"Gurarara! Little girl, looks like you still don't understand the romance of being a pirate!"
Whitebeard's laughter became even more boisterous:
"But then again, this is ultimately something from the old era. Young people like you from the new era really don't need to understand it. Come on, since you want to stop this old man, then come and kill me!"
BUZZ!
Whitebeard went all out, driving the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit to its limit.
The entire space shattered and distorted layer after layer under his power like a fragile spiderweb, as that earth-shattering vibration crazily spread toward Kozuki Hiyori.
"The romance of being a pirate? Hah!"
Kozuki Hiyori sneered, her eyes filled with mockery, "You mean letting your companions dance around foolishly like idiots, yet stubbornly believing that since a man didn't take the initiative to ask for help, he should shoulder his own problems himself?"
Her words were as sharp as a blade, and the speed of the sword in her hand also reached its limit.
Amid the fierce collisions of their two blades, Whitebeard's sword momentum instead showed a barely perceptible pause.
Clearly, Kozuki Hiyori's words that struck at his heart had still affected him to some extent.
Although, in the battle in Wano Country, he ultimately went there to provide support without hesitation, and he even took Momonosuke in and protected him on his own initiative, it was just that Momonosuke later chose to betray them and leave on his own.
But at the beginning, when Wano Country had just fallen into an abyss of suffering, he really did vaguely know that Kozuki Oden's side had encountered some trouble.
It was just that because Kozuki Oden was held back by his pride and never took the initiative to ask him for help, he simply went along with it and pretended that he knew nothing.
But who could have expected that the little trouble he had ignored back then would ultimately become the trigger that led the entire Wano Country toward destruction?
On this point, deep down, he truly felt guilty.
But he had not come here today to dwell on this old grudge.
Kozuki Hiyori could not stop his footsteps.
However, before Whitebeard could regroup and continue launching his full-strength attack, Kozuki Hiyori suddenly and decisively withdrew the sword in her hand.
"The former strongest man in the world turns out to be nothing more than this," Kozuki Hiyori's voice drifted over leisurely, carrying undisguised disappointment, "That so-called era really was utterly boring. No wonder His Majesty was able to bring it to an end so easily."
As her voice fell, her figure suddenly turned and she charged fiercely toward the rear.
BOOM!
At the same time, Sengoku made his move.
His figure, which had already been waiting for the opportunity, violently collided in midair with Kozuki Hiyori, who had turned around.
He had no old grudges binding him to her. Since she dared to come, he dared to fight.
However, upon their first exchange, he truly felt Kozuki Hiyori's strength.
To be able to fight Whitebeard head-on without falling behind, she really was not a simple character.
Even compared with him, she was already at the same level.
At the same time, Whitebeard no longer paid attention to Kozuki Hiyori, who was locked in battle, and simply continued walking toward the execution platform on his own.
His purpose for coming here today had always been simple and pure.
Save Juste!
Nothing more, nothing else.
"Then I'll go stretch my muscles too."
Yamato grinned cheerfully, stood up gracefully, picked up the enormous kanabo beside her, and charged toward Kuzan in the direction of the port.
To her, today was actually more like coming to watch a lively show.
This execution did not have much to do with her personally.
By comparison, she was looking forward even more to the day when, as a dignified Marine Admiral, she could personally go and subdue her Four Emperor father, Kaido.
Although she would not actually kill him when the time came, being able to put on a good show of killing a family member for the sake of justice in front of everyone in the world, with her as his biological daughter, that exhilarating feeling would really be something.
Unlike today, when she still had to stay here and act out this tragic drama of a father and son risking their lives to save each other.
Rumble! Rumble!
In merely a moment, bursts of explosive sounds caused by the fierce battle between Kuzan and Yamato came from the distance.
And at this moment, Whitebeard had already, step by step, reached directly in front of the execution platform.
Of the people still sitting on the third-level seats, only two remained.
But even just these two were barriers that Whitebeard, exhausting all his strength, could no longer cross.
