"Oyaji!"
"Oyaji!"
Actually, many of the Whitebeard Pirates' Division Commanders had noticed Karin as soon as she landed.
It's just that most of them were engaged in combat with formidable opponents at the time and couldn't break away.
When these men finally managed to shake off the Marines' entanglements and refocused, they saw the unknown Mythical Zoan user take flight again, while their 'Dad', Whitebeard stretched mightily, his figure seemingly growing more robust.
The large cloak that had been draped over his back also fell away, revealing a back free of scars.
Much like the belief held by a certain green-haired swordsman, 'scars on the back are a swordsman's shame'-
The same applied to Whitebeard.
Whitebeard had dominated the seas for decades. Aside from a strategic retreat 38 years ago at the hands of Garp, he had never truly fled in the literal sense.
-He didn't carry any scars from that time either. Later, he even teamed up with Garp to deal with the World Government's backup plan.
"Are you alright, Oyaji?"
Marco possessed the ability to fly, so he was the first crew member to arrive.
"Yeah, couldn't be better."
Saying this, he grabbed Murakumogiri, instantly coating the blade with Conqueror's Haki.
Marco hadn't seen that fierce, blazing fighting spirit on Whitebeard's face for a long time.
In the past, Whitebeard's might remained, but due to illness and age, he had to undergo long-term intravenous treatment and always drank excessively without restraint. His complexion hadn't been that good.
To describe it, he was like a setting sun that had already sunk halfway into the sea. While still glowing and providing warmth, illuminating their path forward, its descent was an irreversible inevitability.
When they decided to go all-out to rescue Ace this time, Marco, who knew his Oyaji well, could sense that Whitebeard seemed ready to sacrifice himself.
When Whitebeard swung his first punch on the battlefield, in Marco's eyes, his back appeared somewhat tragic and heroic.
But at this moment, he seemed to see the Whitebeard of old again, that Edward Newgate!
"Where do you think you're going, Flashy Brat?"
Whitebeard completely changed his previous style of standing still to receive attacks. He leaped directly from the Moby Dick, his blade radiating terrifying Conqueror's Haki pressure.
"Oh no..."
"Don't get in the way of me rescuing my son!"
The next moment, a Conqueror's Haki-imbued slash comparable to Roger's illuminated the entire field.
Boom!!
Like Whitebeard's quake power, the slash he delivered was grand and sweeping, its force immense.
The terrifying slash extended madly from above to below, cleaving the frozen battlefield in two.
In the distance, Mihawk stared intently at Whitebeard, who had delivered that slash, his hands gripping the Supreme Grade Blade [Yoru], tightening subconsciously.
'Is that the World's Strongest Man?'
He silently compared in his heart, referencing Shanks's past performances, then shook his head inwardly.
Different. Their fighting styles are different. It's hard to determine superiority.
Then he looked towards Naruto in mid-air… more precisely, at the Mushoukou hanging at his side.
'Uzumaki Naruto, how strong are you?'
He wanted to abandon everyone around and charge directly at Naruto, but right now, there seemed to be more people wanting to fight Naruto than imagined.
If they had to queue, Mihawk might not get a turn even after a whole day.
"Stay put, you little monkey-"
Whitebeard, watching Kizaru deliberately disperse into light to escape and then reform, showed his signature mocking expression.
Frankly, only people from Garp or Roger's generation had seen this expression.
"Hey, hey, hey... don't joke around~"
As soon as Kizaru finished speaking, Whitebeard's attack arrived.
This time, he didn't use Murakumogiri. He wrapped Conqueror's Haki around his fist and struck out together with his quake power.
[Puncture Sky]
Black cracks rapidly spread through the air, speeding toward Kizaru.
Kizaru, who had just managed to utter a sentence, his eyes changed, immediately activating his Logia intangibility again.
Getting hit by this punch was no joke.
Kizaru's intuition told him that even he wouldn't fare well if struck by this attack.
'What an exaggerated ability.'
Thinking this, Kizaru shifted tactics. Instead of taking potshots at Whitebeard like before, he focused entirely on evasion.
Neither Whitebeard nor Kizaru had reached the pinnacle in Observation Haki mastery like Redfield, so their contest couldn't be resolved quickly either.
With Kizaru single-mindedly focused on dodging and avoiding combat, Whitebeard's attacks, which had a longer wind-up, truly had difficulty hitting him.
"Admiral Kizaru is amazing! That Whitebeard can't hit him at all!"
A Marine officer shouted, but his words were cut short by a flying bullet.
"Nonsense! It's that guy who doesn't have the guts to take Oyaji's attacks!"
Izou retorted, defending Whitebeard.
Besides the two sides, Kaido, Big Mom, and the two Admirals fighting them also watched the situation here.
Furthermore, on a raft-like pirate ship that had secretly followed Kaido's fleet to the battlefield's edge, Blackbeard was watching Whitebeard's fight through a telescope, gnashing his teeth in frustration.
He still couldn't give up his desire for the Gura Gura no Mi. Snatching Whitebeard's corpse from the Whitebeard Pirates was too difficult… he could only take a desperate risk.
