"Exterminate the pirates! For Justice!"
"Break through the Marine lines! Storm the plaza!"
Two opposing battle cries echoed incessantly across the inner bay.
Though the land was only a few dozen meters away—the gateway to the Headquarters' main plaza—the pirates found themselves unable to breach the Marine defensive line.
Lucci walked slowly toward the massive crater etched into the ice. He knew full well that his previous strike couldn't have instantly killed Marco; if it had, the Emperor's top commander would be far too pathetic.
Right then...
"Shining Crash!"
'Hm?'
His attention focused on the pit, Lucci was a split second too slow to react to the sudden sneak attack. With no time to dodge, he crossed his arms in front of him, activating his Armament Haki to tank Jozu's devastating move.
'Boom!'
Despite the timely use of Armament Haki, the sheer impact sent Lucci flying backward.
However, after landing his blow, Jozu didn't pursue. Instead, he quickly dove back into the crater.
"Marco, how are you holding up?"
"I can still hang in there!" Marco replied, blood staining the corner of his mouth as he pushed himself up from the ground, breathing heavily. "What are you doing here?"
"Pops ordered me to come. He said you couldn't handle this Marine alone, so I—"
"No, I really can't handle him. But I can keep him occupied for a while longer," Marco interrupted. "Go ahead. Help our people break through the Marine lines!"
"But..."
"No 'buts.' If we can't break through that line, we're all going to die here!"
"I... alright!" Jozu nodded. He understood the situation and knew Marco was right.
But just as he prepared to leave the pit, a figure appeared above them.
It was Lucci. Despite being sent flying by the sneak attack, he had already returned—and he looked completely unscathed.
'Damn it!'
"Jozu, go! I'll hold him off!"
"Phoenix Mark!"
Marco violently shoved Jozu aside and leaped forward to meet the enemy.
Thunderous crashes echoed as the two clashed, but Jozu knew what he had to do. Now that Marco had managed to pin down that monster, he couldn't waste the opportunity.
He had to open a breach and get the troops into the plaza. That was his priority.
Climbing out of the pit, Jozu plunged both hands into the ice and exerted his strength. In the next instant, he hoisted a massive slab of ice, dozens of meters wide, high into the air.
Then, he hurled it directly toward a section of the Marine defensive line.
"Die, Marines!"
Seeing this, Akainu stood up from his position among the Admirals, magma dripping from his hands.
If a block of ice that size crashed down, ordinary Marines wouldn't stand a chance. Even a Vice Admiral, unless they possessed a specific Devil Fruit ability, would be forced to dodge rather than tank the hit. As for the rank-and-file soldiers, there was only one outcome: they would be crushed to death.
More importantly, such a massive gap in the defense would allow thousands of elite pirates to surge through the breach and collapse the entire line.
However, just as Akainu was about to intervene, another figure blurred past him, appearing exactly where the ice block was destined to land.
A flurry of sword glints flashed across the sky.
The descending mass of ice paused for a fraction of a second before it was sliced into hundreds of neat, small fragments. Now reduced in size, they no longer posed a lethal threat to the soldiers below.
Akainu nodded, let the magma on his hands dissipate, and sat back down.
Having dealt with the ice, Gion followed up with a swift slash aimed directly at Jozu.
While Gion was significantly stronger than her original counterpart, Jozu was a natural hard counter to her. Just as he had withstood Hawkeye's slash in the original timeline, he easily tanked Gion's attack.
If there was a major flaw in Gion's current state, it was her lack of raw offensive power. Whether it was her original swordsmanship or the Zanpakutō in her hand, she lacked the cutting power to pierce high-level defenses.
Against others, it wasn't an issue, but Jozu was a freak with maxed-out durability.
Unless she could achieve the Konpira Bankai, she simply couldn't break his defense. Even her Shikai didn't increase her attack power; if anything, it made her strikes less potent.
Conversely, Jozu relied entirely on his defense and charging attacks, meaning he couldn't defeat Gion either.
Their clash was destined to be a stalemate. Unless they fought for days and nights until one of them collapsed from exhaustion, there would be no winner.
