The western plaza of Marineford had dissolved into a highly specific, localized tornado of rubber and splintering timber. Luffy and Tenjin moved like twin forces of nature, completely matching each other's relentless velocity. Because neither boy possessed the means to bypass the other's unique Devil Fruit immunities, the clash had evolved into a pure, unadulterated contest of endurance, speed, and creative choreography.
"Gum-Gum... Pistol!" Luffy roared, his fist stretching outward like a high-velocity cannonball, tearing through the air.
Tenjin didn't even attempt to dodge. He braced his feet, allowing the rubber fist to plunge straight into the center of his chest. Instead of blood, a massive spray of green leaves and splintered bark erupted from the impact site. The rubber arm passed right through Tenjin's torso, but before Luffy could snap his arm back, Tenjin's body materialized fully around the stretched limb, trapping it.
"Gotcha!" Tenjin laughed, his hyperactive grin stretching wide.
Using the spinning flower blooming from his back like a high-powered propeller, Tenjin launched himself forward, sliding along Luffy's stretched arm at breakneck speed. His right arm transformed instantly into a heavy, spiral-patterned log layered with dense compressed fibers. "Wood Drill!"
He thrust the spinning wooden construct directly into Luffy's face. The impact forced Luffy's cheeks to stretch comically outward, absorbing the massive kinetic energy as he was hurled backward across the shattered ice. Luffy hit the ground, bouncing like a basketball before executing a flawless backflip to return to his feet, completely uninjured.
"That's not gonna work!" Luffy yelled, shaking his head. He slammed his fists together, a fierce competitive fire burning in his eyes.
"Neither is that!" Tenjin fired back, his wooden torso seamlessly knitting itself back together with fresh green vines as he hovered slightly off the ground. "Come on, Luffy! Show me what else you've got!"
As the two stubborn rookies continued their cinematic stalemate, the surrounding battlefield was absolute pandemonium. The vanguard of the Whitebeard Pirates was surging heavily into the plaza, but the line was being fiercely held by the Marines' Elite Trainees, who had organized a highly coordinated defensive pocket nearby.
A few yards away, Prince Grus stood with his arms folded, his long hair partially obscuring his face as his boots remained firmly planted on the ice. He didn't even need to move his hands to command the battlefield. "Clay Doll Squad... Advance."
From the muddy, debris-streaked ground of the plaza, half a dozen life-sized, monstrous figures made of hardened clay rose into existence. The clay dolls marched forward, absorbing rifle fire and sword strikes without flinching, using their massive, heavy limbs to swat pirates away like flies and create a solid wall of defense for the retreating Marine lines.
"Oh, matching outfits! How cute!" Kujaku laughed, stepping gracefully over the fractured ice. She swung her segmented whip, Beethoven, with terrifying precision. The whip coiled around the weapon of an attacking pirate, and with a sharp tug, Kujaku didn't just disarm him, she commanded his movements entirely. "Now, be a darling and trip your friends, won't you?"
The bewitched pirate suddenly turned around, tackling his own crewmates and throwing their offensive line into complete confusion.
From the rear of the trainee pocket, Hibari was providing highly effective, long-range heavy fire. She held a modified Marine rifle, her eyes narrowed as she adjusted her scope. "Vegapunk's flower-powder ammunition... Fire!"
She pulled the trigger in a rapid-fire sequence. Instead of lethal lead, the bullets burst upon impact against the pirates' weapons, instantly sprouting massive, tangled clusters of blooming flowers that clogged the mechanisms of their firearms and wrapped around their hands, rendering them completely unable to fight.
"Good job, Hibari!" Koby called out, wiping sweat from his brow as he blocked another heavy strike. "We have to keep the path clear for Captain Tenjin!"
Back in the center of the crater, Luffy and Tenjin collided once more. Luffy kicked off the ground, accelerating into Gear Second as steam began to pour violently from his skin. "Gum-Gum... Jet Stamp!"
His leg snapped forward with blinding speed. Tenjin, anticipating the velocity, shifted his entire lower body into a sprawling network of thick, flexible roots that anchored himself deep into the fortress foundations. The rubber sole of Luffy's boot slammed into the wooden barrier, creating a massive sonic boom that shattered the ice around them, but Tenjin's roots held firm.
"Forest Gatling!" Tenjin roared.
From the ice beneath Luffy's feet, dozens of sharp, spear-like wooden branches shot upward like a bed of nails. Luffy leaped into the air, twisting his body like a acrobat to avoid the piercing timber, twisting his arms together before releasing them in a wide, sweeping motion. "Gum-Gum... Whip!"
His leg stretched horizontally, clearing out the entire field of wooden spears in a single, massive arc. Tenjin materialized from the main trunk, breathing heavily but still laughing as he used his aerial flower propulsion to match Luffy's altitude.
High above the chaos, standing rigidly on the execution platform, Portgas D. Ace strained violently against his heavy Seastone chains. His eyes were wide, bloodshot, and filled with a desperate, agonizing panic as he watched his younger brother risk his life against a Logia Marine in the middle of a war zone.
