Five Adamantium Seraphim, moving as one, streaked in from five different directions, their movements become a blur of impossible speed.
They formed a perfect cage around the Golden Lion.
Even for a legend like Shiki, the situation was hopeless.
In a fair one-on-one duel, he wasn't sure he could beat a single one of these monsters.
Now, that bastard Kizaru had ordered five of them to execute him at once.
Before he could even react, a furious roar echoed from the side.
"KIZARU! DO YOU THINK WE'RE JUST GOING TO STAND HERE AND WATCH?!"
It was Big Mom.
She charged forward, her massive Homie Zeus crackling with black lightning.
In the hands of the Pirate Queen, a terrifying storm of thunder and flame began to gather, ready to wipe out everything in its path.
Kizaru turned to face her, his expression indifferent.
"This is Mariejois," he said, his voice cold. "The sacred ground of the Marines. Who gave you permission to cause trouble here?"
"You've gotten arrogant, Kizaru!" Big Mom's face was a thunderous scowl. "Have you already forgotten how we had you beaten just an hour ago?!"
Kizaru's eyes flickered, and then a lazy smile spread across his face.
"Things are different now, Big Mom. We're the ones with the upper hand. If you continue to cling to your delusions of grandeur, I'll have no choice but to bury you here."
His condescending tone infuriated her.
She raised her Homie sword, Napoleon, and charged.
The two figures became a blur, every one of Big Mom's strikes filled with vicious, world-ending power.
But Kizaru, even without his light-speed, moved with an effortless grace inside his armored suit, easily dodging and parrying every attack.
"Hah, like I said," Kizaru's voice echoed, "you're no longer in our league."
With a final, enraged scream, Big Mom put all her power into one last swing.
Kizaru's figure vanished, leaving only an afterimage.
He reappeared a short distance away, a long spear made of pure, condensed laser light now held in his hand. He hurled it.
Big Mom simply grinned and commanded her fire Homie, Prometheus, to intercept.
The sun-like entity swallowed the laser spear whole.
"Mamamama!" she gloated, a triumphant look on her fat face. "If that's all you've got, you can't stop us!"
But the next moment, her eyes went wide.
A hazy, dark green mist was spreading out from where the spear had been absorbed.
"Checkmate, Big Mom," Kizaru said calmly, snapping his fingers.
"All that power, and not a single brain cell to go with it."
...
On another part of the battlefield, the four other Admirals—Akainu, Aokiji, Ryokugyu, and Fujitora, their wounds healed by Leon's recovery potions—had cornered the powerless Kaido.
Though they no longer had their Devil Fruits, their mastery of Haki and combat was more than enough to overwhelm the nerfed Emperor.
"ROAR!"
Kaido roared in frustration, trying to suppress the waves of weakness washing over him.
But without his Mythical Zoan durability and recovery, he was just a large target.
The four Admirals moved in perfect sync, their combined attacks battering him from all sides.
Soon, blood was pouring from the corner of his mouth.
He looked toward the depths of Mariejois, his eyes filled with a deep, unwilling hatred.
He never imagined he would be pushed to this point.
It was a humiliation beyond words.
He was now experiencing the same helpless, crushing defeat that Akainu and Sengoku had felt just a short time ago.
The feeling of being completely overpowered was something he couldn't accept.
As his heart filled with rage, a huge figure fell from the sky, crashing into the ground beside him with a tremendous thud.
It was Big Mom.
She lay there, stunned and weak, as the soul-power flowed out of her Homies.
Napoleon, her talking sword, clattered to the ground, once again just an ordinary blade.
Seeing Big Mom, another Emperor, in the same powerless state, a grim realization dawned on Kaido.
The winning percentage they'd had before wasn't just gone.
It had been a complete illusion.
This wasn't a fight.
It was an execution.
The Marines hadn't just matched their technology; they had surpassed it in every conceivable way.
Their decline wasn't just starting; it was already complete.
....
