Chapter 197: Eruption
The blood-soaked longsword no longer trembled. Swung by the giant, who was covered by gunfire, slashes, and impacts, it cut a perfect arc. It chopped directly toward the World's Strongest Man, who stood holding his bisento.
Before the heavy blade even arrived, the sharp sound of it piercing the air and the chaotic airflow had already washed over him, blowing the captain's hat from Whitebeard's head and revealing his long, graying hair.
Facing this life-staking blow from the giant, a subtle change came over Whitebeard's expression. He casually raised a muscular arm from beneath his cape. His large hand clenched, and it was covered in a milky-white halo. He casually punched the air in front of the giant longsword.
CRACK! A loud roar erupted again. The atmosphere was shattered from a distance, and countless cracks, glowing with a strange white light, appeared out of thin air.
The next second, the power of the great earthquake erupted once more.
The massive vibration directly shattered the giant longsword, and bone-white fragments shot into the air. The powerful, spreading vibration enveloped Road, erupting again, blasting countless open wounds on his body and causing blood to flow like a waterfall.
With one blow, the light in Road's eyes gradually faded, but his Ancient Zoan ability supported him, allowing him to remain stubbornly standing.
This scene made the rapidly approaching Hajrudin and Goldberg feel extremely anxious.
On the other side, a giant longsword swept across the atmosphere, slashing directly at the charging Gerd, blocking her path.
CLANG! Gerd raised her giant axe to block it, sending sparks flying and a loud roar that knocked countless pirates over.
Gerd's face was grim. She spun her head to look in the direction the giant blade had come from. A giant, over thirty meters tall, with bluish skin and large tusks growing from his lower jaw, stood on the battlefield, quietly watching the scene in the distance.
"Little Oars!"
"Get out of my way! Otherwise, even if you are the last pure-blooded Ancient Giant, I will kill you!"
To this, the descendant of the demon, Little Oars, silently raised his longsword. He replied in a muffled voice, "I will not let you pass—"
Whitebeard looked at the giant before him, who was still standing stubbornly under the bombardment, his eyes still showing signs of regaining their light. An expression of admiration flickered in his eyes. Then, he silently raised his Supreme Grade Blade, Murakumogiri, and wreathed the blade in the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, preparing to give the giant before him the final blow.
However, the next second, a bone-chilling cold came from the distance, instantly enveloping the area behind Whitebeard. Immediately after, an almost absolute-zero polar storm erupted, instantly extinguishing the flames as far as the eye could see and spreading the blizzard to the horizon.
Looking around, the scorched earth that had been raging with flames had vanished in an instant. In its place, as far as the eye could see, was a pale-white land of extreme cold.
The frigid cold current erupted, instantly causing everyone on the battlefield to lose their body heat, making them shiver.
In the distance, several of the Whitebeard Pirates' division commanders saw this and were dumbfounded. They exclaimed subconsciously.
"This kind of environment-altering ability—"
"Is this really something a Mythical Zoan can do?"
"This person... is actually a Logia, right?!"
Before setting out, the Whitebeard Pirates had collected intelligence on the members of the Archangel Pirates. They knew that the three powerhouses of the Archangel Pirates were all Mythical Zoan users. But apart from Archangel Louis, neither the Siren nor the Wendigo were considered powerful mythical beasts. In the world's perception, they were even inferior to Marco's Phoenix. They were even further from the true pinnacle Mythical Zoans like the Azure Dragon or the Qilin.
But now, the environmental manipulation ability displayed by the "Snow-Fiend" made everyone in the Whitebeard Pirates tremble.
"This person is definitely extremely dangerous!" Marco said, muttering to himself as he looked at the figure approaching from the distance.
A fruit that was considered mid- to low-tier among Mythical Zoans had actually been developed by this person to a level comparable to a Logia's environmental manipulation. This alone proved her extraordinariness.
Yelena walked forward under a multitude of gazes, some apprehensive, some fearful. With every step, a thick layer of ice was left on the pale earth. Black and red arcs of electricity coiled around her as her Conqueror's Haki burst forth, locking directly onto the tall figure holding the bisento in front of her.
Black and red lightning pierced through the entire battlefield. Wherever it passed, pirates fell in droves.
Seeing this, Whitebeard frowned slightly. He also released his own extremely powerful Conqueror's Haki, instantly suppressing the Conqueror's Haki that was continuously bombarding him.
An extremely powerful Conqueror's Haki washed over them, suppressing her own. This made Yelena stop her movements, her brow tightly furrowed.
"Gurararara—"
"The second-in-command has Conqueror's Haki too?" A look of reminiscence appeared on Whitebeard's face. He had also had a second-in-command like that once. But soon, he put away that expression and strode forward.
The sudden clash of Conqueror's Haki made Road rally once again, the light returning to his eyes. He looked at Whitebeard, who had his back to him, gritted his teeth, raised his fist, and swung it straight at the back of his head.
"Stand down, Road! That's an order!" A hoarse, terrifying voice came from under her gas mask, echoing across the entire battlefield and chilling everyone to the bone.
"You fought very well, and you did your best."
"Leave the rest to me—"
Hearing this, Road lowered his head, letting out a series of harsh, strained breaths, as if he were dying. The next moment, his eyes slowly closed, and his entire body once again fell into the ice and snow. The ice and snow swirled, covering his body in a thick layer of hard ice.
