Next Bonus, 100!!
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"The entire bay is frozen solid!"
"Their ships are trapped!"
Kuzan's swift action injected a massive surge of courage into the Marine ranks, instantly alleviating the crushing pressure of the tsunamis.
"Open fire!"
"Sink the Moby Dick!"
FWOOSH! FWOOSH! FWOOSH!
The coastal artillery batteries roared to life, unleashing a hailstorm of shells.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Deafening explosions echoed across the frozen bay.
"Alright, boys, let's go!"
"They just gave us a bridge!"
The Whitebeard Pirates weren't about to sit back and be used as target practice. They leaped from their ice-locked ships, boots hitting the frozen sea.
"Let's show them what we're made of!"
Vista bellowed, leading the charge, his twin blades a blur of lethal motion as he sprinted forward.
The Summit War had officially erupted.
The division commanders and their allied pirate captains surged across the ice, a tidal wave of fury crashing toward the execution platform.
The Marine Vice Admirals, leading their respective divisions, met them head-on in a brutal clash of steel and Haki.
In the midst of the chaos, Admiral Borsalino launched a blinding surprise attack, aiming to decapitate the Whitebeard Pirates by taking out the old man himself.
But his blinding assault was expertly intercepted by Marco the Phoenix, Commander of the First Division.
Simultaneously, Dracule Mihawk, eager to test the true measure of the "Strongest Man in the World," unleashed a devastating, forty-meter-long flying slash. It was effortlessly deflected by Jozu, Commander of the Third Division.
Jozu then utilized his brute strength to rip a massive iceberg from the frozen bay, hurling it with terrifying force directly at the execution platform.
The remaining commanders locked blades with elite Vice Admirals like Momonga and Onigumo in a series of fierce duels.
It was evident: the Whitebeard Pirates' primary tactical objective in this opening phase was to shatter the execution platform and rescue Ace.
With the colossal iceberg hurtling toward the platform, the final Admiral—Akainu—was forced to act.
He launched a devastating, magma-infused punch.
"Great Eruption!"
The power of the Magma-Magma Fruit obliterated the incoming iceberg.
But the explosive collision of magma and ice triggered a horrific side effect: a torrential downpour of flaming, molten debris rained down across the plaza, indiscriminately striking both pirates and Marines locked in close-quarters combat.
Desperate to save his friend, the colossal giant, Little Oars Jr., charged recklessly through the maelstrom.
He carved a bloody path through the Marine defenses, creating a crucial opening for the Whitebeard forces.
However, his massive size made him an impossible target to miss. He drew relentless, concentrated fire from the Marine artillery.
As he neared the execution platform, Kuzan flash-froze his legs, rooting him to the spot.
In the very next instant, Sakazuki drove a fist of molten magma straight through the giant's chest.
Critically wounded, Little Oars Jr. collapsed just short of the platform, his life slowly ebbing away.
Ace watched his friends fall, one by one, and a wave of agonizing despair washed over him.
In the original timeline, Doflamingo had severed Oars' leg before Moria delivered the final blow. But with Doflamingo and Moria stripped of their titles and absent from the battlefield, the grim task of putting down the giant had fallen directly to the Admirals.
"Stop!" Ace screamed, his voice raw with grief. "Don't throw your lives away for me! Get out of here!"
But his desperate cries were drowned out by the cacophony of war.
From his vantage point on the platform, Sengoku analyzed the battlefield. The primary combatants of the Whitebeard Pirates, excluding Whitebeard himself, were currently pinned down.
Although the Yonko had yet to make his move, the Marines still held their trump cards in reserve: Fleet Admiral Sengoku, Hero Garp, and the Warlords—even if the latter were merely going through the motions.
Compared to the overwhelming might of the Marines, Whitebeard's forces were demonstrably outnumbered and outgunned.
Sengoku abhorred unpredictable variables. Which is why...
High above the battlefield, trapped within the frozen crest of one of the tsunamis, a single Marine warship remained stuck.
It carried Luffy, Jinbe, Ivankov, and their makeshift crew.
Caught in the tsunami's backwash, they had been forced to follow Jinbe's desperate plan: riding the wave to the very top to avoid being crushed.
It defied all known laws of physics, but in the Grand Line, physics were more of a suggestion anyway.
