What does it feel like to have an island fall on your head?
To prepare for the White Wolf Pirates' assault, the Marines ran many scenarios, including one where the pirates rode an anglerfish up from the seafloor.
But with an anglerfish that size,
it shouldn't have been able to get anywhere near the docks at Akropolis Port.
It was simply too big.
No one expected this:
the anglerfish did surface several hundred meters off Akropolis, still a fair distance out.
But with Ripley's current strength, hurling a slab of rock tens of meters wide across a few hundred meters was nothing. By the time the Marines reacted,
the "rock" had swelled into an island over a kilometer across—
and the people on it had returned to normal size.
"Wahahaha, now that's a rush!"
"Brats, wipe the Marines out!"
"From today on, the whole world's gonna remember my name!"
...
Excited, arrogant, hateful—the pirates and Sphinx Guards on the falling isle felt everything but fear.
Most of the pirates had been recruited by Magnus with profit, but in this era only the reckless chose to be pirates anyway.
As for the Guards—former slaves—say no more. They had trained for one goal: to take revenge on the World Government.
The Marines stand for justice?
From the moment they were chained, and the Marines who should have protected them looked away, the Marines ceased to be guardian angels.
Now they fought for themselves.
"Kill!!!"
The sky-shaking roar split the air. From the moment the anglerfish appeared to Ripley's throw
barely thirty seconds had passed.
The Marines reacted fast.
Kong and Ortega, their apex fighters, were first on scene.
For ordinary soldiers a kilometer-wide island is vast, but to top fighters like these, it was not beyond being smashed in midair.
But compared to the falling island, something even thornier appeared.
"Haha, Harold—together!"
"Barahaha—shall we try that one?"
"Haha, of course!"
Above the plummeting isle, two figures flashed into view—one big, one small. Though their bodies were worlds apart in size, both radiated crushing, incomparable force.
There was no doubt. These were the White Wolf's two strongest:
Magnus and Harold.
Forty years ago, Harold had been a lawless destroyer—the source of half of Elbaf's infamy.
But on one voyage he fell for someone: the mother of the little giant who once fought Rocks—Helding's mother.
Under her influence, Harold changed, seeking peace and friendship.
Under his lead, Elbaf made peace with neighbors and gradually abandoned raiding.
But even if Harold wanted peace, the Celestial Dragons would not grant giants a chance to grow peacefully.
The battle four years ago shattered his vision of laying down arms to civilize the giants.
He realized this:
if giants wanted peace and civilization, they had to grow strong first—to gain the strength to protect themselves.
This world was not giants alone.
World Government or mighty pirates—without strength, you could not drive them out.
You could not protect your homeland.
Battle after battle, Elbaf had long since boarded the White Wolf's ship—literally and figuratively. And even knowing he'd boarded a pirate's vessel,
Harold had no regrets.
Without Magnus, Elbaf would have been annihilated four years past.
The World Government wanted giants as slaves?
Then watch closely—and see giant fury.
Midair, Harold's face turned feral.
Alone, he could unleash Elbaf's mightiest war art—many times.
But Hakoku was, from the start, a combined technique.
Two lesser giants together could fire that terrifying art—so what if two who could each unleash it alone combined?
Magnus and Harold spaced themselves.
Their sizes were nothing alike—
but when their motions aligned, a heavy, overbearing, steamrolling aura smothered all Akropolis Port.
"I—I can't move!"
"S-so scary!"
"What are they doing?!"
...
It wasn't even Conqueror's Haki—just raw pressure. Weaker Marines collapsed to their knees with a thud,
as if a prey animal meeting the apex of the food chain.
Even Kong and Ortega—apex themselves—felt their bodies lock as Magnus and Harold's attack coalesced.
Every muscle, every cell screamed:
Don't take it head-on.
Take it and die.
But if Magnus and Harold truly let this strike go,
the war would end before it began.
"What are you waiting for?"
A roar cracked by Kong and Ortega's ears.
"Stop it!"
Ardent's voice snapped them awake.
They had been cowed by Magnus and Harold's aura,
forgetting: one-on-one they were doomed. But they weren't alone.
"Move!"
Kong and Ortega shot skyward and struck together—joined by the newly appointed Admiral, Hines Oran. Though drafted by the Global Conscription and approaching sixty,
for fighters on this level
he was still in his prime.
"Starting with a spectacle like this—makes this old man second-guess coming."
"Too late for that talk now."
"You're only a few years older than me—don't act like a gramps!"
Kong and Ortega barked in unison.
"Steel Bone Smash!"
"Vacuum Burst!"
They unleashed their widest-area strikes.
"Endless Ice Prison!"
And behind them, Hines Oran layered a dome of ice thousands of meters across—a Logia of ice by fruit, recruited by the World Government's draft.
Three Admirals' blows, launched late, reached first—
as Magnus and Harold's attack finally fell.
"Hakoku no Haki!!!"
Under their surging might, the very air over Akropolis seemed vacuumed away. A titanic shockwave, wreathed in an endless gale, erupted—annihilating all in its path.
Boom!
The terrible wave slammed into Kong and Ortega's strikes first.
They were already a touch weaker than Magnus and Harold—and their techniques were not a fused ultimate.
So—
their attacks were crushed in an instant.
"Can't hold it!"
"Hold it or die trying!"
They roared. As their blows shredded, Hines Oran's ice dome shattered in a blink.
