At Marine Headquarters, where the fighting was fiercest.
Whitebeard and Akainu were battling, and the terrifying shockwaves between them were the core of the entire battlefield.
Whitebeard, already in his twilight years, had taken a life-risking drug that compressed his remaining lifespan, erupting with terrifying power in this moment.
Akainu, fighting against him, was almost being suppressed by Whitebeard.
Akainu was not displeased at all. Instead, he grew more excited as the fight went on.
Even if he was sent flying, he would only roar and continue fighting.
He could see that Whitebeard was at the end of his strength, and every strike consumed his vitality.
Whitebeard, you cannot hold on much longer.
Akainu's right arm turned into magma.
Scorching magma gushed from his arm.
Under his control, the magma transformed into a ferocious hellhound, howling at Whitebeard.
The air filled with the pungent sulfur stench of magma.
"Air Shock!"
Whitebeard struck the void with his left hand.
Accompanied by a sound like war drums.
The atmosphere was directly shaken and cracked, and everything in his path shattered under the terrifying power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit.
The magma hound was smashed apart, bursting into fragments of red-hot lava that scattered everywhere.
One shockwave after another blasted the scattered magma into the most densely packed areas of the Marines.
Lava fell from the sky like a meteor shower.
The Marines trying to surround them were battered by the shockwaves and magma. Before they could even get close, they were already gravely disabled.
"Damn it!"
Seeing this, Akainu's expression darkened.
Whitebeard's attack range was so large that it constantly caused trouble for other parts of the battlefield.
At this moment, Akainu no longer held back. Magma surged from his body as he engaged Whitebeard in close combat.
"Hell Dog!"
Magma rolled across Akainu's body, surging from his arms and condensing into a ferocious canine head lunging at Whitebeard. The magma hound was coated in jet-black Armament Haki.
Whitebeard gripped his naginata with both hands, black and purple Haki wrapped around the blade.
The two clashed fiercely. The deep red glow of magma and the violent quakes of the atmosphere spread across the battlefield.
The sky above was half dyed red, and the other half was shattered like a broken mirror.
As the strongest Admiral of the current era, Akainu had the power to contend with Whitebeard.
Even though Whitebeard had taken the life-risking drug and regained his prime for a short time, Akainu was still unafraid.
He even wanted to laugh. Compared to the battle during the siege of Caelan at the Sabaody Archipelago, Whitebeard's pressure was far from enough.
Back then, he, Kizaru, and Garp had besieged the enemy, yet were pushed back step by step by Caelan.
Now, facing Whitebeard alone, he was nowhere near as tense as he had been then.
So at that time, Caelan had already far surpassed the so-called world's strongest, Whitebeard?
Akainu felt a sense of urgency.
What was Whitebeard? After he became Fleet Admiral, only that man would be his true opponent.
With this thought, Akainu's attacks became even more frenzied.
Like a mad dog, he bit down on Whitebeard without letting up.
Clearly, Akainu was at a disadvantage in raw strength, yet he displayed an overwhelming ferocity, making it look as if he was suppressing Whitebeard.
In truth, it would have been easier to win by using Observation Haki to evade and delay. But with the Five Elders watching, he had to perform, to fight Whitebeard to the death and gain more leverage for the position of Fleet Admiral.
Pirates and Marines alike watched the two from the corners of their eyes and were stunned.
It was clearly just a duel between two men, yet it had become a natural disaster.
Every exchange between them had the power to kill thousands.
Numbers seemed meaningless before truly powerful individuals.
"Is that Whitebeard, the strongest man in the world? Even in his old age and frailty, he is still unbelievably powerful!"
Countless Marines looked at the towering figure gripping his naginata with awe.
It had nothing to do with sides. It was an instinctive respect for overwhelming power.
Even with Akainu holding him back, Whitebeard still dealt massive damage to Marine Headquarters, and countless Marines died in the aftermath of their battle.
It was not hard to imagine that if there were no equally powerful foes to stop him, the entire one hundred thousand elite Marines would not be enough for him to slaughter alone.
"Fortunately, we have Admiral Akainu!"
Then, the Marines set their sights on the crimson figure madly attacking Whitebeard, their eyes burning with fervor.
Facing the mighty Whitebeard, Admiral Akainu did not retreat, he advanced.
That courage and strength were a model for all Marines.
The pirates who saw this were filled with despair.
Their invincible "Dad," Whitebeard, was being held back by a single Admiral.
On the battlefield, their division captains and the captains of subordinate crews were defeated under the assaults of the two Admirals, Kizaru and Aokiji.
On the high platform, Fleet Admiral Sengoku sat quietly, without making a move.
"We are finished!"
The Whitebeard Pirates knew their fate.
Their morale did not drop. It burned even higher.
Pirates are all men who stake their lives. If they were going to die, they would take a bite out of the enemy first.
"Fight the Marines!"
"Let them see the consequences of provoking the Four Emperors!"
"Even if I die, I will not let you have an easy victory!"
Fifty thousand pirates were reduced by thirty thousand, and the ones left were all the ruthless ones.
Their eyes were bloodshot as they attacked the Marines with growing ferocity.
Even though the Marines' strength was more than double in every aspect, it was not so easy to wipe them out.
…
Sengoku and Tsuru sat on the high platform before the execution stand.
They did not take action, only coordinated the overall situation in case of emergencies.
Naturally, those emergencies could involve Caelan, Shanks, and others.
Sengoku looked over the chaotic battlefield and frowned. "This is really a headache. We set up traps, yet the losses are still too great."
They were fighting on home ground, with the advantage of time, location, and logistics.
Even so, it would still cost a heavy price to completely eliminate the Whitebeard Pirates.
At least thirty thousand of the one hundred thousand Marines would die, and the remaining seventy thousand would at least be injured.
"Sengoku, this is a necessary price. At least from today on, one of the Four Emperors will be completely gone, and the sinful bloodline of the Pirate King will come to an end."
Tsuru offered some comfort.
"I understand that, but I still feel sorry for those fallen Marines." Sengoku looked at the bodies of Marines on the ground and could not help but ache with grief.
These were elite troops drawn from all over, officers at their original posts.
Now they were falling in droves here. It was truly a pity.
"…"
Tsuru did not know how to comfort Sengoku.
She felt the pain as well.
If a declining Whitebeard was this difficult to deal with, how terrifying would Caelan, who was still on the rise, be?
(To be continued.)
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