Having failed to recruit enough companions in Impel Down, Blackbeard's crew remained as small as before, just a few stragglers.
But this greatly reduced their presence. In the chaos of this massive battlefield, practically no one paid attention to the movements of their small ship on the periphery.
"Why? Why do you still have this kind of power!"
Blackbeard ground his teeth, watching through the telescope as Whitebeard displayed immense power, easily moving mountains and filling seas with each move.
'It's all because of that bird... Whitebeard's condition changed after its appearance.'
Thinking this, Blackbeard silently added Karin to his 'hunting list'.
Setting aside Blackbeard's many thoughts, Big Mom, who had been fighting Akainu for quite a while, suddenly rolled her eyes.
She was, for once, contemplating strategy.
She couldn't afford not to.
Because the now-disabled Akainu's fighting style was even more brutal and vicious than before.
If the previous Akainu used his Magu Magu no Mi powers to deliver grand, sweeping attacks, trying to crush enemies in one blow, the current Akainu had learned to use the magma's inherent high temperature to continuously stack 'DEBUFFs' on his opponents.
Big Mom, known as the [Steel Balloon], possessed terrifyingly strong Haki herself.
But she was still flesh and blood.
She would starve without eating… she would die from fatal injuries.
Akainu's punch might not break her defense, but the high-temperature magma remained on Big Mom's body, accumulating more and more with Akainu's continuous attacks.
"Huff… Huff…"
Big Mom shook off the sweat on her forehead, simultaneously flinging away the magma clinging to her arm.
Across from her, Akainu still stared at her with that gaze of pure killing intent.
When she stopped him from seeking revenge on the Great Sinner, Akainu had already decided to kill Big Mom first.
After catching her breath, Big Mom's eyes quickly scanned the battlefield situation, then she rode the thundercloud Zeus toward Whitebeard's location.
"Don't even think of running!"
Akainu followed closely behind.
"Whitebeard! Let's swap!"
Big Mom flew past the aftershock of Whitebeard's punch, then manipulated the Homie Artemis to form a mirror cage again, briefly trapping the constantly dodging Kizaru inside.
Having been partners in the same pirate crew before, Whitebeard and Big Mom shared moments of tacit understanding and cooperation.
Seeing Kizaru restrained, Whitebeard didn't attack immediately. Instead, as if foreseeing the future, he turned and delivered another [Puncture Sky] punch.
This punch collided squarely with Akainu, who had launched a sneak attack in near-silence.
The blazing heat of the Magu Magu no Mi's Great Eruption was utterly ineffective against the spatial cracks. Instead, the cracks from Puncture Sky, carrying terrifying Conqueror's Haki, squarely hit Akainu, who couldn't dodge in time.
It couldn't be helped.
Unlike the extremely fast-moving Pika Pika no Mi, the Magu Magu no Mi's movement speed, even when elementalized, wasn't much faster than normal.
Struck by a full-power Whitebeard's Conqueror's Haki-infused Puncture Sky punch, numerous fine cracks immediately appeared on Akainu's upper body.
Blood uncontrollably gushed out.
Fortunately, Akainu currently wore a bright red suit, so even soaked in blood, he didn't look too disheveled.
"Hah... Magma Brat, your eyes are fierce. Did I hurt you just now?"
Whitebeard slowly retracted his fist, then extended a hand, gesturing for Akainu to make the first move.
This attitude didn't anger the current Akainu. Instead, it intensified the menace in his eyes.
On the other side, Kizaru wasn't faring well either.
Big Mom's mirror Homies were too effective at countering the Pika Pika no Mi.
Back on Whole Cake Island, these two Homies had just been created, and Big Mom wasn't very proficient in using them.
Even then, Big Mom gained the upper hand, forcing him to flee toward Garp.
Now, however, she had clearly trained with her newly created Homies, using them more skillfully.
Under Big Mom's control, Artemis created a flawless spherical space. No matter how Kizaru dodged, he would eventually be reflected back to the sphere's center.
"Zeus!"
Big Mom grinned widely, grabbing the thundercloud and directly thrusting it into the mirrored spherical space.
"Try dodging this one! Tenman Daijizai Tenjin!"
Countless lightning bolts indiscriminately bombarded the spherical space, forming a dense web of electricity, simultaneously imbued with Big Mom's soul power and Conqueror's Haki.
Each bolt of lightning seemed to possess its own consciousness, blocking the few remaining dodging spots within the sphere.
Zap-
Finally, during one dodge, a Haki-infused lightning bolt struck Kizaru, causing his body to uncontrollably seize up momentarily.
Slowed down, even more purple lightning bolts swarmed over, converging into a massive bolt.
"Hehehe… Got you! Indra!"
Countless lightning bolts converged into one, directly hitting Kizaru, who was paralyzed in mid-air, blasting him away.
The good news: Kizaru successfully escaped the mirror prison with this attack.
The bad news: Kizaru himself was quite injured. Clearly, Big Mom had learned her lesson this time, striking with full force from the start.
And there was worse news.
Garp couldn't help him this time because, right now, he was also preoccupied.