"LIGHT!"
Sengoku's voice vibrated with the wrath of a besieged god as he jumped to meet Light in the air.
The Fleet Admiral's colossal, golden palms pressed violently against Light's crossed, Armament-coated arms. The overwhelming physical strength of the Buddha threatened to break Light's bones.
"YOU DARE, KID?!"
"I'm not here for just Ace, Sengoku!" Light yelled back, his dark eyes burning with a cold fire.
"I'm here for you!"
"HA!"
"A criminal like you!"
"Wouldn't it be a shame to let you go?!"
The Fleet Admiral had reigned over the seas for decades for a reason.
He had fought the Pirate King.
He had fought Whitebeard in his prime.
But he was still stunned by this lunatic.
'Me? The Fleet Admiral, criminal?'
The reactions of the other parties was mixed.
Whitebeard pirates were just happy the madman had attacked Sengoku now.
Good!
It would be best if they killed each other!
"Fufufufu…FUAHAHAHA!"
"The Fleet Admiral a criminal! Wonderful! Truly wonderful, False Deity!"
Doflamingo had already researched all about Light Yagami.
He knew when the man ate, when he slept, what he liked, what he disliked- everything.
But he still couldn't understand the man.
He only knew this was a lunatic!
And he better stay clear of him.
Sengoku's golden eyes flared, and the air around the scaffold instantly warped.
A terrifying, suffocating burst of Supreme King's Haki erupted from the Buddha.
Thick, jagged streaks of red and black lightning violently whipped around Sengoku's colossal frame, merging seamlessly with the blinding golden light of his Devil Fruit.
Sengoku possessed Conqueror's Haki and of course, could use it.
Sengoku channeled that King's Will directly into his palms, unleashing a devastating, spherical golden shockwave at point-blank range.
Light met the apocalyptic pressure head-on.
He drew his pitch-black saber with a blindingly fast, fluid motion.
The freezing wind whipped his dark hair as he channeled his Level 4 Internal Destruction Haki into the dark steel, compressing the violent, explosive energy entirely into the edge of the blade.
Coupled with his zenith Weapon Arts, Light swung his saber in a brutal, intercepting arc.
The black blade bit deeply into the golden, Conqueror-infused shockwave. The resulting collision shattered the air into a million jagged pieces.
Sparks of red lightning and pitch-black Haki rained down upon the platform like a localized meteor shower, melting the reinforced wood upon impact.
Neither side yielded a single inch. The sky above Marineford became a sphere of pure, catastrophic destruction.
While the gods of the battlefield waged their apocalyptic war in the air, a profoundly different kind of clash was beginning on the wooden planks just below them.
THUD. THUD. THUD.
Monkey D. Luffy, Roronoa Zoro, and Sanji landed heavily on the execution platform. The thick timber splintered under their boots, their hypersonic momentum carrying them directly into the shadow of the kneeling, shackled form of Portgas D. Ace.
The unconscious bodies of the Marine executioners lay crumpled at the edges of the platform. The path was open.
Ace was right there, his eyes wide with a mixture of terror and overwhelming relief.
But standing directly between the Straw Hats and the Fire Fist was a solitary, broad-shouldered figure.
Vice Admiral Garp had not moved to assist Sengoku. The Hero of the Marines stood with his arms hanging at his sides, his broad chest heaving with heavy, ragged breaths. His pristine white naval coat billowed violently in the chaotic winds generated by the god-clash raging just fifty feet above his head.
"Grandpa..." Luffy breathed, his frantic sprint finally coming to a halt.
The dried blood from his forehead dripped into his eyes, but his gaze was locked entirely on the old man.
Garp slowly raised his head. His eyes were shadowed beneath his brow, filled with an agonizing, bottomless storm of conflicting duties.
He loved the two boys more than his own life. He had raised them. He had watched them run through the jungles of Dawn Island, dreaming of a future he had desperately, violently tried to steer toward the Marines.
But he was Monkey D. Garp.
The Marine Hero.
"You've come a long way since Water 7, Luffy," Garp stated, his voice carrying a heavy, gravelly weight that seemed to age him ten years in a single syllable.
"But this isn't a playground in the Paradise half of the Grand Line. This is the absolute center of the world."
Garp raised his massive fists. Thick, terrifyingly dense black Armament Haki instantly coated his knuckles, spreading up to his forearms.
The sheer physical presence radiating from the old man was suffocating. It was pure, unadulterated, mountain-shattering human strength.
"IF YOU WANT TO PASS, PIRATE MONKEY D. LUFFY!" Garp roared, the veins bulging in his neck, the tears finally brimming in his eyes but refusing to fall,
"YOU WILL HAVE TO STEP OVER MY DEAD BODY!"
...
Luffy's breath hitched. He didn't want this either!
Just then.
Fuuuuuuu....
Sanji took a sharp, deep drag of his cigarette.
He looked beyond the chaotic lightning-filled sky and gazed at it in silence.
There never was a choice.
IGNITE!
FLUAA!
The cook exhaled a thin cloud of smoke, his bruised leg trembling as he ignited it with a fierce, searing Diable Jambe. He coated his shin in the basic, invisible Armament Haki.
"Luffy, we have to do it." Sanji said, his voice entirely serious, completely stripping away his usual banter.
"A man cannot shirk his duty."
"Your Grandpa... he has no choice."
"Regardless," Zoro added. The green-haired swordsman brought Wado Ichimonji to his mouth, gripping Sandai Kitetsu and his third blade tightly. His eyes locked onto the Vice Admiral, his own basic Armament coating the chipped, blood-stained steel.
"Right now!"
"NEITHER DO WE!"
Zoro and Sanji didn't want for Luffy to do the first hit.
They were here!
They would do it!
They launched themselves forward simultaneously, putting their bodies on the line to spare their captain the unbearable emotional burden of striking his own grandfather.
"108 Pound Phoenix!"
"Mouton Shot!"
.
.
.
A/N: Welp. It's time to cook on low flame now.
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