On the other side of the battlefield, Marco was locked in combat with Saint Mars of the Gorosei.
In a straight one-on-one, Marco didn't think any of the Gorosei could match him. To wrap things up faster, he had deliberately chosen to face Saint Mars, the weakest of the three present. Saint Mars could fly, but that advantage meant nothing against Marco, who ruled the skies himself.
With Marco taking the lead on offense and Zack seizing chances to harass from the flanks, the pressure on Saint Mars mounted rapidly. His so‑called "King Level" strength was propped up by his Immortality; even if that Immortality had been greatly restricted, there was still a clear gap between them.
"Black Flame: Blazing Fist!" Marco roared, his fists bursting into savage black fire.
"You insect, don't get so arrogant! Divine Flames!" Mars bellowed back. Flames flared from his body as well, but they were a mundane orange, a sharp contrast to Marco's ominous black blaze.
The two closed in and traded blows at blistering speed, fists whipping out like a storm and slamming into each other with heavy, echoing impacts.
Blood sprayed from Saint Mars's nose and mouth. Even with his insane regenerative power from Immortality, under Marco's overwhelming Haoshoku, that undying body suddenly felt fragile.
"Damn… damn it!" Mars staggered back dozens of steps, wiping the blood from his face, fear flickering in his eyes.
Marco, by contrast, only grew more fired up. He laughed in his face. "What's wrong? Fight back! Is that all you've got?"
He kept taunting as he surged forward again without letting up. "Keep showing me what you've got!"
Mars drew in a deep breath. He pressed his hands together, then slowly spread them apart, as if opening a flower. Between his palms, a scorching fireball began to form before his chest, glowing like a rising sun. Its brilliant light spread outward as the sphere steadily swelled in size.
Marco's eyes narrowed in brief surprise, but he didn't retreat. He flew straight in.
Seeing Marco close the distance, Mars cut off the charge-up, let out a low growl, and unleashed everything at once. "Take this! Gaia's Power…!"
A roaring fireball, about ten meters across, screamed toward Marco. Marco twisted in midair and slipped past it with agile ease. He had more than enough strength to take it head‑on, but there was no point in eating damage he could simply avoid.
Mars's eye twitched as he watched Marco casually evade his "Gaia's Power." Without a word, he turned and shot higher into the sky, trying to draw Marco into a high‑speed chase.
The earlier exchange had driven a bitter truth into him: a direct slugfest against Marco put him at a severe disadvantage. It wasn't that he couldn't fight him—it was that, as a Celestial Dragon, he hadn't truly been hurt in hundreds of years. His body flinched from pain on instinct.
Their Immortality was similar to Logia elementalization in some ways but also fundamentally different.
A Logia user could be hurt with Armament Haki, Haoshoku infusion, or Seastone.
Yet the Gorosei's Immortality was far more special: only those with overwhelmingly strong Conqueror's Haki could truly threaten them. Without it, they were untouchable.
That was exactly why Mars wanted nothing to do with a head‑on brawl.
Marco's Haoshoku was monstrously powerful, enough to break through his Immortality. For centuries, the Gorosei had lived above the world, never suffering injury.
And Marco's fighting style favored trading blows. To trade blows with a monster like him was pure suicide for the Gorosei.
Behind them, the earlier giant fireball finally crashed into the sea with a thunderous boom, sending up a column of water over a hundred meters high.
"Hey, you! Is running away all you know how to do?" Marco shouted up at Mars, who kept climbing higher.
Mars ignored him and continued to flee at top speed. Glancing back at Marco, who was still glued to his tail, Mars quickly reached out via telepathy: "Saturn, Peter, how are things on your side?"
Saturn and Peter both frowned when they received his message. Their original plan had been to gather the Seraphim and Vista's group, then have Saturn use his immobilization technique to lock them all down at once.
But Vista, Jinbe, and the others were already familiar with Saturn's power. From the very start, they'd carefully spread out, making sure they couldn't be taken in a single sweep.