But time was clearly on the Marines' side.
If the battle continued to drag on, even if the Division Commanders could hold their ground, the lower-ranking pirates would not. Within two hours, they would likely be slaughtered. With the assistance of the 16th Branch, the Marines already held the advantage in raw numbers among the foot soldiers.
'''
Impel Down.
Level Six.
Blueno had brought a group of people and was busy unlocking the cells, removing the Seastone shackles from the ability users and tossing them through the portal doors.
Sean watched the live broadcast of the war at Headquarters, his brow furrowing.
"Is that old man Sengoku insane?"
"Does he even know how to command?"
"If he just had Garp tie up Whitebeard and then committed all the high-level combatants to a coordinated strike, I bet Whitebeard would be a leader without an army in five minutes. Then, you'd have an Admiral and Four Emperor-level combatants ganging up on one guy..."
"No matter how strong he is, he'd have to kick the bucket, right?"
"So what the hell are you guys playing at?"
"Sengoku, Garp, the three Admirals, and a bunch of Vice Admirals are all just sitting in the back watching the show! They're just watching the Marines on the inner bay line get wounded or killed?"
"That brain of his is seriously flawed!"
Sean cursed under his breath, unable to stand it any longer.
"Blueno!"
"Vice Admiral?"
"Send me and Hancock to Marineford. After that, find Blackbeard and bring him over too. We don't have time to wait for him to get there on his own."
"And this place?"
"Don't worry. Magellan won't be leaving Hunger Hell for a while. After you drop me off, come back and continue with the original plan. Once that's done, go up and give Hawkeye a hand!"
"Understood!"
Blueno nodded, and the Door-Door Fruit activated instantly. An energy portal manifested right in front of Sean.
At the same time, on the side of the execution platform in the Marineford plaza, the three Admirals stood together.
Akainu was growing impatient. What on earth was Sengoku waiting for?
Ten thousand Marines had already suppressed the Whitebeard Pirates, including all of their Division Commanders. With Whitebeard currently standing alone, wasn't this the perfect opportunity?
If the three Admirals charged in together and took down Whitebeard, this war would be over right then and there!
Even if Sengoku was worried about unforeseen variables, he could have at least ordered the other Vice Admirals to push forward and quickly eliminate the pirates in the inner bay. Instead, he dared do nothing, forcing everyone to stand back and watch the spectacle. Was this how a commander operated?
Sensing Akainu's battle intent surge violently beside him, Aokiji frowned.
"Sakazuki, calm down. The Fleet Admiral hasn't given the order yet!"
"He's right," Kizaru added lazily. "Isn't it great like this? We don't have to do a thing, and we still get paid!"
Akainu was speechless. What had he done in his past life to deserve being paired with these two idiots in this one?
Just as he was about to give them a look of utter contempt, Akainu sensed something. He snapped his gaze toward the inner bay.
A transparent energy door suddenly manifested out of thin air. Then, two figures stepped through, one after the other.
It was Sean and Hancock!
Upon arriving, Sean scanned the surroundings and took a deep breath. Then, he snapped his head up and roared, augmenting his voice with Spirit Power so that it echoed across the battlefield like a massive amplifier.
"Old man Sengoku, what the hell are you doing?!"
"You're keeping so many top-tier fighters in the back to watch the show while ordinary Marines are dying in droves!"
"From this moment on, I'm taking charge of the battlefield! All Marines with the rank of Commodore or higher are to proceed to the inner bay immediately. Assist the soldiers on the front lines and annihilate the pirates with maximum speed!"
"As for Whitebeard... I'll hold him off myself!"
...
In the next instant, all of Marineford—and indeed, the entire world—fell into a dead silence.
Whether it was the Marines and pirates currently locked in combat, or the millions of people watching the broadcast across the globe, everyone was stunned into silence by Sean's sudden outburst.
Was he... giving orders to the entire Marine?
Orders that even included the Admirals?
But more importantly, what did they just hear?
Sean claimed he would hold off Whitebeard all by himself!