High above the frozen plaza, completely detached from the emotional farewells of the pirates, a battle of absolute power was tearing the heavens apart.
Fleet Admiral Sengoku the Buddha was bleeding.
His colossal, golden form was marred by a deep, smoking gash across his chest—the horrific result of Light Yagami's Internal Destruction Haki detonating against his organs.
'How the hell did he get so powerful so fast?'
Sengoku's breathing was heavy, his golden eyes burning with an intense, unwavering hatred for the man in the black coat floating before him.
"Ace is not going to die today. " Light stated smoothly.
The False Deity utilized his Force Authority to hover effortlessly in the air. His coat was bloodied and torn, and his ribs ached from the Buddha's shockwaves, but the pyschotic smile that everything was within his plans remained firmly planted on his f
"No matter how much you try to preach Justice, if the foundation is rotten... " Light continued, his Level 5 Observation Haki keeping perfect track of Sengoku's every micro-movement.
"It must be torn down."
"You know that right?" Light looked at Sengoku as if he was looking at a fool.
'Bastard!'
"AND WHAT? WHAT YOU'RE DOING IS RIGHT?!"
"Justice will never fall to a megalomaniac playing god!" Sengoku roared, launching a massive, open-palmed thrust.
VROOOM!
A colossal, golden shockwave, laced heavily with Supreme King's Haki, erupted toward Light.
Light didn't block. He shifted is gravity, and pushed himself to the ground, dropping fifty feet instantly, allowing the apocalyptic blast to soar harmlessly over his head and violently part the heavy grey clouds above them.
As Light descended, he glanced downward. His incredible Observation range allowed him to perfectly map the battlefield below.
He saw Luffy and Ace retreating, flanked by Zoro and Sanji. He saw Rayleigh acting as an impenetrable shield against Kizaru and the infantry ; running after the boys.
And he saw Whitebeard, standing like an immovable monolith, completely blocking Akainu and Aokiji's path.
Whitebeard.
[Edward Newgate 'Whitebeard']
[Green: 1,733,323 | Red: 42,313 ]
'What a guy.'
Whitebeard wasn't Sengoku, the head of Marines, the organisation that was on the side of the 'good', slowly feeding Sengoku the good karma.
Yet he had amounted himself such a heavy good Karma. To have reined the seas for decades as a pirate yet only accumulating so little bad karma gave Light the idea of the man that called himself 'Whitebeard'.
'Wait.'
'There's... no beard?'
Light shook his head. People in this world were all sorts of weird. Irregular shapes, impossible laughs, unyielding will and a lot more.
He returned to his thoughts. If he wasn't here, this would be the time Whitebeard gets ganged up upon. From what he had seen of the Emperor, fighting the Admirals and Sengoku would've been asking too much of the old guy.
Anyway.
The war is shifting exactly as required, Light thought, a surge of dark satisfaction coursing through him.
Segmented areas of battles. People holding each other back, preventing their enemies from interfering in others' battles... and Luffy surprisingly taking out Monkey D. Garp, a danger to his plans.
This is perfect.
Meanwhile.
Sengoku's golden eyes widened in frustration. He realized his attack had missed. The Fleet Admiral looked down, his tactical mind instantly analyzing the state of the war.
The execution scaffold was cut down by the Straw Hat's crewmate.
Portgas D. Ace was being carried away toward the ships.
The Dark King had fully reappeared in the era and committed to protecting the brothers, neutralizing Kizaru's long-range advantage.
Garp was nowhere to be seen.
And Whitebeard... Whitebeard had planted his feet, signaling his absolute intent to hold the line until his dying breath.
His pre-prepared plans had all been rendered unexecuted.
This was not good.
'No, this can't go on...'
If Ace escaped this island, the World Government's absolute authority would be shattered forever. The symbol of the Marines would be rendered a laughingstock.
