Chapter 111 The Whitebeard Pirates Descend from Above
After ascending the execution platform, Bane surveyed the entire Marine plaza below, where the military formations stood with imposing authority.
But before Bane could fully appreciate the Navy's impressive presence, he heard Teach's voice from behind.
"Bane, you bastard! I'll never forgive you, even as a ghost!" Teach cursed hatefully as he was forced to kneel on the execution platform.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll be waiting for you to haunt me as a ghost," Bane replied with complete indifference.
At the same time, he pulled out an apple from his hand and waved it in front of Teach's face. "Do you know why I specifically brought fruit up here?"
Teach knelt there, looking up at Bane with a flash of anger in his eyes. "You're absolutely shameless!"
Of course he knew why Bane was doing this—it was nothing more than squeezing out every last drop of value from him. After his death, Bane would use the Dark-Dark Fruit to steal his Swallow-Swallow Fruit!
The thought made Teach so frustrated he wanted to cough up blood.
The main reason he had chosen to eat the Swallow-Swallow Fruit was to devour Bane, using the fruit's power to indirectly control the Dark-Dark Fruit's abilities, then carry out his grand plan.
But then he had the misfortune of encountering Garp halfway through, leading to his current predicament.
He had waited over twenty years in the Whitebeard Pirates. He had imagined many possible endings, but never that he would be bound on the Navy's execution platform for public execution!
He had already obtained the Dark-Dark Fruit—how had it come to this?!
"You'd better keep those words 'shameless' to yourself. While Whitebeard may be a pirate, he never treated you poorly. He probably still doesn't suspect you even now, and doesn't know that the Whitebeard Pirates' current desperate situation is all thanks to you. So how about it? Do you have any regrets now? Any regrets about killing Thatch like that?" Bane sneered coldly.
Hearing these words, Teach's eyes became somewhat vacant. Did he have regrets?
Of course he had regrets—he regretted it to death!
Actually, given his friendship with Thatch, he didn't need to go to such extremes to kill him and take the Dark-Dark Fruit. If he had just asked, Thatch probably would have given him the fruit.
But he had been too arrogant at the time. The moment he saw the Dark-Dark Fruit, murderous intent had already risen, and he could no longer contain it.
Newgate's assessment of Teach was quite accurate: rash and conceited.
"You'll regret this," Teach said through gritted teeth after snapping back to reality. "Pops will kill all of you. You've provoked the king of these seas—he has the power to destroy the world. He will definitely win!!!"
"The only reason you still expect him to win is because you think it's your only hope of survival right now. But actually, no matter how this war ends, you're going to die, Teach," Bane smiled wickedly. "If Newgate wins, then Ace, who's imprisoned in the underwater maximum security prison, will surely be rescued afterward. And unfortunately, I've already told Ace everything about you killing Thatch. So stop fantasizing and think about what pose you want to strike for a dignified death."
Killing someone while also crushing their spirit!
Bane had no mercy for someone like Teach.
"You... you..." Teach nearly fainted from rage upon hearing this.
If what Bane said was true, even if Whitebeard rescued him, he'd still face death!
While Bane was tormenting Teach, Fleet Admiral Sengoku saw that the timing was about right and quietly said: "Alright, Bane. Don't say anything more—I need to speak now."
Sengoku naturally knew the truth about Thatch long ago—Garp had reported it to him early on, so he wasn't surprised at all.
Taking out the broadcast Den Den Mushi from his pocket, Sengoku activated the broadcast signal and cleared his throat lightly.
His voice began echoing throughout Marineford.
Seeing this, Bane fell silent—now was the Fleet Admiral's stage.
"The Whitebeard Pirates have brought chaos to the world for far too long. We Marines deeply despise their crimes. Eliminating the Whitebeard Pirates has become an absolute necessity. As Fleet Admiral, every time I think of this matter, I feel heartbroken and lose sleep. Today, we finally have this golden opportunity. Today is October 10th, 1520 of the Sea Circle Calendar—the day we Marines execute Marshall D. Teach, member of the Whitebeard Pirates' Second Division, and also the moment we Marines declare total war on the Whitebeard Pirates. I, in the name of Fleet Admiral, hereby declare that the war to annihilate the Whitebeard Pirates begins now!!!" Fleet Admiral Sengoku announced solemnly, holding the broadcast Den Den Mushi.
His voice spread throughout Marine Headquarters and was simultaneously carried by the broadcast signal to the entire world!
Sea Circle Calendar 1520—the Marines declare total war on the Whitebeard Pirates!
As if rehearsed, three seconds after Sengoku's words fell, the military formations across the plaza stirred to life.
The giant Vice Admirals in front of the execution platform reacted first, raising their weapons high and roaring: "Victory!!!"
Like a signal, the next second, the massive formation of one hundred thousand elite Marines erupted in unison with sky-piercing fighting spirit.
"Victory! Victory! Victory!"
Three cries for victory shook the seas!
The soaring battle intent and killing aura seemed ready to pierce through the screens and envelop the entire world!
On Sabaody Archipelago, Eustass Kid watched this scene with a much more serious expression, murmuring with some emotion: "The maritime hegemon lives up to its reputation."
On the rooftop, Rayleigh sipped his drink and shook his head. "That old guy Sengoku still has so much energy."
"It looks like Whitebeard is really in for trouble this time," Shakky lit a cigarette and muttered to herself somewhat melancholically.
In the original story, Sengoku had said much more on the execution platform—about Ace's lineage, why he had to be executed, and so on.
But this time there was none of that. After making his declaration of war, Sengoku simply closed the broadcast Den Den Mushi in his hand without saying anything more.
In the distance, on a clock tower, the hands moved slowly. There were still two hours until the noon execution time. Sengoku's gaze swept across the sea surface.
The surveillance ships in the distance remained as calm as ever, providing no feedback whatsoever, indicating that the Whitebeard Pirates were still in a missing state.
"Bane," Sengoku suddenly called out.
Bane looked toward Sengoku. "What are your orders, Fleet Admiral?"
"No orders—I just want to discuss something with you," Sengoku shook his head, then continued: "What do you think? The Whitebeard Pirates have disappeared from our surveillance system for several days now. From where will they approach this battlefield?"
"Is there any possibility they won't come?" Bane pondered.
"Impossible!" Sengoku said without hesitation. "He might not care about his own reputation and make the rational choice, but his crew members won't allow their 'Pops' reputation to be damaged. So he will definitely come!"
Only then did Bane nod, then looked toward the sea surface within the harbor and said quietly: "What do you think the chances are that they passed through Fish-Man Island and came directly underwater with coating, avoiding all our surface surveillance and defenses to burst directly into this military harbor?"
Sengoku was stunned by these words, his gaze also turning to the calm harbor waters, his brow furrowing slightly. After a moment, he pulled out his communication Den Den Mushi: "Tsuru, maintain vigilance—the Whitebeard Pirates might be coming from underwater!"
"Understood," Chief Staff Officer Tsuru replied quietly.
But the next second, Sengoku suddenly looked up at the sky. Not just him—the three Marine Admirals sitting in their chairs did the same, as did Garp and Issho below the execution platform.
The attention of all the top-tier fighters seemed to be drawn to the sky at this moment.
"Looks like I guessed wrong," Bane said quietly, looking at the sky.
He had thought the Whitebeard Pirates would use the same tactics as in the original story, directly launching a deep-sea assault into the military harbor. But he never expected... they had taken to the sky!
Dozens of pirate warships gradually emerged from the clouds above, with the lead ship clearly being the Whitebeard Pirates' flagship—the whale ship Moby Dick!
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