figures then landed on the ice.
Whitebeard and Garp faced each other from a distance. The force of their auras clashing caused the ice beneath them to crackle and shatter.
"Our last fight wasn't satisfying enough. Let's continue it today," Whitebeard said, stomping the butt of his bisento on the ground. The ice shattered rapidly as he stared intently at Garp.
"Fine. You're not leaving today. I'm going to personally send you to Impel Down," Garp replied, his face grim. His body seemed to grow even more muscular, and his iron fists quickly turned black with Armament Haki, radiating terrifying power.
"Gurararara! Don't be so arrogant, Garp!" Whitebeard laughed wildly. He kicked the handle of his bisento, instantly raising the massive blade and swinging it at Garp.
Garp immediately met the blade with a punch, and another terrifying shockwave swept out, sending countless cracks spiderwebbing across the ice.
Just then, a colossal figure fell from the sky, smashing a huge crater into the ice.
It was Kaido. He looked at the ice beneath his feet, stomped it a few times, and found it to be surprisingly solid. A grin spread across his face. "That Aokiji brat made a pretty good battlefield, didn't he?"
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