The plan was working perfectly—until Kuzan flash-froze the entire bay, locking them in place, suspended thousands of feet above the battlefield.
It was an incredibly precarious situation. A freefall from this height onto solid ice would reduce them all to a bloody paste.
There were very few people in the world reckless enough to survive a skydive from that altitude.
Luffy suggested breaking the ice around the ship and attempting to slide down the frozen wave.
Just as they were debating the logistics of this insane plan...
Puru puru puru...
The Den Den Mushi on the ship began to ring.
"Attention all fleet personnel. The objective is..."
Static crackled over the line.
"Shift formation and execute Standard Operation Number Three!"
The crew was stunned.
"It's a tactical broadcast from the Marines!"
The voice continued, "Prepare yourselves carefully. The moment the signal is given, we will proceed with Ace's execution ahead of schedule! That is all!"
"What??" Luffy and the others gasped in horror.
The Marines were moving the execution up??
It was clear Sengoku had anticipated Whitebeard's arrival and was constantly adapting his strategy.
They were out of time.
"Everyone! We're doing it Straw Hat boy's way!" Ivankov declared.
Jinbe, Ivankov, Inazuma, and the others followed Luffy's lead, leaping into the air and driving their weight down onto the ice holding the ship.
But... they had all been infected by Luffy's particular brand of idiocy.
They stomped on the wrong side of the ice.
"Hey!"
"You're hitting the wrong side!"
But it was too late. With their combined strength, shattering the ice was effortless.
CRACK... CRACK... SHATTER!
The ice gave way entirely, and the massive warship, along with its crew, plummeted toward the battlefield below.
"AAAAAAAH!"
Their terrified screams echoed through the sky.
The massive chunk of falling ice drew the attention of everyone below.
"What the hell is that??"
The deafening roar from the sky momentarily halted the brutal combat between the Marines and the pirates.
Everyone looked up.
And their jaws dropped.
A ship... falling from the sky??
CRASH!
The Impel Down escapees slammed face-first into the battlefield.
Their sudden, chaotic arrival instantly drew the intense scrutiny of both the Marines and the Whitebeard Pirates.
In a war this evenly matched, the sudden influx of a wild-card faction could completely derail the balance of power.
"ACE!"
Luffy scrambled to his feet and bellowed his brother's name.
"Luffy??" Ace was stunned.
Garp's eyes widened in horror.
Whitebeard and his commanders looked on in surprise.
However, this newly arrived force was a chaotic mix. While Luffy, Jinbe, and the revolutionaries were absolutely committed to saving Ace...
Many of the others were simply opportunistic prisoners swept up in the riot.
Or worse, legendary pirates who harbored deep-seated grudges against Whitebeard and wanted his head.
Faced with this volatile faction, Whitebeard opted for a divide-and-conquer approach.
For those with a shared objective, like Luffy, he immediately established an alliance, ensuring their tactical goals aligned.
For those wavering or actively hostile, he offered a blunt assessment of reality.
"If you want my head, feel free to try," Whitebeard rumbled, his voice carrying over the din. "But what happens after? Think you can handle all these Marines on your own? We're all pirates here. Why don't we crush the Marines together first? You can try to take my head later."
Realizing this chaotic mob had essentially become Whitebeard's reinforcements, Sengoku rubbed his throbbing temples. He turned to Garp, his voice dripping with venom. "Garp! It's your damn family again!"
The arrival of the Impel Down escapees provided a massive morale boost for the Whitebeard Pirates. With renewed fervor, they launched a vicious counter-offensive against the Marines.
The pressure on the Marine defensive lines skyrocketed.
The Warlords, including Crocodile, continued to put on a show of fighting without actually committing any real effort.
From the execution platform, Sengoku publicly revealed Luffy's identity as the son of Monkey D. Dragon, the Supreme Commander of the Revolutionary Army, effectively authorizing lethal force against him.
But the Marine high command knew the deeper truth: Dragon was Garp's son. And Garp was the idol of countless Marines.
Luffy was a pirate, yes, but he was also the scion of both the world's most wanted revolutionary and the Marines' greatest hero. It placed many soldiers in a highly conflicted position.
Because the war was being broadcast globally, the revelation of Luffy's lineage sent absolute shockwaves across the world.
His sudden appearance had completely shifted the dynamic of the Summit War.
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