If he could not make countermeasures in advance, then they might face a total collapse of all their efforts—or even something far more terrifying!
The instant Sengoku realized this fact, he made his choice.
"Cut off every broadcast! Move the execution forward!"
Sengoku's eyes were icy as he issued the order in a low voice.
There had only ever been one true core to this war.
Ace!
As Roger's bloodline, the Marines had every reason, both emotionally and logically, to execute him.
And as a "family member" of the Whitebeard Pirates, as Whitebeard's son, the Whitebeard Pirates had to rescue him.
At the same time, as Roger's son, Red-Haired Shanks, who had received Roger's care, also had both the obligation and the emotional reason to save Ace.
But—
For the Marines, all they truly needed was to kill Ace.
Even if Marineford was reduced to ruins, even if it sank into the sea, the ones who won in actual fact would still be them.
Because the first objective of this war was Ace's execution. Whitebeard's forces were never an objective placed openly on the table.
So even if they failed to accomplish that, it would not count as failure, because that objective had never existed in the first place.
Of course, Sengoku was well aware of what would happen if Ace were killed here and now.
The enemy force had already exceeded all projections. They were facing the lineup of two Emperors.
The utterly enraged Whitebeard might truly sink Marineford into the sea, and might even launch an endless, undying campaign of revenge.
But… Ace was not Whitebeard's only son. As a father, did he not also have to consider his other children?
If they fought the Marines to the bitter end, the Marines might suffer catastrophic losses, but… the Whitebeard Pirates' forces would certainly be wiped out in the process!
Sengoku was betting that Whitebeard would not stake everyone's lives on revenge after Ace's death.
As for Red-Hair…
There was an extremely subtle connection between Red-Hair and the World Government. That was something Sengoku had detected from tiny traces after he became Fleet Admiral.
He also did not believe Red-Hair would join forces with Whitebeard to completely destroy and bury Marine Headquarters.
Because as a matter of fact, while the lineup of two Emperors was certainly powerful and terrifying, it was still not enough to completely destroy Marine Headquarters!
At most, the result would be an even match ending in mutual ruin.
Yet if things reached that point, Sengoku did not believe the Marines would be fighting alone. The God Knights stationed at Mary Geoise would inevitably join the battle.
Because attempting to destroy and overthrow Marine Headquarters was, in essence, a challenge to one of the fundamental cornerstones of the World Government.
At that time, Marine Headquarters would still obtain the final victory—even if it was a miserable victory, it would still be acceptable.
But… could Red-Hair truly accept such an outcome?
Although all of these were merely predictions, they were predictions built on logic grounded in reality.
Because of that unknown existence, Sengoku chose to take a gamble.
This was not difficult. As long as they cut off the broadcast, no one would know they had executed Ace early.
As the final victors, and as the World Government's instrument of violence,
The tongues of public opinion in this world were in their hands. They could say whatever they wished!
And… Ace was right in front of him!
"This…"
The Marines who received the order swiftly moved into action.
The two executioners swallowed, exchanged glances, and prepared themselves.
'Sorry, Garp.'
Sengoku looked darkly at his old friend, who was standing before the execution platform. At that moment, Garp had taken a seat where the Three Admirals had been.
He did not turn around. It was unclear whether he had heard Sengoku's words or not.
But… Garp was still carrying out his justice as a Marine!
That was also why Sengoku said sorry.
Yet just then, a panicked Marine suddenly rushed onto the execution platform to report.
"F-Fleet Admiral."
"Why are you panicking? Have the Den Den Mushi broadcasts all been shut down?"
"We… we can't shut them down!"
"What did you say?"
Sengoku frowned, unable to understand what the reporter meant.
What was there about Den Den Mushi that could not be shut down?
"It's true! All the Den Den Mushi have gone completely out of control!"
The reporting Marine looked on the verge of tears. "I don't know why, I really don't know why! We have no way to turn them off!
"It's like… the technology has failed… no, I don't even know how to describe it!"
They had never encountered something like this before.
The Den Den Mushi seemed to have collectively malfunctioned, all maintaining their broadcast state.
"…What did you say!?"
Sengoku's eyes widened, but not because all the Den Den Mushi had gone out of control.
It was because after he had made his response, he had encountered this kind of utterly unforeseen… resistance!
The ominous premonition in his heart soared to its peak.
He abruptly turned toward the two executioners.
"Do it!"
The two of them froze for an instant, then subconsciously raised the execution blades in their hands.
Far away, Whitebeard, who had been watching the situation the entire time, changed expression. Just as he was about to force his way through Akainu's increasingly fierce offensive and stop them,
He suddenly stopped instead. While blasting Akainu back with a punch, he looked up at the sky.
"He's here!"
Whitebeard murmured as he gazed into the heavens.
Akainu, opposite him, seemed to have sensed something as well. While restoring his magma body that had been punched through, he too looked toward the sky.
A jet-black blazing sun entered his vision!
It was not the sun, yet it gave people the same chilling feeling as facing the sun itself.
The ultimate sense of crisis rang through Observation Haki's precognition, declaring the strength of the one who had arrived.
At that moment, a teasing laugh rang out through Marine Headquarters' Den Den Mushi broadcast.
