Upon hearing this, Vista, who had been unwavering in his goal, faltered. His peripheral vision involuntarily glanced to the side, and then his pupils sharply contracted.
Whitebeard was currently facing a siege from Kizaru, Akainu, and Aokiji.
On the execution platform, Sengoku's eyes lit up. He watched as Whitebeard's angry attack not only failed to work but also exposed a weakness, allowing Renji to seize the opportunity and injure him.
In Sengoku's view, Renji casually killing one of Whitebeard's subordinate captains was not the main point. The main point was—
"A powerhouse of Whitebeard's caliber actually exposed a weakness by attacking Renji."
"This war has only just begun."
"Doesn't that mean Whitebeard's combat power is significantly different from his peak years?"
A glint of wisdom shone in his eyes,
"Whitebeard… are you also unable to defeat time?" Sengoku's lips curved into a smile.
Perhaps today, Whitebeard might very well meet his end here.
"Pops!"
Ace choked up, the immense emotional impact leaving him speechless. In the past, his pops could even avoid sneak attacks in his sleep, how could he make so many mistakes today?
Originally, seeing Whitebeard's cool entrance, Ace had thought his physical condition had improved. Now it seemed that was not the case at all.
Pops's physical condition… was not looking good.
In the air, Marco's gaze was fixed on the frivolous Borsalino in front of him but his thoughts drifted back to before the battle, when Whitebeard, to boost morale, had pulled out all the needles and IV drips from his body.
Now it seemed—
'Pops's physical deterioration is much faster than imagined.'
"Oh. That's a bit unexpected, young junior." Borsalino's lips curved into an enigmatic smile.
"You seem a bit distracted."
"Don't get carried away, Kizaru!"
Marco's foot transformed into a sharp claw, burning with blue flames and intense Haki, and he kicked out towards Borsalino's abdomen.
Phoenix Imprint!
Clang!
A gleaming golden longsword lay across Borsalino's front. The domineering force of Marco's claw was completely blocked.
Whoosh!
A gust of wind spread out from the point of their collision, making Borsalino's Marine coat billow wildly.
Ama no murakumo!
Borsalino still spoke slowly, but Marco, relying on his powerful Observation Haki, sensed a difference.
Kizaru seems to be getting serious…
Marco's eyes were extremely solemn. While constantly observing the battlefield with a divided mind, he noticed that the fiery red figure below the execution platform had disappeared, and at the same time, an ice-blue figure was also moving rapidly.
'Aokiji's target is pops. If it's just one Admiral, it's fine, but if that bastard Akainu's target is also pops, then it's going to be bad.'
Besides Sengoku, who could tell that Whitebeard was not in good condition, the Admirals, as top-tier combatants, also possessed battlefield sensitivity.
Now was the best time to completely crush Whitebeard.
An ice spike was rushing towards Whitebeard at an extremely fast speed. Wherever it passed, pirates were instantly frozen into ice sculptures, utterly powerless to resist.
"Aokiji brat!"
Whitebeard looked at the ice spike attacking him, his face still calm and confident. He raised Murakumogiri high in his right hand, then slashed down.
Buzz!
Boom—Crackle!
A shockwave tore through the ground.
Kuzan's expression was calm. He was originally controlling his elementalized body to move rapidly on the ice, and he could easily avoid Whitebeard's slash. But behind him were hundreds of Marine soldiers. He could avoid it, but these ordinary soldiers would surely die.
Ice Saber!
Two huge ice blades instantly condensed, colliding with Whitebeard's shockwave slash.
Clatter... Clatter...
The ice sabers shattered, and the shockwave slash solidified. Kuzan's offensive was also briefly stalled.
Whitebeard was about to smile when he suddenly felt a fiery red descending from above his head.
He looked up and saw a scorching mass of magma, falling fiercely towards him with the momentum to melt everything.
"Whitebeard, go to hell!"
Sakazuki gritted his teeth, his entire lower body transformed into magma. His right fist, imbued with the power of this descent from the sky, emitted a crimson death glow. After being buffed by powerful Haki, it smashed down towards Whitebeard's head.
Bang!
Whitebeard's arm muscles bulged like coiling dragons. Vibrational force and savage Haki enveloped the blade of Murakumogiri, colliding head-on with Sakazuki's fist.
Boom!
Two energy currents, one red and one white, seemed to divide two worlds, separating Whitebeard and Sakazuki's figures.
Under the surging energy vibrations, both their bodies were enduring the immense impact from each other at this moment, especially Sakazuki. Facing Whitebeard's vibrational force, his body at this moment felt as if it were being turned upside down.
Whitebeard was also not having an easy time. The high temperature of the magma seemed to incinerate everything, and the ice around him began to melt rapidly. If this continued, he would fall into the sea first.
While Whitebeard was fighting two Admirals, Marco wanted to quickly provide support, but Borsalino, who usually liked to slack off, was now starting to exert himself.
"Don't look around."
Buzz!
Golden light flared.
Borsalino held ama no murakumo, which emitted an incomparably sharp aura. Coupled with powerful force, it instantly shook Marco's body back half a meter. Then he didn't stop, immediately following up with a light-speed kick.
Marco knew that he could not allow Borsalino to interfere with Whitebeard's battle at this moment, so he could only shield himself with his wings.
Bang!
Marco forcibly endured the damage of this blow with the regeneration of his blue flames of resurrection, which prevented him from being kicked away.
"How long can you last?"
Borsalino was relentless. Ama no murakumo in his hand shone brightly. With a single slash, he cut off one of Marco's wings. Then his body transformed into particles of light and flashed above Marco's head. He then condensed a bowl-shaped wide laser beam, which shot down.
Buzz!
Facing such an attack, Marco could only be suppressed to the ground, resulting in a violent explosion.
After doing all this, Borsalino took a deep breath and flashed towards Whitebeard.
"Quick, cover pops!"
Marco quickly climbed out of the rubble. Burning with blue flames of resurrection, he immediately shouted as soon as he recovered.
The other Whitebeard Pirates crew members were also greatly alarmed at this moment.
"Pops is being ganged up on by the Marine Admirals! Go help him quickly!"
"Where are the captains?!"
"I'm coming!" Jozu roared.
His burly physique was not clumsy at all. With a stomp of his feet, he used the immense recoil to fly low over the ice. Like a human cannonball, he shot out at an extremely fast speed.
At the same time, the other commanders also showed their true abilities, rushing to help Whitebeard. For a time, the pressure on the Marine side suddenly increased.
The climax of the war seemed to be arriving early.
Vista, seeing Whitebeard surrounded, naturally would not stand idly by. He suppressed the urge to cut Renji and turned to rush in Whitebeard's direction.
Renji's lips curved into a smile upon seeing this.
Now everyone's attention is on Whitebeard, which means that characters like Marco and Jozu, who can tie me down, can't spare attention for me.
And the other captains are not my opponents, and they are busy supporting Whitebeard, so they will inevitably expose many weaknesses.
Now is a great time to harvest bounty points!
Bringing up the system panel, Renji looked at the bounty points that were enough for upgrades and smiled faintly.
"Then… hunting time!"
At the same time, a colossal figure stepped into Marineford's inner bay with each tremor.
"Ace, I've come to save you."
***
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