"Hey, hey, hey, have you heard? Vice Admirals Sakazuki and Borsalino have been fighting Whitebeard for a whole day now."
"Of course I've heard. As expected of Vice Admirals Sakazuki and Borsalino, they truly possess monstrous strength."
"But I heard Vice Admiral Borsalino's younger brother, Vice Admiral Raleigh, is also there."
Aboard the Marineford warship heading toward the G5 Branch, Marine officers were quietly discussing the situation.
What truly captured their interest was the clash between powerful forces—specifically, the battle between the three Vice Admirals renowned as monsters within the Navy and Whitebeard, the world's strongest man.
"Whitebeard truly lives up to his title as the world's strongest man. Even when facing three elite Vice Admirals nearly at the Admiral level, he holds his ground effortlessly in a one-against-three fight," remarked a bearded Navy Vice Admiral.
Though they had never encountered Whitebeard personally, his ability to fight three opponents at once proved he was worthy of his reputation.
"Raleigh, how are you holding up now?" Gion murmured.
She tightly gripped the Konpira at her waist, her thoughts drifting to Raleigh, who was currently engaged in combat with Whitebeard.
Since Raleigh's promotion to Vice Admiral at headquarters, it had been a long time since they had been together.
During this period, following the methods Raleigh had taught her, Gion had pushed herself relentlessly to improve her strength.
Now, she had officially reached the rank of Rear Admiral.
"Gion, when we arrive at the G5 Branch, remember to stay behind me. Whether it's Whitebeard or any other pirate, I won't let them lay a finger on you," Tokikake chimed in, stepping closer.
Originally, under Raleigh's influence, Tokikake had given up his pursuit of Gion.
But with Raleigh spending so much time away on the Grand Line, Tokikake's feelings had begun to stir once more.
Gion glanced at him coolly and said, "Tokikake, we are good friends and partners, but I hope you'll think this through carefully."
Tokikake seemed immune to the implied rejection in her words.
Watching his foolish expression, Gion couldn't help but feel a few metaphorical black lines form on her forehead.
She shifted her steps, moving toward the other side of the deck.
'I really hope we can join this battle soon.'
More than one Navy officer shared this thought.
Truthfully, they feared death and worried that they might never return to Marineford after this mission.
Yet, they set out without hesitation.
Beyond the unyielding nature of military orders, what drove them even more was their refusal to betray the justice in their hearts.
It was this rare and unwavering sense of justice that kept the Navy as one of the most formidable powers on the sea.
...
The island housing the G5 Branch was now completely transformed.
Even someone who had visited the G5 Branch island just three days prior would never recognize it.
The ground had entirely turned into magma, with layer upon layer of seawater-cooled magma floating on the ocean's surface.
This was the result of a day and a half of intense combat.
Under the full force of their battle, the small island had been utterly destroyed.
If not for the unique nature of Sakazuki's Devil Fruit ability, they would have long since plunged into the sea.
"Magma Mountain!"
Sakazuki roared, drawing magma once more from beneath the earth.
Bubbles suddenly surfaced from the ocean depths, and small fish and shrimp, scalded by the intense heat, floated up.
There were no corpses of Sea Kings, however, as they had fled without looking back the moment they sensed the terrifying presence of the fighters above.
With a thunderous rumble, a massive volcano emerged from the seabed—far surpassing any magma pillar or flow Sakazuki had created before.
From the moment it appeared, Whitebeard's expression grew much more solemn.
Facing Sakazuki's full-force strike, Whitebeard had no intention of meeting it head-on.
"Sea Quake!"
In mid-air, Whitebeard slightly bent his knees and simultaneously swung both fists, covered in semi-transparent vibration spheres, smashing them violently against the empty air.
Crack.
The crisp shattering sound rang out once more.
The fracturing of space triggered violent tremors, causing the already turbulent sea surface to surge with towering waves once again.
Massive waves, driven by this immense power, crashed toward the active volcano created by Sakazuki.
Hiss—!
The moment the seawater made contact with the volcano, it was instantly vaporized by the extreme heat of the magma, transforming into dense steam that filled everyone's field of vision.
