The pirates were being systematically dismantled.
For every top-tier fighter they had, the Marines had two.
The full force of Marine HQ was on the field: the original three Admirals, Akainu, Aokiji, and Kizaru; the new powerhouse duo, Fujitora and Ryokugyu; and the two living legends, Garp and Sengoku.
Each one was a monster who had now mastered the power of three Devil Fruits.
The sheer number of god-tier combatants on the Marines' side was overwhelming.
From the very start of the war, the pirate alliance had been on the defensive, unable to withstand the relentless, multi-front assault.
"That's enough!" Sengoku's voice boomed across the battlefield as he hung up a secure Den Den Mushi.
"Garp, a new order just came down from the Five Elders. They want this farce ended by sunset!"
A wide, vicious grin split Garp's face. "I was just thinking the same thing! Hey, Fujitora! Give me a hand over here! Let's put this red-haired punk down for good!"
"With pleasure," the blind swordsman replied with a calm smile. In an instant, he was beside Garp.
The power of his Gravity-Gravity Fruit and two other abilities flared to life.
A crushing gravitational field slammed down, pinning Shanks—in his fiery Vermilion Bird form—to the ground.
Seizing the opportunity, Garp shot forward, his fist crackling with power, and delivered a devastating blow straight to Shanks's face.
The Emperor was sent flying, crashing into the earth with enough force to shatter the ground for miles.
The surrounding pirates stared in horror, unable to believe what they were seeing.
"Face two Admiral-level opponents at once, and even an Emperor has no chance of winning," Sengoku stated calmly.
At the same time, he and Ryokugyu coordinated their attack, unleashing a storm of golden shockwaves and fast-growing vines that completely overwhelmed Whitebeard, trapping him in an airtight cage of destruction.
"It's time to uproot you pirates, once and for all!" Sengoku roared, his voice infused with Conqueror's Haki.
"GURARARARA! Come and try it if you can!" Whitebeard laughed defiantly, unleashing the full power of his three Devil Fruits as his Tremor-Tremor ability threatened to tear the world apart.
On another front, Admirals Akainu, Aokiji, and Kizaru had cornered Monkey D. Dragon and Benn Beckman.
The three-on-two battle was brutal.
After nearly thirty minutes of relentless fighting, Akainu found his opening.
His arm morphed into magma, and he launched a "Dark Hound" that tore through Beckman's side, critically wounding the Red-Hair Pirates' first mate and strategist.
As Beckman collapsed, clutching the gaping hole in his abdomen, Aokiji and Kizaru unleashed a combined attack that sent Dragon flying back, battered and broken.
The battle was turning into a slaughter.
Back on the main front, the flames around the crater where Shanks had fallen erupted.
He rose from the ashes, his body regenerating thanks to the awakening of his Mythical Zoan fruit.
If not for that incredible power of rebirth, the combined attack from Garp and Fujitora would have killed him instantly.
"Oh?" Garp raised an eyebrow, shaking out his fist.
"The Vermilion Bird Fruit has an ability like that? You're a lucky man, Shanks."
Shanks couldn't answer.
He had been killed, and even though he had revived, he was in a severely weakened state with no strength left to fight back.
Garp chuckled, his voice full of pity.
"It looks like the era of pirates is finally coming to an end. I never thought I'd see the day. But it's our mission to annihilate you here and now. Don't take it personally!"
With that, Garp launched himself forward, his iron fist aimed directly at the helpless Shanks's head.
A deafening crash echoed, making all the pirates cry out in despair.
Shanks staggered back, but to everyone's astonishment, he was unharmed.
The fatal blow hadn't landed.
It had been blocked.
Garp's pupils dilated as he stared at the figure who had appeared from nowhere to stop his attack.
Without a word, he threw another punch with all his might.
THUD!
The second punch was also blocked with ease.
Shanks, finally steadying himself, looked at the man who had just saved his life.
A look of pure, unadulterated shock spread across his face.
"Impossible… Rocks…! But you… the Captain and Garp killed you at God Valley!"
The newcomer had a wild mane of black hair and a rebellious smirk that radiated an arrogance that looked down on the entire world.
Standing beside him was the familiar, grim-faced figure of Golden Lion Shiki.
The moment the duo of Rocks D. Xebec and Shiki appeared on the battlefield, a wave of stunned silence washed over everyone, marine and pirate alike.
"Rocks… How are you alive?" Sengoku demanded, suppressing the shock in his voice to ask the question on everyone's mind.
Rocks didn't bother to answer.
He just shot Sengoku a provocative smile, then vanished, reappearing beside Garp.
He lashed out, his fingers crooked like claws, aiming for Garp's eyes.
Garp snarled, raising an arm to block the strike.
"Don't get cocky, Rocks!" Akainu sneered from across the battlefield.
"This isn't your era anymore!"
Rocks ignored him.
As he parried a blow from Garp, his other hand moved in a blur, jabbing a sleek, black syringe into Garp's neck and depressing the plunger.
Garp frowned, confused by the strange move.
At the exact same moment, Golden Lion Shiki laughed maniacally.
He placed his hands on the ground, and the entire island battlefield began to tremble and groan as it was lifted into the sky.
