While Marco intercepted the Seraphim's attack, Whitebeard seized the critical opening.
He threw another punch, and a wave of pure vibrational force shattered the very air, racing toward the five machines.
They scattered in five different directions, easily dodging the devastating attack.
Just as Whitebeard was about to use the momentary chaos to make his escape, a red and gold figure appeared, blocking his path.
"Kizaru... so you've come for me," Whitebeard growled, his expression grim.
"Does this mean Bullet and Redfield have already fallen?"
"Of course," Kizaru replied, a flash of pride in his voice.
"Those two bastards are already on their way to Impel Down. Now, it's your turn, Whitebeard. And after you, it's Shanks."
The old Emperor's expression didn't change.
"Heh. If you have the ability, then come and take my head!"
He charged, swinging his massive bisento.
Kizaru crossed his arms, and a powerful azure laser shot forward to meet the pure white shockwave. The two terrifying energies collided in a blinding explosion.
But Whitebeard's face was grim.
He could feel it.
Kizaru's strength was on another level now.
With that strange armor, he could go toe-to-toe with an Emperor who had mastered three Devil Fruits and not lose ground.
It wasn't just Kizaru.
Across the battlefield, the five Seraphim were relentlessly besieging Shanks.
Even for an Emperor of his caliber, fighting a five-on-one battle against these indestructible machines was proving to be an impossible task.
He was gradually being overwhelmed.
Under the crushing pressure of the Marines' new technology, the pirate legends were finally beginning to break.
While desperately fending off Kizaru's attacks, Whitebeard kept trying to break through the line, but Kizaru saw through every move.
"Stop dreaming, Whitebeard. You're surrounded," Kizaru sneered, his armored fists falling like meteors.
"I know you're waiting for reinforcements, but they're never coming."
Whitebeard's brows furrowed, his breathing becoming heavy and ragged.
"Kizaru, what is it you want?! Do you really think you've won?!"
After fighting for so long, his legendary stamina was finally reaching its limit.
He knew that if this continued, he would collapse from sheer exhaustion.
Kizaru's mouth curled into a cold smile.
At that moment, the five Seraphim above broke off their attack on Shanks and dived, unleashing five golden laser beams from five different directions.
Shanks raised his sword, desperately trying to block the combined assault.
The instant the beams touched his blade, they exploded.
The sheer force of the blast sent the Red-Haired Emperor cartwheeling through the air, defeated.
"Hahaha, Whitebeard!" Kizaru laughed. "What can you possibly do now? Even Shanks couldn't stand up to the Seraphim! His defeat was only a matter of time!"
He fired another tyrannical laser straight at the exhausted Whitebeard's face.
The old man raised his blade to block, but at that exact moment, a strange, powerful energy fluctuation washed over the entire battlefield.
A single, colossal missile, far larger and more menacing than the three before it, materialized in the sky above them.
It was wreathed in an energy that made the very air hum with dread as it began its terrifying descent.
Its speed was unbelievable.
Whitebeard's eyes narrowed.
The power contained within that warhead was in a completely different league from the nuclear the Marines had used before.
It was an apocalyptic power.
But his focus was on Shanks's safety.
He didn't have time to worry about anything else.
"EVERYONE, RETREAT!" Whitebeard roared, his voice echoing with desperate urgency.
"THE POWER IN THAT MISSILE IS TOO GREAT! WE CAN'T SURVIVE IT!"
His warning sent a fresh wave of panic through the pirate ranks.
Anyone with even a shred of observational Haki could feel the soul-crushing energy contained in that single warhead.
Douglas Bullet, dragging his tired body, looked up in horror.
As the only person to have survived a nuclear attack and lived, he felt the terror of that missile more keenly than anyone.
He could clearly judge that the energy radiating from this single missile was greater than the last three combined.
"Damn it!" he cursed, his voice trembling. "Who launched that?! Are they trying to destroy the entire Red Line?!"
He didn't wait for an answer.
He turned and fled.
The Marines were in a similar state of panic.
They had no idea who had launched the weapon, but no one was foolish enough to stick around and find out.
The missile that had just appeared on the battlefield had completely reversed the situation once again.
