At that moment, Peter quietly stepped back a few paces, gathering power in secret. In the next instant, a massive five-pointed magic circle flared to life above his head.
The moment it appeared, fierce winds howled across the battlefield, and arcs of purple lightning crackled out from within the circle.
Marco's face darkened as soon as he saw it. He hadn't expected Peter to be calling in reinforcements.
That was what made the World Government so troublesome—this spatial teleportation magic circle could bring in support again and again. Before long, seven figures descended from the glowing sigil.
At their head stood an elderly man, his hair and beard shaped like a crescent moon. He wore sunglasses, and as he took in his surroundings, he asked, "So this is Egghead Island?"
"I didn't expect it would be you, Garling," Peter said, surprise flashing in his eyes.
The newcomer was indeed the commander of the God's Knights, Figarland Garling.
"Time was short," Garling replied solemnly. "I could only gather the closest God's Knights as quickly as possible."
Peter glanced over the Holy Knights standing before him, then nodded seriously. "It's enough."
"The World Government's reinforcements showed up again..."
"Who are those guys?! They look seriously strong!"
"Damn it! The Gorosei can just teleport people over with that magic circle whenever they want!"
The pirates on Marco's side all wore grim expressions as they watched the World Government's backup arrive.
Kaido, locked in combat with Warcury, also cast a glance their way and muttered, voice heavy, "God's Knights? That unit is made up entirely of elite Celestial Dragons?"
"Mamamama! They're all bad news, every last one of them," BIG MOM snarled with a feral grin, though her eyes were grave.
Gorosei, God's Knights… With this initial glimpse of the World Government's true military strength, she suddenly felt that the idea of overthrowing them had been far too naive. This wasn't something they could topple.
The power of the World Government was on a completely different level from any enemy they had faced before.
Now that the war had escalated this far, even she, one of the Four Emperors, found it hard to tip the scales.
Marco's gaze turned icy as he activated his level scan:
'Figarland Garling Saint — Estimated Strength: Strong Yonko level (peak at Weak King level).'
'Figarland Gorum—Estimated Strength: Weak Yonko level.'
'Donquixote Kuzan Saint—Paramecia-type Chill-Chill Fruit—Estimated Strength: Yonko Commander level.'
'Marcus Duran Dutertre Saint—Paramecia-type Paper-Paper Fruit—Estimated Strength: Strong Yonko Commander level.'
'Naronar Crimi Palace — Paramecia-type Sniper Fruit — Estimated Strength: Yonko Commander level.'
'Topman Cecilia Palace—Paramecia-type Balloon-Balloon Fruit—Estimated Strength: Yonko Commander level.'
'Jaygarcia Heim Saint—Logia-type Dust-Dust Fruit—Estimated Strength: Strong Yonko Commander level.'
Taking in their stats, Marco's expression grew even uglier. So these were the so‑called God's Knights? Seven people—two at Yonko level and five at Yonko Commander level. It was absurd.
Peter's eyes narrowed. "Saint Garling, you and I will deal with the Phoenix together. Have the rest of the God's Knights support the marines. Those useless Marines seem to be struggling a bit right now."
Figarland Garling Saint listened, then gave a slight nod, his tone grave. "So this is the lowly ant who killed Saint Mars? It's truly unbelievable."
He turned to the other Holy Knights and barked, "All of you, go support the Marines!"
"Yes, Commander!" the Holy Knights answered in unison before rushing off to carry out his orders.
Marco's gaze fell on Figarland Garling Saint. If he remembered correctly, this guy was Red-Haired Shanks's father, commander of the God's Knights, and—sometime in the future—one of the Gorosei.
And now, unless something unexpected happened, that future seemed even more likely. After all, Marco had just killed one of the Gorosei with his own hands.
Peter spoke again, his expression turning serious. "Saint Garling, be careful. The Phoenix's Haki is very strong. Our immortality is completely useless against him."
"Haki that can break immortality?" Saint Garling didn't look surprised. Without overwhelming Haki, it would've been impossible to kill Saint Mars, who possessed immortality, or to seriously injure Saint Nusjuro.
Even so, in the depths of his heart, Garling felt a faint sense of gratitude toward Marco. Lord Imu had just informed him that Saint Mars had been killed by Marco.