"Damn you, Golden Lion!" a Vice-Admiral roared. "Do you think we'll just let you do as you please?!"
Garp roared, trying to activate the power of his Mythical Zoan Fruit, the one that turned him into the impenetrable Black Tortoise.
Nothing happened.
A cold dread washed over him.
He tried again, reaching for the familiar, immense power within him.
It was gone.
The connection was severed.
"Impossible..." Garp muttered, a grim seriousness replacing the shock in his eyes.
"My Devil Fruit... it's been sealed!"
Losing his power at any other time would be an inconvenience.
But now, in a fight to the death where his Devil Fruit was the cornerstone of his strength, it was a catastrophe.
Before Garp could even process this new reality, Rocks's body exploded with a dark, terrifying aura as he activated the power of three Devil Fruits at once.
His fist, wreathed in this unholy energy, shot forward.
Normally, in a contest of pure physical strength, Garp's fist was the stuff of legends, easily a match for the likes of Rocks.
But this wasn't a fair fight.
Rocks was fully powered, and Garp was now just a man.
He gritted his teeth and threw a punch, a desperate act of defiance.
CRACK!
The sickening sound of shattering bone echoed across the battlefield.
Garp's body was launched backward like a cannonball, his legendary defenses crumbling as deep, bleeding gashes were torn across his chest.
"I told you," Rocks sneered, his face a mask of ultimate arrogance as he looked down at the fallen hero.
"I would be back!"
His wild, triumphant laughter echoed across the battlefield, a death knell for the age of the Marines.
Seeing the Marine Hero Garp, the man who had cornered the Pirate King, taken down with a single blow sent a shockwave of disbelief through the Marine ranks.
This couldn't be happening.
"Garp!" Sengoku screamed, his voice laced with panic.
"What happened to your powers?! How could you lose to him?!"
Garp, floating in the sea, dragged his broken body back to the surface, spitting a mouthful of blood.
"It's no use, Sengoku!" he yelled, his voice strained.
"Rocks... he has a way to neutralize Devil Fruits! You have to be careful!"
The words hit the charging Marines like a physical blow.
The invincible trump card that had defined the top tiers of their power was now their greatest weakness.
The mood on the battlefield shifted from victorious pursuit to grim uncertainty.
Rocks, basking in the terrified stares of his enemies, spread his arms wide.
"What 'Marines'?" he roared with contempt. "You have nothing! This ocean has always belonged to the pirates! Surrender now, and I might consider letting you live to see the dawn of my new era!"
The insult was too much for Akainu.
His infamous temper flared, and his body erupted into the form of an eight-headed hydra made of pure, seething magma.
He shot toward Rocks, a living volcano bent on annihilation.
"Sakazuki, isn't it?" Rocks said, a lazy, disdainful smile on his face as the eight magma heads closed in from all directions.
"When I was ruling these seas, you were still just a snot-nosed brat in a training uniform."
The taunt pushed Akainu over the edge.
He bellowed with rage, and the eight heads lunged, molten jaws snapping just inches from Rocks's face.
Yet, Rocks remained perfectly calm.
At the last possible second, he ducked under the attack and threw the second black syringe.
It flew through the maelstrom of magma and embedded itself in Akainu's shoulder.
"SAKAZUKI, GET BACK!" Garp screamed, ignoring the blinding pain in his own body.
"HE WILL SEALED YOUR POWER! YOU'RE NO MATCH FOR HIM!"
Akainu heard the warning, but it was too late.
He felt the connection to his powers sever, and a profound, bone-deep weakness washed over him.
Before he could even raise a hand to defend himself, Rocks's fist, shrouded in darkness, slammed into his chest.
The Admiral was sent flying thousands of meters, crashing into the sea with a plume of steam and spray.
He was out cold before he even hit the water.
Seeing two of the Marines' strongest taken out so effortlessly, even Golden Lion Shiki was stunned into silence.
Rocks noticed his ally's shock and grinned proudly.
"You're wondering how I had two doses of a potion that takes three days to create, aren't you?"
Shiki's scalp tingled.
Rocks wasn't just stronger than him; his cunning was on another level entirely.
"Devil Fruits are marvelous things, Shiki. I found a particularly interesting one... the Acceleration-Acceleration Fruit. Its power is simple: it can speed up the flow of time for any non-living object."
Rocks held up an empty container with a cruel smile playing on his lips.
"There are no useless powers, only useless men. See how wonderfully this little fruit works in my hands?"
He turned his gaze back to the horrified Marines, savoring their fear.
It was a feeling he had missed for a very long time.
After witnessing two of his strongest comrades fall, Sengoku, the man known as "The Resourceful General," knew the battle was lost.
The pirates they had just been dominating were already regrouping, inspired by the return of the Pirate Overlord.
He didn't know how many more of those Devil Fruit-killing syringes Rocks had, and he wasn't willing to risk another top-tier fighter to find out.
If they lost any more of their high-end combat power, it would be a complete massacre.
After a moment of grim calculation, the Fleet Admiral made the only call he could.
"ALL FORCES, RETREAT!" his voice boomed, heavy with the weight of defeat.
"FALL BACK! THAT'S AN ORDER!"