Their attacks did not collide.
This time, it was no accident.
Cain had done it on purpose.
The Eighty Gods Vacuum Strike he had been charging was never meant to be swung downward.
With a slight turn of his wrist, he had already controlled both the force and the angle with perfect precision.
Because this final blow had been part of his plan from the start.
With a heavy thud, Garp's Galaxy Impact, wrapped in both Conqueror's Haki and Armament Haki, smashed squarely into Cain's face.
In the blink of an eye, Cain, who made no attempt to resist, turned into a blur and was sent flying backward.
And the direction he was flying in pointed straight toward Fleet Admiral Sengoku.
Sengoku was still in his giant Buddha form, controlling the battlefield with the overwhelming authority of absolute justice.
But when he saw Cain suddenly hurtling toward him, even he froze for a moment.
Cain was moving faster than a cannonball.
The weapon in his hand had not lost its edge, and Conqueror's Haki and Armament Haki were still surging wildly around it.
Seizing the timing, Cain shouted toward the upper level.
"CAREFUL, FLEET ADMIRAL SENGOKU!"
"CAIN, YOU LITTLE BASTARD! GARP, YOU DID THAT ON PURPOSE, DIDN'T YOU?!"
Sengoku's golden arm grabbed Ace, and his massive body shifted rapidly through the air as he did everything he could to avoid the figure flying toward him at terrifying speed.
But whether by coincidence or fate, just like the time Cain and Sengoku had collided in the skies above Marine Headquarters, Cain's body still ended up crashing straight toward Sengoku.
At the same time, he roared, "EIGHTY GODS VACUUM STRIKE!"
"DON'T THINK EVERYTHING WILL GO YOUR WAY, CAIN! BUDDHA PALM SHOCKWAVE!"
As a Marine strong enough to be mentioned personally by Roger and stand shoulder to shoulder with Garp, Sengoku believed that taking Cain's attack would not be difficult.
But the instant their two techniques collided, an enormous force far beyond his expectations slammed into him.
He could not help blurting out,
"So heavy!"
Sengoku was shocked.
The force was actually this powerful.
But after thinking about it carefully, it was not without reason.
Cain was also a Mythical Zoan user, and his technique combined the essence of several powerful fighters.
Added to that was the physical strength built through Garp's training.
More importantly, this blow also carried the tremendous force of Garp's punch.
It was only natural that it could suppress Sengoku.
Finally, the Marine Headquarters building could no longer withstand the terrifying impact.
Starting from the floor beneath Sengoku's feet, cracks spread like spiderwebs, then the structure collapsed with a thunderous roar.
Boom!
With a massive crash, Sengoku lost his balance and fell straight through the headquarters building, dragged down along with broken stone and clouds of dust.
Seeing this, Cain ignored the sharp pain in his own body.
He immediately reached out, grabbed Ace by the arm, and pulled him to his side.
"Hey, Cain, you—!"
Ace's face was full of disbelief.
Cain had just taken a punch to the head from Garp, a punch infused with two types of Haki.
And before that, the old man's attacks had repeatedly struck Cain in the head too.
At this moment, Cain's face was not only swollen with several large bumps, but also stained with alarming streaks of blood!
Fortunately, thanks to the recovery ability of his Zoan fruit, the bleeding wounds had already closed.
Even so, his face still looked rather miserable.
"I'm fine. The most important thing right now is getting out of here!"
Cain spoke urgently and immediately tried to pull Ace away.
But Sengoku, buried beneath the collapsed ruins, would never give them that chance.
With an enraged roar, he raised his hand and launched a Buddha Palm shockwave toward the two of them.
At this point, he no longer cared about the Marine building.
The powerful shockwave smashed through every part of the structure in its path, reducing the surrounding floors and towers to rubble.
Cain stood firmly amid the collapsing debris, but Ace, suppressed by high-purity Sea-Prism Stone and weakened by his injuries, felt his legs go soft and nearly fell.
Seeing this, Cain quickly caught him.
Then he bent down, hoisted Ace over his shoulder, and sprinted toward another town outside the battlefield.
Just like that, the two of them forcefully broke away from the chaos of the main battlefield.
"STOP RIGHT THERE!"
Sengoku shot out from the ruins and rushed into the sky.
He grabbed the amplified Den Den Mushi and issued a stern order for the Marines to continue holding the battlefield.
Then he threw the Den Den Mushi to Vice Admiral Tsuru, leaving her to maintain the battle situation, before kicking off the ground and chasing after Cain in the direction he had fled.
Garp stood where he was, staring at the distant sight of one man chasing and two men escaping.
His eyes went round, and snot even started running uncontrollably from his nose.
Just like that… Ace had been rescued?
The Marines and pirates across the battlefield were equally dumbfounded.
