A torrential barrage of bullets rained down upon the frozen battlefield.
The crew members of the Whitebeard Pirates, though momentarily startled, quickly reacted with their own techniques—some slashing, some blocking—deflecting the incoming lead bullets one by one.
After all, they were Whitebeard's men. How could they possibly be injured by such scattered firepower?
"Who do you think you're looking down on?"
One pirate effortlessly cut down five bullets in quick succession and scoffed.
If the attack had been concentrated in a single, focused strike, even he might have struggled to defend against it.
But with the firepower so widely dispersed, there was no way it could truly harm them. At most, it would slow them down for a moment.
Many others shared the same thought.
The only thing truly surprising about this "Daylight Fireworks" technique was that Maude had single-handedly woven such an intricate web of firepower.
Beyond that, it wasn't much of a threat.
"Push forward!"
Easily fending off the bullets from above, the Whitebeard Pirates raised their weapons and roared.
"Pfft—!"
Just as they were about to resume their charge, one of their comrades suddenly collapsed, shot down.
"Huh?"
"Hey, are you alright?!"
"Careful—it's Armament Haki…"
The fallen pirate barely managed to utter a warning before losing consciousness.
"Armament Haki?"
The realization quickly spread among the Whitebeard Pirates as they noticed that amidst the relentless downpour of bullets, some of them were infused with the unmistakable black sheen of Armament Haki.
"What the…?"
The pirates were first stunned, then cursed under their breath.
Damn bastard!
High above the battlefield.
Maude hovered in the sky, maintaining his position with Moonwalk. His arms, moving at impossible speeds, left behind afterimages as he fired relentlessly, the gunshots ringing out in rapid succession.
Among the endless hail of bullets, several were deliberately imbued with Armament Haki and aimed directly at Whitebeard standing at the bow of the Moby Dick.
Izo, the commander of the 16th Division, narrowed his eyes.
A marksman himself, he instantly raised both pistols and fired a precise volley. His own Armament Haki-coated bullets intercepted Maude's, knocking them out of the air.
Just then, a barrage of cannon fire roared from the shoreline.
Whizz, whizz—
The heavy artillery stationed along the harbor finally unleashed their might, sending cannonballs crashing onto the icy battlefield and toward the pirate ships.
"Boom! Boom—!"
Explosions erupted across the ice, sending powerful shockwaves through the Whitebeard Pirates' ranks, momentarily disrupting their advance.
At the same time, with Maude's covering fire suppressing them from above, the relentless cannon bombardment intensified the pressure on the pirates' defense.
In just a matter of moments, one of their auxiliary ships took damage.
But the Whitebeard Pirates were not to be outdone. Four pirate ships fired their cannons in unison toward the harbor.
In an instant, the entire bay was engulfed in a hellstorm of artillery fire.
Both sides were pouring everything they had into this clash of firepower.
From his vantage point in the sky, Maude took it all in.
For those who had reached a certain level of strength, gunfire—let alone cannon fire—posed little threat.
But that understanding didn't apply to the battlefield below.
When firepower reached an overwhelming level, even the strongest could fall beneath the onslaught.
Back on the battlefield.
Despite the heavy bombardment, the Whitebeard Pirates quickly adapted to the firepower suppression and resumed their charge.
The battlefield was shifting by the second.
The Marines responded swiftly, sending their forces to the frontlines. From the shore, Marines poured onto the frozen battlefield, engaging the Whitebeard Pirates in direct combat.
In an instant, the bay became a chaotic warzone as Marines leaped down from the harbor, clashing head-on with the enemy.
Meanwhile, Whitebeard's fleet had finally broken through the naval blockade at the harbor entrance.
Their ships reached the edge of the ice.
Without hesitation, the elite pirates from various New World crews jumped onto the battlefield.
"Go support Pops!"
"Charge!"
"Show the Marines the might of New World pirates!"
Spurred on by the roars of their captains, the pirates surged forward, quickly regrouping with Whitebeard's forces.
With their reinforcements in place, the defensive pressure eased significantly.
One by one, the pirates turned their furious gazes skyward toward Maude.
"Shoot that bastard down!"
"Finally, we've got time to deal with him!"
"Damn it, aim for his balls!"
"…???"
In an instant, every pirate with a firearm raised their weapons, taking aim at Maude in the sky.
Hearing the commotion, Maude looked down.
