Chapter 292: The Super-Sized Portal
In the vast green forest, a figure wreathed in blue flames soared through the sky, beating his burning wings as he headed deeper into the wilderness.
Marco, in his phoenix form, glanced back at the mass of pirates following him on the ground, his eyes clouded with worry.
"Besides that one interception at sea, those guys still haven't shown themselves..."
Marco knew this was a trap. But they had no choice but to spring it.
At the same time, on the deck of the paddle-wheel ship, Whitebeard stood, his gaze fixed on the endless forest ahead.
This rescue mission was his idea. Marco had been the one to object.
Over the past few years, Whitebeard had felt his condition worsening. He had a premonition that he wouldn't last another two years. That was why he had insisted on and planned this operation.
He knew that if he died, Marco and the others would have no chance of saving their comrades. He also knew that, even if he was gone, their personalities wouldn't let them abandon their brothers on Terra. They would have tried to do this exact same thing, but without him, they would have no chance of success. They would only die pointless deaths.
As long as he was still here, as long as he still had the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, they had at least one last, desperate hope.
That was why Whitebeard was betting everything on this final gamble.
"Old Man, what are you thinking?" The Ice Witch, Whitey Bay, walked up to stand beside him.
Her voice pulled Whitebeard from his thoughts. He looked down at his "sons" marching into the forest. "Whitey Bay, do you think these children will hate me for dragging them into this abyss? You know many of them won't leave here alive. Will they hate me for getting them killed?"
Hearing this, Whitey Bay put her hands on her hips and shook her head, exasperated. "Really, Old Man. If we thought that, why would we have answered Marco's call? Even without you, we would never abandon our brothers."
She looked up at her captain—no longer young, but as kind as ever—and said with relief, "In fact, you coming with us is the only reason we have any hope of success at all!"
She was blunt. Everyone knew this was a nine-to-one, life-or-death mission. Anyone who was afraid wouldn't have come. No one would have blamed them. But they came. That alone was proof of their resolve.
"Is that so..." Whitebeard's gaze softened, and he let out a long breath. He had guessed as much, but hearing it from Whitey Bay finally set his heart at ease.
As they advanced, the pirates in the forest sensed a disturbance. They slowed, drawing their weapons, their eyes sharp. "Finally! They're coming to stop us?"
This entire time, there had been no ambushes, no traps. The forest was eerily silent, not even large animals. The quiet had put them on edge. The prospect of an actual enemy was a relief.
But just as they braced for a fight, a terrifying stampede of beasts burst from the trees.
Giant beasts, running in a panic, thundered through the pirates' formation, heading for the other side of the forest. Pirates were sent flying, trampled in the chaos.
"Now is not the time for this, you damn animals!" one captain roared. He leaped into the air, his fist coated in Armament Haki, and punched a massive, yellow-and-black-striped tiger. "Get a hold of yourselves!"
BOOM!
The tiger's head merely dented. It stumbled, regained its footing, and... ignored him, fleeing as if something was chasing it.
"..."
"What the hell?" The captain was stunned. The beasts were clearly running from something. They vanished, leaving a trail of chaos.
As the pirates regrouped, they heard faint shouting from up ahead.
Marco, instantly alert, transformed into his phoenix form and shot into the sky, flying ahead. The other commanders exchanged glances and followed.
As they got closer, a bright light appeared through the trees. They emerged from the forest at the edge of a massive, cleared-out canyon.
"This is..."
The sight that greeted them made the captains and commanders stop, their expressions turning bizarre.
"What's wrong with them?" Marco, hovering above, stared in disbelief.
In the quarry below, thousands of pirates in tattered clothing were running. They were running desperately, their legs blurring, sweat pouring down their faces... but they weren't moving. They were all running in place.
The bizarre scene stunned them.
Down in the pit, Jozu, Izo, and the others saw Marco and were overjoyed.
"Marco!!"
They hadn't expected a rescue just as they were planning their own escape. But then they remembered their situation, and their faces turned grim.
"MARCO, DON'T COME DOWN!!" Izo screamed.
"As you can see, we're trapped! We can't leave! It's a trap!"
Just moments ago, they had armed themselves and were about to make a break for the coast. But no matter how fast they ran, they never moved an inch forward, as if they were stuck on a treadmill. They had tried to break it with Haki, but it was useless. Seeing their rescuers about to fall into the same trap, they were desperate.
On the canyon rim, Marco understood. "This is... the power of the Space-Space Fruit!"
"How did that bastard get a second Devil Fruit ability?!" someone roared.
