Because of Marine propaganda and the Admirals' overwhelming battle records over the years, the Marines' admiration for them had long surpassed ordinary respect.
To many soldiers, the three Admirals were no different from gods.
No matter what kind of disaster appeared, even a catastrophe capable of destroying an island, they believed the Admirals could easily resolve it.
"We've already won. It's just a tsunami."
The fear that had filled their hearts moments ago was completely gone.
Excited smiles appeared on their faces.
Even as the massive waves continued rushing toward Marineford, with their towering crests leaning over the island, the Marines showed no fear at all.
Some of them even looked forward to what would happen next.
Unlike the relaxed Marines below, the man standing in the sky looked extremely serious.
Kuzan knew very well that things were not so simple.
He had once frozen hundreds of kilometers of ocean before.
But that had been calm, motionless seawater.
What he was facing now was a towering tsunami.
The amount of force contained in it was on a completely different level.
Kuzan slowly spread his arms.
An invisible chill began to spread from his hands.
The temperature of the surrounding air instantly dropped to freezing.
Those standing below him could even feel ice pellets forming from the moisture in the air and falling toward the ground.
Once everything was ready, Kuzan unleashed the full power of his Devil Fruit.
A cold blue light flashed in his eyes.
"Ice Age."
His voice was calm, almost casual.
But the technique itself was anything but ordinary.
From his hands, a thin stream of freezing energy shot forward like an icy needle.
The freezing power expanded rapidly.
In the blink of an eye, it reached the two enormous waves on either side of the bay.
Crack. Crack. Crack.
The sound of ice spreading echoed across the battlefield.
The moment the freezing power touched the waves, the massive tsunamis instantly began to freeze.
In just a second, the two towering waves capable of destroying Marineford were completely frozen solid.
The freezing continued spreading outward.
Within moments, dozens of nautical miles of surrounding sea were frozen as well.
Even the flagship of Edward Newgate, the Moby Dick, along with its three escort ships, were locked in ice within the bay.
They could no longer move at all.
"Did you see that?!"
"That's our Marine Admiral! Invincible on the seas!"
The Marines watching below erupted into wild cheers.
"Even a tsunami means nothing!"
"Admiral Aokiji can freeze the sea itself!"
For this moment, the entire battlefield seemed to belong to Aokiji.
Every Marine shouted his name.
Every Marine celebrated his power.
"Whitebeard might be strong, but he's just a relic of the old era."
"Our Admirals are in their prime!"
"How could Whitebeard possibly compare?!"
Some even began openly belittling Whitebeard.
Such was the confidence Aokiji's display had brought them.
"Damn. That's not good."
Watching the scene unfold, Sengoku frowned slightly.
Unlike the Marines who were cheering wildly, Sengoku was thinking about the bigger picture.
"It's obvious Aokiji used the maximum output of his Ice Fruit to avoid any mistakes."
"But that also means he was too cautious."
"He froze too large of an area."
Sengoku sighed quietly.
The freezing might have stopped the tsunami.
But it had also frozen the battlefield itself.
"Although it froze the waves created by Whitebeard, it also froze the entire sea around Marineford."
Just as Sengoku had predicted, the freezing did not merely stop the tsunami.
It also froze the more than three hundred warships he had deployed outside the bay.
With the sea completely frozen, those ships were now stuck in place and unable to move.
This meant that the fifty thousand pirates accompanying the Edward Newgate alliance fleet could now advance directly toward him and provide support.
Let the Marines on those three hundred ships disembark and fight the Whitebeard forces head-on?
That was a joke.
Those pirates included nearly a hundred fighters at the level of the Supernovas.
With warships providing long-range artillery support and keeping them at a distance, the fleet could hold them off.
But in a direct confrontation?
Sengoku shook his head.
The fifteen thousand Marine elites gathered from all over the world, along with the Admirals and Vice Admirals, were all stationed on Marineford waiting for Whitebeard.
Sending the sailors from those ships to fight would simply be sending them to their deaths.
Even if they launched suicide attacks, the tens of thousands of Marines aboard those three hundred ships would not be able to hold off Whitebeard's elite forces for long.
"Communications division, respond immediately."
Less than half a minute later, a voice came through the Den Den Mushi.
"Marshal Sengoku, communications officer awaiting orders."
"Immediately inform the Marines on the three hundred and twenty-six warships outside Marineford not to disembark. They are to remain aboard and await further orders."
The communications officer was confused by the command.
But confusion did not matter.
A soldier's duty was to obey.
"Yes, sir."
The order was immediately relayed.
Meanwhile, high above the battlefield, the clash between top-tier powers had already begun.
"I've always admired you, old man."
After freezing the tsunami, Kuzan did not retreat.
Instead, he moved directly toward Whitebeard.
Back at the Admiral platform, while everyone's attention was focused on Aokiji, the other two Admirals had quietly disappeared.
Borsalino and Sakazuki were nowhere to be seen.
"Oh?"
Whitebeard glanced at Aokiji.
He had heard the man's reputation long ago and had seen him before.
But this was their first true confrontation face to face.
"If that's the case, then for the sake of an old man like me, why not step aside and let me pass?"
"That's quite the joke, old man."
Armament Haki began to wrap around Aokiji's hands.
"Ice Block: Two-Pronged Spear."
The moment the words left his mouth, two massive ice spears formed in midair.
Without hesitation, Aokiji hurled them straight toward Whitebeard.
The commanders of the Whitebeard Pirates immediately stepped forward.
None of them wanted Whitebeard to personally deal with the attack.
But how could they possibly be faster than him?
Whitebeard's fist was already wrapped in the power of the Gura Gura no Mi.
Cracks in the air spread outward from his punch like shattered glass.
"You youngsters these days…"
"You really don't know how to respect your elders."
As his words ended, Whitebeard threw a punch forward.
The nearly five-meter-long ice spears shattered instantly.
"Haha."
Aokiji was not angered when his attack was destroyed.
Against someone like Whitebeard, expecting a single strike to end the fight would be pure fantasy.
Cold energy gathered once more in his hands.
Blades of ice, sharp as knives, began forming around him.
In the next moment, countless ice blades surged toward Whitebeard from every direction.
And the light gleaming on their surfaces made something clear.
Aokiji had coated them with Armament Haki as well.
The power of the attack had increased to an entirely different level.
----------
Advance 30 Chapters: patreon .com/StrawFic