At this moment, as Whitebeard and Elior clashed, Marineford Plaza tilted violently under their might!
"The world's strongest man is really fighting that guy!"
"This is insane!"
"Marine Headquarters is going to collapse!"
"Whitebeard is way scarier than before! Is this because of Ace's death? Has he gone berserk?!"
"Damn it... With monsters fighting like this, we're nothing but ants—we don't even have a place to hide!"
"Pops is furious! It's terrifying!"
"But... Pops's body..."
"Whitebeard and that monster... They'll destroy all of Marineford!"
The weaker marines and pirates could only scramble to evade, barely keeping their footing on the tilting battlefield.
Where Whitebeard and Elior fought, the air itself was torn with countless white scars. Some from the sheer power of the Tremor-Tremo Fuit, others from Elior's raging lightning.
"Whitebeard... how long can you sustain this state?"
Elior stared coldly at Whitebeard, continuously amplifying his lightning output, while Whitebeard relentlessly pushed back with all his might.
Whitebeard's furrowed brows and grim, wordless expression radiated his seething fury. In the original timeline, even Akainu paid the price when Whitebeard — enraged by Ace's death — crushed him while half-dead. Now, at near-full power, his anger was even deadlier.
"Bury yourself with my beloved son, brat!"
Boom!
The cracks in the air widened even more, and within five seconds, the compressed space detonated like a shockwave, blowing both combatants away!
Both sides had unleashed power that had reached their respective peaks.
"RAAAGH!"
Whitebeard roared, slamming a fist toward Elior. Instantly, the air shattered again—the ground split open in several massive fissures, and a monstrous shockwave burst forth like a prehistoric flood, flattening the already-uneven battlefield in its wake.
In response, Elior clenched his fist and hurled a punch of his own.
RUMBLE RUMBLE...
Thunder roared across the sky, bolts of lightning coiling into a massive storm surge, crashing toward Whitebeard. The electric storm collided head-on with the white shockwave.
BOOM!
A deafening explosion echoed through all of Marineford.
The ground caught in the collision was pulverized instantly, boulders the size of fists vaporized into dust, while larger debris was blasted several meters high.
Those weaker marines still in the plaza were thrown mercilessly, slamming into walls or crumbling buildings.
"Whitebeard!"
Seeing this catastrophic clash, Sengoku broke into a cold sweat. This was unlike Elior's earlier fight with Garp, which was pure hand-to-hand combat. This — this was a battle of the strongest Devil Fruits in the world colliding head-on.
Elior's powers of lightning and ice were unprecedented. Dual Devil Fruits? Impossible — that was against the rules of the sea! History had never recorded such a thing, so Sengoku could only assume Elior possessed a single, yet overwhelmingly versatile fruit.
Lightning and ice combined...It was like having both the Rumble-Rumble Fruit and Ice-Ice Fruit —a fusion of legends!
And Whitebeard, of course, wielded the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, capable of destroying the world.
The battlefield itself was crumbling under their blows, the very land of Marineford was splitting apart!
And this was just the beginning between these two monsters.
Sengoku could foresee it: neither would stop until the other lay dead.
And frankly, Sengoku hoped they'd both die.
Meanwhile, on another front, the Bundy World, was throwing everything he had to keep Garp at bay. World couldn't defeat Garp outright, but Garp couldn't break past this terrifying old man either. After all, this wasn't some movie setting where Luffy's the protagonist — here, World's strength was real and overwhelming.
Even a casual attack, magnified a hundredfold by his fruit, could become fatal. If World fired a bullet, the boost to speed and power would make it devastating.
These two titans of the old era clashed with no clear winner.
"Hah! Garp, how does it feel being a lapdog for the World Government? Can't even save the ones you love, and still, you're stuck cleaning up their mess!"
World had only just learned that the Ace Elior killed was the grandson Garp cherished. Knowing that made World grin.
He hated the World Government, the Celestial Dragons, and by extension, the marines who protected them. Especially Garp—who'd been one of the ones to drag him into Impel Down, where he'd wasted thirty long years.
So now, knowing Garp's loved ones were dead and that he himself was stalled here—World couldn't help but laugh aloud.
Even when Garp smashed one of Bundy's old, yellowed teeth, Bundy kept laughing and striking back.
"No matter what, old man, I'm not letting you anywhere near Elior!"
"He killed Celestial Dragons — he's my friend! I'll protect him even if the Celestial King himself shows up!"
World pressed the attack.
"You damn scum of the world! Get out of my way!"
Garp was seething. All he wanted was to tear Elior apart, but World stood firmly in his path.
Meanwhile, beyond the icy outskirts of Marineford Plaza, Bullet was keeping the grief-stricken Dragon pinned down. As the second-strongest in Elior's crew, Bullet was a menace — his power only rivaled by Elior himself.
Having fused with a warship into a massive mecha-like form, Bullet towered over Dragon. Even Dragon's windstorms and lightning couldn't decisively wound him.
They were simply too evenly matched.
"I didn't think our Captain would actually kill your number two, Dragon. Sabo's gone, huh? Tch tch... But don't go screwing with our plan, alright?"
Bullet looked down on Dragon from his colossal form. So far, everything was proceeding according to Elior's grand design.
Dragon stood trembling, fists clenched, tears flowing as he whispered:
"Sabo..."
Back at the center of it all — Elior and Whitebeard were still trading deadly blows.
