Next Bonus, 100!!
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BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Crocodile clashed fiercely with Sakazuki!
After only a single exchange, Sakazuki realized something was horribly wrong.
Crocodile's sand...
It was exploding??
The concussive force from the detonating sand created a momentary barrier that Sakazuki couldn't immediately punch through.
"Borsalino! Retrieve Saint Charlos!" Sengoku bellowed, his voice ringing over the din of battle.
Sengoku didn't know what Jin's ultimate endgame was, but holding a Celestial Dragon hostage effectively tied the Marines' hands.
Rescuing the hostage had to be their absolute first priority.
"All other units!" Sengoku commanded.
"Ace has been executed, but his accomplices remain! Maintain the offensive! Do not let the Whitebeard Pirates escape!"
"Annihilate them here and now!"
Sengoku's eyes burned with a ruthless intensity.
The continuous string of catastrophic failures had stripped the Marines and the World Government of every ounce of their dignity.
Jin's public, blistering interrogation regarding the true nature of "Justice" and "Evil" was the most devastating blow yet. It struck directly at the core legitimacy of the Marines' existence.
In a crisis like this, only an absolute, overwhelming victory could silence the mounting doubts and crush the rising tide of dissent.
Win the war, and every problem vanishes.
Lose...
And even the non-issues would mutate into existential threats.
As for how to deal with Jin... that would be up to the Five Elders. That problem had escalated far beyond Sengoku's pay grade.
"Sengoku. Do you feel it?" Whitebeard rumbled, his grip tightening on his naginata. "The winds of a new era. The walls of your 'Justice' are crumbling."
"Do you still truly believe in your own Justice, Sengoku??"
"The banner of Justice," Sengoku replied, his voice chillingly calm, "is often held by the most complex of men."
He was intimately aware of the ideological fractures within the Marines.
At its core, it was a war over the right to define "Justice" itself.
Was it blind obedience to orders?
Was it the protection of the weak?
Was it the absolute eradication of evil?
Or was it the relentless pursuit of truth?
"However!" Sengoku continued, his tone hardening.
"No matter who it is."
"I will not allow anyone to drag this world into an even deeper abyss of war! Not you, Whitebeard, and certainly not Jin!"
"Our era is ending, Sengoku!!!" Whitebeard roared.
His gaze hardened, filled with an absolute, unshakeable resolve. "Remnants of the old era like us..."
"We should make the final journey together!"
He swung Murakumogiri in a devastating arc, aiming straight for the Fleet Admiral.
An even more catastrophic surge of power erupted from within him, pouring toward Sengoku like a dam bursting.
The momentary lull shattered. The war reignited with terrifying intensity.
Zzzzt!
A blinding flash of yellow light coalesced directly in front of Jin. Borsalino materialized, driving a light-speed kick downward.
Jin chuckled softly. He casually hoisted Saint Charlos up by the collar, positioning the blubbering Celestial Dragon directly in the path of the strike.
Borsalino frowned.
He aborted the kick mid-air, his leg freezing inches from Charlos's face.
"Hand over Saint Charlos."
"Heh..."
Crackling arcs of electricity bloomed across Jin's body. In an instant, a terrifying, divine aura erupted from him. He drove a fist forward, radiating an overwhelming, god-like might.
Borsalino's pupils contracted.
But he didn't dodge.
Jin felt a flicker of surprise.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The punch slammed squarely into Borsalino's chest.
SPURT!
A spray of blood erupted in the air.
Borsalino was launched backward like a shooting star, hurtling hundreds of meters before violently crashing into one of the raised iron Encircling Walls. He coughed up a heavy mouthful of blood.
Gasp...
The surrounding Marines and pirates who witnessed the exchange inhaled sharply, their eyes wide with horror.
"Admiral Kizaru!?"
"He was sent flying with a single punch??"
"Impossible!!!"
"Is that guy really that strong??"
"This is insane... he's a total freak!"
—————————
On the fringes of the battlefield, Blackbeard and his newly acquired crew had gathered, keenly observing the shifting tides of the war.
"Dammit," Teach grumbled, his brow furrowed. "Jin's interference has made this situation completely unpredictable."
Burgess peered through a spyglass. "Whitebeard is going all-out against Sengoku. It looks like the old man is trying to drag the Fleet Admiral down to hell with him."