They wanted to counter—
but a released shock gives no second chance.
Gravity over Akropolis suddenly spiked severalfold.
Before the blow even landed, the island's ground began to split—as if the whole landmass sank several meters under the pressure.
But the Marines had one thing in abundance:
people.
This era's Marines had no supreme monsters,
but they still had several plain Admiral-class.
As Magnus and Harold's attack fired, Ardent and Portman both felt the danger. As overall commanders, if they moved first morale would dip—
but they had to stop it.
They weren't the only ones to see it.
CP and the God's Knights,
who enjoyed watching the Marines eat dirt in peacetime, would not trip them now.
Then everyone saw it:
two figures in CP's white suits launched straight into the heart of Magnus and Harold's blast.
"Don't take it head—"
Ardent recognized them at once: CP's Commander and top director—Stephens and Grindevin Hoin.
The former had been mauled by Magnus at Mary Geoise; the latter lost to the White Wolf's Rocks not long ago.
Master and disciple—beaten by the White Wolf's captain and crewmate.
But as CP's only two apex fighters,
defeat didn't mean the Government would discard them.
And now—
they had clearly gained something new.
"White Wolf Magnus—thanks to you, this old man has grown stronger!"
"White Wolf Magnus—I'll never forget the humiliation you gave me!"
Stephens and Grindevin poured out all their Haki, bracing themselves against the oncoming blast.
Their Armament flooded forward—none held back for defense.
Before the naked eye,
their bodies were collapsing—
and, at the same time, knitting back together with alarming speed.
Magnus and Harold's blow finally landed.
Stephens and Grindevin blocked most of it—but a strike so vast can never be wholly erased.
They held—and it was staggering.
But more staggering was this:
even held,
the shock still fell.
Buildings, hills, every fortification raised for this battle—wiped out by that one strike.
They had blunted the key edge, keeping Marine casualties to a minimum—
but seen from above,
Akropolis wore a giant, 人-shaped gash carved by Magnus and Harold.
Every barrier in the White Wolf's path—
swept clean.
At that moment, the island bearing tens of thousands of White Wolf troops
finally hit.
BOOOOOOOOM!!!
The kilometer-wide landmass bit down on Akropolis's southeast like a giant jaw, socketing into the island's rim.
All of this—
in under thirty seconds.
From the anglerfish's breach to now—
under a minute.
At the opening bell, Magnus and Harold had delivered a brutal warning.
Five apex fighters moved—
and still they couldn't fully stop the blow.
"Haha! Brats—go!!!"
Only when Magnus's mad laughter rolled over Akropolis did the Government's soldiers realize—
the war had begun.
All-out from the first breath, Magnus charged at the front.
"Dragon-Cull!"
Facing Stephens and Grindevin in his path, Magnus lifted his blade, Conqueror's Haki crackling along the edge.
"Haha—think 'immortality' lets you run wild? If those trash from the God's Knights are here, tell them to crawl out!"
Magnus was no longer the elder who had to go all in against a plain Admiral. Five years of growth had remade him, body and soul.
Two years ago at Mary Geoise he had fought two at once.
Two more years had passed.
No new "rewards"—but Magnus had fully adapted to his body and driven it to the limit.
With a single cut,
he forced Stephens and Grindevin back—
made them yield for the moment.
"Magnus—don't get cocky!"
"You stirred a war to shake the world—do you mean to destroy it?"
Kong and Ortega rushed in.
Apex foes from two to four—Magnus couldn't win alone even now.
But he was never alone.
"Gababababa! Hey, Marine punks—remember us?"
"Kyakyakyakya—your opponent is us!"
Dorry and Brogy, captains of the Giant Warrior Pirates, barred Kong's path. Harold planted himself before Ortega.
"Ganging up isn't a good habit!"
Hines Oran shifted—only to find a kimono-clad middle-aged swordsman, blade in hand, fixing him with a stare.
"We've no right to beg the White Wolf for restoration—so we'll prove our worth."
With Stussy's youth tonic and a Pure Gold ring, Takiichi Amatsuki could fight this whole war at his peak.
As Wano's last surviving great swordsman, youth restored—young man's body and Haki plus an elder's skill—
Takiichi stood as a peer to Kong and Hines Oran.
In an instant, the Government's five apex fighters were all tied down.
Newgate, without an opponent, clicked his tongue.
He'd heard Rocks had beaten Grindevin—meaning Admiral level—and he was itching to test himself against a top Marine to prove his fangs.
Too bad—no chance.
If Magnus heard him grumbling, he'd soothe him:
no rush.
The Marines still had a Fleet Admiral and a Chief of Staff in reserve—and the God's Knights would surely move.
There'd be chances enough.
Magnus also believed the Government would lose patience fast.
Because of the youth tonic,
even ancient monsters
had crawled out to fight for him.
"Bokakaka—never thought I'd get a war like this before keeling over. If I die here, I won't regret it."
"Zapapapa—don't jinx it! I'm living to hug my great-grandkids!"
"Great-great-great-grandkids, you mean!"
...
Two voices old in tone but oddly young in timbre rolled over the field as two giants strode in, drawing every eye.
"They're—"
Even Ardent's face changed at the sight.
These weren't men of this age.
They were the terror of two centuries ago—the former captains of the Giant Warrior Pirates—
and heroes of the giants:
Jorl—
and Jarul.
(End of Chapter)
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