A black steel-like fist and a massive blade enveloped in a faint white pressure sphere collided in an instant.
Krrrrunch!
Boom! Boom!! BOOM!!!
In that moment, the air fractured like shattered glass, forming countless spider-web cracks. Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of them appeared. A tremendous, deafening roar erupted, like rolling thunder shaking the heavens and the earth.
The surrounding ground convulsed violently, as if the land itself were splitting open. The entirety of Marineford shook, and even the adjacent sea area was torn into fragments.
A terrifying blast of air, comparable to a hurricane and mixed with dust, created an air wall dozens of meters high that swept across the entire Marineford Island.
Countless Marines and pirates were violently blown into the sky. A massive number of defensive structures were destroyed, residential areas were completely leveled—it was a devastating sweep. Even the Marine Headquarters fortress was overwhelmed, fracturing in countless places like a fragile porcelain doll.
"Th-the Marine Headquarters…"
Sengoku on the execution platform opened his mouth, staring in disbelief at the severely damaged Marine Headquarters fortress.
"Pops!"
"Aeridar!"
"M-Monsters!"
"Quick! Issue a Level 1 Tsunami Warning to all nearby islands!"
Almost everyone on Marineford was thrown into chaos: some worried, some terrified, some in disbelief, some utterly stunned. Their reactions were varied but intense.
"Whitebeard!"
"Golden Ring brat!"
Clang, clang, clang, clang...
Pum, pum, pum, pum...
With two roaring bellows, the two figures at the center of the air blast continued their fierce battle. Fist against blade, fist against fist. Rings of ripples, like those on a water surface, continuously appeared in the air.
Aeridar instantly flashed forward, appearing right in front of Whitebeard, and stabbed out with a "hand sword." Whitebeard reacted with extreme speed, twisting his body to evade the hand sword, an attack with formidable defense-piercing capabilities.
Immediately after, Whitebeard hammered a fist towards his opponent. The powerful Tremor ability caused the atmosphere to shatter, but Aeridar seemed to anticipate the move, disappearing from the spot ahead of time and successfully avoiding the Tremor attack from a distance.
"Impact Cannon!"
Aeridar reappeared dozens of meters away, throwing a punch in mid-air. A horrific shockwave erupted, solidifying the air into a high-density, compressed white air column, several meters in diameter, which rapidly extended outwards.
"Hah!"
Whitebeard bellowed, a Tremor-Tremor Fruit generated pressure sphere appearing on his fist. He punched the air, cracking it. The immense Tremor power split the ground beneath them, sending up rolling columns of dust and steam.
Boom!
A huge explosion sounded. The resulting air blast lifted countless plumes of dust and hundreds of elite Marines.
"Damn it! This island won't be able to handle this!" Sakazuki, amidst the hurricane-like air blast and flying sand, struggled to open his eyes, but he could still feel the ferocity of the two fighters.
Whitebeard was, of course, the World's Strongest Man, possessing boundless destructive power. But Aeridar the Golden Ring possessed nearly the same level of power. Coupled with the agility of his teleportation and high-speed flight, neither side could easily gain the upper hand.
If the fight continued like this, it wouldn't be long before the collapse of the Marine Headquarters fortress would be the least of their worries; Marineford itself might sink into the seabed.
"Bastards!"
Sakazuki gritted his teeth, melted the upper half of his body into magma, and the surrounding temperature instantly soared as he charged toward Whitebeard.
At this moment, the main forces of the Whitebeard Pirates and the pirates from the New World were covering Luffy. Most of the Marine Vice Admirals were being held up by notorious great pirates like Squard, A.O, and Epoida. They were frantically pushing towards the execution platform, clearing a path for the advancing Luffy.
On the port's embankment, a man with orange hair on the left, white hair on the right, wearing a fur coat and 3D glasses, was squatting next to the lying Ivankov.
It was Emporio Ivankov, the Revolutionary Army executive, and the South Blue Revolutionary Inazuma.
"Good thing I wore heavy makeup, or I'd be dead!" Ivankov took a mask-like object off his face, which was still smeared with blood.
"Honestly, I never expected Whitebeard to bet everything on him," Inazuma held a stemmed glass of red wine, gazing at Luffy from a distance.
"But now it's our turn to enter the stage. I'm sorry to ask you to exert yourself while you're still injured. But the Straw Hat Boy needs your strength right now!" Ivankov shook his head, slightly breathless.
"It's a small matter, Ivan. Don't worry."
Inazuma stood up, glanced at Ivankov, and said, "Take care of yourself with those serious injuries. I'm off!"
With that, Inazuma quickly left.
"Dragon, don't worry, I won't let anything happen to your son!" Ivankov gritted his teeth, leaning on the embankment to stand up.
Before long, Inazuma, using the power of the Snip-Snip Fruit, cut the ground, forming a narrow, long stone bridge, which he then flipped up to connect to the execution platform.
"Stop the Straw Hat Boy!"
"Don't let the Straw Hat Boy through!"
Large numbers of Marines broke through the New World pirates' defense line, only to be blocked again by the Whitebeard Pirates' Division Commanders.
However, a few Marines managed to block the path directly in front of the stone bridge.
"Gomu Gomu no Battle-Axe!!!"
Luffy flipped over, instantly stretching his right leg high into the sky, and then swung it down with full force.
Rumble!
Several Marines were immediately slammed into the ground.
"Luffy, charge!" Inazuma stood in front of the stone bridge, his hands transformed into scissors crossed over his chest.
"Thanks!"
Luffy thanked him and immediately stepped onto the stone bridge, sprinting toward the execution platform.
"Don't let the Straw Hat Boy go up!"
Another group of Marines rushed in, all armed with guns and swords.
"Death Wink!!!"
Suddenly, an explosive blast of wind swept through.
Boom!
It instantly blasted a dozen elite Marines away.
"You won't get past here! Hee-haw!" Ivankov stood in front of the stone bridge, blocking the crowd of Marines. "Go on! Go, Straw Hat Boy!"
"The Straw Hat Boy is going up!"
"Alright! Charge!"
"Pull the Straw Hat Boy down!"
"Go! Straw Hat Boy! Save Ace!"
Both Marines and pirates were emotionally charged, and the fighting between them intensified even further.
"Heh~ That Ivankov, he can still move. I underestimated him!" Aeridar, who had been pushed back by Whitebeard's punch, heard the commotion and couldn't help but look back.
"To stake everything on a brat like that, Whitebeard…" Borsalino looked up, slightly annoyed. "But I won't let him get up there!"
The moment he finished speaking, he flashed with light, transforming into countless light particles and flying outward.
Rumble!
Suddenly, a massive naginata imbued with powerful Tremor energy struck instantly, cleanly bisecting Borsalino at the waist.
His movement interrupted, Borsalino stumbled, actually rolling once on the ground.
"Whitebeard!"
Though he was unharmed, Borsalino's expression was displeased.
"You just watch quietly!" Whitebeard grinned.
"Hey, Whitebeard, underestimating me comes with a price, you know!" Aeridar appeared out of thin air directly above Whitebeard's head.
Whoosh!
A whip-like leg, transforming into a black shadow, swept horizontally toward Whitebeard's head, emitting a powerful gust of wind that tore through the air.
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