"I knew it, your capabilities aren't just for show, old man. It looks like we can really enjoy ourselves this time."
Kaidou's eyes changed, and the flame clouds around his body burned fiercely like fire. The Dragon Claw extended from his arm, adding an extra layer of armament to Hassaikai.
Dragon Claw, Dragon Tail, Dragon Scales—the attacks of Dragon Type are mostly related to the body parts, strengthening a certain part of the body through the use of internal energy. For Dragon-type Pokemon, this is their form of "Haki."
At this moment, the Dragon Claw was transformed by Kaidou into spikes on Hassaikai, which for Kaidou is a way of applying force.
The previously fired scales were also replenished, engaging in a new round of battle with Whitebeard.
A thrilling fight for Kaidou, Whitebeard began to enjoy the battle too, but the spectators were far from happy.
This is the Navy Headquarters, a bastion of justice that the Navy believes cannot be breached.
The myth of being unable to stage a jailbreak from Impel Down has long been shattered; the Golden Lion's escape could be muffled, but a massive jailbreak like this was witnessed by the entire Navy at Marinfanto.
Though Marinfanto has also been breached by pirates before, those intruders were eventually captured and imprisoned without exception.
This time is different, two Sea Emperors fighting openly at the Navy Headquarters, with Navy commanders merely observing and not intervening, which is a heavy blow to many in the Navy.
From the viewpoint of the upper echelons of the Navy, this is already the optimal solution.
No matter the outcome of Kaidou and Whitebeard's battle, it won't threaten the Navy's position. Their internal conflict is beneficial for the future development of the Navy.
The growing power of the pirates has put the Navy at a disadvantage, coupled with orders from the Five Elders, Sengoku chose to halt the war—letting them fight without interference is part of the ceasefire agreement.
It's just that those below won't understand such matters, especially since the orders haven't been fully disseminated yet.
Some in the Navy think the upper echelons are waiting for a chance to profit at the last moment, and indeed, if the pirates deplete each other severely enough, the Navy would seize the opportunity, though such a chance is slim.
Apart from Kaidou and Whitebeard, others are cautious, always observing the Navy's other forces.
A portion has guessed the high command's intentions; they simply remain silent. Compliance is the basic requirement for a soldier, and aside from a few rebels, the soldiers deployed here will loyally follow their commander's orders.
Near the central area, the Navy has halted its actions and is waiting for orders from above.
Most pirates began fleeing to distant places under Whitebeard's captain's orders, but a few remained by the cliff created by Whitebeard, watching his battle.
Yet, at the edge far from Whitebeard and Kaidou's battleground, an entirely different scenario unfolds.
The war hasn't stopped; it has become more intense.
The interruption of the Radio Snail marks the ceasefire signal, but until that signal is received, the battle continues; the top-tier forces have been restrained, but not the grassroots, so in this final moment, they continue their fight for the war.
...
In the ruins, Navy and pirate corpses pile atop each other, many have forgotten their reason for being here, leaving only one thought: to kill the enemy before them.
"Coby, Coby, what's wrong with you!"
From a pile of rubble, Helmeppo dug Coby out.
At the beginning of the war, these two were initially frightened by Whitebeard's destructive power and tried to sneak away, but encountered Akainu, who was executing deserters, and were frightened back into the battlefield by him.
Suppressing inner fears, they participated in several insignificant battles; soldier versus soldier, general versus general, their current capabilities could only deal with some ordinary pirates, and any captain from the New World could kill them.
In the following time, Yamato's fight with Kuzan, Whitebeard's clash with two Admirals, Explosive Rock's weapon, and then the Five Elders and Arceus's intervention—all of these battles' aftershocks served as tremendous fright.
In the final aftershocks, flying rocks buried them directly.
Under both external and psychological pressure, the two fainted immediately and only now woke up.
Helmeppo awakened later than Coby, but when he did, he saw Coby painfully covering his ears, sitting on the ground motionless, seemingly paralyzed with fear.
Facing Helmeppo's shout, Coby gave no response because his mind was about to burst from the internal voice.
"Help... someone save me..."
"It hurts... so painful... I don't want to die, I want to go home..."
"Help me... help me..."
"Brother, I've avenged you, wait for me, I'm coming to find you..."
The jumbled voices surrounded his mind, Coby couldn't discern whether these were pirates' or Navy's voices, all there was—the fear of war.
One by one, the voices disappeared from his mind; before disappearing, the last groans made Coby realize the owners of these voices had died.
"Snap out of it, Coby, the war is about to end, Marshal Sengoku has already ordered preparations for a ceasefire!"
These were the messages brought to Helmeppo by the passing messenger. Originally, this order was only transmitted to each level of command, but since they usually hung around Garp, and were somewhat known in Navy Headquarters, Sengoku's messenger passed on a few words.
"Continue the attack! Annihilate those pirates! Leave them in Marinfanto!"
Meanwhile, a loud voice reached their ears.
"Helmeppo, didn't you say there's a ceasefire...."
"That's what the messenger said... maybe Vice Admiral Yukimura hasn't received the order yet..."
Now Akainu and others are near Whitebeard and Kaidou; they have no time to pay attention to these ordinary battlefields; these pirates' combined threat doesn't compare to even one of those cadres over there.
Even Ace is mostly sidelined; for Akainu, Queen is more alluring than Ace at this moment.
Except for the name of the Pirate King's son, Ace essentially has nothing, but Queen is different. In terms of intimidation level, Queen is faintly called the number one below the Four Emperors.
Many are stronger, but very few draw the eye like Queen does.
Compared to Queen's threat, Coby's existence has nothing to do with Akainu, nor does it get the chance of collision.
Pounding his head with his hands, the voices in his mind gradually faded, and Coby stood up again, stumbled to Vice Admiral Yukimura.
"Stop it, Vice Admiral Yukimura, the Headquarters has decided to cease war! There's no need for soldiers to sacrifice meaninglessly!"
"It's not stopped yet, get out of my way! A brat who hasn't even grasped the resolve for war has no place to point fingers! Look at your rank; you don't have the qualification to obstruct me!"
Yukimura received the order but couldn't accept it.
Especially after that baffling attack earlier, although pirates were similarly affected, many innocent soldiers were also impacted. This was with Arceus stopping it; if the attack hit its target, the impact would have been even more terrifying.
All this was within the Five Elders' acceptable range. If the cost to eliminate Kaidou and Whitebeard was thousands of soldiers, they were willing to make this sacrifice. To them, lives were just numbers, and Whitebeard and Kaidou's threat far outweighed that quantity of soldiers.
First came the war, then the unknown attacks' aftermath; too many friends and subordinates died in this war due to these.
Now they're saying to stop suddenly; if this ends, what's the meaning behind so many deaths?
He's received the preparations for a ceasefire directive, but it's merely for preparation, not an immediate ceasefire, so he wants to seize this last moment to kill more enemies...