Fleet Admiral Sengoku had personally declared that Whitebeard possessed the power to destroy the world.
Now, Whitebeard was demonstrating exactly what that meant.
The attack he had just unleashed gave everyone the impression that, if nobody stopped him, he could single-handedly overturn the entirety of Marine Headquarters and send it sinking into the ocean.
In the end, it took the combined efforts of all three Marine Admirals to stop him.
The three stood shoulder to shoulder, releasing their Haki outward to form an enormous protective barrier that prevented Whitebeard's destructive power from spreading further into Marine Headquarters.
Even so, nearly half of the headquarters had already collapsed.
The once-majestic fortress no longer resembled the imposing stronghold it had been before the war began.
Asuna stared at the collapsed buildings, her newly awakened fighting spirit fading under the overwhelming pressure of Whitebeard's presence.
If she hadn't encountered Makoto and had instead remained hidden inside Marine Headquarters with the other newcomers, hoping to avoid the dangers of the battlefield, what would have happened?
They might have been caught in this disaster without even understanding what was happening, only to die beneath the collapsing buildings.
"Don't be afraid. I'll protect you. Come over here."
Makoto beckoned Asuna closer.
Only after she approached and stood shoulder to shoulder with him did he return his attention to the battlefield.
The fighting had now reached a stage where Admiral-level powerhouses were personally taking action.
With Asuna's current strength, there was no longer any guarantee that she could protect herself.
Sakiko glanced at Asuna but said nothing.
She was indeed a little jealous of Makoto's attitude toward the girl, but that jealousy would never make her harbor any ill will toward a newcomer on their team.
After all, Sakiko understood better than most what it meant to be a newcomer.
If Makoto hadn't taken care of her back then, she might already have died in some Mission World.
...
Inspired by Whitebeard's devastating attack, the members of the Whitebeard Pirates charged toward the collapsed fortress walls.
Without the walls and artillery supporting their defenses, the Marines could no longer rely on their advantageous positions.
What awaited them now would likely be the bloodiest close-quarters fighting of the entire war.
With the situation deteriorating to such an extent, the three Marine Admirals naturally couldn't continue standing aside.
Akainu was the first to step forward.
Both his hands completely transformed into magma before he raised them toward the sky.
Under the force of his Haki, countless enormous balls of magma shot upward, climbing so high that ordinary people could no longer see them.
Many Marines and pirates stared in confusion, unable to understand what the Admiral was trying to accomplish.
However, they would soon learn just how terrifying an Admiral could be when fighting at full strength.
It wasn't long before a massive rain of magma began descending from the sky.
The blazing projectiles fell like bombs, spreading destruction across the pirate formations and their warships while tearing apart the ground beneath their feet.
Whitebeard had nearly destroyed Marineford with a single attack.
Aokiji had nearly frozen the entire ocean surrounding Marineford with one technique.
And now, Akainu intended to melt all that ice, perhaps even heat the surrounding seawater until it boiled.
The terrifying bombardment left almost every pirate warship severely damaged.
Needless to say, the consequences for Devil Fruit users who fell into the sea were disastrous.
Even ordinary pirates who hadn't eaten Devil Fruits quickly lost their ability to fight after falling into the boiling seawater.
Naturally, Whitebeard couldn't stand by and allow this to happen.
He raised his hand and struck toward Akainu.
However, before the attack could reach its target, Aokiji appeared in front of Akainu and used his abilities to construct an enormous ice wall several dozen meters thick.
The wall intercepted Whitebeard's attack.
Under the power of Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit, the ice walls continuously shattered.
At the same time, Aokiji kept reinforcing them, creating a seemingly evenly matched stalemate between the two.
Watching this, Whitebeard felt a faint sense of unease.
He knew his strength had declined considerably compared to his prime.
Even so, the fact that Aokiji could withstand his full-strength attacks was proof that these younger powerhouses were truly extraordinary.
When Whitebeard's attack was stopped, his strongest division commanders could no longer remain idle.
Marco the Phoenix transformed into a blue flaming bird and attempted to rush toward the execution platform to interfere with Aokiji and Akainu.
Unfortunately, Kizaru was waiting for him.
The Admiral had already predicted Marco's movements.
Marco intended to rely on his Devil Fruit abilities to endure Kizaru's attacks, just as he had done earlier.
This time, however, what awaited him was a fist coated in Armament Haki.
A single punch sent Marco flying backward.
Although Kizaru was accustomed to slacking off, there was a time and place for everything.
Marineford itself was on the verge of destruction.
If he continued holding back, even someone with his considerable strength would inevitably face punishment from the Celestial Dragons.
Therefore, Kizaru had finally begun taking the battle seriously.
