Ever since Whitebeard was stabbed by Squard's "filial son sword," the scales of this war had tipped towards Marine Headquarters.
The penetrating wound to his chest had an unusually large impact on the aged Whitebeard.
Especially Observation Haki, which required a firm will and calmness to use.
The intense pain made Whitebeard's Observation Haki no longer precise, and he couldn't even sustain its use.
Without the sharp eyes of Observation Haki, Whitebeard's clumsy body not only lost the agility that had faded with time, but also lost the reaction speed of his rich combat experience.
Surrounded by enemies on all sides, he successively took attacks from various weaklings.
Sword wounds, gunshot wounds, cannon wounds, and so on...
His six-meter-sixty-six tall body was a huge target at this moment.
Even so, Whitebeard only frowned slightly, then acted as if nothing had happened, using his ability to clear the obstacles in front of him.
But no one knew his physical condition better than Whitebeard himself.
Looking at the figure running across the square, and the straw hat that Roger had worn when he was young...
At this moment, Whitebeard seemed to have returned to decades ago, to the time when he was running around for his hometown, joining pirate crews one after another, and finally becoming a monster and being recruited by Rocks.
Immediately after, the scene of him drinking with Roger under the cherry blossom trees for the last time appeared in Whitebeard's mind.
"D..."
Whitebeard murmured this letter.
Then, as if he had made a decision.
"Boys..."
Whitebeard took a deep breath and loudly issued the captain's order to the Whitebeard Pirates: "From now on, cover Straw Hat fully!"
"Pops..."
Hearing Whitebeard's captain's order, all the division commanders and subordinate pirate captains were slightly stunned.
Looking at their Pops, who started to pant after shouting.
Many commanders and captains had slightly moist eyes.
Immediately after, their expressions became determined.
After forcing back the Marines in front of them or eliminating the obstacles before them, these division commanders and captains coincidentally moved closer to Luffy.
"Entrusting the task of saving Ace to a Supernova pirate with a bounty of only 255 million Berries... It seems Whitebeard can't hold on much longer."
Through the megaphone, Carina, who had also heard this sentence, said with a hint of regret, "With such a hole blown in his chest, unless an Op-Op Fruit user or some other powerful healing ability helps him, this incredibly old World's Strongest Man, his era, is probably coming to an end."
"Pirate King Roger, and Golden Lion Shiki, of the three legends of the old era, only this World's Strongest Man is left."
"If he dies, not only will the Whitebeard era end, but it will also announce the complete arrival of the new era."
"..."
With Whitebeard's captain's order, the perspective of the live broadcast returned to the running Luffy.
At this moment, countless people all over the world remembered this pirate Supernova with a deep background.
Among them, Hawkeye was the most prominent.
On Luffy, those hawk eyes that could see through everything seemed to have seen something.
Following the world's strongest slash swung at the Moby Dick at the beginning, Hawkeye once again drew the Supreme Grade Sword Yoru and blocked Luffy's path.
After tormenting Luffy for a while, and protecting Zoro and Sanji, the captain's crew members.
Hawkeye, just like in the original story, was stopped by Vista, the commander of the Whitebeard Pirates' Fifth Division, "Flower Sword" Vista.
As one of the veterans who had followed Whitebeard the earliest, Vista's swordsmanship attainment was undoubtedly at the level of a great swordsman.
A battle between great swordsmen was like a battle between Marine Admirals.
Even if his overall strength was weaker than Hawkeye's, Vista could still hold Hawkeye off for a long time, maybe even days and nights, before a victor was decided.
After the unbeatable enemy was held back, Luffy continued to run towards the execution platform.
During this period, not only Hawkeye, the Warlord, but also a large number of Marine officers wanted to stop this grandson of the hero who came from a noble background but had become a pirate.
Without exception, they were either blocked by the subordinate captains of the Whitebeard Pirates or repelled by the various division commanders.
With the commanders and captains of the Whitebeard Pirates clearing the way ahead, Luffy arrived below the execution platform very smoothly.
To get up quickly and save Ace, Luffy used Second Gear, which made Karl's eyes light up slightly, and used the Marine Six Powers technique, Shave, to shoot towards the execution platform.
"Second Gear, he really developed it."
Karl muttered to himself, "And Shave... It seems that even without the Enies Lobby incident, he should have fought with CP9 or other powerhouses who mastered the Six Powers and learned the Shave technique from them."
Without Second and Third Gear, Luffy's strength would be similar to Urouge's, or even inferior to Urouge, who could turn damage into strength and interpret what it meant to be "what doesn't kill me makes me stronger."
Only by developing the Gum-Gum Fruit to another level was Luffy qualified to be the NO. 2 Supernova and worthy of a bounty of 255 million Berries.
But I digress.
After the three Admirals had all made their moves and were held back by Whitebeard, Marco, and Jozu.
The only obstacle left for Luffy to reach the execution platform was the Marine Hero with a special status who could sit on the golden chair reserved for the three Admirals.
The other party's identity happened to be this Supernova's grandfather.
Just like in the original story, Garp struggled constantly between family affection and justice.
Even though he stood up to stop Luffy, who was using Shave, in the end, in the duel between grandfather and grandson, he closed his eyes and let Luffy send him flying with a punch.
The scene of the Marine Hero being sent flying left countless people dumbfounded.
It also made Sengoku grit his teeth, but he was helpless.
If Ace weren't his adopted grandson, if Luffy weren't his biological grandson.
Garp would definitely have become an insurmountable mountain for the Whitebeard Pirates in this battle.
Among his peers, except for Sengoku, who was an ultimate being, Garp's physical constitution completely crushed the wounded Whitebeard and the incredibly old Red Count and other older generation figures.
As a Marine general, he had the world's best medical care.
Time had weakened his endurance, but his strength had not declined as severely as Whitebeard's.
If they really fought, whether it was Garp or Sengoku, either one of them could hold Whitebeard off until the end of the war.
Unfortunately, neither of the two legends made a move.
Now, one of the legends had even released a Grand Line's worth of water for his biological grandson.
Besides being helpless, what could Sengoku do?
After sending his biological grandfather flying, Luffy successfully ascended the execution platform.
Immediately after, a scene that filled Karl with surprise appeared.
"Where did that key come from?!"
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