"So lively. Count me in, won't you?"
What arrived together with those words was a terrifying attack that erupted with boundless black light!
"World-Ending Horn: Abyssal Sun!"
In pursuit of explosive speed, the blazing sun enhanced twentyfold displayed power far beyond what it had shown at Impel Down through the form of an airburst.
Endless black light painted the sky like ink, then poured madly down toward the earth.
The Armament Haki and Conqueror's Haki entwined within it, together with high-energy power, raised the first wave of attack.
Wherever the endless black light passed, all things vanished within extreme high-temperature energy.
Marineford's mountain peaks were the first to melt into volcanoes flowing with magma, followed by the towering building complexes, the execution platform, and even the bay plaza.
Whether it was the buildings of Marine Headquarters, ordinary Marines, or even Vice Admirals, none of them had any way to resist such a horrifying attack.
But… Marine Headquarters was, after all, an overlord-class force upon the sea!
In the very next instant, icy cold air, scorching magma, lasers filling the sky, a giant fist imprint, and a golden shock wave tore through the jet-black curtain of heaven together.
However, the combined efforts of the Three Admirals, Garp, and Sengoku—
Although they shattered the deadliest part of the assault, they still had no way to stop what came next.
A massive explosion!
The air expanded from the extreme heat, and the immense accumulated volume produced a shock wave with terrifying kinetic force.
And so, a gigantic fireball rose above Marineford, accompanied by a blazing shock wave that tore the earth apart!
Although its primary direction was toward the sky, even the residual shock wave erased an unknown number of Marines within this double strike.
Only when Kuzan struck again, forcibly freezing the subsequent aftershocks with cold air, did it finally end.
Beneath the clear blue sky overhead, Ren had avoided the blazing shock wave just now.
At the same time, he spread six wings and stood in the sky. With a click of his tongue, he shook his head.
As expected, hoping to bury more than half of Marine Headquarters' forces with one move was still too difficult.
The More-More Fruit had expanded the scale of his energy a hundredfold, but Akainu, Kizaru, and Aokiji were all Logia users. They themselves were types renowned for wide-area natural disasters.
If he wanted to threaten them, then he would probably need a trump-card technique like Collapsing Star Roaring Cannon.
But what Ren found unsatisfactory was enough to leave everyone present horrified.
"Wh-what is that!?"
The already heavily pressured Marines stared into the distance, dumbfounded. Within their field of vision, Marineford's mountain peaks had been visibly shortened by a huge amount.
They had also turned into "volcanoes" flowing with magma. Beneath the wantonly flowing rivulets of magma were building complexes that had been crushed just as thoroughly.
Looking farther down, there was the point where the Admirals' attacks had collided with the attack just now.
Where the giant fireball had appeared, the air above was empty. There was only an incomparably massive crater.
Within several thousand meters around that crater, the earth was charred black and split apart by huge fissures.
At the end of that scorched earth was the frozen zone created by Admiral Aokiji.
It seemed as though there was no problem, as if it had merely been one attack that had been stopped.
If that place had not been near the center of the bay plaza.
Before that, at least tens of thousands of Marines had been stationed there.
Now, there was nothing left!
The suffocating reality was so clear that everyone realized just how terrifying that scene had been.
If not for the Three Admirals, Vice Admiral Garp, and the Fleet Admiral taking action,
Perhaps this war would already be over!
With the Marines' total annihilation as the ending!
'Is this the gap?'
Smoker, mixed among the Marines, stared blankly at the figure in the sky.
He could not understand it. Just a few years ago, that man had clearly only been able to flee from him.
But why… had the gap become so enormous now!?
In the distance, Hancock, who had long since received prior notice and hidden far away, pressed her red lips together. The scene just now had vanished from reality, but it had been carved into her mind.
It looked like the same technique, but compared to what he had displayed on Kuja Island—
It was even more terrifying!
This person's rate of improvement in strength was simply inconceivable.
There was no way to understand it.
And the power he displayed also made one tremble in fear.
At the very least, Hancock understood that she had no strength to deal with a Ren like this.
Once she became his enemy… destruction would be the final outcome, with no exceptions!
'Should I…?'
A faint thought rose in Hancock's mind, but she immediately strangled it.
"I will not become anyone's possession. Never!"
Her firm yet especially unconvincing voice made Mihawk, who stood beside her, frown slightly.
But soon, his attention returned to Ren in the sky.
Compared to the frailty he had seen in the East Blue, the current Ren could indeed be called an opponent worth fighting.
Of course, not as a swordsman, but as an opponent.
This could not help making Mihawk somewhat curious about Zoro's level of strength as well, and he looked forward even more to seeing what that promising seedling had become.
But for now…
'The situation is becoming more and more interesting. How will it develop from here?'
Mihawk's eyes shifted toward the battlefield.
Whitebeard grinned and slowly withdrew his fist.
In the ruins far ahead of him, Akainu silently crawled out with blood leaking from the corner of his mouth.
For destructive powerhouses like them, even a tiny moment of distraction was fatal.
Not to mention that just now, he had not merely been distracted—he had taken action.
(End of Chapter)