Next Bonus, 100!!
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SHLUCK!
Whitebeard swung Murakumogiri in a devastating downward arc.
CRACK... CRACK... CRACK...
The very atmosphere was torn apart by the blade. Translucent, spiderweb-like fissures fractured the air, spreading outward for nearly a kilometer.
A catastrophic shockwave blasted outward in all directions.
The charging Marines were mowed down like wheat.
"I'll gladly escort you to the grave!"
Garp's anger flared.
Among the fallen were his colleagues, his students.
He lunged forward, throwing a massive punch.
The two titans clashed in a blinding blur of motion.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Deafening explosions echoed endlessly.
BAM!
Garp kicked off the ground, rocketing forward like a cannonball. He crossed a hundred meters in an instant, materializing directly in front of Whitebeard.
BOOM!
"Galaxy Impact!"
Garp's fist, coated in pitch-black Armament Haki, drove forward with the force of a hurricane, aiming squarely for Whitebeard's chest.
Whitebeard hardened his free arm with Haki and brought it up to block.
WHAM!
The impact forced Whitebeard back two full steps.
He instantly retaliated, swinging his naginata at Garp.
CRASH!
The ground beneath them disintegrated under the force of the slash.
The intensity of Garp and Whitebeard's duel spiked once again. Their immediate vicinity was reduced to an absolute wasteland!
No one dared to step within their combat radius. Anyone foolish enough to get close was instantly blasted away by the catastrophic shockwaves of their clash.
"Terrifying!"
"It's a battle of absolute monsters!"
The onlookers were left breathless, utterly awestruck.
"Pops!"
"Grandpa..."
Watching Whitebeard and Garp trade lethal blows, Ace and Luffy were torn apart by conflicting emotions.
They wanted to turn back. To help.
But Jinbe and the others held them firmly in check.
"Ace, Luffy, use your heads! Don't forget what we sacrificed to get you out!"
"But Pops..."
"Listen to me. For Pops... this is the greatest stage he could ask for."
"For a warrior, dying here in the heat of battle... it's a far better end than wasting away in a hospital bed!"
The division commanders desperately tried to reason with them. In truth, they all perfectly understood Whitebeard's heart.
"We can't let him keep worrying about us. We've been a burden to him long enough."
"That's right. We can't drag him down anymore."
"Let him fight this final battle for himself!"
Under their fierce protection, Ace and Luffy continued their retreat.
"I absolutely will not let them escape!"
Sengoku's face was a mask of cold fury.
He was genuinely enraged now.
Unlike the original timeline, this broadcast had never been cut. The Marines had completely failed to locate the rogue signal source.
Sengoku had a very good idea of who was pulling the strings from the shadows.
But there was nothing he could do.
Pinned down by the Whitebeard commanders, he couldn't spare the manpower to hunt them down.
And now...
Ace had been freed!
And the entire world had watched it happen!
Now, Whitebeard was intending to sacrifice his own life to ensure his crew's escape.
If Whitebeard actually pulled it off...
If the entire pirate armada managed to retreat safely...
It would mean that this entire operation, from its grand strategic design down to its tactical execution, was an absolute, unmitigated failure for Marine Headquarters.
That kind of defeat was completely unacceptable.
It wasn't just about losing his position as Fleet Admiral. Sengoku didn't care about that.
What he couldn't stomach was the catastrophic damage this failure would inflict on the reputation and authority of the Marines and the World Government.
The entire point of this public, globally broadcast execution...
Was to re-establish the Marines as the absolute vanguard of "Justice."
To reverse the devastating PR nightmare caused by the Punk Hazard incident.
If this ended with the Marines holding nothing but empty hands...
Every single Marine would be humiliated.
It was a slap in the face.
A monumental, public humiliation!
Furthermore, the affiliated nations of the World Government would inevitably begin to question whether the Marines actually possessed the power to protect them.
After all, those nations paid an exorbitant "Heavenly Tribute" every year.
It was a financial burden that nearly bankrupted many of them.
All for the promise of security.
But if they paid their protection money... and the Marines couldn't actually protect them?
What was the point?
I don't pay the tribute, I get attacked by pirates.
I pay the tribute, I still get attacked by pirates.
Then why am I paying??
On a personal level, for Sengoku, finally eliminating the ultimate relic of his era—the Whitebeard Pirates—was the legacy he wanted carved onto his tombstone and written into the history books.
