CHAPTER 156 — ACE!
Little Oars Jr. kept moving.
Each step was slower than before, his massive legs dragging through blood and ice, but he did not stop. The ground trembled every time his foot came down, cracks spreading outward across the frozen surface of Marineford. Wounds covered his body, slashes, burns, holes punched clean through flesh, but none of it mattered to him.
All that mattered was forward.
Marines broke formation as he approached. Some shouted orders. Others froze in place, staring up at the giant looming over them. Barricades were crushed under his feet. Cannons were knocked aside like toys. The careful lines the Marines had built dissolved into panic and scattered resistance.
Pirates shouted encouragement from every direction.
"OARS!"
"KEEP GOING!"
"ACE IS RIGHT THERE!"
The giant's name and Ace's name blended together, carried by desperation and hope. Little Oars Jr. heard them, but he did not look around. His eyes stayed locked on the execution platform ahead.
Ace.
The platform was close now. Close enough that Ace could see Oars clearly.
Too clearly.
Ace strained against his chains, shouting with everything he had.
"Oars! Stop!" Ace yelled. "Go back! Please, go back!"
His voice cracked. Fear twisted in his chest as he watched the giant stagger forward, blood pouring freely now. This wasn't a charge anymore. It was stubborn will forcing a broken body to keep moving.
Ace's teeth clenched hard enough to hurt.
This was his fault.
Every wound Oars carried, every step that cost him strength, it was all because of him. Because Ace was sitting here, chained, waiting to die while others paid the price.
Little Oars Jr. did not slow.
Pain barely registered anymore. His body screamed for him to stop, to fall, to rest, but his mind ignored it. Ace was there. He could see him. Hear him.
That was enough.
From a distance, Gecko Moria watched.
He stood far from the front lines, safely removed from the chaos, his round body still and his shadow stretching unnaturally along the broken ground. His eyes followed Little Oars Jr. with sharp interest, and a grin slowly crept across his face.
Greed.
Pure, unfiltered greed.
A giant like that, he thought. A body like that.
Moria licked his lips.
In his mind, Little Oars Jr. was already dead. Already his. He imagined the corpse rising again under his control, powered by shadows, turned into a monster that would crush enemies without pain, without fear, without hesitation.
The chaos of Marineford had created the perfect chance.
No one was watching him.
No one would stop him.
Moria lifted his hand.
The shadow beneath him twisted, stretching forward in an unnatural shape. It sharpened, thinning and hardening until it resembled a spear made of darkness. The air around it felt wrong, heavy and cold.
Without warning, the shadow shot forward.
It crossed the battlefield in an instant.
Little Oars Jr. took one more step.
The shadow spear slammed into Little Oars Jr.'s chest, black tendrils erupting through his massive frame and pinning him in place.
He roared, staggering forward anyway, dragging the shadow with him as if sheer will could tear it free. His knees buckled. One hand slammed into the ice as he tried to push himself back up.
He failed.
The giant collapsed, the ground trembling beneath his weight. His breath came in ragged, shallow gasps, each one weaker than the last. The light in his eyes dimmed, not extinguished. Fading, stubbornly, as though he still refused to let go.
From the platform, Ace screamed his name.
Little Oars Jr. fell forward.
The impact shook Marineford.
His massive body hit the frozen ground with a sound like thunder, cracks racing outward as the ice split beneath him. Blood spread quickly, dark against the white surface.
The battlefield went silent.
Pirates stared in shock, mouths open, unable to move.
Ace screamed.
"OARS!"
His voice tore through the air, raw and broken. Tears streamed down his face as he strained uselessly against the chains, watching the giant lie still.
Marines froze, stunned by the sudden end of such a massive presence. Even those who had feared Oars moments before stood in silence, struck by the weight of what they had just witnessed.
From the execution platform, Sengoku saw it all.
Little Oars Jr. was no longer moving.
For the first time since the war began, Sengoku's expression eased slightly. Just a little.
The giant had been a direct threat to the platform. His death removed a dangerous variable.
But the relief didn't last.
Sengoku's eyes swept across the battlefield, sharp and calculating. The situation was still bad. Very bad.
Akainu was fighting that woman and couldn't disengage. As long as the battle continued, he had no way to act on anything beyond it.