Wherever his gaze landed, he saw nothing but the black muzzles of hundreds of guns pointed right at him.
"Tch…"
Maude chuckled lightly, making no immediate move to retreat to the shore.
A moment later—
The pirates pulled their triggers.
Gunshots erupted in unison, sending a hail of bullets hurtling toward Maude.
"Die!"
The pirates sneered in anticipation.
However—
Just before the storm of bullets could reach him, Maude vanished as if time had rewound, reappearing safely back on the harbor shore.
With their target gone, the bullets continued upward, harmlessly hitting nothing but air.
"Huh? Did he escape?"
"Forget him! Focus on wiping out the Marines on the ice!"
Seeing Maude retreat, the Whitebeard Pirates were disappointed but didn't waste time chasing after him. Instead, they turned back to battle the Marines.
Harbor shore.
Apart from Maude, who had been constantly engaging in battle, the rest of the Seven Warlords—including Kuma—remained spectators, showing complete indifference to the ongoing fight on the ice.
Their attitude perfectly embodied the phrase "doing the bare minimum."
As Maude returned, Doflamingo, Hancock, and Mihawk briefly glanced in his direction.
Sching—
Suddenly, Mihawk drew his Supreme Grade blade—Yoru.
"!"
Seeing this, Doflamingo, who had no intention of fighting, raised a brow in surprise. "Oh? You're actually going to make a move? I thought you'd just keep watching."
"I simply wish to see…" Mihawk's gaze locked onto the towering figure in the distance. "…just how vast the gap is between us and that man."
Once the decision to strike was made, the so-called 'alliance' was meaningless.
Maude and Hancock remained silent as they watched Mihawk assume a stance.
A gap…?
Maude mused to himself.
Mihawk swung his blade.
A seemingly simple slash carved through the air, unleashing a massive green flying slash that tore across the ice, heading straight for Whitebeard.
A few unfortunate pirates standing in its path barely had time to coat themselves in Armament Haki before they were instantly cut down.
Blood sprayed into the air, mingling with the shattered ice.
"Mihawk!?"
Both sides, locked in fierce battle upon the icy battlefield, had their eyes widen in shock as the world's strongest slash tore through the air.
Aboard the Moby Dick—
Whitebeard grinned, his gaze calm as he observed the devastating slash approaching.
At this stage of the war, a mere slash was nothing to be concerned about—his family would handle it.
A towering, muscular man stepped onto the ice in front of the Moby Dick's bow, positioning himself directly in the path of Mihawk's incoming slash.
"Heh."
That man was none other than Whitebeard Pirates' Third Division Commander, the Paramecia-type Twinkle-Twinkle Fruit user—Diamond Jozu.
"There's no way I'm letting you have your way, Hawkeye!"
Jozu's body transformed into glistening diamond, and he used himself as a shield, directly taking Mihawk's slash head-on.
The once unstoppable slash, akin to a raging tidal wave, crashed against the unyielding reef of his diamond body, coming to a complete halt.
"Oooohhh!"
With a mighty roar, Jozu swung his massive frame, forcibly hurling the residual energy of Mihawk's slash skyward, neutralizing the attack entirely.
"He blocked the world's greatest slash!!!"
On the Marine side, countless soldiers were utterly dumbfounded at the sight of Jozu repelling Mihawk's attack with his body alone.
This defied their understanding of power.
And yet, there were at least fifteen other fighters of Jozu's caliber aboard the Whitebeard Pirates' fleet.
"Commander Jozu, nicely done!"
"Hahaha! Is that all the world's strongest swordsman has to offer? He couldn't even scratch our commander's defense!"
Morale surged among Whitebeard's forces.
After all, the one attacking had been the man feared across the New World as the world's strongest swordsman.
"..."
From the shoreline, Mihawk remained expressionless as he observed Jozu withstand his attack unscathed.
Long-range slashes couldn't be imbued with Haki—against someone with Jozu's near-impenetrable defense, their effectiveness was significantly reduced.
"Fufufu… The Whitebeard Pirates really are full of monsters."
Doflamingo chuckled darkly, his voice laced with intrigue.
—Clang—
At that moment, Maude sheathed his rifle and drew his blade.
The distinct sound of the black blade Shusui being unsheathed drew the attention of Mihawk and the others.
