A cataclysmic roar tore through the heavens.
From Sakazuki's body, endless magma erupted, swallowing the battlefield. The ground shuddered like it might split apart. In the blink of an eye, seething magma surged over everything, transforming the world into a hellish inferno.
Everywhere you looked—just magma, boiling and unstoppable.
Whitebeard's "sons" were the first to be caught in the onslaught. The violent blast and molten tide consumed them in an instant, snuffing out their lives before they could even scream.
Only a single blue flame bird still struggled amidst the chaos.
But Sakazuki had no time to finish the job—Whitebeard's counterattack was already upon him.
BZZZZT—! CRACK—!
The world trembled. The very air shattered with a sound like the sky breaking apart. From the ruined earth, shockwaves exploded upward, launching magma dozens of meters high and clearing the scorched ground in an instant.
The blue flame bird—Marco—broke free, but the rest of the pirates lay motionless, bodies charred and still.
Whitebeard's Conqueror's Haki erupted, thick with murderous rage.
"Magma brat!!!"
His naginata crackled with Conqueror's Haki as he glared at the reconstituting Sakazuki. With a thunderous stomp, Whitebeard shot forward—faster than wind, faster than lightning—bringing his blade down in a killing arc.
Sakazuki met his charge head-on. Both fists clenched, he drew them apart, and a magma greatsword—over three meters long—formed in his grip. Instantly, it hardened, sheathed in Armament Haki and wreathed in Conqueror's Haki.
He swung to meet Whitebeard's naginata.
CLANG!
Steel and magma collided, the ground behind both men fracturing and buckling under the force.
Their Conqueror's Haki clashed—black and violet lightning crackled outwards, tearing into the earth and nearby ruins, blasting open craters wherever it struck. Everything caught in the crossfire was obliterated.
Locked in a deadly struggle, both men's faces twisted with fury, eyes burning with an endless will to kill. Muscles bulged and veins writhed beneath their skin like coiled serpents.
Sakazuki began to falter, slowly being forced back. But then the magma within him surged, and he pressed forward, matching Whitebeard blow for blow.
Whitebeard's arms swelled with even greater power, muscles ballooning as he bore down on Sakazuki.
At the point where blade met blade, blinding white light erupted—so bright it filled their vision, growing more intense with every heartbeat. In that endless brilliance, even their murderous glares faded, swallowed by the radiance.
Until at last, they could see nothing but light.
BOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!!
An explosion shook the world.
A mushroom cloud, a thousand meters high, rose into the sky. Scorching shockwaves swept across the island, splitting it apart in a heartbeat. The thick clouds above were torn in two, the rift stretching to the horizon.
Far above, Marco—transformed into a blue-flamed phoenix—hovered anxiously, eyes fixed on the blast's epicenter.
"Pops!!!"
Elsewhere, Sengoku, supporting the wounded Quell, narrowed his eyes.
In a flash, he transformed into a towering golden Buddha, shockwave orbs forming in his massive hands. With a mighty punch, he hurled a blast at the airborne Marco—the shockwave ballooned as it flew, growing into a titanic sphere dozens of meters wide, hurtling toward the phoenix.
Marco's instincts screamed danger. He turned, pupils contracting.
"What the—?!"
The shockwave filled his vision, unstoppable.
Locked on by Sengoku's Conqueror's Haki, Marco's body seized up, a primal sense of death flooding his mind.
CRACK!
From the heart of the explosion, a semi-transparent white shockwave ring—tiny compared to the oncoming blast—shot out and detonated right before Marco.
A surge of vibration clashed with Sengoku's shockwave.
BOOM!
The two forces collided, sending Marco flying hundreds of meters away from the blast zone. But as he tumbled through the air, he looked back—relief and joy lighting his face.
"Pops!"
A powerful wind swept away the smoke and dust, revealing a battered figure gripping a naginata—his body scarred and bloodied, but still standing.
"Marco, stay back."
Whitebeard's storm-darkened face emerged, his Conqueror's Haki surging like a tidal wave.
"Sengoku."
