As Sengoku's words faded, an echo reverberated across the plaza.
Simultaneously, on the execution platform, a door appeared out of nowhere.
Under the countless watchful eyes of the world, a young man was personally escorted by Sengoku to the platform.
It was today's target for execcution: the Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, Fire Fist Ace.
Sengoku stood beside him, then coldly glanced at Ace and used his amplified voice to ask a question for the whole world to hear.
"Fire Fist Ace, I ask you, who is your father?"
Ace's face darkened as he gritted his teeth.
"Whitebeard!"
Countless people witnessing this scene felt nothing was amiss.
Whitebeard was affectionately called "Pops" by his crew, and he truly treated them like his own sons.
The answer wasn't surprising.
They assumed Sengoku's goal was simply to suppress the Emperor's influence.
However, Sengoku's reaction was unexpected.
His gaze as sharp as a knife, he sternly rebuked.
"Wrong!"
"No! I only have one father, and that's Whitebeard!" Ace roared, his eyes filled with fury.
"No!" Sengoku's voice boomed across the globe.
"Your biological father is the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger!"
As soon as these words were spoken, the entire world was thrown into an uproar.
....
"What?! Fire Fist Ace is the son of the Pirate King, Roger? That has to be a lie!"
"How is this possible! How could Whitebeard take in the son of his greatest rival?!"
"Hiss... So he's the descendant of that demon! He must die!"
"Roger started the Great Pirate Era and brought tragedy to the world! His son is a sinner too!"
Countless civilians were filled with righteous indignation, shouting with rage.
"Kill him! Kill him!"
The pirates watching, however, were greatly surprised.
"I never imagined Fire Fist Ace had such an identity!"
"No wonder he has such talent! That's the bloodline of the Pirate King!"
"I wonder if Whitebeard knows? He must be watching. Will he still come to save him?"
....
"Hmph! The son of the Pirate King!" Sengoku declared. "You should have never come into this world, yet you followed in your father's footsteps! I now declare: the son of Roger, Portgas D. Ace, will die here today, without a doubt! The execution will begin... immediately!"
But at that moment, an unexpected event began to unfold.
Beneath the sea surrounding Marineford, countless bubbles began to rise to the surface, as if something massive was about to burst out from below.
"Huh?!" Sengoku frowned.
All 100,000 Marine soldiers tensed, staring at the churning sea, ready to attack.
Whitebeard... are you here?
Glug glug glug...
The water bubbled frantically.
The Marines held their breath.
Everyone watching across the world leaned in closer.
Splash!
Amid sprays of water, a single ship surged up from the seafloor.
"It's not the Moby Dick!" Sengoku and the others realized.
It was the Thousand Sunny!
"What's going on?! It's just one ship!"
"It's the pirate ship of the Supernova, Straw Hat Luffy!"
"Why is Straw Hat Luffy here?!" everyone was shocked.
To appear here now... was he coming to die?
"LUFFYYY!"
The moment Ace saw the ship, his expression changed dramatically, his eyes filled with anxiety and shock.
In the Marine ranks, Garp's face also turned extremely unpleasant.
"Luffy..." He gritted his teeth, his entire body trembling as he clenched his fists.
Sengoku stared intently at the ship.
"Everyone on alert! Find the Whitebeard Pirates!"
As soon as those words fell, the sky above Marineford seemed to darken.
A distinctive laugh echoed from the sky.
"Gurararara... Sengoku, I've arrived!"
Countless people looked up in astonishment and were stunned by the sight.
A huge ship was floating in the air, and behind it were more than forty other diverse pirate ships, all flying flags of crews allied with Whitebeard.
They had come from the sky, blocking out the sun.
"We've found the Whitebeard Pirates! It's the Moby Dick!"
"All hands, on alert!"
At that moment, the entire Navy was on edge.
No one had expected them to appear from the sky.
"I see," Sengoku's eyes narrowed. "As the intelligence reported, Shiki the Golden Lion has joined them. With his power, controlling so many flying ships is not a difficult task."
BOOM! BOOM!
The pirate ships descended, landing in the waters of Marineford's bay.
The two massive forces finally faced each other.
"Gurararara... Sengoku, it's been decades!" Whitebeard's hearty laugh rang out as the world's strongest man stepped forward to the bow of his ship.
Behind him stood two Seraphim that looks likes his younger self.
"Whitebeard..." Sengoku's face darkened as he glanced at the Seraphim.
"I didn't expect you to have Seraphim of your own."
"Hmph," Sengoku snorted. "However, compared to our Marine Seraphim, your cheap knockoff is nothing! The power gap between them is enormous!"
"We'll see about that when we fight," Whitebeard said with a confident expression.
"If you don't want heavy casualties, hand over Ace!"
"Impossible," Sengoku replied coldly. "We plan on capturing all of you today!"
"Then let's see you try!"
The leaders of both sides faced off, sparks seeming to fly between them.
Garp, standing amongst the Marines, furrowed his brow.
Strange... why do I feel that Whitebeard's condition is much better than before?
"Jihahaha! Sengoku! Did you forget about me?" Shiki laughed, stepping forward with his own custom Seraphim, which emanated an aura several times stronger than a standard Admiral-class model.
Seeing the three powerful Seraphim on the pirate side, Sengoku was surprised.
But then he sneered.
A towering Seraphim appeared behind him, emanating a terrifying aura that dwarfed all others.
It was one of the Marines' trump cards: the Emperor class Seraphim, Imperial Angel.
"That's the Emperor Seraphim!" someone shouted. "The one with ultimate Emperor-level combat power! It fought Kaido and Big Mom at the same time and was only at a slight disadvantage!"
The appearance of the Emperor Seraphim made countless people cheer.
Based on the strength displayed, the Marines once again seemed to have a huge advantage.
Seeing this, Whitebeard didn't waste any more words.
He bent his body and positioned his hands in a strange posture.
The next moment, he slammed his fists into the empty air.
"Take this, Marines!"
CRACK!
As his fists connected with nothing, the very air seemed to fracture.
The sea below split open, raising two colossal tsunamis that swept towards Marine Headquarters, threatening to destroy the world.
The giant waves blocked out the sky.
But at that moment, Akainu stepped forward.
He mimicked Whitebeard's posture and threw a punch with both of his hands.
CRACK!
The same tremor force swept out, raising a huge tsunami of his own.
"The Tremor-Tremor Fruit! Admiral Akainu has Whitebeard's power!"
The whole world watched in shock as the two tsunamis collided.
For a moment they held, but then the wave raised by Akainu was shattered by Whitebeard's superior force, turning into an even larger, more terrifying tsunami that continued its path towards Marineford.
"Huh? How is this possible?!" Akainu's eyes widened in shock.
Why was his so much weaker?
Sengoku, Garp, and the others were equally puzzled.
But there was no time to think.
The surging tsunami was about to crush them.
Admiral Aokiji snorted coldly and leaped into the air.
"Ice Age!"
An incredible wave of cold air spread out from his body, instantly freezing the colossal tsunamis solid.
In a moment, the towering waves and much of the bay were turned into a massive battlefield of ice.
...
On their island, Big Mom and Kaido saw this, a hint of terror in their eyes.
Akainu and Aokiji, two dual Devil Fruit users...
The Marine's power was truly on another level.