Even more terrifying, Akainu felt the artificial Dark-Dark Fruit energy inside him beginning to run wild.
The genetic conflict caused the rate of his body's cellular collapse to suddenly accelerate!
HISS...
Whitebeard flicked the magma blood off his blade, squinting at his dying opponent.
"To save your life by sacrificing an arm... A decisive choice."
However, he suddenly grinned.
The white Divine Fire burned brighter behind him, raising the surrounding temperature by several degrees.
"But tell me... How many more times can you dodge?"
Akainu knelt on one knee, sweat and blood continuously dripping.
He stared fixedly at his dissipating calf—at most, he could hold on for another twenty minutes before his body completely disintegrated from the Green Blood side effects.
Just then.
HUMMM...
A faint buzzing sound suddenly echoed in Akainu's ears.
At first, it was like the hum of a mosquito's wings, almost imperceptible amidst the battlefield's clamor.
He frowned, thinking it was an auditory hallucination from excessive blood loss.
But soon, the sound grew clearer.
THUMP... THUMP... THUMP...
The buzzing gradually transformed into a low, deep tremor, until it finally became deafening drumbeats.
Each strike hammered against his temples like a heavy mallet!
"What is this...?"
Akainu violently shook his head, fine beads of sweat seeping through his magma-hardened skin.
He looked up at Whitebeard, only to see the other man staring back at him with the icy gaze one reserves for the dead.
That look froze the boiling blood in his veins.
Suddenly, Akainu noticed the strange phenomena around him.
CRACKLE.
The rubble on the ground shattered into dust without warning.
Towering ancient trees nearby began disintegrating from within their trunks.
Even the weeds beneath his feet silently turned to piles of ash.
None of this destruction was caused by a direct physical blow—it was as if matter itself was refusing to maintain its original form!
"So that's it..."
Akainu's pupils contracted violently as his own skin began emitting cracking sounds.
"It's the Awakened power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit.... Resonance!"
Only then did he realize with shock that the Armament Haki covering his body had unknowingly thinned to the point of being paper-thin.
At his peak, he might have been able to withstand this molecular-level vibration with his Haki.
But now, as his body crumbled from the Chimera mutation, his Haki weakened with every passing moment—he couldn't even maintain the most basic defense against the vibrating air!
"Damn it...!"
Akainu gritted his teeth so hard that blood seeped from his gums.
He wanted to muster his last reserves of magma for a desperate final stand, but then he saw Whitebeard slowly raise his hand, wreathed in white light, and make a grasping motion in his direction.
"Farewell... Magma Brat."
CLENCH.
THUMP!
A dull sound exploded from within Akainu's chest!
"GUH!"
Akainu's eyes instantly flooded with blood.
He looked down in disbelief at his chest.
His magma body remained outwardly intact, but his heart... his physical heart felt as if it had been seized by an invisible giant hand, and in the next instant, was crushed into pulp!
PFFT—!
Akainu spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of internal organs.
His magma body began to disintegrate uncontrollably.
With great difficulty, he lifted his head.
The last thing he saw was Whitebeard's retreating back and the white Divine Halo floating behind him.
Then, the collapse began.
First, his magma-hardened skin cracked inch by inch, losing its red glow and turning into cold, gray rock.
Then, his bones shattered like fragile glass, turning into fine white powder.
Finally, his entire body crumbled like a sandcastle hit by a hurricane.
In less than ten seconds, the Admiral of the Navy was completely annihilated.
The scattered ashes were swept high into the air by the battlefield's hot winds, leaving not even a trace of residue behind.
Sakazuki, the Red Dog, was dead.
...
CLANG.
Vice Admiral Onigumo's six swords clattered to the ground.
The famously cold-hearted Vice Admiral now wore a twisted expression, his lips trembling but unable to form a single word.
His mind refused to accept what he had just witnessed—that man who symbolized "Absolute Justice," the iron-fisted avatar of the Marines, had just been utterly annihilated?
"No..."
Vice Admiral Momonga drove his sword deep into the ground to support himself, his knees buckling.
He stared fixedly at the spot where Akainu had vanished, the shock in his eyes gradually replaced by a deeper, primal fear.
As a veteran of many wars, he understood all too well what this meant—an Admiral was dead.
The balance of the seas had collapsed.
"Impossible..." Vice Admiral Doberman's eyes were bloodshot as he mechanically repeated, "This can't be... Justice cannot fall..."
The surviving officers on the battlefield simultaneously ceased all movement.
The Naval soldiers stood frozen in place, some even forgetting they were on a battlefield.
A young Lieutenant suddenly fell to his knees, trembling as he reached out to touch the falling gray ashes, as if trying to prove it was all just an illusion.
Vice Admiral Stainless was the first to snap out of the shock.
He bit his tongue hard, the taste of blood and pain jolting him back to his senses.
"ALL NAVAL FORCES!" His voice was terribly hoarse, tearing at his vocal cords. "EXECUTE... THE RETREAT PROTOCOL IMMEDIATELY! RUN!"
This command felt like a bucket of ice water being poured over the heads of the Marines.
Onigumo jolted awake, his six swords returning to his hands, though his grip was shaky.
"Cover each other! Prioritize rescuing the wounded!" His voice carried an unprecedented urgency.
"Hurry and retreat—while there are still survivors!"
Momonga took one last look at the spot where Akainu had vanished, the ground still bearing the scorch marks of magma.
He took a deep breath, and when he turned around, the sorrow in his eyes had transformed into the resolve of a survivor.
"We've lost this battle... but the Marines will not end here! Move!"
...
On the other side.
The moment Akainu's body turned to ashes in Pops' hands, the entire Whitebeard Pirate fleet erupted like a powder keg, unleashing a deafening roar!
"LONG LIVE POPS!!!"
"WHITEBEARD! WHITEBEARD! WHITEBEARD!"
Marco's Phoenix wings instantly expanded dozens of meters, blue Phoenix flames illuminating half the sky.
His eyes burned with the thrill of vengeance, his voice trembling with emotion.
"See that?! This is the fate of those who dare provoke the Whitebeard Pirates!"
"Gahahaha!"
Jozu's Diamond body refracted blinding light under the sun as he laughed maniacally, crashing through the wreckage of three warships like a living battering ram.
"Men! Slaughter every last one of these Marines! Don't let them escape!"
Vista's twin blades danced, conjuring a storm of rose petals, each petal transforming into a lethal slash that cut down fleeing soldiers.
"For all our fallen brothers! Show no mercy!"
The Marine forces, who had been retreating in an orderly fashion, now descended into complete chaos.
Onigumo's six swords barely managed to block Marco's talons, but he was forced back step by step under the scorching Phoenix flames.
Momonga's swordsmanship crumbled before Vista's rose storm.
For the first time, genuine terror surfaced in Doberman's eyes.
"Retreat! Retreat now!!!" the Marine officers screamed hysterically.
But how could the flames of the Whitebeard Pirates' vengeance be so easily extinguished?
Each Division Commander transformed into a reaper of souls, leading their subordinates in a frenzied harvest of the fleeing Marines.
The wreckage of warships floating on the sea served as the ultimate testament—this was the price of challenging a Yonko!
Meanwhile, the moment Akainu's body completely turned to ash, an eerie silence fell over the central crater of the battlefield.
Whitebeard stood alone looking at the pile of ash that used to be his enemy.
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