"Bastard! Die!"
The enraged Vista slashed straight at Aizen Sōsuke's neck.
Aizen's figure flickered and vanished from his sight.
Vista's hurried strike left his entire body full of openings.
Thud!
Aizen Sōsuke kicked Vista hard in the side, sending him flying.
He was here to rack up merit.
If you broke through his position, wouldn't all his work be for nothing?
Because of that, Aizen Sōsuke had no choice but to show a bit of his real strength.
"Oh? That young man brought by Garp isn't bad at all!"
Little Oars' massive size naturally drew attention from all sides.
Seeing him get forced back by a single slash from Aizen Sōsuke, Sengoku showed a faint smile.
That move was roughly at the level of an elite Vice Admiral.
It was precisely because fresh blood like this kept emerging that the Marines could continue suppressing the entire sea.
"Ace!"
To everyone's surprise, after stumbling a few steps, Little Oars once again tried to move toward Ace.
Aizen Sōsuke frowned slightly.
Since you insist on courting death, don't blame me.
Aizen swung his blade, releasing a sharp sword wave crackling with white lightning.
This time, his target was Little Oars' head.
Buzz!
At that moment, a violent shockwave surged in and smashed Aizen's sword wave apart.
It continued onward, charging straight at Aizen himself.
"Brat with glasses! What do you think you're doing to my son?"
Whitebeard raised his fist and roared at Aizen.
For the first time, Aizen Sōsuke's expression turned serious.
He could feel the destructive power contained in that shockwave.
Sengoku saying Whitebeard possessed the power to destroy the world really wasn't complete nonsense.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Aizen Sōsuke slashed out more than ten sword waves in rapid succession, colliding violently with Whitebeard's shockwave in midair.
After a chain of explosions, Aizen finally managed to block Whitebeard's attack.
"Letting you run wild would be troublesome, brat!"
Whitebeard's face darkened as he clenched both fists and drew them back to his chest again.
He was about to unleash another big move.
"Oh my, we can't let you destroy such an important junior of ours."
A beam of light suddenly appeared above the Moby Dick.
Kizaru brought his hands together as countless light bullets poured down.
"Yasakani no Magatama!"
Whitebeard's expression tightened. The shockwave he had intended to send at Aizen was forced to turn upward instead.
Boom boom boom…
The air shattered as all of Kizaru's light bullets were crushed into fragments, along with his body itself.
Whoosh!
Kizaru reformed on the other side in a burst of light.
"Yare yare… how scary. I almost died there."
Whitebeard snorted.
"Hmph. Pointless tricks."
Although Whitebeard was held back by Kizaru, his commanders were not.
Marco, Vista, and Jozu all rushed toward Aizen Sōsuke, trying to open a breakthrough through him.
Seeing this, Kizaru frowned slightly. He shook his head and glanced toward Sengoku, muttering to himself,
"Sengoku-san… is it not ready yet?"
In their eyes, Aizen Sōsuke was only at the level of an elite Vice Admiral.
One-on-one, or even one-on-two against Whitebeard's commanders would be fine.
But one-on-three, with Marco included, was definitely asking for trouble.
Just as the battlefield grew extremely tense…
A scream rang out from the sky.
Everyone looked up.
A Marine warship was seen crashing down from the air.
The chosen one of destiny had finally arrived.
"Ace! I'm here to save you!" Luffy's roar echoed across the entire battlefield.
Ace stared at him in disbelief, completely unable to process what he was seeing.
The battlefield fell into a brief silence.
"Damn you, Garp. It's your grandson again!"
Sengoku shot Garp a vicious glare, then turned and gave the order,
"All units, withdraw according to plan and move into the next phase of the operation!"
At once, the sound of countless Den Den Mushi rang out across the battlefield.
Taking advantage of this rare opening, the Marines began retreating in an orderly fashion.
"Perfect! The Marines are scared! Charge!" a pirate shouted excitedly.
Just as the Whitebeard Pirates' massive fleet prepared to surge straight into the bay, Whitebeard's command rang out.
"Destroy all the warships outside the bay!"
Although they didn't know why, out of trust in Whitebeard, everyone obeyed.
Seeing this, Sengoku's expression did not change at all.
"As expected of Whitebeard. He saw through our plan at a glance."
"But it's useless. Even if they don't come in, as long as we can eliminate you, the final victory will still be ours!"
If they fell for the trap, they would be wiped out with overwhelming firepower.
If they didn't, part of the force would block reinforcements while the main strength concentrated on destroying Whitebeard.
For the Marines, who held an absolute numerical advantage, any situation could be handled.
That was Sengoku's confidence.
With Sengoku's orders, a line of warships sealed off the bay's exit completely.
At the defensive walls, wave after wave of Pacifistas appeared.
"This is bad! Pops is surrounded!"
"So those are the human weapons created by the World Government?"
"Don't panic! Pops' earlier order clearly saw through the Marines' plan! We just need to destroy these warships!"
After a brief shock, the Whitebeard Pirates quickly launched their counterattack.
However, because the division commanders and most allied captains were inside the bay, the outer forces lacked strength. For the moment, they simply couldn't break through the blockade.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The Pacifistas' laser cannons began pouring out firepower wildly. The pirates inside the bay suffered heavy losses in an instant.
"Damn it! Like this, there's no way to rescue Ace!" Luffy was forced back by the lasers and shouted unwillingly.
Whitebeard's face also sank.
It seemed he had to step in personally.
From a tactical standpoint, he should conserve his stamina for fighting the three Admirals and Sengoku later.
But if all his men died here, there would be no point in saving his strength.
Whitebeard tightened his grip on Murakumogiri, just about to step onto the battlefield, when a domineering voice sounded from nearby.
"Hahaha! Whitebeard, you've really gone backward with age. To think you'd be stopped here by a bunch of Marines!"
A burst of wild, unrestrained laughter swept through the entire bay.
Who was it?
Who dared to mock Whitebeard like this?
Everyone instinctively turned to look.
A blond, burly man had appeared at some point atop the outer defensive wall.
The moment Sengoku saw him, his eyes trembled violently.
"The Devil's Heir, Douglas Bullet! Wasn't he imprisoned in Impel Down?"
Garp's expression turned extremely grim.
"Not just him, Sengoku. Look behind him."
Sengoku's gaze shifted.
Two old figures stood behind Bullet.
In that instant, the calm Sengoku showed for the first time was shattered completely.
***
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