"Gale's Lament!"
Raleigh, standing beside Sakazuki, launched an attack aimed directly at Whitebeard's previous position.
BOOM!
The strike predictably hit the spot where Whitebeard had been moments before.
"Strange, my Observation Haki clearly detected him there." Raleigh's missed attack wasn't intentional—he had genuinely sensed Whitebeard's presence before striking.
Theoretically, with the speed of wind, even if Whitebeard dodged, Raleigh should have been able to track his movement.
"Wind-brat, your gusts are weaker than a fan's breeze."
Suddenly, the white mist in front of Raleigh twisted, and a powerful figure burst forth from within.
Gripping Murakumogiri, Whitebeard swung decisively at Raleigh with unwavering focus.
"When did he—?!" Raleigh's pupils dilated abruptly.
His Observation Haki had failed him while tracking Whitebeard—not only misjudging his position but also losing the most basic awareness of the incoming attack.
Clang!
Whitebeard's ambush didn't achieve significant results, as Borsalino—moving at the speed of light—intercepted it.
"Yoh~ Not bad, Whitebeard. Quick to find an opening, as expected." Borsalino studied Edward Newgate before him with keen interest.
A day and a half of intense combat had left even the world's strongest pirate somewhat breathless.
On the Marines' side, thanks to their trio's coordination, one of them could always rotate out to rest.
They had adopted this strategy immediately after their first joint engagement with Whitebeard.
If they couldn't kill him through combined force, they would exhaust him through attrition.
After all, the Navy already held sufficient bargaining chips: the other members of the Whitebeard Pirates captured earlier by Raleigh and Sengoku.
Among them was Marco, still a tenaager.
"Damn it, Pops! Forget about us—get out of here now!"
"Yeah Pops, retreat first and find another way to save us later!"
"Pops, stop risking your life for us..."
The Whitebeard Pirates, seeing their captain still fighting desperately for them, couldn't hold back their falling tears.
Hearing his crew's pleas, Whitebeard halted his assault and turned toward Marco and the others with a reassuring smile.
"Wait for me, sons. Your Pops will definitely bring you home."
With those words, Whitebeard's figure vanished back into the white mist.
This time, he moved so swiftly that even Borsalino's Ama no Murakumo failed to graze the edge of his cloak.
"Something's off, Raleigh," Borsalino noted.
The fog was growing increasingly dense and hot, no longer resembling ordinary mist.
At that moment, an eerie voice echoed through the air:
"Just noticed now? It's already too late. Steam - Pressure Cooker!"
Instantly, the white mist surrounding the three Marines began radiating intense heat.
The temperature in their immediate vicinity skyrocketed to thousands of degrees, nearly matching that of magma.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A series of explosions erupted from the small area.
The shockwaves from the blasts instantly dispersed the high-temperature steam without a trace.
Only two equally tall figures remained on the scene.
One was Whitebeard, bare-chested.
The other was a man wearing sunglasses, dressed in a white cloud-patterned shirt and navy blue trousers.
"I didn't expect you to be the first to come to my aid. Thank you," Whitebeard addressed the pirate beside him.
"I'm not here to help you, but to help myself. If you die, life would become harder for pirates." The sunglasses-wearing man adjusted his glasses before speaking.
Even while exchanging words, their eyes remained fixed on the explosion site.
Soon, the aftermath of the blast became visible.
A black magma shell appeared on the ground with a cracking sound.
A scalded hand shattered the magma casing, and three figures emerged.
They were Sakazuki, Borsalino, and Raleigh—the three who had just been ambushed.
Sakazuki had suffered the lightest injuries.
He had immediately activated his Elemental Transformation, leveraging magma's resistance to high temperatures, leaving him with minimal burns.
Raleigh came next.
The moment they were ambushed, he had enveloped himself with wind from his Devil Fruit ability, blowing away the surrounding steam.
Only his left arm and right leg were scalded.
Borsalino was the most severely injured.
When ambushed, he attempted to escape at light speed but collided with more steam clusters due to his own ability.
