Outside Puttelocrone Island.
On the once-calm sea surface, warships rapidly emerged one after another.
Every single one was a large warship from Marineford.
Not only were they clad in thick iron armor, but they also featured two tiers of large-caliber cannons.
On the spacious decks, thousands of fully armed Marine soldiers stood in neat formation.
Led by Marine officers, they were ready to launch an attack on Puttelocrone at any moment.
A total of fifty large warships!
Fifty thousand Marine soldiers!
Hundreds, even thousands, of Marine officers!
In an instant, a heart-palpitating sense of oppression rapidly spread.
"Gurararara, this lineup is a bit too much, isn't it? It looks like the Marines are about to start an all-out war with us, Rocks."
Whitebeard gripped his Naginata, his expression turning solemn.
Rocks's expression was frighteningly somber.
"So our looting operation was a trap set by the World Government from the very beginning. Those monks wandering around the sea with massive treasures all day were just bait to lure us in, weren't they?"
Carlo's eyes flickered and his pupils contracted, turning into a pair of majestic golden slits, magnifying the figures on the central warship in his vision.
In the next moment, several familiar figures appeared in his sight.
"I see a few familiar faces."
Rocks and Whitebeard followed his gaze.
"It's Garp, Sengoku, and Zephyr!"
In front of the turret towering at the bow of the central warship, Garp was raring to go, Zephyr looked grim, and Sengoku, with his afro, stood in a triangular formation.
They were riding the warship beneath them, braving the wind and waves as they charged ahead of the rest.
The distance closed, yet the warship showed no sign of slowing down.
From the looks of it, they intended to crash directly onto the beach.
Sengoku clenched his fists, his eyes burning like torches as he looked over and let out a roar from afar.
"Newgate!"
"Rocks!"
"The days of the Rocks Pirates' arrogance are over!"
"Today! Our Marineford forces are out in full! A total of fifty warships, fifty thousand troops, and thousands of elite officers! Led personally by Fleet Admiral Gustav! We are launching the largest-scale Buster Call operation against you!"
Sengoku raised his right hand high and shouted righteously.
"All forces, hear my command!"
"The Buster Call begins! Commencing bombardment! Until the Rocks Pirates are completely destroyed!!"
"Yes, sir!!"
At Sengoku's command.
The warships that had emerged from the seabed and surrounded the entire island of Puttelocrone did not hesitate for a second, immediately beginning the massive encirclement operation.
On each warship, large-caliber cannons turned their dark muzzles, aiming in unison at Puttelocrone Island.
Deep within the pitch-black barrels, which looked like countless miniature black holes, sparks of fire were being ignited.
The air between heaven and earth seemed to stand still at this moment.
In this moment of dead silence, a cold-faced Rocks turned his head to look at Whitebeard beside him.
"Newgate."
"Yeah, leave it to me."
Without Rocks needing to say a word, Whitebeard knew what to do.
He thrust his Naginata into the ground and walked forward with empty hands.
In front of tens of thousands of Marines, he clenched his fists, hunched his body slightly, and took a stance.
"I've been prepared for you! Whitebeard!!"
At the very moment Whitebeard was about to use his Tremor-Tremor Fruit power, Garp, at the bow of the rapidly approaching warship, let out a roar and violently hurled the cannonball he was holding.
"Fist Bone! Meteor!!"
As his right arm swung, the cannonball in his hand shot out like a heavy shell from a cannon, crashing through white airwaves over the sea and locking onto Whitebeard at a speed far exceeding ordinary bombardment.
The cannonball sliced through the air, letting out a wailing screech and creating visible Mach rings in the sky.
What was even more heart-palpitating...
...was that the surface of the flying black cannonball was wrapped in flickering black lightning, emitting powerful energy fluctuations!
That was Armament Haki lightning highly compressed by Garp!
This incredible power was no mere cannonball; it was clearly a meteor breaking through the sky!
The distance of less than a kilometer was crossed in an instant by the cannonball Garp threw.
In the next second, the cannonball broke through space and lunged right at Whitebeard's face!
Only then did Rocks let out a cold snort, the long blade in his right hand slashing forward with the speed of lightning.
"I knew you'd be the first to move, Garp!"
"Abyssal Roar!!!"
The moment Rocks's long blade slashed out...
...the cannonball that had flown to Whitebeard's face exploded with a boom.
Rolling flames and thick smoke were violently swept away by a grand shockwave, blasting a massive fan-shaped area of the ground in front of Whitebeard!
And this seemed to be just the beginning.
"Hmph, you blocked it? Then how about this move?"
Seeing that the cannonball he threw was easily stopped by Rocks...
...Garp was not discouraged, looking at the rows of cannon racks already set up in front of him.
On the racks sat rows of pitch-black cannonballs.
He grabbed them like lightning and hurled them one after another.
His movements were as fast as thunder.
Each cannonball, passing through his hands, was immediately wrapped in a mass of crackling black lightning before shooting through the air.
They were like black meteors streaking across the sky.
Garp threw frantically, a massive amount of Haki continuously gushing from his body, staining him entirely pitch-black.
His aura grew increasingly violent with every movement.
A surging fighting spirit rose in his eyes!
"Whahahahaha! Let's have a grand fight, Rocks!!"
"Fist Bone: Meteor Swarm!!"
"This guy... he's comparable to ten warships all by himself."
Seeing Garp transformed into a ruthless human cannon, Rocks sneered with annoyance, stepping forward with his long blade, gripping it with both hands, raising it high, and slashing again.
"Abyssal Storm!! World-Ending Great Tornado!!"
The long blade in his hand slashed wildly against the wind.
In an instant, he delivered thousands of slashes.
Countless blade lights churned the air, instantly forming a howling, rotating slash tornado that strangled the swarm of cannonballs flying in.
"Boom, boom, boom—!"
Cannonballs collided with slashes, bursting into a series of flames.
On the warship, Garp, having rapidly thrown all the cannonballs nearby, crushed the turret beneath his feet with a boom.
His burly body soared into the air, his feet moving like windmills as he stepped on the cannonballs he had thrown, instantly reaching Rocks.
On his high-raised right fist, streaks of black and red lightning flashed as he laughingly smashed it toward Rocks's face!
"Fist Bone!! Galaxy Impact!!"
Seeing Garp charging first, Rocks was about to raise his long blade, which had begun to spark with black and red lightning.
Just then...
...behind Rocks, Whitebeard had finished gathering his strength, a mass of white shockwaves appearing on each of his fists.
He bent his elbows and violently smashed into the empty space on both sides of his body.
"Air Quake!!"
Just as Whitebeard's fists were about to hit the air on both sides...
...just as he was about to use his Paramecia-type Tremor-Tremor Fruit power to vibrate the air and trigger a world-shaking tsunami that would overturn the dozens of warships outside Puttelocrone Island...
...at this critical juncture...
...a sudden change occurred!
"Creeeak—"
A raspy sound, like a rusty door being opened, abruptly echoed through the battlefield.
It caused the highly focused Rocks and Whitebeard to shudder.
Red light flashed in both of their eyes simultaneously.
Future Sight-level Observation Haki activated in unison.
Then, they seemed to see something.
Both of their expressions changed at once.
"It's you, you old fossil!"
"Gustav!"