"Wait, what was that?"
The Marines on the ground were all shocked. "It took an Admiral's attack head-on and wasn't even scratched. What kind of Devil Fruit is that?!"
Kizaru was also a little surprised, but he quickly recognized the figure. The blue flames on the man's body subsided, revealing the face of the first division commander, Marco.
Marco smirked and taunted, "You really thought you could attack our king just by showing up?"
Kizaru spoke in his usual laid-back manner, "The Mythical Zoan, Phoenix Fruit. It's even rarer than a Logia. Really, every one of you is a monster. What a pain."
Marco didn't bother to respond to the strange old man. He transformed into a blue-flame phoenix and flew toward Kizaru, who continued to launch his Yasakani Sacred Jewel.
But the light bullets had no effect on Marco, as any damage was instantly healed. Marco flew right up to Kizaru, did a flip, and kicked him. Kizaru tried to block the kick with his hands, but Marco's kick sent him flying into the inner wall of the bay.
Seeing an Admiral get knocked away, the Marines' morale wavered, but Kizaru's body quickly turned into light particles and reformed. Not a single wrinkle was out of place.
Kizaru turned to the giant behind him. "Giants, pay attention to the sky."
Despite his seemingly careless demeanor, Kizaru was clearly not fooling around. After being kicked, he stopped engaging Whitebeard directly and instead focused on directing the Marine soldiers.
Vice Admirals were already in charge of the operation, but Kizaru made it a point to show he was still contributing. No one was better at "coasting" than Kizaru, and no one could accuse him of not working when he was directing the front line.
With two Admirals on their side against the Whitebeard Pirates' first and third division commanders, the Marines still had the home-field advantage. Plus, they held the ultimate bargaining chip: Ace.
Fleet Admiral Sengoku could execute Ace at any time, but he chose not to. He wanted to make the Whitebeard Pirates anxious, believing their desperation would make them more vulnerable to attack. He would never execute Ace early because he wanted to capture Whitebeard's entire crew.
With Ace as a hostage, Whitebeard would be forced to stay. The perfect outcome for the Marines was to defeat an old, sick Whitebeard before the execution, then wipe out the rest of his crew. If they executed Ace too early, Whitebeard would either retreat or go berserk, and that would be more of a hindrance than a help. The brilliant Sengoku would never do that.
Meanwhile, Jozu suddenly punched the ice. A huge section of ice cracked around his fist, and before the Marines could react, he pulled the massive chunk out of the ground.
"If you're strong enough, come and stop this!"
Jozu threw the giant ice cube toward the plaza like a massive diamond. He probably wasn't thinking about the consequences, as the ice could have hit Ace. The ice chunk was several times larger than even the giant Vice Admirals, terrifying the Marines who stood in its path.
Of the three Admirals, only Akainu was left. He stood up, annoyed.
"Honestly, you all ran off, so who's going to guard this place?!"
Akainu grumbled, his arm turning into a huge magma fist. He swung it forward, and with a loud bang, his magma fist stopped the giant ice block. The magma's searing heat instantly began melting the ice.
The ice block was pierced, and finally, it exploded into a cloud of water vapor. Akainu's magma fist then detached from his arm, flew into the sky, and exploded, forming a volley of volcanic bombs that rained down on the pirates on the ice. One of the Whitebeard Pirate's ships was completely destroyed.
Whitebeard raised an eyebrow and blocked one of the volcanic bombs with his naginata, then snuffed out the flame with a single puff of air.
"Honestly, setting off something like that... are you lighting a birthday cake, Akainu?" Whitebeard sneered.
"Don't you want a magnificent funeral, Whitebeard?" Akainu smiled—a rare occurrence—but the expression was full of provocation. The tension between the two was palpable. A fight could break out at any second.
Suddenly, a high-pitched voice echoed from the sky, heard across all of Marineford.
"Aaaaaace!"
The voice was so sudden that everyone was caught off guard. Many people subconsciously stopped fighting and looked up, but they couldn't see anything. Only those with sharp eyes could make out a small ship with a sheep's head descending rapidly from the sky. The ship had a straw hat skull symbol on its sail, and a boy in a straw hat stood at the bow.
"What?! The Straw Hat Pirates?!"
Sengoku and the Admirals were shocked. They never expected the Straw Hats to arrive so quickly, and from the sky, no less. There was no way to stop them. If the Straw Hats went straight for the execution platform, Ace would surely be saved!
The Whitebeard Pirates were equally stunned. Whitebeard and his commanders froze when they saw the ship and the straw hat skull. But they immediately recognized them as allies. Straw Hat Luffy was Ace's younger brother. Everyone in the crew knew it. He had come to save his brother!
"A-C-E! I'm here to save you!"
Luffy's voice was loud and clear, stopping the entire battlefield. Soon, more people saw the Merry descending and flying directly toward the execution platform.
Among them, Hina looked the angriest. The ship was the very same one that she had "given" the Straw Hats.
"Luffy?!" Ace was in disbelief. He couldn't believe his younger brother had come to save him and even brought his crew. Ace felt a wave of guilt, thinking that he had dragged Luffy into this mess.
He wasn't aware of the Straw Hats' full strength, as he'd been captured by Blackbeard shortly after meeting them. He didn't know that the Straw Hats were already considered a true force to be reckoned with.
"Well done! Ace's brother!" Marco and the other commanders shouted, giving the Straw Hats a thumbs-up. "Rush straight in and save him!"
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