It was the fourth day of the massive battle at the G-5 Branch.
The endless, fierce fighting had left both sides completely exhausted—from the pirates Whitebeard and Roger to the Marines Sengoku and Garp.
The magma that had been constantly erupting finally stopped flowing.
Sakazuki had to pause his attack on Whitebeard because he was so tired.
The non-stop fighting had forced almost everyone to switch opponents multiple times.
On the Oro Jackson, a bare-chested Whitebeard and Roger sat cross-legged facing each other.
They were eating huge chunks of meat to get their strength back.
Because the pirates were outnumbered, those two had to handle most of the pressure.
The Marines, having more people, could use pack-hunting tactics.
This gave everyone on their side plenty of time to rest.
Wendell Wickliffe of the Steam Pirates was much weaker than Whitebeard and Roger, so his injuries were a lot worse.
Whitebeard had burn marks all over his body. His presence was much weaker than before, and it was obvious he was in very bad shape.
Roger's injuries were slightly lighter than Whitebeard's.
Because Roger was so fast and agile, neither Sengoku nor Garp could easily land a deadly hit on him.
However, his stamina was not as high as Whitebeard's, making the fight just as exhausting for him.
On the Marine side, Sengoku, Garp, Raleigh, Sakazuki, Borsalino, and the recently arrived Kuzan were all incredibly tough fighters.
They had high offense and high defense, and they did not mind getting into bloody clashes with the pirates.
The only pirate who could be called a true "tank" was Kaido of the Beasts, but he was blocked on the outer edges of the battlefield.
His earlier plan to let the surrounding pirates tire out the Marines had stopped him from escaping the Marine trap in time.
Right now, with Staff Officer Tsuru leading them, Gion, Tokikake, Doberman, and Enel had Kaido firmly trapped on the outskirts.
He could not move forward.
Even though Kaido's stamina and defense were amazing, his current attacks were not enough to easily defeat the Marine vice-admirals.
He could only rage helplessly as the Marines attacked him as a group.
...
Meanwhile, on Raleigh's warship, a group of Marines sat cross-legged on the deck, greedily eating meat.
Rows of Marine soldiers constantly carried food to the center, but the fighters inhaled the food so fast that the plates never seemed full.
Raleigh's wounds had mostly healed by now.
He held a massive beef leg in his right hand, quickly stuffing it into his mouth.
As he ate, he thought about how to end this battle.
The quiet Sakazuki, the lazy-looking Borsalino, and the excited Kuzan were eating just as fast.
In a short time, their bodies had puffed up into round shapes.
"Life Return."
Instantly, their bodies shrank back down to normal.
The only difference was that their minor wounds had completely healed, leaving only the deepest cuts.
Their stamina had mostly recovered by using the Life Return technique.
"Raleigh, what should we do?" Sakazuki asked first.
He no longer looked at Raleigh as just a junior who was one year below him.
Over these four days of fighting, Sakazuki had realized that Raleigh was now his equal.
He even admitted to himself that Raleigh was better at planning things out than he was.
Raleigh looked at the fish in his hand and shook his head.
He had not thought of any better ideas.
During these days of fighting, they had tried sneak attacks and switching out fighters.
However, their opponents, Roger and Whitebeard, were highly experienced veterans.
After Gaban died, they had become very careful around the Marines.
Because of this, several ambush attempts had completely failed.
"Our only option now is to wait them out," Raleigh said. "Our advantage is that we have more people than the pirates. We can switch our fighters in and out. We have way more food and supplies than the pirates do, and we have many more reinforcements."
"As long as we hold out, we will definitely win." Raleigh swallowed the fish in his hand whole.
His words were obvious and offered no new plans, but the three future admirals nodded in agreement.
This was because they also could not think of a way to completely crush their enemies.
Just as Raleigh said, the only thing left to do was wait.
They would wait until the pirates ran out of supplies and tried to break out.
When they finally showed a weakness, that would be the moment the Marines would strike.
Over on Sengoku's warship, he and Garp were eating huge mouthfuls of food while keeping their eyes glued to the Oro Jackson.
"Garp, can you still hold on?" Sengoku asked with concern, looking at his close friend whose upper body was covered in bandages.
Garp stretched his arm and took another huge bite of meat.
"I am not dead yet. Roger is not that easy to defeat."
Sengoku used his Observation Haki to make sure no one could hear his next words.
"Garp, hold on for one more day, and we can completely destroy them."
"Fleet Admiral Kong has contacted me. He has finished all his business at Headquarters. He is bringing elite soldiers gathered from the Four Blues to join this battle. Fleet Admiral Kong will arrive here before noon tomorrow," Sengoku whispered excitedly.
Garp looked at Sengoku in shock, finding it hard to believe.
He never expected Kong to personally join the fight.
He thought Kong would stay to guard Headquarters, just like he always did.
"If Fleet Admiral Kong is coming, why has there been no news about it?" Garp asked in surprise.
"Keeping the information secret is the only way Fleet Admiral Kong can avoid the pirates' spies. Right now, only you and I know about this. We must keep it a secret so we can deal a deadly blow to the pirates."
Sengoku was full of confidence about winning this battle.
That was Fleet Admiral Kong!
Even if you ignored his high rank, his fighting skills were still on the level of the top admirals.
With him joining the fight, the pirates were almost guaranteed to lose.
...
After finishing his meat, Raleigh grabbed a napkin and wiped his mouth.
Watching Raleigh, Sakazuki threw away his leftover meat and stood up.
"Raleigh, I want to try that move."
Hearing Sakazuki's request, Raleigh thought for a moment before nodding.
"No problem, Sakazuki-senpai."
The two jumped off the warship and rushed toward a distant island that had already been burned to ash.
This island had been destroyed and rebuilt over and over again during the battle.
The current shape of the land looked nothing like it originally did.
It was entirely made of cooled magma that Sakazuki had pulled up from deep underground.
Standing on the island now, Sakazuki closed his eyes.
Thick, black, toxic smoke poured off his upper body, and his skin once again turned into bubbling magma.
A strong smell of sulfur filled the air.
The warm, glowing magma all over the island slowly began pulling together, gathering drop by drop toward Sakazuki at the center.
"Roger, what is that magma brat up to now?" Whitebeard lifted his massive bisento, Murakumogiri, staring closely at Sakazuki.
Roger looked up quickly. "That guy is preparing a massive area attack."
Realizing something was wrong, Roger instantly grabbed his Famous Sword, Ace, which was resting nearby.
A massive sword beam shot out from the Oro Jackson, slicing through the air with lightning speed.
Sakazuki, completely focused on charging his Devil Fruit power, did not even look at the incoming attack.
He fully trusted Raleigh, who was standing beside him.
"METEOR VOLCANO!!!"
After gathering enough power, Sakazuki suddenly unleashed his attack.
Countless magma rocks shot upward from the pool of magma around Sakazuki.
The giant burning stones flew high into the sky, creating intense friction with the air.
Howling sounds echoed through the sky as all the magma rocks vanished into the dark storm clouds above.
No one knew when or where they would fall.
Just as everyone started using Observation Haki to track the attack, glowing dark-red dots appeared deep within the pitch-black clouds.
In the next second, hundreds of giant magma fists burst out of the clouds, quickly breaking through the air.
Trailing flames and making a roaring sound, the giant magma fists violently crashed down toward Roger's Oro Jackson.