Back in the sky, the five Seraphim had systematically bombarded and exhausted the Golden Lion.
His seawater barrier sputtered and died. In that instant of vulnerability, Kizaru's armored form streaked past.
His palm pressed against Shiki's arm.
A flash of green light, and another legend of the sea, his Float-Float powers gone, fell from the sky with a face full of resentment.
The pirates watched in horror as their leaders fell, one after another.
Rocks. Kaido. Big Mom. The Golden Lion.
All of them, neutralized.
The situation was no longer just severe.
It was a catastrophe.
Whitebeard and Shanks exchanged a grim look.
The battle was lost.
The pirates were on the verge of being annihilated.
The Marines had matched their ultimate weapon, the ability to nullify Devil Fruits.
But the pirates had no answer for the Marines' superior technology.
Five indestructible Seraphim, an armored Admiral moving faster than light itself... the tables had not just been turned; they had been smashed to pieces.
They were now completely outmatched.
The only sane choice left was to run.
To abandon this disastrous alliance and flee before they were all captured or killed.
But as they moved to signal the retreat, their flagship was rocked by a series of powerful explosions.
Five streaks of light descended from the heavens, landing between them and their only escape route. The Seraphim.
"Damn them," Whitebeard growled. "It seems the Marines aren't just aiming for a victory. They want to wipe us out completely."
"Then we'll have to force our way through," Shanks said, his eyes cold and hard.
"Our only advantage now is our numbers. We can still overwhelm them, but we cannot afford to lose another captain to Kizaru's weapon."
Whitebeard nodded, gripping his massive bisento. "We have no other choice. It's an all-out war for survival."
A cold killing intent flashed in Shanks's eyes. "Whitebeard, I will draw the Seraphim's attention. Use that opening to punch a hole in their blockade. Get everyone out."
"Don't be reckless, Red-Hair," Whitebeard warned.
"Don't worry," Shanks replied with a confident smile. "I can handle it."
He turned and transformed into a colossal Vermilion Bird and shot into the sky to meet the five machines.
A swirling, chaotic dogfight erupted, a maelstrom of fire, lasers, and Adamantium.
Shanks was a blur of motion, desperately holding the attention of all five Seraphim.
Seizing his chance, Whitebeard took a deep breath and reared back his fist.
A brilliant, crackling sphere of white light formed around it.
"Don't think you can cage us that easily!" he roared.
He threw the punch.
The shockwave, a visible distortion of reality powerful enough to shatter the very foundations of the world, slammed into the Marine blockade.
The entire Red Line shuddered violently.
The defensive line of warships vanished, not just broken, but utterly annihilated, as if they had been struck by a meteor.
The terrifying force of the attack swept across the battlefield, stunning the Marine Vice Admirals who were coordinating the defense.
They had never witnessed such raw, overwhelming destructive power.
But the Seraphim were not so easily stunned.
Recognizing Whitebeard as the greater threat, they instantly broke off their attack on Shanks.
With a slight shimmer, they repelled the fiery phoenix and then dive-bombed toward Whitebeard in perfect formation.
"Damn it!" Whitebeard cursed under his breath. He was now their primary target.
He continued to pummel the shattered remains of the blockade with aftershocks, desperately trying to widen the escape route for his allies.
"Pops, look out!"
A frantic voice screamed in his ear.
He looked up just in time to see five golden beams of light converging on him from above.
"Damn... they're too fast!" he muttered, bracing for the impact.
But at the last possible second, a blur of blue flame shot in front of him.
Marco the Phoenix materialized, spreading his azure wings to shield his captain.
The five laser beams slammed into him.
The sheer impact force, even against his mythical regenerative abilities, was too much.
The lasers tore through his body, and he was sent crashing to the ground with a cry of pain.
He reverted to his human form, wiping a trickle of blood from his mouth as he struggled to his feet.
"These things..." he gasped, staring up at the five hovering machines.
"Their power... it's on a completely different level from the old models."