Amid the fierce fighting on the front lines, Sakazuki finally made his move.
He pulled off his Marine cap, casually ran a hand through his hair, and let out a quiet sigh.
"We can't just let that old man Whitebeard stand there and watch the show…"
As his words fell, the temperature of the ground beneath his feet began to soar. In just moments, the earth melted into magma, and scorching heat sent steam billowing around him. Sakazuki raised his arm, aimed it toward the sky, and roared,
"Dai Funka!!!"
His arm instantly swelled to an enormous size, molten magma forming a fist as large as one from the Giant race. Driven by an eruption-like force, it blasted into the sky like a meteor and came crashing down toward the Moby Dick where Whitebeard stood.
"Admiral Sakazuki is attacking!"
"Evade!"
"Watch for friendly fire!!"
Warnings rang out across the Marine lines.
At the same time, on the other side, Newgate watched the massive magma projectile descending from the sky. His eyebrow twitched slightly as he prepared to act, but before he could move, Kozuki Oden beside him lost his patience.
"Shirokichi, I'm going first!"
The moment the words left his mouth, Kozuki Oden leapt from the Moby Dick.
Originally, the two Meito at his waist should have been Ame no Habakiri and Enma. However, Ame no Habakiri had previously been seized by Ortoren and was now hanging on a wall in his home. Later, Oden had replaced it with another blade, though its name was unknown.
Soaring into the air, he drew both swords at once and slashed in a cross toward Sakazuki's Dai Funka, shouting,
"Oden Nitōryū: Tougen Totsuka!!!"
In an instant, his figure plunged straight into the magma mass. The enormous lava projectile was split cleanly into four pieces in midair.
Under normal circumstances, Sakazuki's Dai Funka would have exploded after being damaged, scattering into a rain of magma meteors. But Oden's decisive strike split it apart so cleanly that it completely disrupted the follow-up eruption.
"That's seriously reckless…" Marco muttered, watching the scene with some exasperation.
He then spread his arms wide as blue flames ignited and took the shape of wings. With a powerful flap, his body shot into the sky.
Marco moved at extreme speed, darting past each of the four magma fragments in turn.
"Blue flame coating…" he said softly.
The blue flames instantly ignited the magma he touched. Soon, the lava fragments that had radiated intense heat and crimson light were dyed blue by the flames, transforming into blue meteor-like masses as they fell.
At the same time, Marco kicked each magma chunk, altering their trajectories. As a result, none of them struck the Whitebeard Pirates' fleet. Instead, they scattered and crashed into the surrounding sea.
Elsewhere, Kozuki Oden accelerated through the air, his body plunging downward like a cannonball toward the execution platform. He clearly intended to break through the Marine formation from above in one decisive move and rescue his son.
But just as he passed over the artillery formation commanded by Yamakaji and reached a position directly above Sakazuki—
A fierce glint flashed through Sakazuki's eyes as he roared,
"You bastard! What do you take a Marine Admiral for?!"
As he shouted, Sakazuki slammed both fists downward, driving his massive knuckles straight into the ground.
A torrent of magma power erupted from his body. The ground around him, already scorched red like molten rock, seemed to come alive, bubbling violently with seething magma.
That state lasted only an instant.
In the next moment, a towering pillar of magma blasted skyward, completely engulfing the area where Sakazuki stood.
The sudden eruption of the magma pillar struck Kozuki Oden midair. After all, he couldn't truly fly.
His entire body was coated in Haki as the magma column engulfed him. Just as he was about to借 the force to break free from the area, Sakazuki's figure suddenly condensed out of the magma directly in front of him. Blackened Haki coiled around Sakazuki's fist as he drove it straight into Kozuki Oden's face.
The impact was like a volcanic eruption. Kozuki Oden was blasted away instantly, crashing heavily into the ground from midair.
The power behind Sakazuki's punch was terrifying. Although Kozuki Oden's Haki absorbed most of the damage, half his face was still burned, leaving behind a faint mark that looked like a scorched fist print.
