On the Red Force, the members of the Red-Haired Pirates were intently observing the multiple battlefields scattered across the frozen expanse far from both ships.
Initially, they had been discussing the situation with relative calm, but after just a few moments, they couldn't help but break into excited shouting.
"That guy's name is Cavendish, right? Why does it look like he's actually suppressing Hawkeye on the offensive? Isn't that completely ridiculous?"
"You should open your eyes and look more carefully," another pirate corrected. "Hawkeye is just defending and waiting for his opportunity to counterattack. That doesn't mean Cavendish is actually overpowering him."
"But Hawkeye's attacks haven't been able to land on Cavendish either..."
Several pirates who had only heard rumors about Hawkeye were paying close attention to the duel between Cavendish and Mihawk, curious about the legendary swordsman who had supposedly fought their boss Shanks to standstills on multiple occasions.
They couldn't help but be utterly amazed as they witnessed Cavendish's figure vanishing like a sudden gust of wind, his dense sword techniques creating a violent storm of blade light that completely engulfed Hawkeye's position.
Another group of crew members, positioned several meters away, focused their attention on the fierce battle between their vice-captain Beckman and Ace.
"Hey, hey, hey! Fire Fist Ace is really something else," one observed with obvious respect. "He's actually going toe-to-toe with that old chain-smoker Beckman."
"Yeah, well, he is the young man who defeated Big Mom," another replied pragmatically. "The question is whether he can handle whatever tricks Beckman's got up his sleeve with that rifle of his."
"What kind of flames are those anyway? They seem really troublesome to deal with."
The group watched without blinking, amazed that Ace's fire techniques were actually making the normally unflappable Beckman exercise genuine caution.
Beckman was the cornerstone of the Red-Haired Pirates—a man of extreme composure both in character and tactical approach. His strength and Haki mastery were incredibly formidable, even comparable to Shanks himself in many respects.
Although his opponent was the rapidly rising Fire Fist Ace, the Red-Haired Pirates had never doubted Beckman's combat abilities and remained convinced he would ultimately claim victory.
"Hey, you guys, why aren't you paying attention to the boss?" someone called out with growing concern. "He doesn't seem to have the upper hand at all!"
"He often gets pushed around like this at first... Wait, what!? Are you serious?"
"Has that Leviathan Jerry really become this strong?"
"What, did you think Kaido was a pushover or something?"
"What a terrifying new generation. Rockstar, you're from this generation too, right? Maybe you should step up and represent!"
"Are you... are you kidding me... ahem, I mean, well, give me some time to prepare," came the nervous response.
Naturally, most members of the Red-Haired Pirates were focusing their primary attention on their captain's battle with Jerry.
They knew that while Shanks was usually a cheerful joker, he never held back when it came to serious combat. Even if he occasionally looked battered or suppressed due to his habit of toying with opponents, everything was typically under his complete control.
As the youngest of the Four Emperors, Shanks had defeated countless challenging enemies step by step, breaking through the three-way competition among the sea's rulers to achieve his supreme status through pure skill and determination.
But such a top-tier warrior—so deeply trusted by his crew—was now facing perhaps the most difficult opponent since he'd first set sail: a direct challenge from the new Emperor of the younger generation.
The magnificent griffin, both majestic and swift, flew at tremendous speed from low altitude and collided head-on with the dragon that was rushing toward it like a stream of liquid light.
"Water Blade: Sky Piercer!"
"Divine Departure!"
Jerry and Shanks shouted almost simultaneously as Jerry's forward thrust met Shanks' horizontal slash in a perfect collision of opposing forces.
Sword and fishing rod wrestled against each other with neither combatant yielding an inch. Jerry and Shanks stared at each other from close range, and it seemed as though actual lightning was shooting from their pupils.
A spherical shockwave suddenly expanded outward, pressing against and repelling all matter in the surrounding area.
The intertwined figures separated in the blink of an eye, both fighters launched backward involuntarily across vast distances before finally crashing to the ice field. As they skidded across the frozen surface, ice chips flew everywhere while each carved out trenches hundreds of meters long in their wake.
After several moments, the dust and debris in the air finally settled, revealing Jerry's figure slowly emerging while gripping his fishing rod.
He ignored the fresh wound across his abdomen, cracked his joints experimentally, and muttered to himself with obvious amusement, "Divine Departure meets its match, huh? Am I competing for some kind of divine championship now?"
"Impossible—that's just delusions of grandeur," he quickly corrected himself, shaking his head as if trying to dispel such irrelevant and inflated thoughts.
Compared to the same "Divine Departure" technique Shanks had used during the Battle of Marineford, this previous attack was obviously far more powerful. Even after colliding with Jerry's technique and having most of its force neutralized, the residual energy had still managed to inflict minor injuries.
Correspondingly, Shanks also sprang to his feet from his own impact crater hundreds of meters away.
He had paid his own price as well—a circular wound was visible through his torn clothing at the shoulder.
"Whew! What a complete monster," Shanks observed, glancing at his shoulder wound before breathing a sigh of relief and dismissing the injury entirely.
Jerry, who stood opposite him, was already rushing forward wreathed in crackling energy, crossing the distance between them in an instant to reach dangerous proximity.
Just as the gap between the two fighters narrowed to roughly a hundred meters, Jerry's speed increased dramatically. His figure suddenly blurred, and in the next moment he crossed space like a phantom to appear directly in front of Shanks.
Jerry gripped his fishing rod with both hands once again. Under the brilliant sunlight, the highly compressed water coating his weapon shimmered with intense luminosity while his Conqueror's Haki crackled like thunder, tearing through the surrounding atmosphere.
"Water Blade: Sky Piercing Breakthrough!"
This attack exceeded the limits of ordinary human reaction time, but to Shanks—who had lost his Observation Haki's predictive capabilities—it appeared as little more than a blur of impossible speed.
However, the Conqueror's Haki that had been building in his extended arm also erupted skyward at precisely this moment.
"Stop showing off, kid!"
Before he finished speaking, Shanks raised his left foot and stepped forward with tremendous force, twisting his entire body as he swung his famous blade with devastating power.
The air between the two combatants became compressed to its absolute limit by their astonishing Haki clash, as if it had reached some kind of breaking point and was now pushing back against their confrontation. Their weapons never actually made contact, instead being held in perfect stalemate suspended in midair.
With the continuous output of domineering power from both fighters, their incredible attacks quickly generated a terrifying sphere of violent energy crackling between their respective weapons.
"Showing off is just your prejudice against me," Jerry replied with characteristic smugness. "Actually, I'm extremely humble!"
As Jerry's words rang out across the battlefield, both fighters simultaneously increased their power output.
Then a deafening explosion replaced all conversation, its roar echoing across the heavens themselves.
The energy sphere's detonation was swift and devastating—like a nuclear blast that shattered vast sections of the ice field into powder and sent the destruction sweeping in all directions.
The tremendous wind pressure caused both the Red Force and the Black Star to tilt and shake violently in the direction of the blast.
If the battlefield between Jerry and Shanks hadn't been positioned far enough from both vessels, and if both ships hadn't been anchored in place by Brook's thick ice formation, the massive pirate ships would have been unable to avoid being blown away entirely by the sudden hurricane-force winds.