It was visible to the naked eye that the ground beneath Wallace's feet had melted from the conduction of extreme heat, turning into slowly flowing lava.
The molten area only extended about three meters around him.
Even so, it clearly demonstrated how terrifying Wallace's temperature had become.
Everyone understood what this meant.
Wallace's current heat output had already surpassed Sakazuki, the user of the Magma-Magma Fruit.
"Is this really the Steel-Steel Fruit?" a Marine general muttered in disbelief at Marine Headquarters. "Am I seeing things?"
Many officers present had known the previous user of the Steel-Steel Fruit. That man had been a Marine Vice Admiral who died fighting a great pirate in the New World.
"To develop it to this level… isn't this already comparable to top-tier abilities?"
"Is the difference between people really that large? If the Steel-Steel Fruit could reach this level, Vice Admiral Domite wouldn't have been beaten to death by Kaido."
Sengoku rubbed his temples, a headache forming. "This operation has failed. We expected losses, but we didn't anticipate the Nightfall Pirates' strength to exceed our projections. Our intelligence needs to be updated."
Despite the loss, Sengoku forced himself to remain calm.
He was still somewhat reassured. The Marines had many promising young talents, the new generation emerging from Zephyr's elite training camp. Among them were candidates with the potential to become Vice Admirals in the future.
With effort and time, and with this chaotic era forcing growth, the Marines could still recover.
As partial compensation for Freda's promotion to vice Admiral and potentially Admiral, the World Government had even supplied the Marines with a batch of Devil Fruits, some of them extremely powerful.
Sengoku still had confidence in the future.
Since Borsalino's intervention had failed to turn the tide, there were no further options on the battlefield. Based on the power Redyat had displayed, Sengoku knew one thing clearly.
"Dark Emperor" Marshall D. Teach would only be stronger.
As a man of absolute rationality, Sengoku had already begun thinking about the aftermath, treating this battle as a brutal but necessary test of the Nightfall Pirates' true strength.
Still, he had not forgotten the question Redyat posed to Vice Admiral Atchison.
A bad feeling lingered in his chest.
On the battlefield, Wallace finally moved.
For a long time, Wallace had lacked long-range attack methods. He rarely used techniques like Rankyaku or Tobu Shigan, relying instead on close combat reinforced by his ability.
Over the years, however, he had mastered the Marine Six Styles to a very high level. He could even use Life Return in battle.
Naturally, Wallace also knew the ultimate technique of the Six Styles.
Rokuogan.
With a familiar motion, Wallace raised both fists and angled them toward the sky.
"Bursting Meteor."
Scorching air cannons condensed around his fists.
They were spherical, blazing hot, glowing with a fiery golden color. Steam surged outward as the compressed air expanded violently, as if it might explode at any moment.
Wallace applied the principles of Rokuogan, but altered its form. It was similar to how Teach directly unleashed shockwaves with his fists.
Different execution, same core logic.
The moment Wallace shouted, his body erupted with motion.
At extreme speed, one blazing air cannon after another formed and shot upward, filling the sky, just like Sakazuki's Ryusei Kazan.
In fact, this move was a direct imitation of it.
In mere moments, the sky was packed with blazing projectiles. They soared upward, then rained down from above.
The heavens burned red.
Looking up alone was enough to make one's heart tremble. The oppressive heat could be felt even before the attack landed.
The members of the Nightfall Pirates had already begun retreating when Wallace started charging this move. They knew too well the range and lethality of his attack.
Fist-sized air cannons fell from the sky one after another.
Many Marines did not even have time to react. Fear filled their faces before they could take two steps.
Boom.
An air cannon smashed down beside them, or directly onto them if they were unlucky. The ground instantly collapsed into a crater three meters wide.
But that was only the beginning.
The air cannons were not just explosive. They were infused with extreme heat.
The moment they impacted, the unstable compressed air detonated, and a wave of scorching heat blasted outward.
Even Marines who avoided direct hits were engulfed by superheated air.
Their bodies could not withstand it.
Severe burns spread across their skin in seconds, not limited to any single area. Eyes, lungs, exposed flesh, everything was assaulted at once.
Some Marines screamed as they clutched their faces, collapsing to the ground.
Rolling only made it worse.
Hundreds of blazing air cannons bombarded the battlefield like falling meteors. The blast radius of each explosion overlapped with others, creating a massive killing zone.
With a single move, cries and screams filled the air.
Most of the Marines died in agony.
Those who survived were almost unrecognizable, their bodies scorched as if they had been dipped into boiling water.
This attack became the most terrifying sight on the battlefield.
"There are still over four thousand left, right?" Pito's voice sounded.
The scene shifted back to Redyat.
With people dying constantly across the battlefield, exact numbers were impossible. Even so, that estimate alone made Atchison's pupils shrink.
An indescribable pressure settled in his chest, sorrow welling in his eyes.
