This Vice Captain of the Red Hair Pirates had truly, with a mortal body and by relying on his peak mastery of the three types of Haki and tempered skills, head-on blocked an enraged "God," firmly intercepting him upon this frozen plain!
However—
Amidst the fierce clash, Beckman's gaze remained as calm as a deep pool.
He could clearly sense that although his attacks were fierce enough to leave wounds on the opponent's "body" covered in eerie energy and resilience, delaying his movements, they could not penetrate the deepest defense belonging to the essence of "immortality."
The opponent's recovery ability was still ongoing, with injuries healing at a slow but steady pace.
Killing him was indeed impossible.
This was not his goal at this moment anyway.
His peripheral vision swept across the distance—Yamato's figure holding Uta had already become a small dot, about to vanish behind the more complex glaciers.
And further away in the sky, that magnificent and tragic duel continued; that was the battlefield belonging to his Captain, the Four Emperors Shanks.
A successful interception meant victory.
He stood firmly in place, like the most solid reef, blocking the tide of destruction... The battle fell into a strange stalemate.
Shanks fought one against two, facing the violent siege of Saint Pitou and Saint Nusjuro. Although he was slightly on the defensive, his sword light swept across and his Haoshoku surged, defending impeccably; occasionally, his sharp counterattacks even made the two Mythical Zoan Types retreat in wariness.
Beckman tightly entangled Saint Mars, every collision of gunfire and black flames exploding into turbulent energy. This Vice Captain utilized the art of "interception" to its limit, acting as the toughest barrier, preventing Saint Mars from taking even a single step past him to pursue Uta.
Saint V. Warcury engaged in a fierce battle with the heavily injured Kaido. Although Kaido's injuries were severe and his dragon scales were shattered, his ferocity was completely triggered, and his life-for-life fighting style made it impossible for Saint V. Warcury to quickly take him down.
What incensed them even more was—the Marines! Akainu's magma churned but his offensive was hesitant; Kizaru's golden light flashed but he remained inextricably locked in a wandering skirmish with Zephyr on the periphery; Aokiji's cold air was even more erratic. The performance of the entire Marine top combat force could be described as passive slacking!
"Trash! A bunch of trash!"
Saint Nusjuro, transformed into the Fengxi, let out a heaven-shaking roar, spraying poisonous mist and corroding a patch of ground into a bubbling swamp. His giant compound eyes swept across the battlefield, especially over those Admirals who were not putting in effort; a sense of shame burned through their high-and-mighty nerves like poisonous fire.
When had they, the Gorosei, ever personally set out only to fall into such an embarrassing situation? They had even lost Satan Saint! This was not just a tactical disadvantage, but a grave desecration of the majesty of the eight-hundred-year-old theocratic rule!
"Akainu! Kizaru! Aokiji!" Saint Pitou's mountain-like stag beetle shell buzzed and vibrated, his voice heavy and full of threat. "What are you waiting for?! Show the true skill of a Marine Admiral! Immediately suppress the rebellion and kill all witnesses!"
Saint V. Warcury forced Kaido back with a Hellfire Slash, his horse-bone head turning toward the Marines, ghostly fire seemingly burning in his hollow eye sockets. "Do not forget your identity! And do not forget... every one of you, and everything you cherish—your backgrounds, your pasts, your weaknesses... the World Government knows them all clearly!"
While struggling with Beckman, Saint Mars also let out a sharp, piercing shriek: "If even one of these rebels escapes today, or if word of today's events leaks even slightly... once this matter is over, the liquidation will not just be for these pirates!"
"Your entire Marine system, from top to bottom, every person who slacked off, every person who hesitated, will endure the 'purification' of God's wrath!"
"Think of Ohara! Think of Fisher Tiger! Think of those 'disobedient' branches under your command! The World Government can let you climb to the peak of power, and it can also let you... fall into the bottomless abyss of hell!"
A naked threat! Unmasked intimidation!
Not only threatening personal safety but also using the continued existence of the Marines as a whole, and the people or ideals they might care about, as bargaining chips! This was to completely strip away the Marine's cloak of "Independent Justice," forcing them to immediately transform into the most loyal and cold-blooded executioners!
Pressure, like a physical iceberg, crashed down upon the three Marine Admirals and every Marine officer and soldier present. Should they continue to respond passively and face an unimaginably cruel liquidation afterward? Or should they immediately turn their guns and swing their executioner's blades at their former enemies in exchange for the organization's survival and their own "safety"?
"Family...?"
"Backgrounds... Liquidation...?"
Saint Mars's bone-chilling, undisguised threat, like the most vicious curse, pierced through the clamor of the battlefield and accurately stabbed into the heart of every Marine present. The Vice Admirals and Rear Admirals who had followed the Admirals in battle for years, the officers and soldiers who came from ordinary backgrounds but held beliefs in justice... everyone's pupils suddenly contracted at this moment, a chill rushing from their spines straight to their skulls!
They could face death for the sake of justice and fight powerful pirates to the end for orders, but "targeting families" and "settling scores later"—these meanest and most despicable methods hidden in the shadows—were never what they prepared to face when they put on these uniforms! This was the most complete defilement of their beliefs!
And bearing the brunt of it was Akainu; on his face, which was always as determined and cold as granite, a rare, extremely subtle, almost stagnant tremor appeared.
Family... What family did he, Akainu Sakazuki, have? He had long since dedicated his life to "Absolute Justice." But what about the generals under him? What about the soldiers who followed him and believed in his ideals? They all had parents, wives, and children; they all had people they cherished. The World Government... actually wanted to use such methods to force them into submission?
"Using the lives of the innocent to threaten soldiers into performing their duties..."
Akainu's fist, wrapped in boiling magma, felt colder than ten-thousand-year-old ice. A flame mixed with fury, disdain, and deep disappointment ignited silently in his chest!
How was this behavior... any different from those low-life pirates who kidnapped, extorted, and committed all sorts of evil?! No, it was even more unbearable! Because pirates at least committed evil openly, while the World Government, under the banner of "God" and "Order," carried out such filthy deeds!
The "Absolute Justice" he upheld was to purify the filth of the sea, eliminate all evil, and establish an order of iron and fire! But this order should never be built upon the terror of threatening one's own people with the lives of the weak! Even less should it be for slaving away for these "Gods" who viewed human life as grass and acted without any bottom line!
Swinging a fist for such beings would be the greatest betrayal of his life's beliefs!
The decision instantly took shape amidst the fury and the ice...
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