Peter responded grimly, "Don't worry. We're almost done here."
Mars's gaze returned to Marco, still chasing him relentlessly. His tone hardened. "Hurry it up. Those marine wastes are about to hit their limit. Once they retreat, the Three Emperors alliance will definitely send more people to protect Vegapunk. After that, it'll be even harder to kill him."
"Understood." Ending the telepathic link, Peter turned to Saturn. "Saturn, we're out of time. We can't drag this on. We have to finish them as fast as possible."
Saturn's face twisted. He had wanted to capture the Seraphim alive. As a scientist, he knew he could crack their command hierarchy given enough time. Seven Seraphim under his control would be a terrifying force.
But that plan was slipping out of reach.
Saturn clenched his jaw. "In that case… we eliminate them."
As soon as he finished speaking, Peter transformed into a massive sand worm and lunged at S‑Bear.
S‑Bear reacted instantly, firing lasers from its palms, but the beams deflected harmlessly on Peter's body. Once he closed in, he opened his enormous maw, clamped down on S‑Bear, and began to chew.
A deafening crunch sounded. Cracks split across S‑Bear's body. Sparks spat out as electricity arced wildly. Under the monstrous bite force of Peter's sand‑worm form, S‑Bear's body was ripped clean in half.
Vista and the others were stunned, their faces going pale. The remaining Seraphim also showed naked fear. With emotions programmed into them, they could feel the pain and terror of losing a comrade.
Watching through surveillance, Vegapunk let out a broken cry. "How… how is this possible?! S‑Bear was actually killed…"
The Seraphim were his ultimate creation—his image of the "strongest human." Yet even they couldn't escape the Gorosei's clutches.
Stussy and the other clones were equally shaken. Every Seraphim carried Lunarian bloodline factors; as long as the flame on their backs burned, their defense was supposed to be nearly unbreakable.
But S‑Bear had just been chewed apart, almost casually. It defied belief.
The gigantic sand worm crunched noisily on S‑Bear's upper mechanical half, then spat the mangled parts out with a wet splatter. Only then did everyone notice the components were already corroding. Peter said coldly, "Alright. Next." He surged toward the other Seraphim.
"Damn it! We can't let him do this!" Vista and the other two moved at once. At the same time, Saturn stepped forward to strike, his voice ice‑cold. "Don't worry. No one is leaving alive today. You'll all die."
The battle inside the lab raged, and outside, the fighting was just as fierce.
The duel between Warcury and Kaido drew every eye. Both were walking fortresses, crashing into each other again and again.
Each of their blows could break through the other's defense, yet neither had been able to land a truly decisive hit.
As the strongest of the Gorosei, Warcury still held a slim edge even against Kaido in his awakened state, pressing him back bit by bit.
Kaido found Warcury's immortality troublesome. Even with Marco's hint about its weakness, he was still experimenting.
Looking at the bruises and gashes on his own body, Kaido couldn't help but be impressed. He hadn't expected Warcury's power to be this outrageous.
Then he burst into a feral laugh. "Worororo! Now this is more like it! You fight well—but if you think that level is enough to beat me, you're dreaming. Come again!"
"You filthy pirate… you dare challenge a god? I will show you how foolish that is," Warcury snarled, charging back in without hesitation.
Kaido drew a deep breath, recalling Marco's words. He poured his Haoshoku into his kanabo, concentrating the Conqueror's Haki infusion into a single sharp point at its tip.
He quickly realized this technique could punch through Warcury's seemingly immortal defense.
After several exchanges, Kaido finally got the hang of it.
Even so, Warcury's defense was beyond anything he'd faced—perhaps even tougher than Big Mom's so‑called "Iron Balloon."
Marco's trick let him crack the mystery of Warcury's immortality, but actually putting him down would require a grueling war of attrition.
None of that discouraged Kaido. For a battle maniac like him, an evenly matched opponent like this was a rare prize.
Fighting such a monster might be exactly what he needed to break through to an even higher level.
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