"How about it?" Redyat asked calmly. "Still not going to speak?"
"Just one sentence can save the lives of a thousand Marine soldiers. Buried mistakes cannot stay hidden forever. They will come to light sooner or later."
"You Marines would only lose some reputation, some honor. That can recover with time."
Redyat smiled faintly. "Will it deal a heavy blow? Pirates will always exist, so the Marines will never disappear. You will always be the symbol of justice."
"Besides, most of those incidents were carried out under orders from the World Government. The Marines were merely executors."
"Trading a little prestige for a thousand young lives is an extremely cost-effective deal."
"Are you really willing to abandon them for the sake of reputation?"
It was a merciless psychological assault.
If those Marines were abandoned, it would shatter morale within the organization. The confidence of the lower ranks would be crushed. That kind of damage would linger for years.
But if the truth was revealed, the higher echelons of the Marines and the World Government would never accept it.
It was a deadlock.
Redyat pressed on, deliberately shifting responsibility from the Marines to the World Government.
At those words, the expressions of World Government officials darkened.
"All under their orders."
The implication was clear.
Observers understood immediately.
Redyat was systematically dismantling Atchison's mental defenses, cornering him into revealing hidden crimes that would damage both the Marines and the World Government.
Atchison understood this too.
That was why his heart ached even more.
These were the lives of a thousand Marines.
When he heard that only a little over four thousand remained, it felt like his heart was being carved apart.
Redyat's logic made sense.
Slowly, Atchison raised his head.
"I don't trust you," he said hoarsely. "You won't keep your word."
Those words alone revealed his choice.
As painful as it was, saving lives mattered more.
At the same time, he still did not trust pirates.
"Hehe." Redyat chuckled. "Relax. Since our debut, the Nightfall Pirates have never broken our word."
"And the choice is yours, Vice Admiral Atchison."
He glanced around meaningfully. "This isn't just between us. The whole world is watching. Reputation matters to us."
The unspoken jab at the Marines' earlier interference was clear.
"To give you some reassurance," Redyat said, pulling out a Den Den Mushi.
"Pito. Order everyone to spare three thousand Marines. Do not let them escape."
Pito nodded without hesitation.
When Teach was absent, Redyat's authority was absolute.
"Understood."
The order was quickly relayed to Otto, who was still cutting down Marines with his mechanical arm.
That arm carried overwhelming power, its material so durable that even Marine swordsmen struggled to damage it.
Otto observed the battlefield as the number dropped rapidly.
Once it reached roughly three thousand, he pulled out a large megaphone.
"Everyone, stop!" Otto's amplified voice echoed. "Do not kill them yet. Surround them. Do not let them escape."
One by one, the Nightfall Pirates ceased their attacks, pulling back and forming a siege.
At the rear, Gall and Wallace stood unmoving, blocking the Marines' escape routes.
Other Nightfall Pirates gathered nearby, still breathing heavily from the slaughter.
The Marines did not dare approach.
They had witnessed Gall's savagery and Wallace's overwhelming heat. Resistance felt meaningless.
Though confused, they realized the fighting had stopped and chose not to provoke further violence.
They gathered together, clearly separated from the pirates.
Only then did the full reality sink in.
Marine corpses littered the ground.
What had once been a force of fifteen thousand had been reduced to one-fifth of that number.
Some young Marines finally broke.
They dropped their weapons, squatted on the ground, and cried openly.
Otto's voice reached Redyat through the Den Den Mushi.
"It's done."
Redyat nodded. "Good."
He looked down at Atchison. "Now speak."
"Their lives are in your hands. How much you reveal determines how many survive."
Atchison lay in the pit, Seastone cuffs locking his arms. His body was weak, utterly unable to resist or even stand.
The cuffs were of extremely high purity.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
Over fifty years old. More than thirty years in the Marines.
As a Vice Admiral, he knew many of the shadows hidden within the organization.
Not everything, but enough.
If he spoke, the reputation of both the Marines and the World Government would suffer a severe blow.
Public trust would erode even further.
But trust was already fragile in this era.
The Great Pirate Era. Chaotic seas. Turmoil among affiliated nations.
To strengthen the Marines, military spending had risen sharply. The World Government was under immense pressure, especially after losing effective control of the New World.
Many affiliated nations there could no longer pay the Heavenly Tribute.
Some pirates even plundered it openly.
Without Marine protection, those nations saw no reason to keep paying.
The World Government responded by increasing the tribute demanded from each affiliated nation.
Naturally, the kings and nobles refused to bear that burden themselves.
They passed it onto the common people.
Lives were irrelevant to them.
As a result, the affiliated nations fell into deeper chaos.
More people turned to piracy.
With information spreading and strength rising, assassinations and robberies targeting nobles became common.
The divide between classes only grew wider.
And now, all of it was about to be dragged into the light.