"ICE AGE!"
Aokiji aimed at the ground beneath the Emperor's feet.
PIERCE! PIERCE! PEIRCE!
The permafrost violently spiked upward, transforming into a thick, jagged forest of ice spears designed to impale Whitebeard from below, forcing the Emperor to constantly shift his footing and break the terrain just to stand.
The synergy was absolutely flawless. It was a terrifying, suffocating loop of elemental destruction.
"HAA!"
Whenever Whitebeard attempted to launch a devastating quake-blast at Akainu, Aokiji would instantly manifest thick, towering walls of reinforced ice to absorb the kinetic shockwave, shattering his own creations to spare his colleague the brunt of the damage.
"ORRYAAAA!"
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Whenever Whitebeard attempted to close the distance and crush Aokiji in a physical melee, Akainu would flood the corridor with a torrential river of magma, cutting off the Emperor's path and forcing him into a defensive posture.
They were bleeding him dry.
From a safe distance, the commanders of the Whitebeard Pirates watched the apocalyptic clash in sheer, paralyzed horror.
"POPS!" Marco the Phoenix screamed, his voice cracking with desperation.
FLARE! ZOOM!
Marco ignited his brilliant blue and yellow flames, diving from the sky to intercept the Admirals and relieve the pressure on his father. But as he crossed the invisible perimeter of the clash, a terrifying wave of atmospheric pressure hit him.
The sheer density of the colliding Haki—the localized earthquakes meeting the absolute maximum output of two Logia Admirals—created a kinetic barrier that physically repelled the First Commander. Marco was violently thrown backward, his flames flickering as he crashed onto the ice.
"Don't interfere, Marco!" Diamond Jozu yelled, gripping the Phoenix's shoulder to hold him back, his own crystalline body trembling slightly.
"We can't step into that! We... we have to believe in Pops!"
GULP.
Vice Admiral Doberman, watching from the Marine lines, swallowed hard, the sweat freezing on his scarred brow.
He had served under Akainu and Aokiji for years. He knew their power. But to see them completely synchronized, abandoning their pride to perfectly support one another in an effort to bring down a single man... it was a sight that inspired profound awe and deeply ingrained terror.
"This is the true power of the Navy Headquarters," Doberman murmured to his men, who were watching with wide, unblinking eyes.
"This is why we rule the seas. Even the Strongest Man in the World cannot stand against the united front of Justice!"
"But..."
In the center of the elemental hellscape, Whitebeard was taking a horrific toll.
His massive body was a canvas of catastrophic injuries. Aokiji's ice had severely frostbitten his left leg, slowing his usually explosive footwork to a heavy, methodical limp. Akainu's magma had left a dozen deep, cauterized craters across his chest and arms. He was bleeding from his mouth, his breathing coming in heavy, rattling gasps.
He was being forced entirely on the defensive. He was swinging his bisento to deflect magma hounds, punching the air to shatter ice spikes, constantly reacting to the perfectly timed, overlapping assaults of the two Admirals.
He was being constantly assaulted but there was something amiss.
"GURARARARARA!"
"ONLY THAT?!"
Edward Newgate was laughing.
He was the undying devastator. Every time Akainu thought he had landed a fatal blow, every time Aokiji believed he had frozen the Emperor's joints, Whitebeard simply shattered the illusion with another world-breaking roar.
BAM!
"Ice Block: Pheasant Beak!" Aokiji fired a massive, hyper-dense ice spear simultaneously from the opposite flank.
"OHHHHHHH!!!"
"DAI.... FUNKA!" Akainu launched another massive magma fist.
BAAAAM!
The attack came but Whitebeard didn't move away.
"GURARARARA!"
SMASH.
BAMMM!
He just punched back the mountain of lava!
Whitebeard was feeling very happy.
This war, he had fought until now worrying about Ace but since his exchange with Rayleigh-
He, Edward Newgate, was free!
CLANG. GRIP...
He dropped his bisento, clenching both of his massive fists. He crossed his arms over his chest, gathering two blinding spheres of quake-energy, and punched the air on both sides simultaneously.
CRACK. CRACK. CRACK.
"Hnn."
Whitebeard grinned wider.
And the space EXPLODED.
KRA-
KOOOOOOOOM!
The dual earthquakes violently collided with the magma and the ice. The entire island of Marineford groaned in absolute agony.
CRACKKKKKKKKKKK.
"M-Mommy..."
Deep, jagged fissures tore through the naval fortress in the distance, buildings collapsing under the sheer seismic stress.
"YOU'RE A GROWN MAN COLONEL!!!! SHUT UP!!"
"YOU SHUT UP BASTARD!!! DON'T YOU SEE!"
The ocean surrounding the island churned violently, threatening to rise into another tsunami.
"THE WORLD!"