"Ace! Shirahoshi!"
Whitebeard raised his head and looked at the two young faces before him.
Although he had only just met the two of them for the first time, both of those faces clearly bore the deep imprint of someone he had once known.
His expression could not help becoming tinged with indescribable complexity.
Ace was Roger's biological son, yet now, by a twist of fate, he had become a Marine Admiral of the World Government.
The unpredictability of the world and the tricks of fate truly made one sigh.
And Shirahoshi beside him, as Rosse's most outstanding and most favored child, had clearly inherited even more of Rosse's sharpness and shadow.
More than ten years had passed.
Throughout these long years, Whitebeard had not only remained stagnant, he had even helplessly grown older, with his strength slowly draining away bit by bit.
In contrast, Rosse had stood higher and higher, reaching a height that Whitebeard now needed to look up to.
Back then, he had still been able to fight Rosse head-on and compete with him.
Even though he could not defeat him when teaming up with Shiki the Golden Lion, at least he had been able to exchange blows with him.
But now, he had fallen to the point where he could only face Rosse's children and younger generation.
This enormous difference truly left Whitebeard with mixed emotions and a thousand complicated feelings.
"Whitebeard, how do you plan to get past the two of us?"
Shirahoshi leaned forward slightly, her eyes curving into a smiling crescent, "Father and Aunt Gion will not take the initiative to attack today, and we won't display strength beyond S-rank either. As long as you can get past the two of us and Marshal Sakazuki, you'll be able to rescue Juste."
"It's a pity. If you had brought more people today, it would be easier for you now."
Hearing this, Whitebeard's laughter became even more boisterous, "Gurarara! You really are cut from the same cloth as that old man of yours. Even though you possess such powerful strength, you still like using words to lead your opponents around."
"No matter how strong or numerous the people we brought are, you'll always have one more person than us, won't you?"
"That is indeed true," Shirahoshi chuckled, "But this time, we calculated it just right. And right now, you're actually two people short on your side."
"Gurarara! Whether they come or not is a matter of sentiment. This old man never wanted them to come here and die," Whitebeard waved his large hand, "Come on. Your real target from beginning to end is me, not Juste, isn't it?"
Whitebeard raised his sword and fiercely slashed toward the execution platform. Wherever the blade passed, the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit cut the entire space into densely packed cracks, causing heaven and earth to tremble incessantly.
"Old man, you're right. Our target is indeed you," Ace slowly stood up from his seat, his tone calm, "You're more worthy of the title of king than that scumbag biological father of mine."
As his voice fell, his figure flashed, and in the next second he firmly blocked Whitebeard's path, extending both hands completely covered in black Armament Haki.
BANG!
The earth-shattering violent fluctuations of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit were actually stopped forcefully before his two palms, unable to advance even an inch.
"Gurarararara! Brat, you weren't even born in that magnificent era, so you have no right to make such an evaluation."
Whitebeard laughed loudly and raised his naginata again.
His seemingly bulky and enormous body moved slowly, but the trajectory of his naginata was so fast that ordinary people could not catch it with their naked eyes.
"So what?"
Ace raised both fists and met the naginata, repeatedly colliding with it in midair, "Back then, in terms of strength, he was inferior to your old captain Rocks. At his peak, he was even chased around the world by Shiki the Golden Lion. In terms of individual martial power, he was also far inferior to you. Someone like that, an age like that, rather than saying it was an era of brilliant stars, it would be better to say it was merely an era of a bunch of weaklings fighting among themselves!"
Ace's voice carried a hint of resentment.
He hated pirates, and the root of his hatred for pirates lay with Roger.
For someone like Roger, such a piece of trash, to become the Pirate King, that era really was terrible.
The intense vibrations crazily spread outward with the collision between the two, but before they could reach the execution platform, Shirahoshi gently pushed her hand forward, and a layer of clear water firmly blocked them.
"So you really don't understand!", Whitebeard shouted in a deep, powerful voice, "The new era may indeed no longer have a ship capable of carrying old fellows like us. But the old era has not completely come to an end yet!"