In the distance, Goldberg breathed a sigh of relief, a hearty smile breaking out on his face. "From now on, no one will ever be allowed to call Road the shame of Elbaf!"
In the distance, Gerd, who was launching one fierce attack after another on Little Oars, revealed a brilliant smile. "You've become a little bit like an Elbaf warrior, Road."
Whitebeard, his bisento in hand, stepped into the blizzard, treating the cold storm as if it were nothing. His gaze passed over the heavily armored figure who was coming toward him with her war hammer, landing directly on the forest in the distance.
"Is the one in the forest Archangel Louis? Although he's powerful, he doesn't seem to be on the same level as Shiki or Kaido."
To this, Yelena made no response, but quietly raised her cold, heavy World-Breaker war hammer in the blizzard. Dangerous Haki lightning ravaged the area, and a gray light enveloped it, shaking off the snowflakes that had gathered on the hammer.
Then, Yelena leaped high, gripping the war hammer, which was wreathed in Haki lightning and gray light, at her side, and lunged straight at Whitebeard.
Seeing this, Whitebeard was taken aback. At this moment, the fully armed figure before him highly overlapped with the Kaido of his memories. Even the posture of swinging the war hammer was extraordinarily similar to Kaido's move.
The next moment, Whitebeard also wreathed his Supreme Grade Blade, Murakumogiri, in Haki and the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, preparing to knock this person down with a single blow.
However, the sound of flapping wings came from behind him. Immediately after, Marco, having bypassed Whitebeard, thrust out his flame-wreathed talon, coated it in Armament Haki, and met the thunderous war hammer head-on.
BOOM!
A giant roar suddenly erupted. The blizzard froze at this moment. Haki lightning ravaged the area, and combined with the shockwave, it tore open the ice-covered frozen ground from a distance, revealing the exposed rock layer beneath.
With one blow, the azure figure was sent flying backward. He spread his wings at a distance of several meters from Whitebeard and landed. Marco felt the pain, as if his soul was being torn apart, coming from his leg, and his face couldn't help but turn pale.
"This is..."
"My leg is injured."
Marco looked down at his leg, which, although the wound had already recovered, was still transmitting intense pain. A storm raged in his mind. The wound has healed, so where is the pain coming from? A terrifying thought flashed in his mind.
The soul...
"Pops, be careful! This person seems to have an ability that targets the soul!" After figuring it out, Marco immediately reminded his pops.
Whitebeard heard him, glanced at Marco, narrowed his eyes, and asked, "What? You're injured?"
Marco did not answer, but instead raised his sweat-drenched face and looked warily at the figure who was slowly landing and pressing forward step by step.
Whitebeard looked at Marco's pale face, his brow furrowing slightly. Then, he looked at the Snow-Fiend, who showed no signs of injury, and said to Marco in a deep voice, "Go back and help your brothers! This person can't hurt me yet."
Marco shook his head. "The rest of the allied pirate crews and Oars have arrived. They've already joined the battlefield. Right now, our side has over forty thousand people, and the strong captains are gradually arriving. The dangerous period has passed!"
Just then, an invisible wind raged, making the polar storm, which was already stripping people of their body heat, become even colder.
"This is..." Yelena's steps suddenly stopped. She thoughtfully turned her head to look in the direction of the storm.
"Anemoi..."
The next second, a faint smile appeared on the face beneath Yelena's gas mask. "He's here? Louis."
A storm-wreathed cyclone hung high in the sky, continuously generating a terrifying storm. It mixed with the extreme low temperature, forming a polar storm on a scale second only to the one at the entrance to the New World. If it wasn't stopped soon, this storm would be enough to annihilate ninety percent of the pirates present.
Realizing that something was wrong, Whitebeard abruptly raised his head, his gaze falling on the powerful cyclone from which the life signature was coming. His bisento once again glowed with a milky-white halo. Whitebeard held it with both hands, adopting his iconic swinging posture.
However, the next moment, Whitebeard's movement froze without warning. His gaze fell in another direction, his eyes gradually becoming grim.
Marco saw this and, as if realizing something, followed his pops's gaze.
THUD—THUD.
A figure clad in gold and red heavy armor, with flawless white wings on his back and a head of loose, pale-golden hair, had arrived within a hundred meters at some unknown point. As he approached, an extremely powerful Conqueror's Haki burst forth. Black and red lightning instantly pierced the entire battlefield, creating ripples on the distant sea.
Louis approached at an unhurried pace, his gaze passing over Whitebeard and landing on Road's body. With a thought from Louis, a golden holy light descended from the sky, and specks of fireflies merged directly into the frozen body of Road.
As the distance closed, Louis's gaze gradually locked onto the tall figure holding the bisento. The Seven Star Sword was slowly drawn, Conqueror's Haki wreathed around it, black and red arcs of electricity coiling around his body.
In front, Whitebeard saw this. His Supreme Grade Blade, Murakumogiri, vibrated lightly, also wreathed in powerful Conqueror's Haki.
At the same time, hundreds of nautical miles away, a massive Marine fleet had gathered.
Marine Hero Garp stood at the bow of his dog-headed ship, his face grim as he gazed at the sky.
"What are you doing here?! Shiki!"
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