"THE WORLD IS ENDINGG!"
An apt description, many others would agree.
This was Whitebeard.
'"AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"
"RUNN!"
He would deny anyone hope if he so ever wanted to.
The common marine had never expected a war as apocalyptic as this.
Such was the reality of the weak.
Meanwhile.
"KEU-"
"GEH-"
BOOOOM!
Akainu and Aokiji were both blown backward by the kinetic recoil, their Logia bodies temporarily disrupted by the sheer magnitude of the Haki-infused vibrations.
"Gurararara..."
Whitebeard stood in the center of the crater, his massive arms lowered. Smoke and steam poured from his terrible wounds.
But as he looked past the recovering Admirals, his golden eyes narrowed, peering through the smoke and ash.
A mile away, near the frozen bay, he saw them.
He saw Silvers Rayleigh, a blurring silver shield, fiercely deflecting a barrage of light beams from Admiral Kizaru.
And behind the Dark King, he saw Monkey D. Luffy, carrying a shackled Portgas D. Ace, desperately but steadily making their way toward the anchored pirate galleons.
They were getting closer. The path was remaining open.
A slow, fiercely proud smile broke across Whitebeard's bloodied, scarred face.
'You've done well, my sons.'
Whitebeard thought, the internal monologue carrying the heavy, gentle warmth of a father saying his final goodbye.
'You have grown strong. '
Akainu, wiping a streak of blood from his chin, noticed the shift in Whitebeard's momentum.
But first.
"STOP. DESTROYING. THE DAMNED. ISLAND!"
"YOU OLD FUCK!"
Akainu had lost it. He saw it an absolute insult that Marineford was getting destroyed by an opponent who he had been fighting with.
He believed he had failed to live up to expectations.
His eyes held viciousness and madness foreign to a sane man.
"Whitebeard."
"I'm going to melt your head today."
"Oi Sakazuki, get a hold of yourself!"
Aokiji frowned.
Sakazuki needed to keep his cool!
GRIP.
Whitebeard slowly reached down and picked up his bisento.
He didn't take a defensive stance. He didn't brace himself for the next wave of elemental attacks.
"Gurarararara..."
It didn't matter today.
There was no ship that could carry him to the next era.
Moby Dick had been destroyed.
He would die soon anyway.
The illnesses that had plagued him for years, combined with the catastrophic damage inflicted by the Admirals, was finally catching up to his legendary vitality.
He stood entirely straight, towering over the battlefield, his broad chest exposed.
"Baiting us, relic?" Akainu snarled, his magma flaring.
Aokiji, reforming his Ice Gloves, remained entirely silent, his cold eyes analyzing the Emperor's sudden lack of defensive tension.
"HOOOO...."
Whitebeard didn't look at the Admirals.
He looked at the sky, taking a long, deep breath of the freezing, ash-filled air. He felt the cold in his lungs. He felt the burning pain of the magma.
He felt the beautiful, terrifying weight of the world he was about to leave behind.
He had forced the Admirals to unite. He had held the line against the absolute pinnacle of the World Government's military might. He had bought his family the time they needed.
One last time.
He wanted to shield his family just one last time.
This war went better than he had imagined.
He was ecstatic.
Now, his only remaining duty was to ensure that the Marines were too broken, too terrified, and too separated to pursue his sons across the sea.
"GURARARARARARA"
Whitebeard lowered his gaze, his golden eyes locking onto Akainu and Aokiji with a terrifying, unadulterated serenity.
"Sakazuki. Kuzan." Whitebeard rumbled, his voice dropping an octave, carrying the absolute, terrifying finality of an executioner.
The Admirals tensed.
""AGAIN?!""
They couldn't help it. This was Whitebeard.
"STOP HIM!"
The white sphere of quake-energy that formed around the blade of his bisento did not hum. It screamed.
VRROOOMMMMMMMM.
Zom.
ZOM.
It expanded to a size never before seen in the war, glowing with an incandescent, blinding intensity that eclipsed the sun.
ZOOOOMMM!!
That was it.
"DON'T DO IT!!"
"SENILE BASTARD!"
"You have played your parts well," Whitebeard declared with madness apparent.
GRIP.
"GURARARARARA!"
The Emperor shifted his grip, raising the massive, vibrating weapon high above his head. The air around him began to visibly warp, fracturing under the sheer, concentrated power of the Gura Gura no Mi being pushed to its absolute, self-destructive limit.
CRACK. CRACK. CRACKKKK.
"But the lesson," Whitebeard bellowed, his voice echoing across the entirety of Marineford, striking terror into the hearts of every living soul on the island, "is over."
.
.
.
A/N: Did anyone catch it? I left a clue in this chapter! It's all building up to some big things. Keep up with the updates! Cheers!
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