Kizaru was still fighting the companion of that woman, the one clad in gold. Their clash was intense, neither giving ground. For now, he couldn't do anything else. He was fully occupied by the fight.
Two Admirals were effectively neutralized.
Sengoku's jaw tightened.
He searched for available forces.
His gaze shifted toward Aokiji.
The ice admiral was locked in combat, holding back several of Whitebeard's commanders at once. Ice met steel again and again, attacks frozen mid-motion, only to shatter moments later.
Aokiji was holding the line. He was clearly suppressing them, but he couldn't break away. If he disengaged, that entire sector would collapse.
Sengoku looked elsewhere.
Tsuru.
She was moving through pirates with calm efficiency, her Devil Fruit leaving enemies weakened and stripped of their will to fight. Bodies fell, folded, or lay motionless, their aggression washed away.
Effective.
But not enough.
Marine forces were stretched thin. Too thin.
Sengoku's eyes finally landed on Garp.
The old hero stood nearby, fists clenched, his face serious and tense. Sengoku knew that look well. Garp was holding himself back. He could feel it.
Ace was on that platform.
Garp would not fight at full strength.
He would not betray the Marines, but he would not be the reason his grandson was executed either.
Sengoku felt the weight of command press down harder than ever.
Then
A blade was drawn.
Dracule Mihawk unsheathed Yoru with calm, deliberate motion. The massive black blade caught the light as he raised it, eyes fixed on a distant figure.
Whitebeard.
Without hesitation, Mihawk swung.
The air screamed.
A massive flying slash tore forward, cutting through the battlefield in a straight line toward Whitebeard's ship. The ice beneath it split apart, the ground cracking purely from the pressure of the attack.
On the mast, Whitebeard stood unmoving.
Naruto saw it.
His eyes widened in shock as the slash rushed toward them, enormous and unstoppable. This wasn't chakra. This wasn't a jutsu.
This was just a sword.
And it was terrifying.
Naruto's mind raced. He was already forming hand signs, ready to use Shadow Clones to move everyone away.
Saeko reacted instantly, muscles tensing, eyes sharp.
Mindy's hand moved as well, prepared to pull weapons from the Parcel System.
Marco watched them all.
"It's the slash from the strongest swordsman in the world," he said calmly.
Naruto stared.
"…Woah."
Whitebeard threw his head back and laughed, full of confidence that his son would stop it.
Before the slash could reach them, someone stepped forward.
Jozu.
The 3rd Division Commander planted his feet and took the attack head-on. The impact shook the battlefield, the ground trembling violently as diamond met force.
Jozu held.
With a shout, he lifted and hurled the slash upward.
The attack split the sky.
Marines shouted in shock.
"It's Diamond Jozu!"
Pirates erupted in cheers.
Elsewhere, Gaius and Kizaru continued their fight.
Kizaru landed a heavy kick, sending Gaius sliding back across broken stone. The Ice ground around them was barely holding together.
Kizaru knew the truth.
He couldn't go all out here.
Marineford would not survive it.
Neither would the Marines.
Gaius also thought that fighting here was a waste of time and brought no real benefit. Still, their arrogance and ignorance in attacking them would not go unanswered.
Continuing as before would be…
inefficient.
The Emperor's Lightning Claw appeared on his right arm. Lightning crawled across its talons, the air screaming as reality itself seemed to recoil.
Before Gaius could strike, Kizaru turned into light and fled.
He reappeared beside Sengoku.
"I'm seriously injured," Kizaru said lightly, tilting his head. "I don't think I can keep going." Clearly, he was lying through his teeth.
Sengoku glared at him, noting he wasn't seriously hurt. A few bruises, dirty clothes, but nothing major.
"Don't think I don't know what you're doing," he said.
Kizaru remained silent. He didn't want to fight Gaius, not with the aura of danger radiating from the claw now crackling in his hand.
Gaius stopped.
He looked up as a ship crashed from the sky, the frozen tsunami giving way and breaking apart, sending it plummeting downward.
A young man was also in the air ahead of the ship, presumably another victim of its fall. His straw hat hung loosely behind his neck.
"ACE!" he shouted, plummeting straight down alongside dozens of others toward the ground.
~~~
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