Sengoku shielded Quell behind him, his expression grim as he snorted coldly. His own Conqueror's Haki erupted, colliding with Whitebeard's in a storm of force that battered the landscape.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap…
Measured footsteps echoed through the chaos. Even as the Haki clashed, Whitebeard glanced aside.
Sakazuki, still ablaze in Red Lotus Mode, strode from the heart of the explosion. The heat shimmered around his magma form, golden light burning in his eyes. He stared at Marco without a flicker of emotion.
Seeing this, Whitebeard raised his naginata and charged at Sakazuki, barking an order over his shoulder:
"Marco, head to Vico Island—wait for me there!"
His Conqueror's Haki pressed down on Sakazuki like a mountain, killing intent radiating with every step.
But Sakazuki didn't flinch. His gaze never left the fleeing Marco.
"Dark Hound!"
His crimson arm morphed into a torrent of magma, stretching out—longer, longer—racing toward Marco at breakneck speed.
Whitebeard appeared in a flash, his naginata slicing through the magma limb, severing it cleanly. But the remaining magma shot onward, slamming into Marco and exploding in a fiery burst.
Magma surged, engulfing Marco's form, triggering his survival instincts. Blue flames erupted from his body as he struggled free, wings beating hard as he fled into the distance.
CRACK!
Whitebeard swung his naginata, sending a shockwave that obliterated everything in its path, barreling straight for Sakazuki.
BANG!
Before the shockwave could hit, Sakazuki's body exploded into a shower of magma, sinking into the ground.
Suddenly, the earth beneath Whitebeard's feet began to twist and glow red for dozens of meters around.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
As Whitebeard dodged, pillars of magma erupted beneath him, shooting skyward. His expression hardened—this was trouble. He channeled the power of the Quake-Quake Fruit into his feet, dodging again just as new magma vents burst open.
Stomping down, he unleashed a shockwave straight into the ground. The force shattered the magma gathering below and cracked the earth itself.
RUMBLE!!!
For kilometers around, the ground fractured into countless shards, bottomless fissures zigzagging across the landscape. Deep below, red light flickered and danced, the heat rising unimpeded.
As more and more crimson light filled the cracks and the burning heat intensified, Whitebeard narrowed his eyes—he understood what was coming. He looked toward a certain spot.
"Crafty little brat…"
Where he stared, the magma coalesced, forming Sakazuki's shape. His voice was cold as ever:
"So, you noticed. Guess I slipped up."
Whitebeard chuckled softly.
"Heh."
He didn't buy Sakazuki's feigned disappointment for a second. Gripping his naginata with both hands, he swung it behind him, infusing it with his power.
BUZZZZZ—!
He slashed downward at an angle toward Sakazuki. As the blade neared the earth, the vibration energy detonated, ripping open a gash in the air several meters wide. With each pulse of Whitebeard's strength, the crack grew.
Muscles bulged, veins stood out like cables on his arms.
RUMBLE!!!
The atmospheric fissure widened to dozens of meters, then crashed down into the ground.
The entire island shook madly, thunder rolling without end. The magma pooling beneath the island shattered, unable to regroup for now.
The battered island broke apart into massive, uneven plates—like a puzzle forced into new shapes.
Centered on the island, the shockwave sent towering tsunamis surging in all directions.
Whitebeard and Sakazuki each claimed their own titanic slab of earth.
Whitebeard spun his naginata and planted it in the ground, fists clenched at his sides. With a sudden motion, he swung outward—detonating the air on both sides.
The seas around the island twisted as if warped by some unseen force. Giant rectangular blocks of seawater heaved upward, like lids being lifted.
They crashed down toward Sakazuki at the island's heart.
Expressionless, Sakazuki's form dissolved into a pool of magma, flowing across the ground. But his presence flickered—now deep beneath Whitebeard's feet, hidden in the underground magma.
The earth beneath Whitebeard bucked and shook. Magma, wild and furious, gathered power under Sakazuki's command.
RUMBLE!!!!
The colossal blocks of seawater slammed down on the island, sending tidal waves roaring outward.
BOOM!!!!!!
From deep below, a magma column a thousand meters thick erupted beneath Whitebeard, spreading outward and destroying everything in its path.
~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~
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