Akainu was furious: "Kizaru you old dog, you're looking for death!"
Ever since Akainu mocked Kizaru's lost arm previously, the two became at odds and often exchanged barbs. The atmosphere between them grew increasingly heated.
Kizaru sneered: "Your name is Akainu (Red Dog), but you call me old dog? Are you insulting me or praising me?"
Akainu's hand trembled with anger, a large amount of hot steam emerged from his head. He was already in a half-elemental state from emotion: "I'll kill you! Where's my sword?!"
Aokiji kindly reminded again: "You fight using fists!"
Sengoku shouted in frustration to mediate: "Everyone shut up!"
The three finally fell silent. Sengoku narrowed his eyes without speaking for a long time. He stared sharply toward the ice surface in the distance.
There, dense black human shadows swayed, mixed with conspicuous blood-red color. The majority was Marine soldiers' blood.
Suddenly, a dazzling firework stream shot from the depths of Mary Geoise and exploded into beautiful light in the air.
Sengoku's spirit immediately rose: "They're coming!"
"What?" The officers around were stunned.
Sengoku laughed loudly, he stood from his chair and stared toward where that firework rose.
Everyone's gaze followed his line of sight. The next second, their eyes widened.
From the one-way current canal in the depths of Mary Geoise, warships flying Marine flags shot out, approaching at high speed toward the battlefield.
"What's that?" Whitebeard and the others on the Moby Dick also noticed those ships and furrowed their brows.
Shiki had a bad feeling: "With Sengoku's ability, after getting news of our attack, it's impossible he didn't prepare. The current situation indeed doesn't make sense; it seems this is his ace card."
Kaido snorted dismissively: "What kind of ace card? Look at the Marine soldiers on those ships, they're all still ordinary rank soldiers, the highest is only Colonel. Their numbers don't even reach one-tenth of the pirates' numbers. What can they do?"
Kaiser, who had been sitting nearby, now stood and walked to the ship's bow with interest to see those Marine ships.
Seeing this mysterious young man who joined midway, Whitebeard asked: "Do you have any view on this?"
He always had a feeling that was hard to explain toward this young man. Though he felt the young man's strength was low, there was a sense of fear that emerged from deep in his heart without clear reason.
Kaiser smiled: "I don't have any special view, but..."
"But what?" Whitebeard pursued.
Roger also stared full of curiosity; he felt the same thing as Whitebeard, there was even fear that emerged from the depths of his soul. As someone who rose from death, his soul was very sensitive, but he couldn't find anything after investigating deeper.
Kaiser pointed toward the foremost ship: "Look at the people on that ship. Their faces are pale as paper, as if they're holding something back, and some of them are already starting to show physical changes."
Everyone followed the direction of his index finger and began to notice the oddness.
On that ship, soldiers appeared pale as paper, some bowed while trembling violently, and some whose body parts began to change form.
With the extraordinary vision of these legends, they could see a soldier growing horns on his head, and another soldier growing eight arms...
"This..." Whitebeard was shocked.
Kaiser murmured: "As far as I know, Marine Headquarters has a genius scientist named Vegapunk, who reportedly has super human intelligence 500 years beyond current technology. These soldiers' body changes resemble Devil Fruit users; could it be..."
"Impossible!" Shiki strongly objected. "We know how rare Devil Fruits are in this world. If the Marines were that great, they would have unified the seas long ago; there wouldn't be anything called Pirate King or Yonko!"
Kaiser glanced toward Kaido: "Regarding this, perhaps this big guy knows more."
Kaido was annoyed by how Kaiser addressed him, but seeing Whitebeard and Roger's attitudes, he didn't explode in anger. He snorted coldly: "Shiki, it seems you were locked in Impel Down too long. I obtained something from Shichibukai Doflamingo called Artificial Devil Fruits (SMILE). Some of my subordinates are..."
Mid-sentence, Kaido was startled and stared at Kaiser: "You mean..."
Kaiser shrugged: "Just a guess."
Everyone took deep breaths. Roger furrowed his brow: "Artificial Devil Fruits? You mean, the Marines have the ability to produce Devil Fruits? How is that possible!"
Such a thing didn't exist in his time.
Big Mom, who was quite close to Kaido, explained: "Artificial Devil Fruits are creations of a scientist named Caesar under Doflamingo's orders. I don't know the details, but it seems they extract 'Lineage Factors' to create something similar to Devil Fruits. However their power is lower than the real ones and can only produce Zoan types."
Whitebeard was shocked: "Don't tell me all those Marines are Artificial Devil Fruit users?"
Just imagine, there were tens of thousands of soldiers on those ships. If all of them were Devil Fruit users...
Marco asked: "Pops, should we take action?"
Whitebeard shook his head: "Don't rush. Let's just watch first. Even if they're Artificial Devil Fruit users, they haven't become a threat to high-level combat forces. I want to see what other ace cards the Marines are keeping!"
◆━⊰✿✧✿⊱━◆
Those Marine ships had now arrived at the edge of Mary Geoise's ice.
"Attack! Glory awaits us today!" A Colonel-ranked officer jumped down, followed by the flag-bearing soldier waving the Marine banner.
"KILL—!"
"Annihilate this pirate horde—!"
"Protect the Holy Land Mary Geoise!"
"Kill the Yonko, dominate the world!"
War cries resounded. The tens of thousands of assembled Marines had extraordinary authority because they were regularly trained, very different from the disorderly pirates.
Hearing those slogans, Garp who sat beside Sengoku taunted: "Sengoku, since when has your ambition been so great to dominate the world? Or is that those five old men's idea?"
Sengoku rolled his eyes: "Don't just speak cynically. The Marines and World Government are already at this point; forget about dominating the world. Just watch that bastard Roger! He's cooperating with those old legends, his power is too frightening! And that old Shiki, after escaping from Impel Down he joined them instead, damn it!"
Garp chewed his senbei crackers while staring far toward the Moby Dick: "They say Roger rose again, but why can't I find him from earlier?"
Sengoku also felt strange. He couldn't find Roger's trace. The information from News Coo shouldn't be wrong, and the Gold List reward indeed allowed resurrection. Then where was he?
At that moment, Marine soldiers began jumping from ships and instantly transformed.
Some transformed into leopards with lightning speed, some became hungry wolves with red eyes, there were even those who became giant crocodiles that slammed their tails on the ice until it shattered into pieces.
They were the Artificial Devil Fruit Army secretly trained by the Marines.
Different from Kaido's troops, because time was pressing, Vegapunk used a cruder method by injecting Lineage Factors directly into soldiers' bodies. Because there was no modified fruit intermediary, the medicine's effects were very fierce; causing their faces to pale and body transformations that were sometimes uncontrolled. However, this provided a power explosion no less than ordinary Zoan users.
Tens of thousands of Devil Fruit users charged into the battlefield, like wolves entering a sheep pen, instantly changing the battle situation.
"What's happening with these people? They're all Devil Fruit users?!"
"Run—!"
"The Marines have gone crazy! How could they find this many Devil Fruits!"
The pirates who had been on top earlier now screamed in fear when surrounded by fierce and brutal beast-man troops.