Just when Finn and the others were processing the catastrophic situation, Bullet suddenly burst into wild laughter.
"Hahahahaha! Don't overthink it!" His voice carried manic glee despite his grievous injuries. "I just lured that bastard Whitebeard here. There's no deeper reason. I simply wanted to see if he'd go crazy for his brat!"
"You lunatic!" Gion's curse came out sharp with genuine anger.
Finn sighed heavily. "He's a madman..."
As soon as the words left his mouth, the Den Den Mushi on his person suddenly rang.
He pulled it out and checked the caller. Vice Admiral Jonathan.
"Vice Admiral Jonathan?" Finn answered immediately.
"Whitebeard! It's Whitebeard's entire fleet!" Jonathan's tone carried barely controlled urgency. "I don't know how they managed to quietly enter the first half of the Grand Line. Did you feel that power just now?"
"I felt it," Finn admitted frankly. "Extremely powerful. Even though I was caught off guard, even though I didn't see him, didn't even know how far away he was... he still injured me."
For some reason, he suddenly recalled the question he'd asked Borsalino back on the New World.
What would have happened if Whitebeard had come instead of Charlotte Linlin that day?
And Borsalino's answer had been delivered with uncharacteristic seriousness: If you were facing Whitebeard, there would be no safe place even if you retreated to the ends of the world.
At the time, Finn had simply filed the information away without truly understanding it, lacking direct experience.
Today, he finally grasped what Borsalino meant.
While Finn processed this sobering realization, Vice Admiral Jonathan spoke again. "The outer perimeter fleet has begun collapsing. The Buster Call force has been almost completely annihilated. I'm leading my men to rescue survivors. I hope we can buy you time. However, I have no confidence facing an opponent like Newgate." A pause. "Finn, have you finished your objective on the island?"
"No. I haven't even seen Crocodile yet... wait." Finn glanced at Gion. "How's Crocodile's situation?"
"I evacuated after finding Marco. Didn't bother with him, but he should still be on the island somewhere," Gion answered quickly.
Finn nodded, then returned to the Den Den Mushi. "We haven't captured Crocodile yet, but Douglas Bullet could be arrested at any moment."
"He's the primary target. Listen to my advice, Finn. Take Bullet and evacuate immediately. This way, we'll have achieved at least our main objective," Vice Admiral Jonathan urged.
Before Finn could respond, another overwhelming tremor force erupted from all directions, identical to the previous attack. It shattered space itself and churned the sea, as if intending to tear the sky apart.
Fortunately, Finn was mentally prepared this time. He released gravitational force from his body in a protective field, offsetting the vibration.
However, chaotic noise suddenly poured from the Den Den Mushi. Artillery fire, screams, shouts, roars, and wailing cries for help blended into a cacophony of battle.
"Vice Admiral Jonathan? John?" Finn called into the Den Den Mushi urgently.
No response came from the other side.
"Damn it." Finn cursed and disconnected.
At that moment, the Den Den Mushi on Sakazuki's person rang. He answered without hesitation. "Admiral Sengoku?"
"Sakazuki, is Finn with you?" Sengoku's tone carried unusual urgency.
Without a word, Sakazuki handed the Den Den Mushi to Finn, who accepted it immediately. "I'm here, Admiral!"
"Have you engaged the Whitebeard Pirates?" Sengoku demanded.
"Not yet. But Vice Admiral Jonathan and his forces should have made contact. I've lost communication with Vice Admiral Jonathan. All I can confirm is that the Buster Call fleet has been defeated by the Whitebeard Pirates," Finn reported the situation rapidly.
As for how Admiral Sengoku knew Whitebeard had arrived...
If he still couldn't figure out what was happening at this point, he shouldn't be an Admiral. Finn didn't waste time asking obvious questions.
"Damn it!" Sengoku cursed, then continued, "I've already dispatched reinforcements. Tsuru is leading forces toward Spring Queen Island. I'll also depart from Marineford shortly to rendezvous with you..."
"Reinforcements?" Finn felt momentarily stunned.
"That's right. Listen carefully. As Admiral, I'm ordering you, Finn, to lead all Marine forces in the waters near Spring Queen Island to retreat immediately!" Sengoku's command came without ambiguity.
After a brief pause, Sengoku's tone softened slightly, becoming almost paternal. "Garp is in the East Blue. Zephyr took his students to the New World for training. Kuzan and Borsalino are both in the New World. I'm at Marineford. You simply don't have the forces to withstand Whitebeard's power. You've never fought that man, so you can't comprehend how terrifying he becomes when enraged. In your current condition, you absolutely cannot win a direct confrontation with Whitebeard's fleet."
"Even if we can't win, shouldn't we just fight?"
It wasn't Finn who spoke, but Sakazuki, his voice tight with barely suppressed protest.
"Shut your mouth!" Sengoku snapped harshly. Then his voice dropped to something more serious, more weighted. "Finn. Sakazuki. Gion. You three carry the Marines' future on your shoulders. Do you understand what that means?"
After those words, Finn, Gion, and Sakazuki all fell silent.
They understood exactly what Sengoku meant.
The Whitebeard Pirates had clearly sent a significant force. The Marines hadn't yet received accurate intelligence on how many personnel had come or which powerful division commanders were included.
But it had to be substantial. At the same time, Whitebeard himself was confirmed present.
With Finn and the others' current strength, attempting a full-scale battle with the Whitebeard Pirates here sounded grand and heroic. But if examined carefully, wouldn't the three of them simply be walking toward death?
