Stepping on Black Viper's corpse, Elior slowly stood up.
Countless people stared at him in shock.
At his feet, Black Viper's headless body was still spraying blood from the severed neck, while a massive pool of blood spread across the ice in front of him.
The corpse was still twitching.
In Elior's right hand, he held Black Viper's head by the back of the skull.
Black Viper's eyes were wide open, filled with disbelief and terror.
Perhaps, even until the moment of his death, he had never imagined that his head would be torn off by Elior.
As for Elior himself, his heart remained completely calm.
Tsuru and Tokikake finally felt a bone-deep chill.
They had failed.
They were completely unable to stop Elior.
Now, the Marine had lost yet another top combatant.
"Damn it!"
Akainu roared, magma erupting violently from his body as scorching steam burst into the air.
With Black Viper's death, Akainu's attention was finally forced onto Elior.
His fury reached its peak.
Once again, Elior had slaughtered a high-ranking pillar of the Marine.
Meanwhile, the pirates was in a completely different state.
Although their lower-tier forces had suffered massive casualties and their mid-tier fighters were heavily injured, the Marine still had no way to deal with their top combatants.
What was truly terrifying was this:
Elior had fought for an extended period of time and personally killed four top-tier figures—including Shanks, Zephyr, Garp, and Black Viper.
The amount of stamina and power that should have consumed was unimaginable.
Yet now—
His clothes were merely torn.
There were no visible injuries.
Not even his breathing was disordered.
How terrifying was this strength?
Without question, Elior had grown tremendously compared to the time of the war.
In just a few months, his power had risen to an unthinkable level.
In Akainu's heart, beyond rage, there was also a deep, uncontrollable fear.
At this moment, his focus on Elior caused a fatal distraction in his battle with Big Mom.
A massive blade came crashing down.
Tear—!
"Danger!"
Akainu sensed the threat and desperately tried to evade — but it was already too late.
Napoleon, Big Mom's giant sword, still grazed his jaw.
Akainu's jaw was torn open.
Big Mom never forgot to coat her weapon with Armament Haki when facing a Logia user.
Blood sprayed out instantly.
Akainu staggered backward in agony.
This was not the first time he had been injured by Big Mom — his arm had been slashed before, and he had been struck multiple times.
But this wound was far more severe.
His throat was torn open.
Akainu's expression changed drastically.
"Careless…"
He stared at Big Mom in shock.
"Well well~!"
"That little brat has already killed four top-level fighters. Looks like I can't fall behind either!"
"Fleet Admiral Akainu—your life belongs to me now!"
Big Mom laughed wildly and charged forward again, reigniting their fierce battle.
Compared to Akainu—whose body was riddled with injuries—Big Mom remained completely unharmed.
Her clothes were torn, covered in ice fragments and dust, but her body showed not a single wound.
She was known as the Iron Balloon.
Many believed that Big Mom, not Kaido, represented the strongest defense in the world.
After all, even Kaido of the Beasts had been injured before.
In his current state, Akainu was clearly at a disadvantage.
As Fleet Admiral, watching Garp and Zephyr die one after another had shaken his mental state.
An unstable mind was fatal in a battle of this level.
In contrast, Big Mom only grew more ferocious—especially after witnessing Elior's overwhelming dominance.
The same shift was happening across the battlefield.
The Marine's morale was repeatedly crushed.
The Three Yonko Alliance, on the other hand, grew more and more emboldened.
The battle had already lasted over an hour.
Casualties continued to skyrocket.
At the start, both sides together had over 150,000 troops.
Now, corpses littered the battlefield.
Only around 50,000 remained.
More than 100,000 had died.
Most of them were lower-tier fighters.
Though elites by normal standards, in a war of this scale, they were nothing more than expendable lives.
The cruelty of war was laid bare.
On the other side of the battlefield, Sengoku, like Akainu, was distracted by Elior's slaughter and Black Viper's death.
Kaido seized the opening.
Thunder Bagua!
Boro Breath!
Kaido showed no hesitation.
He had never been a fair fighter.
Even Oden had been deceived and killed by him back then.
Though Kaido later felt guilt, it did not change the fact that he remained a ruthless veteran of countless battles.
Sengoku noticed the attack too late.
Kaido's massive kanabo smashed directly into his head.
Crack!
A horrifying series of sounds rang out.
Teeth and facial bones shattered.
One of Sengoku's eyes burst instantly.
His body was sent flying.
"Excellent!"
Kaido surged forward again.
With Elior slaughtering multiple top-tier enemies, Kaido's pride burned fiercely.
No matter what—
He, Kaido, would personally kill a top combatant of the Navy.
And there was no better target than Sengoku.
After all, Sengoku was an old enemy.
Kaido had been captured by the Navy countless times—
And Sengoku had always been there.
Today…
Kaido was finally settling that long-standing grudge.