The Summit War, designed to end the Great Pirate Era, would instead pour a gallon of gasoline onto the fire- especially after he himself had announced to the world that the Pirate King's bloodline lives.
"NO!" Sengoku bellowed, his voice cracking with hidden panic and a new resolve.
He looked at the two Admirals standing before the Emperor.
Akainu was practically going rabid, throwing everything he had at Whitebeard.
But Aokiji... Aokiji was standing with his hands in his pockets, occasionally launching ice spears, clearly hesitant to engage in the brutal, close-quarters melee required to break the Emperor's guard.
The Fleet Admiral's fury boiled over.
He was fighting this crazed criminal hunting bastard. Even the lazy Kizaru hadn't been holding back against the Dark King, both of them had injuries.
Everyone was fighting.
Only this guy...
He realized that the lazy, conflicted justice of his pupil was about to cost them the entire world today.
"KUZANNNN!!!"
Sengoku's roar tore through the sky, carrying the absolute, uncompromising weight of a direct command from the Commander of the War.
It was a scream born of pure desperation and authority, however those mixed.
SHIVER.
Down on the ice, Admiral Aokiji flinched slightly. He looked up at the towering, bleeding golden Buddha in the sky.
"THE HONOR OF JUSTICE IS ON THE LINE!!" Sengoku screamed, his voice echoing across the entire plaza, entirely abandoning his stoic demeanor.
"DO IT!"
Light Yagami chuckled, floating back up to Sengoku's eye level.
"Honour of Justice? Tsk."
"Pretty words for asking a man to kill..."
"Aren't you being a hypocrite?!" Light spat, continuously distracting the Fleet Admiral from using his wits to discern his goal.
"YOU SHUT UP!"
Sengoku turned his head and shouted back at the ramblings of the False Deity, his golden eyes now entirely on the man of ice below.
"Ara ara..."
He heard the agonizing desperation in his mentor's voice. He felt the heavy, crushing weight of the Marine coat draped over his shoulders.
He couldn't pretend after being called out like that.
Aokiji closed his eyes.
He didn't want to fight to the death. He didn't completely agree with Akainu's absolute, merciless dogma.
"DO IT KUZAN!!!"
Sengoku was not going to let it go.
But he was a Marine Admiral. He was the highest military power of the World Government. He could not allow his personal conflicts to result in the collapse of global stability.
"Hoooo...."
Aokiji exhaled a long, heavy breath of mist.
The lazy, apathetic demeanor that had defined him for decades simply evaporated.
CRAKKKK. ZZZZOM!!
The ambient temperature around the Admiral didn't just drop; it plummeted to zero. The moisture in the air instantly froze, creating a swirling, violent blizzard that engulfed the northern front.
RUFFLE.
Aokiji slowly pulled his hands out of his pockets and took a moment to look at the war.
He didn't manifest ice spears or partisan blades. He didn't try to freeze the ocean again.
"Didn't think I needed to use this..."
Down, he looked at his own hands, channeling his Devil Fruit power internally, condensing the freezing energy to its absolute, most terrifying limit.
Beside him, Admiral Akainu paused his magma assault for a fraction of a second, glancing sideways at his colleague. The Red Dog noted the shift in Aokiji's posture, the sudden, terrifying lethal intent radiating from the ice-man.
A dark, vicious smirk curled across Akainu's face.
"Finally awake, Kuzan?" Akainu sneered, his magma fists bubbling violently as he dropped into a synchronized combat stance beside the ice Admiral.
Aokiji didn't reply back.
A thick, hyper-dense layer of pure, unbreakable ice rapidly encased both of Aokiji's hands and forearms, taking the shape of massive, jagged gauntlets.
It was a technique he rarely used. A technique born not of his Devil Fruit's ranged versatility, but of the brutal, close-quarters, physical brawling he had learned from his old mentor, Monkey D. Garp.
His eyes, now a shade bluer like deep winter, locked onto Whitebeard.
"Ice... "
"...Glove."
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