It was tragic news—but it also opened a path for him to climb higher.
He was a Celestial Dragon, Commander of the God's Knights, and he shared the same immortality as the Gorosei, yet he had not been granted eternal life.
Every member of the God's Knights served as Lord Imu's personal guard and was granted immortality, but only a select few were worthy of being given eternal life.
Now that Saint Mars was dead, a Gorosei seat had opened up—and among the Celestial Dragons, Figarland Garling was the one with the greatest chance of taking it.
At that moment, Marco heard the system's mechanical voice ring in his mind:
"New enemy detected. Bounty: Defeat the God's Knights Commander. Reward: 10,000 attribute points.
Defeat a Holy Knight member. Reward: 7,000 attribute points."
The sudden announcement caught Marco off guard. He quickly opened his system panel and saw that the mission to protect the world's greatest scientist had been updated.
"Mission: Protect the world's greatest scientist, Vegapunk. Repel the invading enemies. Reward: 10,000 attribute points.
Repel the enemies targeting Vegapunk. Bounties:
Defeat a Gorosei, Reward: 10,000 attribute points for each one defeated.
Defeat the God's Knights Commander. Reward: 10,000 attribute points.
Defeat a Holy Knight member. Reward: 7,000 attribute points.
Defeat an admiral. Reward: 8,000 attribute points for each admiral defeated.
Defeat a Marine vice admiral. Reward: 500 attribute points for each vice admiral defeated."
With the arrival of the God's Knights, the system had instantly adjusted the mission, placing clear bounties on every one of them.
On the other side of the battlefield, the arrival of the God's Knights greatly eased the pressure on the marines. Their members quickly singled out the top fighters of the Three Emperors Alliance and clashed with them head‑on.
Very soon, however, the cadres of the Three Emperors Alliance noticed a serious problem.
"These guys… how do they also have immortality?!" After sending a holy knight flying, Zack stared in shock, realizing that this opponent also possessed immortality.
"Damn it…" King's expression was just as grim. While fighting another holy knight, he too discovered the same immortality.
"The God's Knights members also possess immortality. It seems this won't be easy." Katakuri's gaze hardened. He recalled the method Marco had previously told Kaido and Big Mom for breaking immortality—concentrating Conqueror's Haki infusion into a single point to attack. But could he pull that off?
He had only recently mastered Conqueror's Haki Infusion. Pushing his Conqueror's Haki even further now would be extremely difficult.
For the moment, Zack, King, and Katakuri each held a holy knight at bay, yet none of them had a reliable way to break the God Knights' immortality.
"Yonko Big Mom."
A hooded man stepped toward Big Mama, his voice cold. "Next, I will be your opponent."
Big Mama's brows drew together. As one of the Four Emperors, her perception was razor‑sharp. She could clearly sense that this man was different from the other Holy Knights.
"Who are you, brat? You wanna challenge me to a duel?" Big Mama glared at the man, whose face was half hidden beneath his hood, her eyes icy.
Figarland Gorum slowly pulled back his hood, revealing a face seven or eight tenths similar to Red‑haired Shanks'. "You are not yet qualified to know my name," he said coldly. "I only want to test my recent training on you."
Seeing the red hair and familiar features, both pirates and Marines were stunned. That face was far too similar to that man—the youngest of the Four Emperors, Red‑Haired Shanks.
But unlike Red Hair, this man had no scar above his eye, and he was clearly much younger, looking only in his twenties—a youthful version of Red Hair.
"Who exactly are you, you punk? Why do you look so much like Red‑Haired Shanks?!" Big Mama roared.
At the mention of that name, Figarland Gorum sneered with open disdain. "Shanks? It's been a long time since I heard that name. He is my elder brother."
The moment his words fell, shock rippled through both pirates and Marines alike. The younger brother was a celestial dragon and a member of the God's Knights, while the elder brother was a pirate.
Big Maom's pupils shrank. "That guy Red Hair... he's actually a Celestial Dragon?" she said in disbelief.
In the distance, Marco—locked in battle with Peter and Saint Garling—was startled by what he heard and muttered, "They're three brothers?"
He remembered the assault on the Holy Land, when he'd run into a man who looked strikingly similar to Red Hair. The man's name had been Saint Figarland Shamrock, and he had claimed to be Shanks' elder brother. Now this guy of him was saying he was Shanks' younger brother, and Saint Garling here seemed to be Shanks' father.
