Akainu's face instantly darkened.
He glared coldly at Whitebeard, his voice laced with suppressed fury.
"Whitebeard, do you really think you alone can change the outcome of this battle?"
Whitebeard noticed Akainu, and his cold eyes suddenly lit up.
"Ah, the candle boy. I've been looking for you. What a pity we didn't cross paths during the Battle of Marineford."
Akainu: "..."
Kizaru remained as languid as ever, though a flicker of wariness crossed his eyes.
Adjusting his sunglasses, he spoke in a casual yet serious tone. "Oh no, this is really troublesome now."
Aokiji's gaze also held a trace of complexity.
Slowly raising his hand, he gathered chilling air in his palm but refrained from immediately attacking.
He knew—Whitebeard's appearance had completely altered the balance of the battlefield.
No one understood the terror of Whitebeard's power better than him!
Crocodile stood beside Ron, his gaze complex as he watched Whitebeard.
Though he had past grievances with Whitebeard, he had to admit that the man's domineering aura and strength remained awe-inspiring.
Moreover, it was clear Whitebeard had come for Ron.
What exactly was their relationship?
'Ron, if you knew Whitebeard, you should've said so earlier. You've made this quite awkward for me,' he thought inwardly.
Bullett stared intently at Whitebeard with burning fighting spirit, his eyes flashing with admiration as he murmured, "Truly worthy of being called the World's Strongest Man! The very goal I have sought to challenge my entire life!"
The atmosphere on the battlefield grew intensely tense in that moment, with all eyes focused on Whitebeard.
This was no longer a simple skirmish—if a full-scale battle erupted, the Marines' chances of victory were slim!
An eerie silence fell over the entire battlefield, the very air seeming to solidify into substance.
Whitebeard's gaze pierced through Akainu like two drawn swords.
Everyone held their breath, hearts pounding as if about to leap from their chests.
Beads of sweat formed on Akainu's forehead.
His magma-coated fists trembled slightly, his expression grim.
The fierce battle against Big Mom had already drained most of his stamina, and immediately after suppressing Bullett, facing Whitebeard at full strength was completely unexpected!
Kizaru leaned leisurely against a broken wall, appearing completely detached from the situation.
Glancing at the tense standoff, he thought to himself, 'Let Akainu handle this deadly fight. This old man wants no part of it.'
Aokiji kept his hands buried deep in his pockets.
His mission had been to deal with Big Mom's attack on Impel Down.
With Big Mom having fled, his task was complete.
As for Whitebeard... he had no desire to confront him—he still hadn't recovered from losing two pounds of blood last time.
"My mission is accomplished..." he silently repeated, subtly taking another half-step back.
Thus, at this point on the battlefield, only Magellan and Garp remained as potential combatants.
Akainu's face darkened.
Garp definitely wouldn't intervene—given their current ambiguous relationship, they were practically half-enemies already.
When he cast his final hopeful glance toward Magellan, the chief warden silently retreated two steps, clearly unwilling to engage.
Akainu's heart sank to the pit of his stomach.
Magellan's Adam's apple bobbed nervously.
He knew Whitebeard's power all too well—a pirate with a staggering bounty of seven billion Belly, the undisputed uncrowned king!
Such a pirate couldn't be contained by Impel Down.
Since he couldn't be imprisoned... then perhaps there was no need for him to act.
Besides, even if he did intervene, he likely couldn't defeat Whitebeard anyway.
"Don't screw with me..." Akainu gritted out through clenched teeth, molten rock dripping from his arms and scorching black holes into the ground.
He stared fixedly at Whitebeard, only to see the man suddenly break into a grin:
"Gurarararara!" Whitebeard's laughter shook dust from the fortress walls. "Looks like no one wants to fight with this old man today!"
With that booming laugh, the lightning enveloping him suddenly intensified, dazzling electric serpents weaving into a net across the sky.
All Marine officers instinctively tensed their bodies.
In that instant, the entire battlefield seemed to freeze.
Whitebeard stared coldly at Akainu. "Will you spill your own blood, or shall I help you spill it?"
The words struck like a sharp blade, piercing straight through Akainu's pride.
Insult!
A blatant insult!
Akainu's pupils contracted sharply, veins bulging on his forehead as magma-like fury instantly boiled over.
"Newgate!" Akainu ground out the name through clenched teeth, his entire body erupting with magma that instantly melted the ground within several meters into a searing lava pool.
"Hell Hound!"
Akainu's figure transformed into a crimson meteor, his right arm completely magma-fied as it shot straight for Whitebeard's face with terrifying heat capable of melting steel.
This strike concentrated all his remaining strength, even causing the air to warp and distort from the scorching heat.
"Too slow!" Whitebeard's lips curled in a disdainful arc, lightning flashing in his eyes. "Did no one tell you this old man still possesses lightning power?"
Before the words faded, his figure suddenly transformed into a blinding flash of lightning, vanishing from his original position at the critical moment!
"What?!"
Akainu's pupils constricted violently, the hairs on his back standing on end.
Just as he tried to turn around, he heard Whitebeard's icy voice from behind.
"Here."
Akainu's face changed dramatically—it was too fast, impossible to dodge!
"BOOM!!!"
A fist wrapped in tremor force fields smashed hard into Akainu's back, with visible shockwaves erupting at the point of impact!
Akainu felt as if all his internal organs had been displaced by the punch, a massive mouthful of blood spraying out.
His body flew out like a broken kite, plowing a deep trench through the ground along the way, before finally crashing with a "BANG!" into a rock wall a hundred meters away, stirring up clouds of dust.
Whitebeard had somehow already pulled out a large barrel nearly as tall as his calf, skillfully catching every drop of blood spraying through the air.
That practiced hand made Kizaru and Aokiji's faces turn ashen, both unconsciously touching their own wounds that seemed to ache faintly again, their expressions instantly turning as unpleasant as if they'd swallowed a dead rat.
"Tsk, not enough." Whitebeard weighed the barrel only one-third full, shaking his head regretfully.
"A bit too little."
Suddenly, the sound of falling rubble came from the dust cloud as Akainu's figure slowly rose, each step leaving deep footprints in the molten ground.
Blood still trickled from his mouth, but the fighting spirit in his eyes burned fiercer than ever.
"Newgate..." Akainu wiped the blood from his lips, suddenly revealing a ferocious smile.
"You think having three Devil Fruits makes you invincible? You're celebrating too early!"
Instantly, the atmosphere on the entire battlefield froze to an icy point.
Akainu suddenly reached out, taking from his trembling adjutant's hands a vial emitting an eerie green glow.
Within the transparent test tube, thick liquid flowed slowly like a living creature, refracting dangerous light under the sun.