Sengoku's body swelled like an inflating balloon, radiating blinding golden light. His face, twisted in fury, resembled a wrathful guardian deity. With one massive palm raised, he unleashed a terrifying shockwave toward Ace!
BOOM—
The execution platform crumbled as if crushed in an instant, stone bricks shattering, iron scaffolds warping.
Before the great palm fell, Luffy inhaled with all his might, inflating his rubber body into a massive shield of flesh, while Sabo turned and wrapped Ace tightly in his arms.
"No!" Ace cried out in shock.
But his sworn brothers stood firm, without hesitation, to block the attack for him.
When the shockwave passed, Luffy—having absorbed the brunt of the strike—shrank back to normal. Mid-fall amidst the ruins of the scaffold, he spat several mouthfuls of blood, his eyes rolling white as he collapsed unconscious.
To endure such a blow and live was proof enough of his monstrous vitality.
THUD—
Like an arrow, Luffy crashed deep into the plaza floor of Marineford, embedding himself into the bedrock without stirring.
Sabo, shielding Ace, fared little better. His tall black top hat was ripped away by the gale, and though his back was coated in Armament Haki, the impact still tore it bloody and bruised, rattling his bones and organs.
Clutching Ace, he slammed into the ground and rolled several times before stopping. Blood sprayed from his mouth, yet he still struggled to lift Ace upright.
"Luffy! Sabo!" Ace's hands were shackled with seastone—powerless to act. He could only watch in despair as the two he loved were grievously injured for his sake.
BOOM—
The golden Buddha descended, its radiance enveloping Ace and Sabo—not with salvation, but with murderous intent.
Not even a breath of respite? Sabo's breath hitched.
"The bloodlines of pirate and revolutionary alike will be cut off today!"
Ace's eyes widened as the giant Buddha hand, moving with deceptive slowness, loomed overhead. Yet it carried the crushing inevitability of a falling mountain, threatening to grind him and Sabo to dust.
In just two strikes, Sengoku had already cornered them.
"Haaah!"
A towering figure suddenly charged in from the flank, fists swelling with Haki. With a roar, he caught the descending divine palm. His cloak of Justice billowed in the wind, draped over his aging frame.
"Garp!" Sengoku's eyes bulged in fury, but he did not withdraw his hand.
No words were needed. From Garp's actions alone, Sengoku knew where his old friend stood.
So the Navy's hero cannot escape the chains of kinship after all…
The clash of two Haki titans split the earth, rubble erupting skyward like arrows!
"Old man!" Ace cried out toward Garp's back.
"Get out!" Garp snarled, teeth clenched as he resisted Sengoku's might. He attacked not, only defended. "All of you—GET OUT!"
Sabo, regaining his breath, didn't hesitate. He scooped Ace into his arms and, ignoring Ace's cries, bolted like lightning toward where Luffy lay embedded in the rock.
"The Pirate King's son's head is mine!"
Two Marines closed in from either side, blades flashing in a pincer strike.
Even burdened with Ace, Sabo showed no fear. He raised his steel pipe, catching both blades, then swept their legs out from under them with a single kick.
"At this level? You'll never take our lives."
Behind him, the clash of titans thundered, but Sabo paid it no heed. Calmly, he leapt into the pit, tore Luffy free from the stone, and tucked him under his arm as well.
"Ace." He finally glanced down at the Fire Fist, setting him back on his feet with a gap-toothed smile. "I only just got my memories back. No way I'm letting the first thing I hear be news of your death. Don't worry—at his rank, the old man will be fine. Our job… is to escape this battlefield."
From his pocket, he drew out a key. "Ah, right. Our good little brother got us this—use it to unlock your cuffs. Ace… tell me. Do you still long for freedom?"
"Hawkeye" Mihawk walked unhurriedly across the Marineford battlefield, wide-brimmed black hat shading his golden hawk-like eyes.
His black blade cut down pirates who dared approach, but he never pressed the attack.
Truth be told, he had little interest in this war.
He was merely fulfilling the World Government's summons, while amusing himself by crossing swords with Whitebeard's commanders—Diamond Jozu, Flower Sword Vista, and the like.
He had even loosed a strike at Whitebeard himself, though Jozu intercepted it.
Just as he expected the battle to continue in endless carnage, upheaval struck.
The black ship erupted from beneath the sea, shattering the ice and slamming onto the frozen bay. Mihawk's attention was inevitably drawn.
Its prow now bore jagged, beastlike jaws, lined with sharp fangs—a design far changed from the vessel he had seen over half a year ago.
Yet through the eerie aura it exuded, Mihawk still recognized it.
The Terror Ghost, Davy Jones's ghostly ship.
What was it doing here?
With a casual swing, Mihawk cut down two pirates, his gaze sharp as a hawk's as he scanned the vessel.
When he made out the figures upon its rail, his brow furrowed.
Davy Jones, and Crocodile—that much was expected. Mihawk read the papers even while adrift at sea, and he knew of their alliance.
But the silver-haired old man… that was something else entirely.
Silvers Rayleigh? Roger's first mate? Why was he aboard the Terror Ghost?
As Shanks's friend, Mihawk had long known Rayleigh lived, retired in the Sabaody Archipelago.
He could understand why Rayleigh might come here—Ace was Roger's son, after all.
But why was he standing alongside Davy Jones?
Could it be Rayleigh had chosen to ally with him to rescue Ace?
Mihawk shook his head. He could scarcely believe such an impossible coalition.
"Fufufufu…" A mocking laugh reached him before its owner.
Donquixote Doflamingo sauntered up, flamboyant coat flaring like a flamingo's plumage, his grin ever sly.
"Well, well. Isn't that the rising star of late, Davy Jones? Fufu. And our old comrade Crocodile, too."
"Fufufufu… add in Jinbei the Sea Knight, and that missing Blackbeard, and here we have another full gathering of the Seven Warlords, don't we?"
His tone dripped with derision.
He hadn't yet noticed Rayleigh. Mihawk cast him a sidelong glance but offered no correction, instead asking: "You interested in them?"
"Of course!" Doflamingo spread his hands wide. "They've broken every rule. Pirates and the underworld alike are clamoring for their heads. The requests to have them hunted pile up on my desk like snowflakes."
Assassinations, hunts, arms dealing, human trafficking—Doflamingo thrived in all. The true king of the underworld.
Before his words were finished, a crushing wave of Conqueror's Haki surged across the battlefield.
Marines and pirates alike fell in droves, foaming or fainting.
Doflamingo faltered mid-laugh, his grin tightening.
"So he has Conqueror's Haki… and wields it with mastery." He bent slightly, fingers brushing his tinted glasses. "No wonder he toppled Crocodile, then Moria, and even escaped Aokiji alive."
His vast intelligence network had penetrated every corner. To him, the Navy was riddled with holes—secrets could be bought, even those meant sealed.
But even Mihawk's face betrayed surprise.
Only half a year ago, he had crossed blades with Davy Jones. If not for the ocean beneath them, Mihawk could have ended it with ease.
And yet now, in mere months, Jones had filled the gap in Haki—and with his strange powers besides, Mihawk could no longer claim certain victory.
How had he done it? Mihawk could not fathom it. His own mastery of Haki, and its refinements, had cost him years.
How had Davy Jones erased that distance so swiftly?
For once, the world's greatest swordsman fell silent. And beside him, so too did Doflamingo.
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