Akainu was grinding his teeth to powder. Using the Marines' powerful intelligence network, he had learned of the hatred between Squard under Whitebeard and Roger.
So after the battle began, he found Squard and lied that Whitebeard had already struck a deal with the Marines to sacrifice everyone else to save Ace, provoking Squard to strike at Whitebeard.
Whitebeard would never guard against his own son, so he'd likely be hit; if not killed, he'd be wounded.
With the supreme commander injured, and with Squard spouting claims that Whitebeard would abandon the others, those pirates would surely waver—making them far easier to handle.
He hadn't counted on Stella cutting in midstream to stop Squard's stab at Whitebeard.
And Whitebeard shattered every doubt with nothing but a hug.
"As pirates, you decide for yourselves what to believe! If you're not afraid to die, charge with me!"
Whitebeard shouted, then lifted Murakumogiri and strode into the fray.
Whitebeard was angry—what enraged him most wasn't being schemed against, but the insult to the family he valued above all.
Now the Marines had to face the world's strongest man uninjured, and the fury of every pirate who regarded the Whitebeard Pirates as family.
Sengoku's face was grim. Moments ago he had ordered Marineford's outer encircling walls raised to pen in all pirates, but the laid trap showed no response.
On top of Squard being stopped, his plan had been chopped clean in half.
…
Inside Marineford, Ivankov tossed aside a Marine soldier. Behind him, mechanical structures lay blasted to fragments.
"That wraps up the favor Charles-boy asked of us. Darlings, we're pulling out!"
Who could possibly know Sengoku's plans in advance and ruin them one by one? Naturally, the transmigrant Charles.
When Ivankov learned Luffy was Dragon's son, and that both Charles and Luffy would join the Summit War, he proactively offered help.
Charles didn't have them join the front line, but sent them to sabotage the Marines' traps in the rear—and they did a superb job.
Bearing the reputation of a tactician, Sengoku combed through everything since the war began and naturally noticed that the turning point had started with one man's arrival.
So he looked not at the Whitebeard now showing his might, but toward another corner of the battlefield.
He had recognized Charles long ago, though he couldn't understand why Charles had appeared on the field and taken the pirates' side. More important now was that Charles had already caused considerable trouble.
A sea of fire raged outward and swallowed every cannon on the plaza; the greatest threat to Little Oars Jr. was wiped out in an instant. All from a single punch Charles threw.
On the field, under covering fire, Little Oars Jr. and Luffy drove like twin horns of a charging bull into the depths of the Marine lines.
Several Marine Vice Admirals had already moved to form a defense against the Straw Hats. What gave Sengoku a headache was Little Oars's axis.
The batteries destroyed, they could only rely on individual might—and that sector was supposed to be covered by the Warlords.
Among the Seven Warlords, Jinbe had jumped ship and was tying up Moria, Crocodile was locked in Impel Down, and Kuma was missing. Only Doflamingo, Dracule Mihawk, and the Pirate Empress Hancock remained.
But when would Warlords truly bleed for the Marines? The three weren't even bothering to hide their sandbagging.
Mihawk had only sent one slash at Whitebeard at the start, then kept watching. The Empress was worse—her attacks even splashed Marine soldiers.
By comparison, Doflamingo was the most "diligent," forcing many pirates to slaughter each other.
Even so, Little Oars Jr.'s path ran straight into their zone; however perfunctory they were, they couldn't just let him pass.
Mihawk finally moved, drawing the Supreme Grade blade on his back and sending a dark-green slash toward Little Oars Jr.
Struck by the world's greatest swordsman's slash, even Little Oars Jr.'s enormous body would be cut cleanly in two.
Charles had no intention of letting that happen. He flashed into the slash's path and drove a kick straight up.
Mihawk's slash was deflected aside, shearing the iceberg Kuzan had frozen into the sea clean in half.
With that dealt with, Charles landed, standing squarely before the three Warlords.
"The Marines don't even pay your salaries—what are you risking your lives for? Please, all of you, sit here quietly and watch!"
At his words, Boa Hancock stepped forward on her long legs. "Insolent cur, to dare command me!"
She shaped her hands into a heart, and a pink, heart-shaped energy wave radiated out.
"Mero Mero Mellow!"
Charles sprang back two steps to let the heart wave pass, silently cursing his oversight. He'd actually forgotten to send Luffy to Nine Snakes for special training, leaving him now to fight Hancock himself.
The Pirate Empress Hancock bore the title of the world's most beautiful woman—and was also the most willful by far, someone with whom normal conversation was all but impossible.
And this willful woman possessed real power.
Having eaten the Paramecia-typed Love-Love Fruit, Hancock's charm ignored age, sex, and even species, and those who fell for her were petrified.
With further development, she could actively petrify targets—even inanimate objects.
Rule-like powers like these are always the most troublesome. Charles could certainly find Hancock beautiful, and while he felt no infatuation, he couldn't be sure he wouldn't get tagged.
So although he knew his mana, like Armament Haki, could negate Devil Fruit abilities, the battlefield wasn't the place to test it.
He had barely set his feet when deep gashes scored the ground at his toes.
Charles thrust out a palm, caught the slicing threads in his grip, and tore them off in a single yank.
Before he could catch a breath, Mihawk already had both hands on the hilt of the black blade Yoru; a slash keener than the last came screaming in.
Charles breathed out a white plume. The Dragon and the Dragonslayer gauntlets covered his hands; he crossed them and caught the slash.
Sparks hissed as the slash skated over the gauntlet plates. Charles's voice was steady. "As expected, strength is the premise for negotiation. Then let me show you the power that will make you behave."
To tell three Warlords, to their faces, that he'd use force to keep them in line—anyone would call that arrogant.
Yet the three facing Charles were dead serious, because the aura erupting from him was profoundly threatening.
On the seas, those who are abnormally strong are called monsters. Never had the three of them grasped so clearly what "monster" meant as they did now.
At that moment, a fire dragon roared above the battlefield of the Summit War.
______
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