'Screech... screech...'
It sounded like the cry of a bird.
A bolt of lightning, compressed to its absolute limit and carrying a piercing momentum that threatened to tear through everything, streaked directly toward Whitebeard, who was currently struggling against the Hiryū Gekizoku Shinten Raihō.
In the next instant, Whitebeard let out a thunderous roar. By surging his power output, he forcibly shattered the residual energy of the Hiryū Gekizoku Shinten Raihō. Then, gripping Murakumogiri firmly with both hands, he flipped the back of the blade, violently twisting the trajectory of his swing upward.
To any observer, it looked too late. The bolt of lightning had already reached him.
'BOOM!'
A violent collision triggered a deafening explosion.
The trajectory of the Hokkyoku Raisen had been shifted by the slightest margin. The attack, which should have struck Whitebeard squarely in the head, grazed past his cheek due to that minute deviation.
It left only a jagged, grisly wound across his face.
Many who were watching the battle were bewildered. Murakumogiri had still been a distance away; how had the attack managed to connect?
However, Sean, the Admirals, and those atop the execution platform—Sengoku and Garp—all saw it clearly.
It was Conqueror's Haki Infusion!
This was the signature ability of the Four Emperors and the primary reason why the Marine Admirals could not easily match them. None of the current trio of Admirals possessed Conqueror's Haki.
In other words, no matter how hard they trained, they could never truly stand on equal footing with a Four Emperor.
Ordinary Conqueror's Haki was mostly used to clear out fodder soldiers; before the discovery of Infusion, many had dismissed it as a useless ability. But Conqueror's Haki Infusion was different—it was the mark of a true powerhouse.
It didn't just amplify attack power; it allowed a fighter to strike an enemy substantively from a distance without making physical contact. Simply put, it was the art of striking a target through a barrier.
This was the ultimate application of Conqueror's Haki. As far as anyone knew, only a handful of people in the entire ocean could utilize it.
"Yoo... isn't young Sean's move a bit too terrifying?" Kizaru remarked in his characteristic drawling tone, his eyes narrowing behind his sunglasses. "If it were any of us, I fear we'd be dead on the spot, wouldn't we?"
Beside him, Aokiji's expression was equally grim. He was simulating the scenario in his mind. If it were him, he might have been able to withstand Sean's first strike with full effort, but he absolutely would not have reacted in time to the second, let alone blocked it.
Just as Kizaru said, he likely would have been finished.
Akainu, however, felt the opposite. While he was shocked by the power and tactical precision of Sean's two strikes, he was genuinely pleased by Sean's strength. After all, Sean was a member of the Marines, and his personality was perfectly aligned with his own.
So what if he was strong—even stronger than Akainu himself? Didn't that simply prove that the next generation of the Marines was superior? The dream of ending the Great Pirate Era was finally within reach.
Meanwhile, Whitebeard felt a momentary pang of dread.
Just a hair's breadth—he had been a hair's breadth away from being too late.
A seventeen-year-old brat had almost managed to take him down, and he had done it through raw power and a frontal assault, without any tricks or schemes.
It was unbelievable.
If the Marines had produced such a monster, did that mean... the countdown for the Great Pirate Era had already begun?
Whitebeard sighed inwardly. With this level of strength at seventeen, where would he be in two or three years? Perhaps even the Four Emperors working together wouldn't be his match.
'No, no... what happens in two or three years doesn't matter!' he told himself. 'What matters is today! I am still Whitebeard!'
'''
Sean landed back on the surface of the sea.
'Even though I timed it perfectly, I forgot that he's one of the Four Emperors. They have Conqueror's Haki Infusion...' Sean shook his head helplessly.
As expected, the Four Emperors had depths to their power; they weren't that easy to defeat.
However... this was only the beginning.
In the next moment, the aura surrounding Sean exploded once more. Three bolts of lightning shot into the sky, instantly merging into the thunder pool suspended above.
The already violent thunder pool became even more turbulent, churning like a stormy ocean. It seemed as though something terrifying was brewing within.
After a moment, a vortex formed in the center of the thunder pool, positioned exactly above Whitebeard.
'What is this brat planning now?' Whitebeard frowned deeply, staring up at the swirling storm.
Although he didn't know Sean's intent, he could feel a massive amount of energy gathering—energy so immense that it posed a lethal threat. He was forced to concentrate 120% of his attention, bracing his entire body to react at a moment's notice.
At that moment, Sean finished his preparations.
"Kyūten Raika..."
"Tenkō!"
'BOOM!'
With a low shout from Sean, the vortex of thunder clouds suddenly looked as if a pause button had been pressed. The rotation stopped, and the sky fell eerily silent.
But everyone knew that the calm before the storm is the most dangerous. This brief silence didn't relax Whitebeard; instead, his muscles tightened further.
In the next heartbeat, the silent vortex erupted without warning.
A pillar of eerie black lightning, at least ten meters thick, slammed down instantly.
The lightning pillar wasn't just strange in color; it radiated a power that made everyone's heart race. Even the three Admirals felt a primal sensation that no one could possibly survive standing in its path.
'What on earth is that thing?'
If Sean were asked, he'd say that feeling was normal. After all, this move consumed three of his Heavenly Punishment Lightnings simultaneously.
Considering he only had a total of 9 Heavenly Punishment Lightnings after his Bankai, the power of this attack was far beyond anything a single bolt could achieve. Most importantly, this was a sustained output attack.
Whitebeard let out a grunt and charged straight into it. He was too proud to dodge. No matter the attack, he believed he could crush it head-on.
"I am Whitebeard!"
With a booming roar, he raised Murakumogiri—now heavily infused with Conqueror's Haki—above his head.
Almost simultaneously, the black lightning pillar arrived, crashing directly into the blade.
No, the attack hadn't actually made contact with Murakumogiri. Instead, thanks to the coating of Conqueror's Haki, it had been halted roughly a meter away from the blade.
At this moment, Whitebeard looked like a professional weightlifter; as he felt the terrifying force surging through his arms, even his knees began to buckle slightly. Yet he held his ground, pouring every ounce of his strength into the effort.
Just then, Sean's distinct chanting voice rang out once more, echoing directly into the minds of everyone at Marineford.
"A turbid crest dimly emerging, a wild and arrogant talent..."
"Tides, denial, paralysis, a fleeting instant... obstruct eternal sleep..."
"The crawling steel princess, the self-mutilating mud puppet; merge, repel, extend to the ground. Know your own helplessness..."
It was just as before. Although Sean's voice wasn't loud, it strangely resonated directly within their consciousness. The powerhouses gathered there all turned their gaze toward him, wondering what Sean would do next. After all, the technique he had unleashed following his previous chant had left a profound impression on them.
Surely, this would be another devastating attack.
Regardless of what the others were thinking, Sean had finished his chant. His eyes locked onto Whitebeard, who was struggling with all his might to block the heavenly tribulation, flashing with a piercing, oppressive intensity.
This would be nothing like the Thousand-Hand Celestial Radiance Cannon. Back then, he had released the attack without even using Shikai on his Zanpakutō, but now... he was in the state of Bankai, and his Reiatsu had increased twenty-fivefold.
While the power of Kido might not increase by a full twenty-five times, it was certainly more than ten times stronger.
"Whitebeard, let's see how you block this one!"
"Hadō #90..."
"Kurohitsugi!"