Anyone could see that Cain had been able to rescue Ace so smoothly entirely thanks to that "divine assist" from his grandfather.
Even Zephyr, who was still fighting Yamato nearby, could not help muttering inwardly.
'Was Garp actually a pirate spy?'
"AH, CAIN!"
The thought that his own attack had been perfectly used by that brat made Garp shout aloud at first.
Then he threw his head back and burst into a hearty laugh.
"Bwahahahahahaha!"
On the other side, Sabo, who was still tangled in battle with Kizaru in the air, saw this and smiled faintly.
He looked at Kizaru and calmly said, "Looks like Cain succeeded. I won't be keeping you company any longer, Admiral."
Before his words had fully faded, Sabo swung the metal pipe in his hand.
The Raigo suspended in the sky instantly responded.
Several thick bolts of lightning rapidly intertwined, weaving into a dense spherical wall of electricity in the blink of an eye, trapping Kizaru firmly inside.
The electric light was so concentrated that it looked almost like a solid barrier.
Hundreds of millions of volts of current surged endlessly, connecting with the black lightning sphere floating above and forming a deadly electric net.
Inside the lightning sphere, Kizaru's expression turned grave.
The golden light that had just gathered at his fingertip instantly faded, and he did not dare act recklessly.
He especially did not dare use his fruit ability against that dense wall of lightning.
As the commander of the Marine Science Unit, he understood the danger very clearly.
The laser of the Glint-Glint Fruit and this violent lightning were, in essence, different forms of electromagnetic waves.
If his laser disrupted the balance of the electric net, it could instantly trigger a violent arc discharge and a chain explosion of energy, which would then detonate the black lightning sphere overhead.
If that happened, Marine Headquarters might be blasted into scorched earth.
That was a responsibility he absolutely could not bear.
Seeing that Kizaru was trapped and unable to move, Sabo no longer lingered.
His figure turned into a sharp streak of blue lightning, and almost instantly, he flashed to the sky above another part of the battlefield.
"LUFFY!"
"SABO!"
Luffy, who had just received the key from Hancock, immediately spotted Sabo.
He had also seen Cain successfully carry Ace away, so he instantly understood Sabo's intention to pick him up.
Seeing Sabo stretch out a hand toward him, Luffy immediately raised his fist high and swung it out.
His arm stretched suddenly, and his hand firmly clasped Sabo's palm.
Just as Luffy's body began shooting upward through the force of his rubber arm retracting, a cloud of smoke suddenly rose from below.
Smoker, who had been keeping a close eye on Luffy's movements, had already rushed over from the direction of the execution platform.
He had even witnessed Hancock handing Luffy the key!
He shouted sharply, his body turning into smoke as he shot upward and accurately grabbed Luffy by the ankle.
"DON'T THINK YOU'RE GETTING AWAY!"
But Tashigi, who had followed close behind him, also rushed over.
She reached out and grabbed Smoker's foot tightly, trying to drag both him and Luffy back to the ground.
However, Luffy's upward pull was far too fast.
In only a moment, Tashigi was lifted off her feet as well, her entire body flying upward with them!
Elsewhere, Shiki, who was using a tiny knife to duel the world's greatest swordsman, caught sight of Tashigi dangling in the air from the corner of his eye.
His eyes immediately lit up.
He narrowly dodged Mihawk's slash from behind, then suddenly flew toward Tashigi.
Reaching out, he grabbed the sheath at her waist and yanked downward hard.
"Little girl, looks like you've got a fine sword there!"
"HEY, WHAT THE HELL ARE ALL OF YOU DOING?!"
From far away, Garp saw the chaotic mess forming in the air.
Then he noticed his old rival Shiki taking advantage of the confusion to stir up trouble.
With a loud shout, he leaped up and grabbed Shiki's fake leg.
"THIS OLD MAN IS JOINING IN TOO!"
High in the air, Sabo suddenly felt the weight in his hand increase sharply.
He looked down and saw the human chain growing longer and longer beneath him. The corner of his mouth twitched as he could not help retorting,
"Old man, could you please stop making things worse?!"
"Luffy, and…"
Seeing that Luffy was being dragged to a halt, Hancock immediately leaped up and grabbed Garp's ankle firmly.
Then she landed steadily on the ground, forcefully holding the entire human chain in place.
'Luffy's grandfather… which means he is my…'
"..."
And so, in the middle of the battlefield, a strange human ladder had somehow formed.
At the very top were Sabo and Luffy.
Hanging in the middle were Smoker, Tashigi, Shiki, and Garp.
At the bottom was Hancock, steadily pulling everyone down.
But at that moment, everyone felt a gust of wind rushing toward them.
They looked up and saw a huge head with a strange face tumbling toward the human ladder!
It was Ivankov.
"DON'T COME OVER HERE!" x7
A wave of horrified screams rang out through the air.