"W-what kind of joke is this? How… how can humans possibly defeat a monster like that?"
A pirate who had lowered his weapon muttered in despair.
Cracker held his giant sword, unable to stop trembling as he looked at the enormous meteor about to fall from the sky.
"Stop!"
Even though Cracker himself was afraid of the giant meteor, the long sword in his hand still struck mercilessly toward Fujitora Issho, who had just spent a great deal of effort summoning it.
A powerful sword aura suddenly appeared in front of Issho.
The giant sword in Cracker's hand was covered in pitch-black Armament Haki.
"Gravity: Repulsion."
Facing Cracker's attack, Issho did not choose to clash head-on. Instead, he used his Devil Fruit ability to generate a powerful repulsive force, blasting Cracker far away.
"Anti-Gravity."
After sending Cracker flying, Issho quickly used his cane sword to draw a circle on the ground, then controlled the land beneath his feet and lifted it into the sky.
Cracker's face twisted ferociously.
He did not dare imagine how many of his younger brothers and sisters, as well as the pirates of the Charlotte Family, would survive such an attack.
And as one of the Three Sweet Commanders, he could not imagine what kind of punishment he would face from Charlotte Linlin back on Whole Cake Island.
The battle continued.
The meteor's descent was now unavoidable.
At this point, soldiers on both sides were desperately rushing toward their own ships.
Even in the face of such a scene, the Marines still used the firepower aboard their warships to bombard the pirate ships belonging to the Charlotte Family.
One unmanned pirate ship after another was blasted into fragments under the Marines' fierce artillery fire.
One pirate after another could only run desperately toward the next ship that had not yet exploded.
"Gravity Movement!"
After Issho flew above the Marine warships, he used his ability to lift the Marine warships from the sea.
Before officially engaging the Charlotte Family, he had already simulated this scenario in his mind.
Once a high-intensity battle broke out, in order to avoid the deaths of ordinary soldiers, he would immediately lift all the warships into the air and prevent them from being swallowed by tsunamis caused by the battle's intensity.
Now it seemed that what Issho had considered really might happen, even though this time, it was caused by Issho himself.
Boom!
Under everyone's attention, the meteor ultimately struck the island with no way to avoid it.
At the first instant it touched the island, a faint sound appeared.
Then the entire world seemed to sink into absolute silence, without even the slightest noise.
That was because the sound produced by the explosion had exceeded the limit of what the human body could hear and had transformed into an energy wave spreading outward in all directions.
Everything blocking the path of that energy wave would be smashed to pieces by its terrifying force.
"Silent Space!"
On the central warship, a pale-faced Marine pressed both hands against the deck and desperately activated his Devil Fruit ability.
Rosinante.
After dealing with Uta and feeling that there was nothing meaningful left to do there, Rosinante had taken the initiative to apply to go with Issho to the Charlotte Family's territory in the New World for training.
The main reason was that Issho and Sengoku had a fairly good relationship, so Sengoku felt safe handing Rosinante over to Issho.
Now, this was the best moment for Rosinante's Calm-Calm Fruit to activate.
The domain suddenly expanded, enveloping every Marine warship, then silently waited for the impact of the energy wave.
Boom!
Inside the domain, the Marine soldiers could not hear any sound from the outside world.
They could not even hear the sounds they themselves made because of Rosinante's ability.
Among the Marines, only Rosinante could hear the energy wave crashing against the domain.
"Pfft."
A mouthful of blood sprayed from his mouth.
Rosinante's face flushed red, and the veins on his forehead bulged, as if they might burst at any moment under the immense pressure.
At some point, Zephyr appeared beside Rosinante, bringing several military doctors with him, prepared to treat Rosinante at any time.
"If you cannot hold on anymore in the future, take this, Rosinante."
As Rosinante's consciousness blurred, Enel's figure appeared in his mind. In that memory, Enel had once handed him a pill and told him that he could only use it when his life was in danger.
Rosinante struggled to take out a silver-gray metal bottle from the pocket near his chest.
Forcing himself to stay conscious, he twisted open the cap, poured the pill inside into his mouth, and swallowed it.
Thump… thump, thump… thump, thump, thump!
The moment the pill entered his stomach, Rosinante's originally hazy consciousness instantly cleared.
He could clearly feel his heart beating faster and faster.
Inside his body, a mysterious energy began supporting his technique.
The Silent Domain that had been on the verge of collapse was instead stabilized with the support of this power.
Rosinante coughed up another mouthful of blood, but his eyes became brighter and brighter.
"Do not worry about me, Chief Instructor Zephyr. I am in very good condition right now."
Rosinante opened his mouth to explain.
Zephyr frowned.
He had seen Rosinante swallow the pill just now, and he had clearly sensed Rosinante's aura shift from weakness at the beginning to its current strength.
But Zephyr had spent his entire life in battle.
He knew very well that this kind of power did not come without a price.
He had once encountered many people who took forbidden drugs to gain strength, and he understood deeply that so-called forbidden drugs merely forcefully extracted the body's energy to create a short-term breakthrough.
However, Zephyr did not say anything now.
Because if Rosinante had not taken the forbidden drug to strengthen himself, he might not have been able to maintain the Silent Domain.
In that case, the Marines would have suffered the same fate as the pirates.
At this moment, on the island below, most of the pirates did not even have time to scream before they were crushed into ash beneath the meteor.
The originally solid island was directly shattered into broken reefs under the meteor's impact.
Beyond that, the enormous energy wave created by the collision directly led the unprotected pirates to death.
Countless pirates were left in a horrific state, bleeding from every opening on their faces.
On the far side away from the island, the surface of a giant pirate ship was wrapped in a hard biscuit shield.
As the energy wave swept over it, the hard biscuit shield shattered like snow, large amounts of it falling into the sea.
But immediately afterward came a white mochi defense.
Cracker and Katakuri had acted at the same time, creating two layers of protection.
Even if Cracker's defense failed, Katakuri's mochi would serve as a second barrier.
At the same time, aside from the part of the ship below the waterline, everything above the waterline had already been transformed into mochi by Katakuri.
Otherwise, the mast and keel of the ship would never have been able to withstand the impact of the energy wave.
Fortunately, under the two layers of defense, the energy wave produced by the explosion did not cause too much damage to the ship.
Katakuri and Cracker slowly withdrew their abilities, then quickly left the second defensive line with their younger brothers, sisters, and subordinates.
Because they understood very clearly that after such an impact, a terrifying tsunami would definitely follow. They could only take advantage of the time before the tsunami fully formed and rush back to Whole Cake Island.
In midair, after the energy wave passed, Rosinante fainted without warning.
The military doctors behind Zephyr quickly stepped forward and carried him into the cabin for treatment.
Zephyr looked down at the island beneath them, which had completely disappeared, and his expression showed neither joy nor sorrow.
He did not want to become a butcher of pirates, nor did he want to remain the former Admiral who refused to kill.
Therefore, he had no particular opinion about this result.
"Chief Instructor Zephyr, shall we continue the attack?"
Issho walked forward and asked politely.
Now was the best time to expand their gains while the Charlotte Family pirates had suffered heavy losses.
Zephyr glanced at Fujitora Issho, then issued the military order.
"All units, pursue the surviving pirates. Continue the pursuit until the Charlotte Family's third defensive line."
Under Zephyr's order and Issho's ability, the Marines flew through the air while continuously pouring artillery fire down onto the pirate ships below.
One cannonball after another mercilessly shattered the pirates' desire to survive.