"LUFFY!" Ace screamed at the top of his lungs, his voice echoing over the entire western plaza, drowning out the ambient noise of the battle for a split second. "GET AWAY FROM HERE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
Luffy paused mid-air, landing heavily on a broken block of stone, his chest heaving as he looked up at the platform.
"Ace!" Luffy shouted back.
"You have no right to interfere in this, Luffy!" Ace yelled, tears of pure frustration and anguish spilling down his face. "I chose my own path as a pirate! I lived my life the way I wanted to! This is my own mess, and these are my own consequences! A weakling like you has no business being on a battlefield of this scale! Just leave! Go back to the sea!"
Tenjin dropped down from the sky, landing a few feet away, his green steam swirling gently around his shoulders as he watched Luffy's reaction. He didn't interrupt, curious to see what the Straw Hat would do.
Luffy clenched his fists so hard his knuckles turned white. He threw his head back, staring straight up at his brother with an expression of absolute, immovable stubbornness.
"I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR PATH!" Luffy roared back, his voice carrying an emotional weight that made several nearby Marines hesitate. "I'm your little brother! I don't care what you say, Ace! I'm not leaving you here to die! We're brothers, and nothing is gonna change that!"
A wave of shocked whispers instantly rippled through the Marine ranks near the platform. Vice Admirals and executioners alike exchanged stunned, terrified glances.
"Brothers?!" a Marine officer gasped, his rifle trembling in his hands. "Wait... if they're brothers, does that mean... Straw Hat Luffy is also the son of Gold Roger?!"
"The bloodline of the Pirate King has a second heir?!" another yelled in complete horror. "Two devils from the same tree?!"
Hearing the commotion, Ace ground his teeth together, his face twisting with immense frustration as he tried to clear the confusion. "We're not even related by blood! We aren't even real brothers, you idiot!"
The Marines blinked, completely thrown off by the contradiction. "Huh?! They aren't blood brothers? Then whose son is he?!"
Before the confusion could spread any further, a heavy, commanding shadow walked to the edge of the execution platform. Fleet Admiral Sengoku stepped forward, his cloak fluttering in the wind as he took hold of a gold-plated broadcasting Transponder Snail. His expression was a mask of cold, unyielding gravity as his voice boomed across every square inch of Marineford.
"There is no need to speculate!" Sengoku announced, his voice carrying the absolute weight of the World Government. "The blood running through that boy's veins is no less dangerous than Roger's! Straw Hat Luffy... your biological father is the leader of the Revolutionary Army! You are the son of Monkey D. Dragon!"
A world-shattering silence instantly gripped the entire battlefield, followed by an explosion of sheer, unadulterated terror from Marines and pirates alike.
"DRAGON?!" a Marine captain shrieked, dropping to his knees in shock. "The World's Most Wanted Criminal?!"
"The mastermind behind the global rebellion?!" a pirate captain muttered, his eyes wide. "That rookie has a pedigree like that?!"
Standing near the front lines, Admiral Akainu's face darkened completely, a low, ominous rumble of melting magma dripping from his fist, burning holes into the ice. "The son of Dragon... The seed of the Revolutionary must be purged from this world. I will personally ensure that boy never leaves this island alive."
Down on the ice, Luffy merely blinked, tilting his head with a thoroughly confused expression. "Oh, they found know about my dad? Whatever. Hey, Tenjin, let's stop this already!"
Tenjin, however, had a massive grin on his face, thoroughly enjoying the dramatic turns this war was taking. "Man, your family tree is wild, Luffy!"
Suddenly, a loud, booming laugh echoed from the deck of the Moby Dick, cutting through the heavy tension of Sengoku's revelation. Edward Newgate stood tall, leaning heavily on his massive bisento as his shoulders shook with absolute amusement.
"Gurararara! You really love talking about fathers, don't you, Sengoku?!" Whitebeard shouted across the plaza, his gaze shifting directly toward the green-haired Marine captain standing next to Luffy. The old Emperor's eyes gleamed with a mischievous, dangerous spark. "If you're so eager to reveal the hidden bloodlines of the rookies in this war... why don't you tell everyone the truth about your own golden boy over there?"
Sengoku's posture instantly went rigid. His eyes widened behind his glasses, a sudden look of pure, unadulterated panic crossing his face for the very first time since the war began. "Whitebeard... Don't you dare!"
Whitebeard's grin only widened, his voice amplification carrying his words straight to the ears of every single soldier on the island. "Why don't you tell the world who sired Captain Tenjin?! Why don't you reveal that his biological father is none other than the Celestial Dragon, Figarland Garling!"
A collective gasp tore through the high-ranking officers of the Marines.
Whitebeard pointed his massive blade straight at Tenjin, his laugh echoing like thunder. "That's right, Marines! The hyperactive brat you've got running around in a captain's coat isn't just a regular soldier... He's a born Celestial Dragon! The ultimate nobility of the Holy Land!"
The entire western plaza went dead silent as thousands of eyes slowly turned to look at Tenjin.
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