But if this debacle continued...
Forget a legacy. It would be a permanent stain on his record.
Sengoku's current state of mind was easily imaginable.
He was ready to commit murder.
Seeing that Garp was currently deadlocked with Whitebeard, Sengoku finally entered the fray.
With Sengoku's arrival, the pressure on Whitebeard increased exponentially.
Both Garp and Sengoku were individuals capable of fighting Whitebeard one-on-one. Now that it was a two-on-one, they naturally held the overwhelming advantage.
As the absolute core figures of their respective factions, they were the kings on the chessboard.
Without outside intervention...
Whichever side fell first would lose the war.
Knowing this, Whitebeard had to fight with reckless abandon, buying as much time as possible for his crew to evacuate.
BOOM!
Ignoring a glancing blow from Garp, Whitebeard drove a fist saturated with Haki and seismic shockwaves directly into Sengoku, sending the Fleet Admiral flying.
CRASH!
Sengoku smashed into the rubble, kicking up a massive cloud of dust.
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku!"
"Hold your positions!"
Sakazuki, bleeding and dripping with superheated magma, barked the order.
He noticed the sudden drop in Marine morale as Sengoku was launched away, and he frowned deeply.
What the hell is Sengoku doing?
He was dissatisfied, but he kept it to himself.
He roared over the din of battle, "Do not give up! Do not let them escape! All units, press the attack!"
Just then!
RUMBLE!
From the shattered ruins, the colossal golden form of Sengoku burst forth.
He was covered in dust and looked thoroughly battered.
Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth; he had clearly taken damage.
Years of sitting behind a desk as Fleet Admiral, rarely engaging in direct combat, had inevitably left him a bit rusty.
Even so, seeing that he was relatively unharmed was enough to steady the panicked Marines.
This was the primary reason the supreme commander of an army rarely engaged in frontline combat.
If the commander falls, the army breaks.
Sakazuki scanned the battlefield.
Kuzan was still deadlocked with Jozu.
Kizaru was floating lazily in the sky, occasionally muttering, "How terrifying~" and casually firing off lasers—pew, pew, pew—with minimal effort.
Any commander-level pirate could exchange a few blows with him without breaking a sweat.
It made Sakazuki sick.
But that was Kizaru's nature. He had no real ambition.
He was the quintessential corporate drone.
He was already an Admiral, one of the Marines' highest-ranking combatants. The only promotion left was Fleet Admiral!
And since he had no interest in the top job, why bother working so hard?
Besides...
If he fought to the death, was the World Government going to give him a bonus?
No!
He'd just end up with a bunch of injuries. He'd be the only one taking a loss.
Given that logic, why not just slack off, punch the clock, and collect his paycheck?
Middle age is tough; better stick to drinking goji berry tea from a thermos!
Kizaru was a master of self-preservation.
Life-or-death struggles? Leave me out of it.
I'll work overtime, sure... if you pay me extra!
Give me a raise, and I'll wipe out a Yonko!
Of course, Kizaru wasn't entirely useless. For instance, when he eventually fought his former instructor, Zephyr, he put in a genuine effort.
In this entire war, Sakazuki was one of the very few Marine officers who fought with absolute, unrelenting lethality from the first minute to the last.
He knew Whitebeard was running on fumes. For the old man, death was only a matter of time.
If he could just kill Ace now, it would plunge the pirates into absolute despair and terror.
That alone would achieve the strategic victory.
Therefore, Sakazuki ignored Whitebeard. Instead, he rallied a squad of elite Marines.
While Whitebeard was occupied with Garp and Sengoku, Sakazuki leaped across the chasm, leading the charge to hunt down the retreating remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates.
"Ace! Luffy! Run!"
Jinbe spotted Sakazuki's maneuver and yelled for the brothers to accelerate their retreat.
"We'll hold them off!"
Squard turned without hesitation.
He charged directly at Sakazuki.
The agonizing guilt he felt had reached its absolute peak when Whitebeard chose to stay behind.
He harbored an unquenchable hatred for the man who had deceived him.
"Get out of my way, trash!"
With a single, dismissive strike, Sakazuki blasted Squard away, completely vaporizing his arm.
"Pathetic garbage like you has no right to stand on this battlefield."
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