"Hey. Is this grand plan of yours actually going to work?"
Shiryu took a long drag from his cigar. He offered Teach absolutely no deference.
Shiryu was a pure swordsman, a man whose lethality was off the charts. Currently, his combat power was virtually on par with Blackbeard's.
Naturally, he felt fully entitled to speak to his new 'captain' as an equal.
"Zehahahaha! It will work perfectly!"
Teach tipped his head back and laughed, exuding absolute confidence.
At a critical juncture like this, could he afford to show even a sliver of doubt?
If he admitted uncertainty now, these apex predators he had just recruited would undoubtedly start looking for a new captain.
"I will take the Tremor-Tremor Fruit!"
Teach's gaze locked onto Whitebeard, his resolve hardening into absolute certainty. "And the time is now!"
"Let's move!"
The Blackbeard Pirates surged into the fray from the flank. Koby, who happened to be cowering nearby, jumped in terror as they blew past him.
"Hey! Who are you??"
"Marines?"
Shiryu drew his nodachi, unleashing a casual, yet lethal, flying slash. Koby, whose Observation Haki had only recently awakened, was incredibly lucky; he managed a desperate, clumsy dive, narrowly avoiding being sliced in two.
"Hm?"
Shiryu paused, shooting the terrified boy a cold, measuring look.
"Hey! Don't dawdle!" Teach barked.
The Blackbeard Pirates charged straight for Whitebeard. Sengoku, catching sight of them, momentarily froze. When he recognized Shiryu and the others, his face darkened like a thundercloud.
His immediate thought: Just how many monsters did they let out of Impel Down??
"You bastards," Sengoku roared. "How did you manage to get here without triggering a single security alert?"
Teach threw his head back and laughed.
"Zehahahaha!"
"If I was branded an enemy of the Government right out of the gate, I never could have opened the Gates of Justice. I never could have infiltrated Impel Down."
"I only accepted the title of Warlord to gain that exact access! And now? I have no further use for the title!"
"So your entire reason for handing over Ace... was just to free these scum??"
"Zehahahaha! Exactly! That was the plan from the very beginning."
"And that was only one of my objectives."
Teach and his crew turned their collective gaze toward Whitebeard.
"TEACH!!!"
Whitebeard's expression turned frigid, his eyes burning with lethal intent.
"Zehahahaha..."
"It's been a while!" Teach laughed, spreading his arms wide. "I'm so glad I got to see you one last time before you die! Pops!!!"
Whitebeard stared down the man responsible for this entire, catastrophic nightmare.
"Hey... what the hell is that??"
A Marine shrieked in terror, pointing toward the bay.
Sanjuan Wolf was not called the "Colossal Battleship" for nothing.
He possessed a body the size of a small island. It was impossible to hide him.
The moment he stepped into view, he cast a massive shadow over the battlefield, triggering a primal, crushing megalophobia in anyone who looked up at him.
"Teach??"
"So they broke out after all..."
The sudden appearance of Ivankov and the other escapees had already tipped off the Marine high command that Impel Down had been compromised.
Therefore, seeing Wolf, Avalo Pizarro, and the rest of the Level 6 legends didn't elicit the same level of shock.
"To erase the atrocities they committed in the past... their very existence was wiped from the records!"
"These are the most abhorrent criminals in the history of the world!"
"We absolutely cannot allow a single one of them to return to the surface!"
Several Marine Vice Admirals roared in fury.
These were the men who had bled and sacrificed to put those monsters behind bars in the first place. Seeing them free naturally triggered an intense, visceral threat response.
The tragic fate of former Admiral Zephyr served as a grim reminder of what happens when such monsters roam free.
"No!"
Sengoku barked, immediately shutting them down. "Ignore them for now! Focus all efforts on annihilating the Whitebeard Pirates!"
Sengoku remained cold and rational.
The catastrophe at Impel Down could be analyzed and dealt with in the aftermath. The absolute, unyielding priority right now was the total destruction of the Whitebeard Pirates.
Furthermore, he could see it clearly.
The Blackbeard Pirates were gunning straight for Whitebeard.
Why interfere?
Let the dogs tear each other apart.
Sengoku took a deep breath.
Out of the corner of his eye, he glared at Garp, who was still stubbornly face-down in the dirt. "Hey, Garp! How long are you going to keep playing dead??"
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