"Little Oars."
Whitebeard tapped his foot against the ground beneath him. Oars hesitated and glanced at Ace, but in the end, he still turned sideways and adjusted his position.
He had realized it now. Pops had actually already made his preparations, and his condition was completely different from the terrible state Oars had imagined.
In that case, he had no reason to keep charging forward at all costs.
That was not recklessness.
That was stupidity!
In the next second, one Emperor met the eyes of another.
Whitebeard suddenly smiled.
"Red-Haired brat, so you really did come. Looks like you still care about Roger's bloodline after all."
"Did that guy contact you too?"
Red-Haired Shanks picked up on certain information from those words.
He had learned the truth from Rayleigh. After Ace's identity was announced and confirmed by the Marines, he had immediately set out for this place.
Along the way, he had also picked up Rayleigh and the others from the Sabaody Archipelago.
And there was only one person who could have predicted that.
His enemy, the Demon—Ren.
He could not help sweeping his gaze across the entire battlefield as he murmured, "No wonder only two Warlords are left. The Marines took a huge loss this time."
Whitebeard flicked his finger, and a subtle yet unstoppable quake force shattered the transmission of sound.
He looked at Shanks, who had turned his gaze toward him, and said with the corner of his mouth raised, "My goal is to rescue Ace. What about you?"
"…On that point, we're aligned."
Shanks tightened his grip on his sword, Gryphon, and looked toward Sengoku on the execution platform. "But before that, I should still try negotiating.
"Could you release him? Consider it doing me a favor, Marines."
"Justice will not yield to anything!"
Sengoku coldly rejected Shanks's "favor," then took one determined step forward and issued his order with absolute resolve.
"At all costs, continue the execution!"
"Ooh!"
"Justice will prevail!"
The Marines' roars declared the brutal war that would follow.
Shanks sighed and looked toward Whitebeard. "I don't want to cause too great an impact on the world. Shall we cooperate for a moment?"
"…Fine."
Whitebeard fell silent for a moment before nodding.
In that instant, the two men looked toward the Marines waiting on the frontal battlefield.
Sengoku's expression changed drastically as he shouted, "Careful! The Emperors are joining forces! Hold firm!"
In the next instant, black-red lightning swept across the entire frontal battlefield along with the pressure of Conqueror's Haki.
The air twisted. The senses buzzed. In a daze, the Marines seemed to see two pairs of cold, merciless eyes looking down at them.
Thud!
The first fell.
Then came a continuous chain of bodies hitting the ground.
The Marines suffered an unprecedented strike from Conqueror's Haki, but the range of that pressure continued to expand, almost threatening to envelop all of Marineford.
"Don't get so arrogant!"
Garp abruptly raised his head. Black-red lightning exploded around him. "Sengoku!"
"Yeah. We can't let them run wild any longer."
As his voice rang out, two more pairs of eyes appeared over the battlefield.
One belonged to Garp.
The other belonged to Sengoku.
Two surges of Conqueror's Haki erupted and slammed into the incoming Conqueror's Haki.
Heaven and earth dimmed. Only the sizzling sound of black-red lightning remained.
The Marines caught within the overlapping ranges of both sides' Conqueror's Haki collapsed without a sound, regardless of rank.
The only fortunate ones were the Marines and pirates within their respective camps.
For powerhouses of this level, Conqueror's Haki could be controlled to decide whom it harmed and whom it spared.
Yet within that fortune, there was misfortune.
The Marine side suddenly discovered that in the clash of Conqueror's Haki against Conqueror's Haki, the Conqueror's Haki belonging to their side was retreating.
More and more Marine officers at the front collapsed, their eyes rolling back as they fainted.
In the contest of Conqueror's Haki, the Marine high command had clearly fallen into a disadvantage.
And then…
They lost!
Whitebeard and Red-Hair's Conqueror's Haki crushed Garp and Sengoku's Conqueror's Haki.
Then it turned into streams of light and swept across the entire battlefield.
Even on this grand battlefield filled with elites, a massive number of Marines could not withstand the pressure of Conqueror's Haki and fainted where they stood.
"Red-Hair…"
Sengoku stared fixedly at Red-Hair at the end of his line of sight. The strength of the man's Conqueror's Haki surpassed everything he knew.
With Conqueror's Haki pressure alone, he had caused elites among elites to lose consciousness. Not even Whitebeard could do that.
No.
Rather, no one had ever reached this level before!
He was the first to reach such a height!
"Red-Hair…"
Mihawk's expression changed slightly, as though he was hesitating over something. Then his gaze met Red-Hair's.
Shanks had only just released his Conqueror's Haki, and a trace of dominance still lingered in his expression.
But when he realized it was Mihawk looking at him, that trace of dominance faded, and his expression eased.
Mihawk shook his head. Under the stunned gazes of the Marines, he put away the black blade Yoru and turned to leave.
"Mihawk! Are you planning to betray us too?!"
"The situation now is different from what was agreed upon. I refuse to carry this out. And with the way those people have been abusing the title of Warlord, it no longer holds much value anyway."
Mihawk disappeared before the crowd, then raised his eyes and glanced toward a corner.
At some point, Hancock had moved far away.
She did not seem like a chess piece left behind by Ren. She was more like an observer.