Of course, even after becoming serious, he still chose Marco as his opponent, despite being considerably stronger than the pirate commander.
...
By this point, Makoto had already brought Sakiko and Asuna back into the interior of Marineford.
Akainu's bombardment didn't distinguish between friend and foe, and Makoto had absolutely no intention of becoming a grilled fish standing on the ice.
Looking at the chaotic battlefield, Sakiko frowned.
"Why do I get the feeling that the Marines are actually going to lose?"
Makoto nodded.
"Your instincts aren't wrong. If things continue like this, the Marines really might lose."
The Marines clearly possessed the advantage in overall combat strength.
Apart from the three Admirals, they still had Fleet Admiral Sengoku and Garp, who had yet to make up his mind about joining the battle.
No matter how one looked at it, Whitebeard shouldn't have been able to defeat all of them.
However, Whitebeard hadn't suffered a fatal injury this time, and he also had the support of the Players operating behind the scenes.
Everything now depended on just how far those Players could push the situation.
Sure enough, exactly as Makoto had anticipated, the Players began moving again.
The optically camouflaged Multi-Legged Think Tanks that had previously destroyed every Pacifista reappeared.
Their mechanical legs allowed them to completely ignore the Marines' tall walls and defensive fortifications.
Without making a sound, they infiltrated the area near the execution platform.
Taking advantage of the brief opening while all three Admirals were engaged in battle, the four vehicles suddenly revealed themselves.
Their rotary machine cannons opened fire simultaneously.
Thousands upon thousands of bullets poured toward the three Admirals in an instant.
At first, the Admirals weren't particularly concerned about the attack.
Akainu, for example, immediately activated his elemental transformation, intending to let the bullets pass harmlessly through his body.
However, the moment those bullets actually struck him, his expression changed dramatically.
He realized that the projectiles were tipped with Seastone!
Even someone as powerful as Akainu couldn't ignore the effects of Seastone bullets penetrating his body.
His Devil Fruit abilities were instantly suppressed.
The magma covering his body rapidly retreated, almost as though time itself were being reversed.
Fortunately, Akainu's strength wasn't limited to his Devil Fruit.
His mastery of Haki had also reached an extremely high level.
He immediately changed his fighting approach, coating his body in Armament Haki to withstand the continuing barrage.
He even used his muscles to force several Seastone bullets out of his body.
However, some of the projectiles remained lodged inside him.
For someone at the Admiral level, these wounds weren't fatal. Under ordinary circumstances, they might barely have counted as injuries.
But whenever Akainu moved his body and circulated his Haki, the occasional stabbing pain subtly reduced the maximum strength he could bring to bear.
Aokiji wasn't doing much better.
He had previously been able to maintain his ice walls against Whitebeard, but now he could no longer sustain them.
He hurriedly moved out of the way.
Whitebeard's powerful shockwave swept past him, narrowly missing the execution platform before striking a building farther behind it.
The entire upper half of the building was blown apart.
Of the three Admirals, only Kizaru reacted quickly enough to recognize something was wrong the instant the first Seastone bullet entered his body.
Using the remaining power of his Devil Fruit, he immediately evaded the rest of the barrage.
Only after reaching a safe position did he remove the Seastone bullet from his body and restore his original fighting strength.
Even so, his face had gone pale.
He understood that the situation ahead was likely to become extremely difficult to handle.
Naturally, Whitebeard wasn't about to miss such an opportunity.
He immediately pressed his advantage and charged straight toward the execution platform, single-handedly confronting both Aokiji and Akainu.
Without access to their Devil Fruit abilities, the two Admirals could still rely on their powerful Haki to resist Whitebeard.
However, every time they endured an attack from his Tremor-Tremor Fruit, the resulting vibrations left their bones aching and their internal organs wracked with pain.
Even worse, the Seastone bullets lodged inside their bodies were continuously displaced and shattered by those violent vibrations.
The fragments became even harder to remove as they embedded themselves deeper into their flesh.
This completely eliminated any possibility of the two Admirals safely using their Devil Fruit abilities again.
The moment Sengoku saw Akainu and Aokiji struck by those bullets, he knew something had gone terribly wrong.
He immediately ordered the remaining Vice Admirals and Rear Admirals to attack the newly appeared Multi-Legged Think Tanks and destroy them as quickly as possible.
As for Sengoku himself, he didn't dare act recklessly.
Compared to Haki, he was also more proficient in using his Devil Fruit abilities.
However, activating those abilities would cause his body to become enormous.
If more Multi-Legged Think Tanks were still hiding nearby, he might end up suffering the same fate as Aokiji and Akainu.