Ignoring their gazes, Maude fixed his sharp eyes on Jozu standing before the Moby Dick's bow. With a slight smile, he spoke:
"Overconfidence can be dangerous, you know… The renowned Diamond Jozu."
Under the watchful eyes of Mihawk, Doflamingo, Hancock, and even Aokiji, who was idly observing from the ice, Maude swung his blade at Jozu.
"Hakoku Slash!"
A streak of dazzling white light trailed from Shusui's edge as a colossal shockwave burst forth, roaring down the very same trench Mihawk's previous slash had carved into the ice. It hurtled toward Jozu with overwhelming force.
"Another one?!"
Both Marine and pirate combatants alike stood frozen in disbelief as a second massive slash tore past them.
"Tch, again?!"
At the Moby Dick's bow, Jozu, still clad in his diamond form, watched Maude's incoming attack with unwavering confidence.
"This won't work!"
Employing the same method, Jozu braced himself against the Hakoku Slash.
—Boom!—
The impact sent rippling shockwaves through the battlefield.
Nearby pirates, caught off guard, were thrown back by the sheer force of the clash.
Aboard the Moby Dick, Marco and the division commanders looked on as Maude's Hakoku Slash continued pressing against Jozu's diamond body.
"That's no ordinary slash… It's more like a shockwave," murmured Vista, the Fifth Division Commander and a renowned swordsman of the New World.
His expert eyes discerned the unique properties of Maude's attack.
"But still, an attack of this level won't be enough to harm Jozu."
"Yeah, but that Warlord Maude… He's no joke."
Marco stroked his chin, his gaze fixed on Maude.
The other commanders remained silent, but their agreement was evident in their expressions.
"Oooohhh!"
Jozu let out another roar.
Just like before, he used brute force to hurl the Hakoku Slash into the sky.
"Hah! Even the world's strongest slash couldn't get past Commander Jozu's defense—what makes a mere Warlord think he can?!"
Whitebeard's men sneered.
But before their jeers could continue, Jozu suddenly let out a sharp grunt of pain.
"Hmm?"
All eyes turned to Jozu.
Under the fading glow of the deflected Hakoku Slash, a deep, jagged crack had appeared on his diamond-covered shoulder, fresh blood seeping from the wound.
"What…?!"
"The slash was blocked… How did he get hurt?!"
Even the commanders, who had been so sure of Jozu's defense, stared in disbelief.
They had seen it with their own eyes—Jozu had successfully repelled Maude's attack just as he had done with Mihawk's.
Then why was he bleeding?!
"Impossible…"
Jozu himself was wide-eyed in shock as he glanced down at his wound.
As the Hakoku Slash faded into the distance, the lingering white glow around him dissipated as well.
For a brief moment, he thought he had imagined it.
But the sharp pain was all too real.
"W-What the hell?! Commander Jozu blocked Mihawk's slash without a scratch—how did a Warlord manage to wound him?!"
"But Jozu is bleeding…!"
"How did he do it?!"
"That kind of slash… In the New World, it'd be enough to make a name for itself!"
"Then why the hell is he called 'Phantom Sniper' instead?!"
Across the battlefield, members of the Whitebeard Pirates and their allied fleet found themselves eyeing Maude warily.
The surge of morale from Jozu blocking Mihawk's attack had started to wane.
At the Moby Dick's bow—
Whitebeard furrowed his brow as he observed Maude from a distance.
To wield the giants' Hakoku technique in such a way… It reminded him of someone he once sailed with—Charlotte Linlin.
"Jozu, you alright?"
Whitebeard turned his gaze downward.
"No big deal."
Jozu waved a hand dismissively, though his brow remained furrowed. "I just… don't understand how he did it."
On the execution platform—
Among the Marines' high-ranking officers awaiting the next phase of battle, many had shifted their gazes toward Maude.
"For a pirate…"
"He's quite something, Bacardi Maude."
Back at the shoreline—
Having witnessed Maude wound Jozu with a single slash, Doflamingo's ever-present grin began to fade.
Hancock, who had been merely observing, now looked at Maude with a trace of astonishment.
"He did what even Mihawk couldn't…?"
Mihawk, too, turned his sharp, golden eyes toward Maude, a faint glimmer of interest sparking within them.
"Did he slash the shadow…?"
Maude merely smirked.
At this moment—
He could truly feel it.
The power of the Shadow-Shadow Fruit.
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