After a dozen seconds of silence, Kong spoke solemnly, "Notify the soldiers stationed in the Mariejois entrance area to immediately gather twenty thousand troops for reinforcement. Tsuru will lead the team, and the remaining personnel will fill in the gaps."
Upon hearing Kong's words, everyone present understood his meaning: a portion of the Marine forces would be extracted and sent to support the Government.
"Fleet Admiral, is that wise?" a bespectacled Rear Admiral asked, spreading his hands with concern. "Once we expand our defensive perimeter and pull people out, the Golden Lion might exploit the opening."
Kong pursed his lips, silent for a few seconds before saying with a heavy tone, "How could I not know that?" He paused, then continued, "But the Government is under attack. How can we do nothing?"
The last time he fought with Alucard and Redfield on Sabaody Archipelago, the Celestial Dragons' toys were destroyed, but no Celestial Dragons were harmed. Furthermore, since Kong was the Fleet Admiral during a time of great pirate turmoil, the Government only symbolically punished him and didn't actually do anything serious to him.
This time, however, was different. Someone had attacked the Government's front door. If the Marines did nothing, the consequences would be unimaginable.
After reluctantly relaying the order, Kong hurried down from the Marine Headquarters building. At this point, he could no longer stay and command from there; he had to go to the front lines himself.
The sounds of battle between the three Logia Vice Admirals and Kaido echoed from the plaza. Chief of Staff Tsuru hung up the Den Den Mushi, her eyes slightly unfocused. "What a reckless pirate..."
Through the phone call, Tsuru already knew about the Gorosei's order and Kong's decision. Kong had decided to appoint her as the commanding officer, leading twenty thousand Marines to support the Government.
"Tsuru-san..." Momousagi frowned beside her. Just how much power was the Government hiding? As a Vice Admiral, she wasn't privy to those secrets, but she could at least infer that an organization that had stood at the pinnacle of the world for eight hundred years couldn't be much weaker than the Marines.
"We can't ignore the Government's orders." Tsuru's single sentence made her stance clear. She waved her withered hand. "Let's go!"
Just then, a slovenly man with his hands in his pockets, who was not old but looked it, sidled up to Momousagi. "Hey... Gion-chan, this war is too dangerous. Before I die, I want to say three words to you..."
"I refuse."
Before he could finish, Momousagi replied with those three words, causing Shirokitsune and the others to laugh, "That was fast."
"How many times has it been now?" Shirokitsune couldn't help but ask, seeing Chaton's failed confession to Momousagi.
"It must be over thirty times now. He's so patient..." A female officer over eight feet tall looked at the pair with a hint of admiration.
Even though Kong had immediately called for Marines from other stations to fill the gaps left by Tsuru's departing force, a void of twenty thousand soldiers couldn't be filled in a short amount of time.
Because of Alucard, Shiki had found an opening in the Marines' defenses. Through his visual Den Den Mushi and his excellent Observation Haki, the Golden Lion clearly sensed the weakness in the Marines' line and laughed manically, "Jihahahaha! Alucard succeeded! Hurry, turn to the 10 o'clock direction, and land at the very edge! Jihahahaha!"
Kaido was thrown into the southern plaza of Marineford to attract the top-tier forces. Alucard led a fifth of the monsters in a surprise attack on Mariejois. And the moment an opening appeared in the Marines' defenses, the Golden Lion Fleet landed! This was the whole plan.
"Report! The Golden Lion Fleet has seven battleships! They've landed at the very edge of Marineford at the 10 o'clock position!" The Marine soldier on the other end of the Den Den Mushi suppressed his fear to report to Kong.
"I know! I'm rushing over there right now!" Kong angrily hung up the Den Den Mushi and, along with many other high-ranking Marine officers, rushed toward the Golden Lion Fleet's landing point. "Those damn pirates!"
But no matter how fast Kong ran, could he outrun a flying Shiki? Shiki landed first on Marineford. Standing on the lion figurehead of the Golden Lion, Shiki crossed his arms and spread them out under the night sky. "Jihahahahaha! My minions! Let's forge a legend! Destroy Marine Headquarters!!"
"Yeah!!"
"Let's go!"
"Brace yourselves, Marines!"
Countless pirates of the Golden Lion Fleet began to land. Under Shiki's control, the remaining four-fifths of the monsters on Merveille Island began to fall from the clouds as he slightly waved his hand. Three colossal islands, far bigger than the ones Alucard took to Mariejois, began to descend.
Borsalino, who was fighting Kaido, felt the violent roar from the sky and looked up just in time to see the huge islands crashing down. One of them was right above them.
"We're going to die!!"
"An island, an island!"
The Marines were so terrified by the falling islands that they almost wet their pants. At the same time, the Blacklight-infected monsters on the islands began to rain down like a storm, as Shiki had flipped the islands upside down. A fall like that wouldn't kill them.
"Kaido-san~ could you give us a moment to deal with this?" Borsalino reluctantly retreated from the fight with Kaido, staring at the islands falling from the sky. While a falling island wouldn't hurt a Logia-type like him, he knew the Marines would be devastated if it hit.
While Zephyr had said Borsalino relied too heavily on his Glint-Glint Fruit abilities, every strength has a weakness. His Devil Fruit's developmental progress was currently unrivaled.
"Yasakani no Magatama!" Borsalino leaped high into the air, crossing his arms and releasing countless light particles from the circles his fingers made, shattering the island while also piercing through countless monsters.
"Sakazuki, you've gotta hold it off!" Kuzan saw that Borsalino alone couldn't completely shatter an island, so he also pulled away to help. The island couldn't be allowed to land.
"Ice Block: Partisan!" Kuzan raised both hands, like an eagle spreading its wings, and released countless ice spears toward the island, which had already been mostly destroyed by Yasakani no Magatama.
The two Logia Vice Admirals joined forces and used their strongest attacks to sink an island, but the Blacklight-infected monsters had already reached the battlefield.
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