The Marine Vice Admirals and Rear Admirals immediately obeyed his orders and rushed toward the vehicles.
The tanks didn't stop firing.
Instead, they continued sweeping the approaching Marines with Seastone bullets.
However, Seastone bullets were only especially effective against Devil Fruit users.
In terms of raw destructive power, they were actually inferior to ordinary ammunition.
Powerhouses at the Vice Admiral and Rear Admiral levels were generally capable of ignoring conventional gunfire.
As a result, the four tanks were surrounded almost immediately.
Just as they were about to be destroyed, a series of thunderous explosions erupted from the pirates' direction.
Before the Marine officers could react, incredibly powerful projectiles pierced straight through their bodies.
Some even exploded inside them, sending enormous clouds of blood spraying into the air.
Only then did several figures appear in the sky.
They were Players wearing camouflage equipment and carrying futuristic electromagnetic sniper rifles.
With just one glance, Makoto realized that their firearms were ranked equipment, much like the kunai he had manufactured himself.
Furthermore, their ammunition had clearly been specially designed.
Not only did the bullets contain Seastone, but they also possessed tremendous explosive power and penetration.
The enormous electromagnetic rifles in their hands could accelerate those specialized rounds to speeds far beyond the speed of sound.
No, they were probably capable of reaching five or even ten times the speed of sound!
Rather than ordinary electromagnetic rifles, these weapons were practically handheld railguns.
They were clearly equipment obtainable only from certain science-fiction anime worlds.
And these weapons had been prepared specifically to assassinate Marine officers and interfere with the Admirals on a large scale.
"Kizaru! What are you waiting for?!"
Sengoku's expression had become almost terrifying with anger.
"Get up there and shoot those bastards down! Otherwise, our entire battle line is going to collapse!"
Hearing Sengoku's orders, Kizaru had no choice but to move, despite being extremely reluctant to accept this particular assignment.
Although his Devil Fruit theoretically allowed him to move at the speed of light, he still needed his brain to aim his attacks.
That meant he had two primary options.
First, he could determine his route in advance, create a path of light, and then travel along it at light speed to attack his enemy.
That technique was called Yata no Kagami.
Alternatively, he could use his Devil Fruit powers to produce countless densely packed light projectiles and bombard a wide area from a distance.
That technique was called Yasakani no Magatama.
Yasakani no Magatama looked incredibly impressive, but an opponent with sufficiently powerful Haki or suitable defensive measures could withstand its attacks.
And now, the enemies standing before Kizaru were skilled at using Seastone.
What kind of technique should he use against people like that?
In the end, Kizaru decided to test them with Yasakani no Magatama first.
Unfortunately, the result was exactly what he feared.
One of the Players simply pulled out an enormous shield embedded with countless fragments of Seastone.
The shield successfully blocked Kizaru's attack.
His expression became even uglier.
Against such an unreasonable fighting style, his Devil Fruit abilities really didn't provide any particularly good solutions.
But if he abandoned his Devil Fruit and charged toward them using only Haki, who knew what other traps might be waiting for him?
"Kizaru! Are you still slacking off at a time like this?! Do you want to stand there and watch Sakazuki and me die?!"
Aokiji had just endured another punch from Whitebeard.
A thin trail of blood ran from the corner of his mouth as he shouted toward Kizaru in the distance.
Being scolded like this by his fellow Admiral left Kizaru extremely dissatisfied.
Nevertheless, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and activate Yata no Kagami, launching himself toward the Players.
Unfortunately, just as he began moving, Marco, who should theoretically have been seriously injured, suddenly charged toward him in perfect condition.
The Phoenix immediately engaged Kizaru in battle once again.
Kizaru stared at him in disbelief.
He immediately coated his fists in Armament Haki, intending to defeat Marco as quickly as possible.
As for how Marco had managed to return in such good condition, the explanation was simple.
Another Player had healed him using a recovery ability.
But before Kizaru could deal with Marco, the Players armed with handheld railguns began continuously harassing him from a distance with Seastone bullets.
Because of their interference, Kizaru was never able to finish off Marco.
The entire battlefield once again fell into a stalemate.
However, this stalemate was completely different from the previous one.
Earlier, Whitebeard had relied on his own overwhelming power to intimidate the Admirals and prevent them from acting recklessly.
Now, the situation had reversed.
If the Marines made even the slightest mistake, the entire Marine Headquarters could be overrun by the pirates.
At that moment, Sengoku felt an icy chill spread through his entire body.
His hands and feet had gone cold.
He finally realized that he might have completely ruined everything.
Turning toward Garp, Sengoku roared.
"Garp! The situation has deteriorated this badly! Are you seriously still going to stand there and do nothing?!"
…