Although Mihawk did not know why, after giving up on standing against Red-Hair, he could not help feeling curious about how the situation here would develop next.
And so Hancock, who had found herself a hidden spot, discovered that a familiar man had appeared where she was.
'A man who kills the mood!'
Hancock frowned slightly, then quietly shifted a little to the side.
Although she very much wanted to say it out loud, Ren had forbidden her from speaking during this war.
Since she did not know whether he had left any other flaw-exploiting methods behind, she still chose to follow her instincts and keep her mouth shut.
"Mihawk."
Shanks withdrew his gaze. Then he pointed forward and took the lead toward the frontal battlefield.
Yasopp, who had been beside him the whole time, quietly vanished. The rest of the crew followed in Red-Hair's footsteps.
"Oooh!"
"Red-Hair is opening the path for us!"
"Don't let them look down on us! Surpass them! We'll take the frontal battlefield, and we'll rescue Ace too!"
The members of the Whitebeard Pirates roared as they charged forward.
After experiencing what had just happened, their morale had soared to an extreme, to the point that they were completely fearless of death.
"Counterattack! Counterattack! Don't let them cross the defensive line!"
The remaining Marines also did not dare give up. After clearly understanding what they were doing, they chose to cast aside their lives and defend the justice in their hearts, clashing with the charging pirates!
Bang—clang—
Gunshots and the ringing of metal sounded together across the battlefield.
No one had the energy to help the unconscious Marines. The pressure before them left every Marine unable to think about anything else.
The ruins of the collapsed encircling wall had become stepping stones for the pirates' advance. Whitebeard's consecutive attacks had caused massive damage to Marineford.
At the very least, the encircling wall had now become rubble that could be used as a path forward. It could no longer block the Whitebeard Pirates' charge at all.
Squard was mixed among them, his expression furious as he looked toward Akainu.
That bastard had deceived him!
Pops had never betrayed them, nor had he sold them out. Akainu had been trying to trick him into stabbing Pops in the back!
Fortunately…
Fortunately, Pops had not given him the chance and had shattered that conspiracy instead.
For a moment, Squard did not know whether he should feel relieved or something else.
But because of the guilt in his heart, he led the Big Spider Pirates and charged onto the front line.
The Marines and pirates entered an even crueler slaughter.
The Marine side consisted of more than a hundred thousand elite troops and core forces, but their opponents were also members of the Whitebeard Pirates, who had dominated the New World for decades.
Because of the collapse of the outer battle lines, Marine Headquarters had changed its strategy and entered a state of contracted defense.
But the pressure was still too great.
The Red-Haired Pirates did not have many members, but in every record, they were known as an iron-wall crew with the most balanced overall strength.
Among them, Benn Beckman was considered to be on the same level of strength as Shanks.
The other members were also powerful types.
Ordinary Marine officers could not stop their advance at all, and the commanders in the rear had also begun to act.
That caused the stalemate on the frontal battlefield to intensify rapidly.
People died every moment.
Because of the combination of many factors, more of those dying were on the Marine side.
Sengoku watched all this, and his heart grew heavy.
They could not stop them.
There was no way to truly stop them.
Relying purely on numbers was not enough to grind these powerhouses to death!
At this moment, the Marines' numerical advantage could not form an overwhelming gap.
And he had also noticed that Mihawk had withdrawn and was no longer acting. In all likelihood, it was because of his relationship with Red-Hair.
As for Hancock…
He completely could not understand that woman's thought process.
On the battlefield, Kuzan and Sakazuki stood at the front of the battle line. Although they had not made a move, it was not as though they were truly doing nothing.
They needed to guard against those strong enough to force their way through.
Whoosh—!
Blue flames swept across the sky. Phoenix Marco launched his charge.
Kuzan's face turned cold, and half his body transformed into ice. Yet before he could truly move—
An incomparably terrifying burst of Conqueror's Haki came through the air, falling upon him like an electric current.
Shanks, who was positioned toward the rear, drew half his blade and said coldly, "Don't get in the way, Kuzan."
"…"
Kuzan glanced sideways. The cold air continued to spread.
But this level was no longer enough to stop Marco's charge.
Akainu raised his hand at the same time. However, Diamond Jozu, shining all over, slammed into his magma body at astonishing speed.
Other commanders were also watching for openings nearby.
Although they could not pose a true threat to an Admiral, the commanders did indeed possess the strength to fight an Admiral for a short period of time.
Almost the instant Marco launched his assault, they coordinated and took action.
Two Admirals were temporarily restrained.
Beneath the execution platform, Kizaru silently stood up and raised his hand, preparing to fire a laser.
But at that moment, a bullet hole suddenly appeared between his brows, passing straight through from front to back, with photons surging inside.
A bullet wrapped in Haki had flown in from an unknown location and pierced through his head.
"Sniper…"
Kizaru's eyes shifted, but he was unable to locate that sniper from the Red-Haired Pirates.
Then several more bullet holes appeared across his body.
They were not trying to kill him.
They were suppressing his attempt to intercept.
And that amount of time was enough for Marco to approach the execution platform!
"Ace!"
Marco cried out loudly, while his eyes remained fixed on the people standing on the execution platform.
He did not believe that there would be no resistance after crossing past the Three Admirals.
(End of Chapter)