Just then, bone-chilling howls echoed from all sides. Giant, earth-yellow hounds, led by one truly massive alpha, leaped from the forest, surrounding them.
The pirates recognized them. "It's the dogs from the war!"
"There are so many more of them!"
They remembered all too well: being knocked into the air by giants, only to be torn apart by these hounds.
"These things... must be what the beasts were running from!"
"No time for that!" a captain snarled, gripping his weapon, ready to jump down and save his crew.
"Wait!" Marco shouted, stopping him. "We don't know the situation! Rushing in is too dangerous!"
Below, the trapped captain's crewmates screamed, "Captain, no! Stay back! It's not right!"
The captain trembled, his knuckles white. "I just found out my crew was alive... I just saw you... How can you ask me to stay calm?!"
Just as he was about to jump, a voice boomed from behind him.
"You foolish son!"
"Rushing in won't solve anything!"
"Old Man!"
Whitebeard, leaning on his bisento, walked to the front of the crowd. The captain who was about to jump stopped, ashamed.
Whitebeard looked down at his trapped sons, his eye heavy with sorrow. "I'm sorry, my sons... to have let you suffer here..."
At that same moment, inside Avant Heim.
Louis sat on his throne, which had stopped drawing his life energy. He sensed Whitebeard's arrival.
"Long time no see, Whitebeard..."
As he spoke, Avant Heim, high in the sky, began to glow. The blinding light made Whitebeard look up.
He was instantly blinded. But he didn't hesitate. He swung his bisento-holding fist and punched the air above him.
"KACHA—!"
The very atmosphere shattered like glass, obliterating the clouds and any birds flying overhead.
His vision cleared. But... something was wrong. He looked behind him. His sons... were gone.
He looked down.
They were all... inside the canyon.
"What?!"
"How did we get here?!"
The panicked shouts from below made Whitebeard's face twist. He didn't have time to think. He leaped from the cliff.
Marco and the others, still disoriented from the sudden teleport, saw their captain leaping down toward them. He opened his mouth to shout a warning, but a flash of light caught his eye.
A crystal, hidden in the canyon wall, began to glow.
"What?" Whitey Bay, who had also been teleported, saw another one.
All around them, crystals lit up, connecting in a giant, five-pointed star.
A massive portal, covering the entire canyon floor, opened beneath their feet. A powerful suction erupted, pulling Marco, Jozu, Whitey Bay, Izo, and all ten thousand pirates into the rift.
Whitebeard landed an instant later.
THUD!
The portal vanished just as his feet hit the empty, dusty ground.
One second. He had missed it by one second.
The canyon was dead silent. Whitebeard stood, his face dark, veins bulging on his forehead, trembling with a terrible, contained rage.
Just then, a figure in heavy armor, with broad white wings, descended and hovered before him.
"You damn... BRAT!!" Whitebeard's one good eye, burning with a fire that was almost physical, locked onto the man. "WHERE ARE MY SONS!"
Louis floated three meters off the ground, his voice flat. "Marine Headquarters."
"..."
"Marine... Headquarters..."
Whitebeard's eye filled with blood. He could barely contain his fury.
"BRAT!!"
"No wonder... no wonder there were no ambushes. You were using us... as a WEAPON!" After decades sailing the seas, this was the most blatant, cold-blooded manipulation he had ever endured.
"Is that a problem?" Louis tilted his head, as if genuinely confused.
Whitebeard didn't answer. He just stared, his gaze cold. He understood everything. His sons were in the most dangerous place in the world for them. He had no choice. He would endure it.
Louis, seeing his resignation, knew his prepared speech was unnecessary. He opened a portal to Marine Headquarters behind Whitebeard.
Then, Louis raised his hand. A golden light, woven from countless threads, drifted from his palm and sank into Whitebeard's scarred, broken body.
Whitebeard's eye filled with disgust, but he didn't resist the healing. His sons were on the other side. He would need his strength.
Louis turned to leave.
Whitebeard watched him go, his gaze like ice. Then, he turned and stepped into the portal.
"..."
The moment he was gone, a massive shadow (Kaido) dropped from the sky. Seeing the portal, he didn't hesitate and charged right in after Whitebeard.
High above, Louis sensed this, his eyes flashing. "Kaido? He followed Whitebeard to Marineford? ...Well, that works. Whitebeard alone couldn't have stalled them for long. Adding Kaido is perfect."
He then commanded Avant Heim to teleport the remaining personnel away.
Alone now, he picked up the still-open Den Den Mushi to Shiki.
"The Marines are occupied. Our plan can begin."
"Make Impel Down fly, Shiki."
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