The assessment was harsh, but it reflected reality.
Even Sakazuki couldn't refute it.
Sengoku's intention was obvious. He wanted them to preserve themselves, to remain alive so they could eventually grow strong enough to deal with Whitebeard in the future.
There was no need to throw their lives away in a futile last stand born from momentary rage.
"An order is an order. Execute it immediately!" Sengoku issued the command again with finality.
Finn could only respond, "Yes. Everything for justice."
After disconnecting the Den Den Mushi, Finn looked at Sakazuki and Gion. "Prepare to evacuate."
As soon as he finished speaking, he raised his hand and gestured toward Bullet. The pirate's body suddenly lost weight and flew directly toward Finn's position.
Sakazuki and Gion showed no mercy whatsoever. Both were furious at the situation, and they immediately took the unfortunate Bullet as their outlet. A stream of crackling lightning and a surge of boiling magma erupted from their bodies simultaneously, one from the left and one from the right, hammering into Bullet with devastating force.
Bullet's condition had already been catastrophic. After being attacked by both Gion and Sakazuki together, he completely lost any remaining ability to resist.
Sakazuki grabbed Bullet by the throat, magma surging twice around his hand before he finally snorted coldly. "Let's move."
Bullet hadn't been killed outright.
Finn naturally had no intention of executing Bullet. He'd already felt heartbroken after killing Shiki, hadn't he, of course because the lost of Shiki Devil Fruit not Shiki himself?
Better to imprison Bullet and the others first. Perhaps he could profit from them later somehow.
As for Crocodile and Marco, it was obvious that neither Finn nor his companions intended to waste effort on those two under current circumstances.
The three of them moved through the ruins. Not long after, Finn's Den Den Mushi rang again.
After checking the caller, he breathed a sigh of relief and quickly answered. "Vice Admiral Jonathan?"
"Finn, head southwest. My ship is positioned there to extract you. That monster Newgate has already defeated our fleet and landed on the island!" Jonathan's tone carried grim seriousness.
"Where's Dalmatian?" Sakazuki interjected.
"He's been retrieved. Only you three remain," Jonathan confirmed.
"Understood. We're moving now," Finn responded immediately.
After disconnecting the Den Den Mushi, Finn and the others quickly changed direction and headed toward the southwestern coastline.
However, the three of them hadn't traveled far while carrying Bullet when they spotted a blue figure in the sky, wings flapping as it flew past in the distance.
That poor kid Marco had apparently escaped.
It seemed that in doing so, Marco had spotted them. After circling in the air for several moments, he disappeared from everyone's line of sight.
Finn and the others maintained their silence and rushed toward the rendezvous point.
But at that moment, violent tremor force suddenly erupted from the ruins in the distance, far more concentrated and directed than before.
"Damn it!" Finn cursed. He shoved Gion and Sakazuki away forcefully. "You two go first! I'll cover the retreat!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Finn drew Shindokutō from its sheath at his waist. The blade brought with it a powerful curse aura and tremendous wind pressure, mixed with invisible gravitational force, and slashed toward the incoming tremor wave.
The two overwhelmingly powerful forces collided instantly. Spring Queen Island, which had already been cracked in half, exploded again and was forcibly divided into four separate sections.
Sakazuki and Gion weren't the type to hesitate at critical moments. Since Finn had blocked the tremor force with his technique, they certainly weren't going to stage some tragic drama of refusing to abandon him. Without a word, both turned and ran.
"Damn, how disloyal! I was just making a gesture!" Finn complained internally.
Of course, it was merely a complaint.
The gravity channeled through his blade continued releasing in waves. After approximately thirty seconds, the confrontation between the two invisible energies finally concluded.
Everywhere he looked revealed devastation.
The ground was shattered and undulating, resembling a demolition site. Not a single flat surface remained intact.
Originally, there had been some houses and trees scattered across the island. Even though the houses were abandoned, at least they'd been standing.
Now, everything had become ruins. Trees and other vegetation had been uprooted and lay scattered everywhere.
Dismissing these observations, Finn looked toward the direction from which the tremor force had erupted. He couldn't see any figure yet.
However, when he extended his Observation Haki to investigate, he detected a large group of people rushing in this direction.
At the same time, the auras of these individuals were extraordinarily powerful. The one in the lead didn't even feel human in terms of sheer presence.
"Damn it!" Finn retracted his Observation Haki, turned around, and ran without another word.
Was he supposed to fight an entire group alone?
However, he maintained some tactical awareness. The direction he chose to flee was opposite from where Sakazuki and the others had departed.
But just after Finn had taken several steps, a heroic voice rang out from the distance.
"Gurararara! You're the Violent Tiger of Marine Headquarters? You don't even dare face me?" Newgate's laughter carried across the devastation.
Finn stopped moving. He turned to look at the towering figure slowly emerging from the ruins in the distance, accompanied by a group of pirates surrounding him.
The tall figure was Whitebeard himself. Those around him included Jozu, Vista, Izo, Marco, and others.
There were also several people he recognized and several he didn't. Clearly, Whitebeard was traveling with a substantial portion of his "sons." Finn couldn't help but sigh. "What an unlucky day..."
"Gurararara! Finn... that's the right name, isn't it? You're younger than I expected," Newgate spoke as though in excellent spirits.
It was as if the person who'd been so enraged he'd nearly destroyed the island wasn't him at all.
Finn studied the handsome, blonde Edward Newgate and smiled despite the situation. "To be honest, you're much younger than I expected as well..."