The veins on Whitebeard's thick, giant-tree-like arms bulged one after another.
In an instant, all of Marineford began to tremble violently, and the earth seemed to let out a painful groan.
"GRAAAH!"
At this moment, Whitebeard drove the Tremor-Tremor Fruit to its extreme.
A destructive earthquake that obeyed no logic whatsoever erupted violently across Marineford.
At this moment, the strength Whitebeard displayed had actually faintly touched the boundary of SS-rank.
"He really is strong. As expected of the king of the previous era."
Shirahoshi rested her chin on her hand with interest, her beautiful eyes filled with appreciation, without the slightest emotional disturbance from the enemy going all out.
It looked powerful and earth-shaking, but if it were truly compared with her father, it was far, far behind.
If Rosse had made a similar entrance, all of Marineford would already have been completely erased.
Ultimately, it was merely thunder with little rain.
The violent trembling of the earth also caused a wave of panic among the Marines below.
The young soldiers staggered, a trace of alarm flashing across their faces.
But when they looked up and saw Shirahoshi and Rosse still sitting calmly on the execution platform, the hearts they had just raised finally settled down again.
Unfortunately, Ace did not have a way to deal with such a large-scale attack. He could only retreat two steps while sighing, his tone carrying genuine regret, "In terms of destructive power, it really is not bad."
"Hmph!"
On the second level of the execution platform, Sakazuki let out a cold snort without the slightest emotion.
Immediately afterward, all of Marineford seemed to come alive in an instant, as a scorching heatwave that made it difficult to breathe replaced the violent shaking from before.
Magma-Magma Fruit · Awakening!
Under normal circumstances, Logia-type Devil Fruits were extremely difficult to awaken.
But with Sakazuki's current strength, awakening was merely a natural progression.
And after a Logia-type ability awakened, its most powerful ability was... Assimilation.
The solid ground beneath Marineford began slowly and irresistibly transforming into boiling magma.
Fortunately, with Sakazuki's precise control, some crucial areas were skillfully avoided, so innocent people were not affected.
But precisely because the terrain beneath their feet, as well as the surrounding air medium, had been extensively transformed into scorching magma, the originally astonishing destructive power of White beard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit was also weakened to the extreme.
"Gurarara, Magma Brat, your strength really isn't bad now!"
Whitebeard's voice remained loud as a bell, without the slightest fluctuation, but his previously boisterous expression had become slightly more solemn.
A true expert knows the difference as soon as the other side makes a move.
Being able to train a Logia-type ability to the awakened realm, even assimilating everything around him, just in terms of this strength capable of directly resisting him, Sakazuki had already surpassed him.
But so what? He was Whitebeard!
BOOM!
The magma within several hundred meters erupted violently almost simultaneously.
"Juste, I'm coming!"
Whitebeard roared, violent tremors that shook heaven and earth continuously erupting around his body. With one molten footprint after another, he strode firmly toward the execution platform.
Even the transformed boiling magma occasionally burned his skin, and even the Armament Haki covering his entire body could not completely block that scorching pain.
But none of these tortures caused Whitebeard to frown even once.
His footsteps forward showed no intention of stopping whatsoever.
"Such firm will truly deserves Father's personal praise."
Shirahoshi could not help standing up, voicing sincere admiration.
At the same time, she pushed her delicate hand forward, and countless water barriers appeared from nowhere, firmly blocking the magma continuously spreading outward due to the eruption of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, preventing it from rushing into the orderly Marine formations below and causing unnecessary casualties.
Although even if she truly could not stop it, Rosse, sitting at the highest point, would casually help resolve it.
But today was the grandest ceremony since Luffy had set out to sea.
As the director who had personally arranged it, she could not let the audience on the stage come down and help clean up this mess.
"Whitebeard, the auspicious hour has arrived! Today, all of us from the World Government present here shall jointly offer you the grandest funeral!"