"It's Admiral Akainu!" someone shouted.
"How did he get here?!" Doubt and dread rippled through the battlefield.
"Little Oars—run!"
The sudden turn of events caught the pirates completely off guard. Marco, focused on harvesting attribute points and coordinating the battle, hadn't even noticed when Akainu had silently closed the distance.
"AAAAHHH—so hot! It burns—!"
Before the cry could finish, Little Oars' massive body was already engulfed in magma. Scorching burns spread across his flesh, and the unbearable pain drove him to stagger instinctively toward the sea.
"Die, demon—!"
Akainu roared, swinging his magma-forged fist once more.
"Great Eruption!"
Before Akainu's could completely land on Oars, Marco was already there.
Blue flames surged violently, condensing into a circular shield as Marco planted himself directly in Akainu's path. The magma fist slammed into the phoenix flames—stopped dead.
"Marco…" Akainu sneered. "A mere division commander dares to block an Admiral's advance?"
His power surged, magma boiling even more violently as the pressure intensified.
Marco felt it instantly—an overwhelming force unlike anything he had faced before. But he didn't retreat.
The blue flames around his body flared brighter, wilder.
"Akainu!" Marco roared, pushing himself to one hundred and twenty percent. "Don't underestimate me!"
BOOM—BOOM—
Magma and phoenix fire collided again and again. The flame shield—one that in another battle had withstood even Kaido's heat breath—began to fracture under the sheer heat and pressure. Holding it became agonizing.
Marco reacted instantly.
Armament Haki hardened over his arms, pitch-black and solid, while torrents of blue flames surged outward to reinforce his defense. He raised both hands and met Akainu's Great Eruption head-on.
Even with Haki and rapid regeneration, the heat was terrifying.
Marco's palms burned—then healed—then burned again in rapid succession. The ice beneath his feet cracked violently, two deep fissures tearing through the ground as shockwaves and heat blasted outward.
The clash was so intense it warped the battlefield itself.
Akainu's eyes flickered with surprise.
"So you can take this much…" he said coldly. "As expected of one of Whitebeard's earliest sons. I underestimated you."
Then his voice hardened.
"But you're level is still far from stopping me."
As he spoke, the magma around his right arm expanded violently, surging like a fully unleashed volcano. The pressure on Marco multiplied.
"Captain Marco…!"
The allied pirates watched in horror. Even from dozens of meters away, the heat rolled over them in suffocating waves. Sweat poured down their faces as they struggled just to breathe.
They couldn't imagine how Marco was still standing against an attack that could melt steel.
"AAAAAAHHHHH—!!!"
Marco roared, forcing out every last ounce of strength, completely ignoring the limits of his stamina.
The blue flames engulfing his body burned brighter than ever—matching Akainu's magma in ferocity. Like a colossal thruster roaring to life, Marco held his ground by sheer will, forcibly blocking the magma fist inch by inch.
Two forces of destruction collided head-on—
Phoenix against magma.
And for that moment, neither yielded.
Marco's sudden surge of power caught Akainu off guard.
For a brief instant, red magma and blue flames collided head-on, painting the battlefield in stark crimson and azure. It was as if the space itself had been split into two opposing worlds.
But Marco's burst was fleeting.
"Don't get carried away, pirate!" Akainu roared.
His power surged once more—far more violently than before.
Marco knew instantly he couldn't endure a direct clash any longer. Gritting his teeth, he seized the rolling magma fist with both hands and twisted his body, using finesse over brute force, redirecting Akainu's Great Eruption sharply to the left.
He retreated without hesitation.
BOOM!
The redirected magma fist slammed into two allied pirate ships, engulfing them in roaring flames.
"Run—abandon ship!"
"Damn Akainu! He burned our ships!"
Fear and rage erupted together. Pirates raised their guns and cannons, unleashing everything they had at Akainu.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Explosions tore through Akainu's body, blasting him apart as smoke and debris swallowed the battlefield.
"Hahaha! Now you know how it feels!"
"That's right! Those shots were coated with Haki—even an Admiral—!"
Their triumph died mid-sentence.
Through the smoke, Akainu stepped forward—calm, unyielding.
Half his body was missing… Yet what flowed from the wounds wasn't blood, but molten magma. His form reassembled as he walked, completely unscathed.
The pirates recoiled in horror.
"…Monster."
"This guy's a monster!"
"Shoot—don't stop firing!" someone screamed.
More gunfire. More cannon blasts.
Holes opened across Akainu's body—then sealed instantly, magma flowing and hardening anew.
Marco's expression darkened.
As expected… he's not that easy.
Without hesitation, Marco poured all his remaining attribute points into Strength.
This was the gap he had to close.
Strength: 6895.
Akainu raised his arm once more, magma churning violently.
"Die, you scum…" he snarled.
"Great Eruption!"
A colossal magma fist—over twenty meters wide—descended upon the allied pirates like a falling sun.
Despair spread instantly.
"Captain Marco—save us!"
"Run! This is an Admiral—we can't fight this!"
Hearing their cries, Marco's eyes sharpened.
"Don't target them," he roared, launching himself forward at blinding speed. "Your opponent is me!"
All of his Armament Haki condensed onto his right leg.
"Phoenix Seal!"
BOOM!
Marco's kick slammed into the magma fist with explosive force.
The impossible happened.
The massive magma arm split apart midair, erupting into dozens of blazing volcanic bombs that rained down like meteors.
"Help—!"
"Run—!"
The battlefield dissolved into chaos.
Marco watched the destruction unfold, his expression colder than ice.
"Everyone—fall back!" he shouted.
"The Admiral's power is far beyond what you can handle! Get as far away as possible—now!"
Above the chaos, phoenix flames flared once more.
Marco spread his wings.
This fight… was no longer about winning.
It was about holding the line.