It was exactly 00:00 on May 1st, 1503, Marine Calendar.
Thirty thousand Marine soldiers were on standby. Although it was unlikely that Shiki would attack in the middle of the night, a surprise attack was still a possibility, which was why so many soldiers were ready.
The great war on Marine Headquarters sounded similar to the Battle of Marineford, which would happen over a decade later to rescue Fire Fist Ace. However, the nature of the two events was completely different.
During the Summit War, because the Marines held Fire Fist Ace, they had control over the time and initiative of the war. Sengoku and the Marines knew exactly when the Whitebeard Pirates would likely attack.
This time, it was different.
Not only were their forces incomparable to that period, but more importantly, the Marines had no control over when Shiki would attack. On top of that, he was a pirate who could fly, making him even harder to predict. As the time for the battle drew closer, the Marines grew more and more tense.
A shift change ended. The previous shift of soldiers went back to rest, and the newly relieved Marines stretched to ease their tension. Having just woken up, one of them couldn't help but yawn. "Haa~ today's the day the Golden Lion starts his war, right? With it being this late, he probably doesn't plan to do a surprise attack, right? He'll probably make a grand, frontal assault a few hours from now, wouldn't he?"
Although today was the date Shiki had announced for the war, it was just past midnight. In the month that had passed, Shiki hadn't attempted any surprise attacks on Headquarters, which led many Marines to believe he wouldn't use a surprise attack and would instead make a grand entrance from the front during the day.
"Shut up! Pay attention to your patrol! And keep an eye on the sky!" the patrol squad captain reminded him. But even as he said it, he secretly agreed with his subordinate's opinion. After a month without a surprise attack, would he really launch one just a few hours before the scheduled war? The chances were... too small, right?
As tens of thousands of Marines patrolled, a Vice Admiral, Yamakaji, who was on patrol on the city wall of Marine Plaza, frowned and looked up into the air, cigar in his mouth. At first, he thought it was his imagination. In less than two seconds, his narrowed eyes widened with terror. He turned around and shouted, "Everyone in the central plaza! Get out of the way! Get out of the way now!"
However, even though his voice was transmitted far and wide with Haki, the soldiers patrolling the inner grounds didn't have enough time to react before being smashed into a bloody pulp by a colossal object falling from the sky.
The ground of the inner plaza was shattered, and countless stone chips and steel fragments shot out like bullets from the exploding smoke, causing the Marines on the city wall and at the edge of Marineford's town to cover their faces to avoid being cut.
The tremor was so powerful that the entire Marineford shook for nearly ten seconds before stopping.
The Marines who were resting in their barracks to prepare for the war immediately got up and shouted, "What happened!?"
Yamakaji, a Marine Vice Admiral, had seen it in that split second. It was a mountain peak, a small mountain peak falling from the sky. Because of the high speed and the darkness of the night, he couldn't see it clearly, but Yamakaji vaguely felt that on top of that mountain peak, there were three huge figures. Or rather, a single huge figure was tied to it.
Thousands of meters above Marineford, Alucard stood on one of Merveille Island's landmasses. His sharp fangs showed through his smile. To his right, a golden-haired Den Den Mushi first transmitted an old madman's wild laughter, then said, "I messed up! I was planning to drop it right on the Marine Headquarters building, but I missed. I guess the aiming is a bit off from five thousand meters up."
"It doesn't matter," Alucard said, sitting on the island, with one foot swinging lightly in the air at the edge of the island. "Once Kaido has drawn the Marines' attention, move Merveille Island directly above Mariejois."
"I'll leave that to you." Shiki, speaking through the Den Den Mushi, reminded him, "Mariejois is already built very high up in the clouds. Once we move closer, the Government's Haki users will quickly discover us, so..."
"I don't need a half-retired old man to worry about me." Alucard interrupted Shiki, pulling out two guns from his coat. "Let's get started!"
"Hmph! I'm too lazy to tell you what happens when you underestimate the World Government. You can go and experience it for yourself!" On the Golden Lion, Shiki hung up the Den Den Mushi receiver and picked up another broadcast Den Den Mushi. "Indigo, begin."
Dr. Indigo, standing in his lab, replied with an "Understood" before his hands flew across a complex keyboard. Finally, he shouted to the other scientists in the lab, "Start the final step."
The scientists, sweating from anxiety, suppressed their nervousness under Dr. Indigo's command and began their operations. After one of the scientists finished his report, Dr. Indigo pressed a large blue button to his right. "Begin!"
The devices, which had taken a huge amount of time to install on the monsters on Merveille Island, began to take effect, injecting both Alucard's Blacklight Virus and the inhibitory factors Dr. Indigo had created into their bodies.
In less than half a minute, the animals began to mutate. At the same time, under the control of Shiki's Float-Float Fruit, the islands of Miracles Island rapidly moved closer to the Holy Land of Mariejois, which was very close to Marine Headquarters.
"Haaaahhh~" Alucard let out a long breath. "I'm coming..."
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