Before Kozuki Oden could even get back on his feet, the ground around him rapidly heated up and began to melt.
Startled, Kozuki Oden sensed danger and rolled aside in a flash, crossing his two long swords in front of him.
In the very next moment, Sakazuki burst up from the ground. His body was drenched in seething magma, his appearance savage and monstrous, as he smashed a punch straight into Kozuki Oden's crossed blades.
The scorching magma exploded on impact, splashing across Kozuki Oden's face. However, this level of splatter was nowhere near enough to break through his Haki armor. He glared at Sakazuki with ferocity and growled,
"Bastard…"
"What a pathetic sight, pirate…" Sakazuki's eyes still gleamed with brutal malice.
As his voice fell, volcanic power erupted from his body once more. The fist pressed against the crossed blades rapidly swelled, then detonated outward.
Kozuki Oden had no way to withstand such overwhelming force. His footing slipped, and he was forced into a messy retreat, rolling and dodging away.
Sakazuki, as if completely bloodthirsty now, pressed the attack relentlessly. The violent aura around him grew even more intense as magma blasted out again and again, chasing Kozuki Oden like a cornered, wretched beast.
At last, Kozuki Oden found an opening. He quickly adjusted his stance. This time, he didn't dodge.
Planting his feet, he kicked off hard, his twin blades tracing a blossoming arc as he slashed toward Sakazuki.
"Oden Nitōryū: Tōgen Shirataki!"
Sakazuki responded by unleashing a massive magma fist wrapped in Haki, smashing it straight toward Kozuki Oden. But in that instant, a heavy look flashed through Sakazuki's eyes.
The magma giant fist infused with Haki was cleanly split down the middle by Kozuki Oden's blade. At the same time, the fierce slash carried Kozuki Oden forward at terrifying speed, closing the distance in a heartbeat.
It had to be said, Kozuki Oden might be reckless and foolish at times, but his strength was undeniably monstrous.
And this wasn't the cramped battlefield of his previous clash with Ortoren, confined to a single ship. This was a vast battlefield where he could finally unleash his full power.
As the attack came crashing in, Sakazuki's instincts screamed a single warning.
He couldn't block it.
That instinct was absolutely correct. Kozuki Oden's offensive power was savage enough to break through Ortoren's steel-like body and even slash Kaidou's brutal dragon form.
Sakazuki was strong, but his defensive ability clearly fell short of Ortoren and Kaidou.
At the critical moment, Sakazuki dispersed the Haki around his body and entered an active elemental state.
In the next instant, Kozuki Oden flashed past him, slicing straight through Sakazuki's waist.
A clean bisection.
Yet even after landing that blow, Kozuki Oden didn't relax for a single moment. His expression instead grew even more serious.
His sense of touch and Observation Haki told him clearly.
That strike hadn't cut Sakazuki's real body.
Sure enough, Sakazuki's upper half slammed into the ground with a wet splat, dissolving into scalding magma. Meanwhile, his lower body, consisting only of legs and waist, remained firmly standing in place.
Despite facing away from Kozuki Oden, magma rapidly surged and gathered. From his waist upward, Sakazuki's upper body reformed in reverse, regrowing out of the molten mass.
Because of that, even though his form was now grotesquely distorted, Sakazuki was still able to counterattack instantly.
"Meigo!!!"
Sakazuki thrust his hand forward, magma and Haki intertwining as a terrifying sense of danger erupted outward.
Kozuki Oden didn't dare take the blow head-on. He slashed at Meigo to deflect it, then used the momentum under his feet to slide backward, instantly pulling distance between himself and Sakazuki.
At that moment, a shadow swept across the sky.
Sakazuki had just looked up when blue flames came crashing down from above.
"Phoenix Brand!!!" Marco roared as he delivered a powerful kick.
Sakazuki barely had time to cross his arms overhead before Marco's kick slammed into him.
Magma and blue flames collided violently, exploding into a storm of crimson and azure sparks and molten fragments that scattered in all directions.