Chapter 218: Whitebeard!
"Blackbeard should be showing up soon, right?"
Rhodes pondered as he watched the scene unfold.
To maximize his prestige in this war, he first needed to overshadow everyone else.
Blackbeard, the mastermind behind the scenes and the de facto victor in the original timeline, undoubtedly had to be suppressed—at least to prevent him from claiming the Gura Gura no Mi's power, while simultaneously minimizing the losses to his own forces.
"And Doflamingo... if there's an opportunity after the war, I could try to eliminate him too."
While considering these plans, Rhodes' gaze remained fixed on Whitebeard and his crew in the distance.
He wanted to see what kind of fighting power Whitebeard could unleash without Squard's blade piercing his chest.
Meanwhile, Oars, having dragged the pirate ship into the plaza, could no longer hold on and collapsed heavily to the ground.
Having been struck in vital areas by Kuma, Doflamingo, and Moria in succession, Oars had reached his absolute limit.
His eyes slowly lost their luster, yet they remained fixed on Whitebeard.
"Oars..."
Whitebeard knew what Oars meant, of course. He took a deep breath and turned to look at Ace on the execution platform.
"Men, rescue Ace! Destroy the Marines!"
With that, Whitebeard took the lead, leaping off the deck, followed by the rest of the Whitebeard Pirates.
Kaishin: Sengokubakuha!
Under Rhodes' watchful gaze, Whitebeard gathered a sphere of vibrating power on his bisento and swung it fiercely.
CRACK!
This strike didn't inflict direct damage, but rather used the power of vibration to shatter the atmosphere itself, causing a massive air explosion that sent all the Marines in front of him flying backward.
With just one strike, a large opening appeared before Whitebeard and his crew.
Whitebeard knew his physical limitations; he couldn't single-handedly sweep through an entire army. He could only try his best to create opportunities for his subordinates and clear obstacles from their path.
Noticing Whitebeard's intentions, Aokiji naturally couldn't stand idly by.
Ice Ball!
He leaped into the air, unleashing a terrifying freezing force at Whitebeard. This attack was incredibly fast, sweeping across the sky and arriving before Whitebeard almost instantly.
"A brat playing with ice..."
Whitebeard chuckled, lightly stomping his foot before throwing a punch.
BOOM!
The shockwave collided with the freezing force, first producing a deafening roar, then the ice shattered into countless fragments.
Unlike in the original timeline, Whitebeard—whose thigh had only been pierced by Rhodes and whose internal injuries weren't too severe—possessed at least ninety percent of his normal strength. Facing a Marine Admiral, he was more than capable of suppressing them.
"Ara ara..."
Facing the shockwave at close range, Aokiji only had time to conjure a wall of ice before being blasted away, crashing into the Marine ranks.
"One punch... he sent an Admiral flying with one punch!!"
"Is this for real?"
The Marines' high morale crumbled.
"Aokiji's speed is indeed inferior to Kizaru's, but his defense should be a notch above..."
Rhodes narrowed his eyes slightly, watching Whitebeard's battle.
He had just fought Whitebeard and knew how devastating Whitebeard's attack power was, but Aokiji was only knocked away—his aura hadn't changed much, meaning he clearly wasn't injured.
"Compared to these monsters, although my attack power and speed aren't bad—even slightly superior—my endurance, vitality and defense are still far behind."
Just as he was thinking this, Aokiji charged at Whitebeard again, using pre-elemental transformation to take Whitebeard's bisento strike head-on, then spreading freezing power along the blade, trying to freeze Whitebeard solid.
But at that moment, a burly figure shining with brilliant light suddenly rushed from the side and directly knocked Aokiji away.
It was Diamond Jozu.
"I'll be your opponent."
Jozu clasped his fists together and spoke calmly.
His strength was slightly weaker than Aokiji's, but the defensive characteristics of his Kira Kira no Mi meant he could hold off Aokiji without any problem.
"Gurararara..."
With a hearty laugh, Whitebeard swung his bisento, slashing down again to continue disrupting the Marine formation.
BOOM!
This time, it was Akainu who stepped in to block Whitebeard's attack.
With his hands in his pockets and one foot covered in thick Busoshoku Haki, he actually managed to block Whitebeard's strike.
"He blocked it..."
The pirates looked on incredulously.
Akainu hadn't fought much in this war, so the others weren't very familiar with his true strength.
"A brat playing with magma..."
Remembering the Moby Dick destroyed by magma fists, a dangerous glint flashed in Whitebeard's eyes. He gripped his bisento with both hands and pressed down sharply.
An immense and unparalleled power and vibration erupted.
The air buzzed and exploded.
Akainu raised an eyebrow, forced to leap backward, then unleashed a powerful counterattack.
Dai Funka!
With this strike, terrifying magma instantly coalesced into a massive fist, carrying the impact and heat of a volcanic eruption, hurtling toward Whitebeard.
Whitebeard, undaunted, threw a straight punch.
BOOM!
When the shockwave collided with the magma fist, it was like a collision of white and red worlds, creating a deafening roar.
The massive shockwave sent everything around them flying.
"Akainu's strength is indeed a few points stronger than Aokiji and Kizaru."
Rhodes narrowed his eyes, watching the scene.
Of the three Admirals, Kizaru was the fastest, Aokiji excelled in control and defense, while Akainu was the most domineering in raw attack power—even capable of holding his own against the injured Whitebeard in the original timeline.
But unfortunately...
Thanks to Rhodes' intervention, Whitebeard wasn't seriously wounded by Squard, and his fighting strength remained relatively intact.
Therefore, the clash between the two ended with Akainu being blasted backward.
"Brat, you're far from being able to stop me!"
However, Whitebeard himself wasn't unscathed after knocking Akainu away; the side effects of the Gura Gura no Mi were terrifying.
Every time he used it, the vibrations caused him considerable internal damage, steadily weakening his fighting power.
"Even Admiral Akainu was blasted away with a single punch..."
The Navy's morale plummeted again. Compared to Aokiji, Akainu—who believed in Absolute Justice and frequently went out to eliminate pirates—undoubtedly held higher prestige in the Navy's eyes.
Yet even he was still knocked away by Whitebeard's punch.
The Navy finally deeply understood the terror of the World's Strongest Man.
"It seems we can't stand idly by."
Sengoku rolled up his sleeves, inwardly lamenting that if Rhodes hadn't interrupted Squard's assassination attempt, this battle wouldn't have turned out this way.
However, the best-laid plans often go awry. Sengoku only sighed briefly before putting it out of his mind.
"How terrifying. If I had gone over there, I would have been killed."
Seeing this, Kizaru clicked his tongue, thinking that staying on the sidelines was indeed the better choice.
He didn't aspire to be Fleet Admiral, nor did he want the position; there was no need for him to risk his life in this war.
Meanwhile, people around the world who witnessed this scene through the Den Den Mushi broadcasts were utterly horrified.
Even a Marine Admiral was sent flying with a single punch—was this Whitebeard's true strength?
If so, just how powerful was the Dragon Slayer Swordsman who had previously suppressed Whitebeard in battle?
(End of Chapter)
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