Whitebeard slashed with Murakumogiri, his blade sheathed in the quake power, while Elior struck back with a Haki-clad fist, hammering straight into the blade's edge.
The resulting shock tore the sky apart. The ground beneath Elior cracked wide, and the fractures snaked all the way to the Marine HQ building — splitting the once-imposing fortress apart.
Wider even than the destruction caused by Blackbeard's quake in the original timeline.
This building... was the symbol of justice and peace in the world.
Now, it was collapsing.
"The HQ... it's splitting apart!"
"Justice and peace... it's like the world itself is crumbling!"
"My God... Marineford!"
"Where can we even hide from monsters like this?!"
Panic swept through the marines. Watching the HQ fall apart broke something in their hearts—it was like seeing their very faith shatter.
"Marine HQ can be rebuilt!"
A brilliant golden light flared — Sengoku stood tall, shielding the trembling soldiers.
"Sengoku... but—"
"Yes, HQ can be rebuilt, just like after Shiki invaded and destroyed half of Marineford. Everything can be rebuilt!"
"Justice will prevail!"
"Justice will prevail!"
The soldiers tried to rally, but their fear of this endless carnage was harder to quell.
Even a battered Kizaru appeared, wincing:
"So, Sengoku-san... what's the plan now~?"
This battle had turned into a war of monsters. The marines were no longer the main actors—they were just trying to survive.
Everywhere, life was treated like grass—fragile and disposable.
Seeing the corpses, the wounded, the terrified soldiers — Sengoku hesitated to even give another order. Too many had already died.
BANG!
Elior leapt forward, driving a brutal kick into Whitebeard's chest, knocking him back several meters before Whitebeard stumbled to regain balance—bleeding again from the wound left by Squard's betrayal.
Pfft!
Just as Whitebeard prepared to counter, blood surged up his throat—he couldn't hold it back. Dropping to one knee, he spat it out.
"Whitebeard... are you done already?"
Elior landed on the broken battlefield, gasping — truthfully, he wasn't in great shape either. He was at his limits.
After all, Whitebeard couldn't even defeat a single admiral today — but Elior? He'd already crushed three.
Maybe the Whitebeard of his true prime could've managed it... but this was an aging man, his body weaker than Garp or Sengoku, not because he'd fought more—but because his body was simply deteriorating.
Elior had already estimated that the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit had taken a heavy toll on Whitebeard's body. The long-term strain it brought was undeniable.
"At this level... you're still far from enough to beat me."
"I am Whitebeard!"
For a moment, memories of Ace flashed in Whitebeard's mind. With sheer force of will, he forced himself to his feet once more.
"Pops!"
He could hear Marco and the others shouting for him, their voices strained with grief.
Seeing Whitebeard coughing up blood, over a dozen division commanders of the Whitebeard Pirates rushed toward him in desperation.
But Whitebeard mustered the last of his strength to slam his fist behind him. Instantly, the air cracked apart once again. The ground behind him split open with a precise quake punch—forming a trench over twenty meters wide, cutting the entire Marineford Plaza in two.
With that mighty roar, Whitebeard physically separated himself from Marco and the others.
"Pops!"
Everyone cried out in anguish. They knew exactly what their father intended — he was planning to stay behind alone!
"Whitebeard Pirates! Take Ace's body and retreat!"
"If you don't obey, I'll drive you all out myself!"
Whitebeard swung Murakumogiri and bellowed the command, his cloak whipping fiercely in the wind—his back tall and unwavering, a figure of immeasurable paternal love.
"Pops!"
"No! Pops, don't!"
But Whitebeard ignored their pleas. He charged directly at Elior.
He knew very well — this brat was a top-tier monster. If he didn't kill Elior here, Marco and the others wouldn't have peace in the future. They might even be hunted down and annihilated.
And Whitebeard himself would remain here, to the very end.
"You think you can leave that easily?"
On the other side, Elior violently tore his hands forward — summoning a storm of lightning from the dark sky. The bolts crashed down upon the massive ship in the distance.
It was the Moby Dick — the legendary flagship of the Whitebeard Pirates, the very ship Elior had stopped with one hand before.
BOOM!
Explosions rocked the vessel as it shattered and burst into flames.
"Your era is over, Whitebeard!"
Elior caught Whitebeard's fist with his bare hand. The impact forced the ground to sink deeply, and the Marine HQ building behind them began to collapse.
At that moment, Whitebeard turned slightly, catching sight of the burning wreckage of the Moby Dick — tears welled at the corners of his eyes.
My old friend... we'll never sail the New World together again.
"Pops, let's leave together!"
Squard cried out, knowing his father's body had deteriorated greatly. If not for that stab wound from before, things wouldn't have come to this.
"If you don't leave, then neither will we!"
Cracks tore through the atmosphere ahead of Whitebeard, his cloak flapping violently in the wind.
"Whitebeard Pirates! I order you all—retreat from Marineford immediately!"
"I am a relic of the old era. There's no ship in the new world that can carry me anymore!"
BOOM—
In that instant, Whitebeard's power exploded outward, forcing Elior back. The shockwave sent a searing heat up Elior's throat — he was injured again.
"A relic of the old era?" Elior sneered. "Then I'll grant you the most honorable death imaginable!"
Ignoring his injuries, Elior stood up from the ground, his body cloaked in crackling lightning, and charged straight at Whitebeard.