Had he not quickly reacted and retreated, Borsalino might have fallen by his own hand.
Thus, his chest and limbs bore extensive burns.
Raleigh narrowed his eyes, studying the man who had suddenly appeared.
"The great pirate Wendell Wickliffe, captain of the Steam Pirates, possessor of the Steam-Steam Fruit, a Logia-type Devil Fruit, currently with a bounty of 960 million Belly."
Hearing Raleigh recite his information, Wendell Wickliffe was delighted.
"Marine, I'm surprised you know about me. Excellent, excellent. It seems my reputation has spread throughout the New World."
The exposed pirate showed no fear, instead appearing exceptionally pleased.
In pirate circles, greater fame and higher bounties signified stronger capabilities.
All pirates with high bounties who remained uncaptured by the Marines were overlords in the New World.
Wendell Wickliffe had always aspired to become such an overlord, but lacked the opportunity.
To achieve overlord status required not just strength and territory, but also executing a world-shaking event.
What truly preoccupied Wendell Wickliffe was precisely this—the grand event that would cement his legacy.
He had been the first to receive the news of the great battle between Whitebeard and the Marines in the waters of the G5 Branch.
After a brief analysis, he concluded that this was an event significant enough to shake the world.
If he intervened to help Whitebeard defeat the Marines, his reputation among pirates would skyrocket, making it much easier for him to recruit crew members later on.
Just like the Golden Lion, whose name alone could attract countless people to join his ranks.
Although the Golden Lion had died at the hands of the Marines, who among the ambitious in the New World didn't envy the 100,000 followers he had amassed before his death?
Wickliffe's Steam Pirates had also benefited the most from the Golden Lion's demise, claiming the largest share of the spoils.
This was the confidence that emboldened him to join the fray.
Moreover, even if an alliance with Whitebeard failed to defeat the Marines, he could always flee without hesitation.
When it came to escaping, the Logia Steam-Steam Fruit was in no way inferior to any other Devil Fruit.
"Whether you're steam or vapor, you will die here today," Sakazuki growled.
Sakazuki, having been ambushed, wore an unusually grim expression—he rarely suffered such a heavy loss in battles against pirates.
"Meteor Volcano!"
"Yasakanino magatama!"
"Gale Creates Myriad Blades!"
The three elite Marine Vice Admirals attacked simultaneously, each unleashing their most powerful area-of-effect skills without hesitation.
In an instant, countless blazing fireballs tore through the clouds from high above, raining down on Whitebeard and Wendell Wickliffe.
At the same time, Borsalino's laser beams locked onto all possible escape routes, with rays shooting from his hands toward the two figures' locations.
Raleigh's attack was even more terrifying—he transformed the entire area around them into a domain filled with fierce gales.
Within this domain, unless they relied on Armament Haki to withstand the onslaught, there was no other way to evade the attacks.
Faced with the combined lethal skills of the three, even Whitebeard dared not confront them head-on.
With a grave expression, he said to Wickliffe, "Wickliffe, these three are too powerful together. Follow me—I'll break through their blockade."
Without waiting to see if Wickliffe understood him, Whitebeard gripped Murakumogiri and charged toward a predetermined direction.
Boom!
Whitebeard slashed through a falling magma meteor, the intense flames burning half of his clothes to ashes.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Whitebeard swung Murakumogiri, deflecting all of Borsalino's laser beams.
However, the sheer number of lasers proved overwhelming, and one eventually pierced through Whitebeard's thigh, leaving a bloody hole.
Nevertheless, this meant Whitebeard had successfully breached two layers of attacks.
Taking a deep breath, he steeled himself to break through all three assaults in one go to ensure their safety.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Unlike Sakazuki and Borsalino's grandiose attacks, Raleigh's assault was far less flashy.
Only the constant bursts of blood blooming on Whitebeard and Wendell Wickliffe's bodies attested to its terrifying power.
"Tsk, damn wind-blowing brat," Wendell Wickliffe cursed angrily from behind.
He had come here to make a name for himself, not to endure a beating for the sake of comfort!
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