This family was even more outrageous than Luffy's Monkey family.
Garling stared coldly at Marco. "About twenty years ago, he returned to the Holy Land once. But he seems to prefer this filthy lower world to the Holy Land. If the eldest brother is the glory of our Figarland family, then he is the disgrace of our clan. It's a pity he inherited the Figarland bloodline and such powerful strength, yet abandoned his status as a World Noble and willingly degenerated into a pirate."
Marco skimmed the battlefield at low altitude, wings beating lazily as blue flames flickered. Even while taking attacks from both Peter and Saint Garling, he still looked relaxed. But facing two of them at once meant he couldn't finish this quickly.
The real problem was the drain on his Conqueror's Haki.
To deal with the immortality of the Gorosei and the God's Knights, he had to unleash a wide burst of Conqueror's Haki to suppress them.
And the Gorosei could counter with their own Conqueror's Haki, pushing back against his.
So, to overwhelm their conqueror's Haki, Marco was forced to keep pouring out his own. Only by doing that could he suppress their immortality and bring them down fast.
He had already burned through a huge amount of Haki when he took down Saint Nusjuro. His reserves still hadn't fully recovered, and without enough Conqueror's Haki, he couldn't properly break their immortality.
At the same time, they had no reliable way to deal with Marco either. His flight gave him overwhelming mobility, allowing him to avoid their killing blows with ease.
I can't waste any more time on them. Marco steeled himself and glanced toward the two Admirals and the other Holy Knights.
No matter what, he was the strongest on this battlefield. Instead of dragging things out with Peter and Saint Garling, it would be better to pick off the other members of the God's Knights first and rack up attribute points.
But if he went after the God's Knights, someone still had to keep an eye on Peter and Saint Garling. Peter had king-level strength, and although Saint Garling was old, he still possessed strong Yonko-level power.
At best, even Kaido and Big Mom could only barely trade a few blows with them.
Marco looked back at the God's Knights. To him, they were practically walking experience points, and the sight made his mouth water.
His two missions now overlapped. For the "Protect Vegapunk" mission, defeating a Holy Knight granted 7,000 attribute points. For the "Slay Imu, Overthrow the World Government" mission, killing a Holy Knight granted 5,000 more. Marco already had 10,000 points; if he took down two Holy Knights, he could upgrade his Haki.
With that in mind, Marco wheeled around and flew toward Big Mom, shouting, "Linlin—!"
"Eh?" Big Mom glanced over, frowning in confusion.
"You hold off those two," Marco yelled to her. "I'll deal with the others!"
At that, Big Mom's face went green. She bellowed back, "Are you screwing with me?!"
"Use your real strength," Marco pressed. "Show them the true power of a Yonko."
Without waiting for her answer, he shot past her.
"Bastard! Marco, you little—!" Big Mom roared.
She was already fighting at full power and still couldn't match the Gorosei. Now Saint Garling was here too, with strength no weaker than hers, plus that kid who was Red-Haired Shanks's little brother. How was she supposed to win?!
Before she could finish cursing, she saw Peter and Saint Garling closing in.
"Mama…" Katakuri, seeing her predicament, spoke anxiously.
Marco flew straight toward him, shouting, "Katakuri, switch! I'll handle this Holy Knight—you go help Big Mom!"
Katakuri didn't like Marco's tone, but he moved immediately to support Big Mom.
Jaygarcia Saturn Heim Saint, who had been trading blows with Katakuri, watched Katakuri retreat and Marco rush in to replace him. There was no fear in his eyes—only excitement.
"Tch. So my opponent's a Yonko this time? That's even better."
Yellow dust gathered in Heim Saint's hand as he roared, "Dust Storm!"
Marco ignored the attack completely. His raging Haoshoku Haki slammed down, and his fist, wreathed in Conqueror's Haki, drove straight for Heim Saint.
"This is bad—Heim, run!" Saint Garling shouted, his face draining of color.
The warning came too late. Marco's razor-sharp punch smashed directly into Heim Saint's head, blowing it apart. Under the crushing weight of Marco's Conqueror's Haki, his so‑called immortality failed entirely.
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