The battle was over.
Now, there was only a frantic, desperate scramble for survival as both armies fled from a common, world-ending doom.
Any sane person could see the truth.
Staying on the battlefield meant certain death, not by the enemy, but by the apocalyptic weapon hanging over their heads.
For both pirate and Marine, there was only one choice left: run.
Kizaru, now the acting field commander, fell silent for a moment.
The lives of every Marine on this island rested on his next decision.
He could press the attack, using this chaos to try and annihilate the fleeing pirates, and in doing so, condemn his own forces to be vaporized by the missile.
Or, he could order a full retreat, saving his men but letting the enemy escape to fight another day.
He had seconds to decide.
The weight of the choice, of a path that would lead to victory at an unthinkable price or survival at the cost of letting justice go unserved, was crushing.
He froze, lost in a deep confusion he had never felt before.
"Brother, trust your inner choice!"
The familiar voice of his younger brother, Leon, crackled through his headset, cutting through the noise and doubt.
Kizaru closed his eyes for a fraction of a second, and when he opened them, his gaze was clear.
"ALL FORCES, RETREAT!" he roared. "DISENGAGE AND EVACUATE! NOW!"
His voice echoed across the battlefield, and the remaining Marines turned and fled, not knowing where they could possibly go to escape the blast, but knowing that standing still was a death sentence.
....
In his laboratory, Leon rubbed his temples, a wave of sheer exhaustion washing over him.
For three days, he had pushed his mind and body to their absolute limits, surviving on adrenaline and sheer willpower.
In that short time, he had reverse-engineered and mass-produced the Devil Fruit nullifier, constructed five new Adamantium Seraphim, and built the masterpiece of mobile warfare his brother now wore.
He hadn't dared to rest, terrified that if he closed his eyes for even a moment, he would wake up to find that the world he was trying to save had already been destroyed.
He was the world's greatest scientist, but beneath the genius, he was still just a child, and the weight of it all was threatening to crush him.
He stumbled, catching himself on a console, his body completely drained.
He looked up at the main screen, which showed a satellite view of the descending missile.
He had to see it.
He had to witness the true power of the weapon that had just appeared in his world.
BOOM...
The explosion was silent at first on the screen, a brilliant flash of light that turned the entire Red Line white.
Then the shockwave hit, and a huge crack, thousands of meters long, tore the holy continent in two.
But it wasn't over.
After a moment of dreadful silence, the core of the missile detonated in a second, even more terrifying blast.
The explosion expanded for hundreds of kilometers, a raging, all-consuming inferno that engulfed the entire region in fire.
.....
On the far edge of the blast radius, a figure with loose black hair threw his head back and laughed.
"AHAHAHAHA! IS THAT ALL YOU'VE GOT, MARINES?!" Rocks cackled, his voice hysterical.
"I didn't expect you to hand me such a devastating victory!"
He had suffered at their hands, had been brought to the brink of death.
But he had survived.
And as long as he lived, he would never forget this humiliation.
He would return one day and burn their world to ashes.
Just then, an illusory, shimmering figure materialized behind him.
"Well," a completely neutral, electronic voice buzzed in his ear.
"How was the missile's performance data?"
The moment he heard the voice, Rocks's manic energy vanished.
He ignored the profound weakness still lingering in his body, spun around, and knelt respectfully on one knee.
"My Lord," he said with absolute faithfulness.
"Your plan was perfect. I believe I understand what must be done now."
The figure produced a small, silver sphere from within its shimmering form.
The moment Rocks saw it, his eyes lit up with a feverish excitement.
The figure tossed the ball forward.
It didn't land; it simply floated in front of Rocks and then exploded in a dazzling, silent flash of light.
The light engulfed Rocks's body, and for a moment, he vanished within it.
When the light receded, he was still there, unharmed.
He slowly opened his eyes, and they were glowing with a familiar, dark power.
He felt the connection to his Devil Fruits, severed just an hour ago, flood back into him, stronger than ever before.
An ecstatic, unconcealable joy spread across his face.
"My Lord," he said, his voice trembling with renewed power. "I succeeded!"