From afar, a distinctive warship came into view, its bow carved into the shape of a dog's head biting down on a massive bone.
Everyone on both the Whitebeard Pirates' flagship and Sakazuki's warship recognized it instantly. No other vessel in the Navy bore that design. It was the mark of Vice Admiral Monkey D. Garp, the Hero of the Marines.
"Hahaha! Newgate! Do you want to taste my iron fist?" Garp boomed from the bow, laughter rolling across the frozen battlefield as his ship closed the distance.
"Gurararara! Garp, let me see if your fists have gone rusty. I heard Roger and his brats handed you a beating not long ago!" Whitebeard's thunderous laugh answered back, his massive frame towering above the deck of the Moby Dick.
Their reunion stank of gunpowder before a single blow was thrown.
Two titans—Marine Hero and Strongest Man Alive—locked eyes, and the air itself seemed to bow beneath the pressure. The aura pouring off Whitebeard alone was enough to make inexperienced Marines tremble.
"W-We're supposed to fight that monster?" one soldier whispered, his grip shaking around the hilt of his blade. His knees threatened to buckle.
Whitebeard didn't even need to move, his legend preceded him. The sense of invincibility he carried pressed down like a tidal wave.
"Don't falter! Vice Admiral Garp is here!" a Marine officer barked, forcing steel back into his men's spines.
The moment Garp's name rang out, morale shifted. "That's right! Marine Hero Garp! He'll crush Whitebeard for sure!" Confidence returned to their eyes, and in an instant, the line held. Garp's presence alone was enough to keep their fear at bay.
"As expected of Vice Admiral Garp…" Kuzan murmured, unable to hide his admiration.
Facing Whitebeard, Garp unleashed his own overwhelming spirit, no weaker than Newgate's. The sky seemed to darken above them.
Kuzan wasted no time. Leaping from the warship, he landed on the ocean itself as ice spread beneath his boots. Frost curled off his body, misting into the air. Kneeling, he pressed both hands into the sea.
"Ice Age."
A surge of frigid power burst outward. The ocean froze at terrifying speed, locking ships in place and creating a battlefield of ice stretching as far as the eye could see. Both the Moby Dick and the Navy vessels were trapped in this frozen arena.
"Well done, Kuzan!" Garp barked approvingly.
Whitebeard narrowed his eyes at the display. "The ice brat, eh? Gurarara… you've grown."
But he wasn't displeased. A wide grin split his face. "Perfect. Children! Let's give the Navy a proper brawl!"
At his roar, Whitebeard's sons leapt into action. Some slid down ropes, others vaulted clean off the rails, crashing onto the frozen sea with weapons drawn.
"Kill the Pirates!" Sakazuki thundered in reply, magma already crackling across his arm.
The battlefield erupted.
At the center, Garp and Whitebeard clashed head-on, fists colliding with earth-shaking force. Garp's Armament Haki met Whitebeard's quake-infused blows. The air itself split, shockwaves radiating outward, carving out an empty fifty-meter radius around the two legends.
Even Garp, whose fists were said to split mountains, couldn't block Whitebeard's quake power completely. Each punch sent tremors past his guard, rattling his insides. Whitebeard's Gura Gura no Mi was as brutal as ever, and in his hands, unstoppable.
"Haha! Not bad, Garp!" Whitebeard bellowed, black and red lightning snapping off his fist.
"You're still the same, old friend," Garp grinned back, throwing his counter. Their blows never slowed.
Elsewhere, the chaos spread.
"Meigō!" Sakazuki roared, his magma arm transforming into a beastly dog's maw that pierced straight through a pirate's torso. The man barely had time to scream before molten rock devoured his insides, his body collapsing lifeless on the ice.
"Damn you!" Jozu roared, his arm diamond-hard as he hammered Sakazuki from behind. The Vice Admiral was launched forward—straight into the path of Fossa, who swung his burning blade down. Sakazuki blocked with an Armament-coated forearm, sparks and magma scattering, caught in a pincer between two commanders.
On another front, Kuzan faced Vista's graceful, deadly swordplay with Thatch backing him up. Marco clashed in the sky against Garp's vice-captain, his phoenix flames keeping him aloft. All across the ice, Marine elites and Whitebeard's commanders locked in duels, each exchange shaking the battlefield.
The Navy outnumbered the pirates two-to-one, yet the Whitebeard Pirates held their ground. Commanders like Kingdew, Blenheim, and Izo cut through squads with ease. Corpses piled on both sides, the frozen sea stained red.
Amidst it all, Teach fought quietly at the fringes. Sword in his right hand, pistol in his left, he cut down Marines with calculated precision. His Observation Haki masked his presence, making him forgettable, almost invisible. One Marine turned in shock as a bullet tore through his skull—the shot had come from Teach's pistol, fired mid-sword fight without even looking.
"Bastard!" another cursed, enraged as Teach casually supported his crew mid-duel, killing Marines one by one with perfectly timed shots. Their anger blinded them, and soon all eyes were fixed solely on him. They didn't even notice the wider battle drifting away, leaving them in an isolated clash where only Teach's shadow loomed.
Voss danced among them like a phantom, training his budding mastery of Soru and Rankyaku. Peto, in her beast form, tore throats with feline claws, her innocent blue eyes only making her savagery more chilling. Mobius fought with snake-like hands and an unpolished but deadly sword style, honing his edge with every kill.
Hour after bloody hour passed. By the time the sun dipped low, the battlefield was littered with bodies. Out of more than a thousand Marines, barely five hundred survived, most from Garp's warship. The Whitebeard Pirates, though victorious, had lost nearly two hundred of their own, and countless others lay wounded.
The ice battlefield had become a graveyard.
And yet, neither Garp nor Whitebeard showed signs of stopping. Their fists still clashed in the heart of the carnage, two legends locked in combat that shook the New World itself.