A cold smile curled on Shiki's lips, and he used his Float-Float Fruit ability, his body slowly rising into the air.
Being in mid-air, with an open view, he could undoubtedly better control the entire battlefield.
At this moment, every movement on the Marine warship was clearly visible in his eyes.
"The number of Marines isn't quite right... Hmm, isn't there even one strong guy on the Marine warship?" Shiki took a comfortable puff from his cigar.
Then, he lightly flew towards the Marine warship, moving extremely fast, and in a few seconds, he was already above the Marine warship.
"You've done well."
At this point, Shiki seemed to feel that everything was under control, even having time to praise the Marines' efforts in their struggle.
But the next second, he changed his tone, saying coldly, "But, the game ends here!"
Before he finished speaking, a powerful aura suddenly erupted, moving down towards the Marine warship below.
In an instant, the Marine officers and soldiers on the warship's deck all froze, their combat movements halted.
As elites of Marineford, they were not directly knocked unconscious by the Conqueror's Haki, but they were temporarily unable to move.
After all, Shiki was one of only three Legendary Pirates in the world, and his Conqueror's Haki was extraordinary.
"Oh? Still standing?" Shiki landed on the deck, and after scanning around, a look of surprise appeared in his eyes.
"It seems that bastard Kenji has trained you well."
"Jihahahaha! Too bad, you're facing me! I am the Golden Lion!"
Shiki threw his head back and laughed, his arrogant and wild demeanor fully displayed.
Just as he was sneering as if no one else was present, a cold voice suddenly came from afar.
"Shiki, who allowed you to attack my ship?"
As the cold voice came, the giant waves near the Marine warship seemed to be suddenly parted by an invisible force, creating a wide and straight channel within the continuous waves.
Combined with the voice that had just arrived, it gave the illusion of sound piercing through the giant waves.
In reality, this was the effect of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit.
Waves of vibration penetrated the giant waves, reaching the Marine warship.
"You're too late, Newgate."
Shiki remained calm and composed, casually raising his hand to release Armament Haki to stop the spread of the tremor waves.
At this moment, looking through the hollow channel in the giant waves, one could vaguely see Whitebeard's figure in the distance.
At this moment, Whitebeard was very far from the Marine warship, he was even far from the coast, yet he was able to clearly transmit his voice from a distance.
And what was transmitted was not just sound and tremor waves. There was also Whitebeard's surging, tide-like Conqueror's Haki.
"Hmph! Are you trying to snatch it from me?!"
Shiki's eyes suddenly widened, releasing his top-tier Conqueror's Haki, and an invisible pressure collided with Whitebeard's Conqueror's Haki.
Buzz—Boom!
The two top-tier Conqueror's Haki collided midway, their powerful pressures vying against each other, but neither could suppress the other, and finally, the Conqueror's Haki rushed towards the sky, tearing open the firmament.
"Hey! Newgate, what do you mean?" Shiki saw Whitebeard continuing to approach him rapidly, and immediately frowned, his tone turning cold.
"This Marine warship is mine now!"
Whitebeard was startled by the words, but his steps did not stop.
"Hmph! What a troublesome fellow!"
A chilling murderous intent flashed in Shiki's eyes, but then his gaze flickered again.
"Forget it, let's get... those things first."
As he murmured softly, he lightly stepped onto the deck.
Then, the Marine officers and soldiers who had been frozen on the deck were horrified to discover that the Marine warship was actually beginning to rise.
"Our Marine warship can fly now? Why didn't I know?"
In reality, the Marine warship was floating, forcibly lifted into the air by Shiki's Float-Float Fruit ability.
Just as Shiki was about to take the Marine warship to high altitude, Whitebeard finally arrived near the battlefield.
"What's that kid Shiki doing, stealing Kenji's Marine warship?" Whitebeard didn't understand, but he wasn't shocked either.
A thought flashed through his mind, and he decided to intercept, unable to just watch Shiki steal Kenji's Marine warship. After all, he and Kenji had some history.
"Trying to run away in front of me?"
Whitebeard sneered, clenching his right fist, and then a brilliant white halo of tremor power formed on his fist, indicating it could cause air tremors.
"Get down here!"
The next moment, Whitebeard raised his right fist, striking the air above the Marine warship from a distance.
Crack!!!
The power of vibration erupted, and the air, like shattered glass, showed visible spiderweb-like cracks.
And these cracks rapidly spread towards the Marine warship in the sky.
Soon, the tremor waves reached the vicinity of the Marine warship, sealing off its surroundings, and the Marine warship, controlled by the Float-Float Fruit ability, was actually forcibly stopped, as if a 'brake' had been applied.
"Don't get in my way, Newgate!"
Shiki stood floating next to the Marine warship, frowning as he looked at Whitebeard below, and shouted coldly.
"I didn't come here to fight you!"
"My target is only this Marine warship!"
"So, don't interfere with me. If you want to fight, I'll satisfy you later."
Hearing Shiki's half-threatening, half-persuading words, Whitebeard suddenly laughed.
"Heh heh! Then all the more reason to fight! Only the winner is qualified to take that ship!"
"...You already knew?"
Shiki thought Whitebeard had seen through his plan, and even knew the secret on the Marine warship, and murderous intent immediately appeared in his eyes.
"Since that's the case... then a winner must be decided!"
"Gurararara! Then stop talking nonsense!"
Whitebeard laughed loudly, and once again swung his fist, striking the air above his head with the brilliant white vibration halo.
Crack!
The spiderweb-like vibration cracks erupted again, rapidly rushing towards the Marine warship in the sky.
At this moment, Shiki had already drawn his two swords, Armament Haki wrapped around the blades, and then he exerted force with both arms, launching a slash towards the cracks below.
"Zanpa!"
In an instant, the slashes collided with the tremor waves, and a huge amount of energy erupted, the entire battlefield simultaneously suffering a dual assault of slash and tremor.
Just as the great battle erupted, from the inland direction of Wano Country, two groups of people arrived near the coast almost one after the other.
The first group was the samurai corps of Wano Country, who were utterly shocked by the great battle before them as soon as they arrived at the battlefield.
The latter group was the Marine squad led by Kuzan.
"Hmm, what's going on here?"
Kuzan stared blankly at the floating Marine warship in the distance, then silently took out his Den Den Mushi and dialed Kenji's number.
"Hello? Kenji-san, Golden Lion Shiki... seems to be planning to steal our Marine warship."