Chapter 56: The Battlefield Shifts — Thunder Roars Across Marineford!
"Damn Marines…!"
"I will never, EVER forgive you!!"
On the frozen battlefield of Marineford,
the Pirate Empress — Boa Hancock, a Shichibukai supposed to be fighting for the Marines — completely lost her mind the moment Rok's fate became unknown after Kizaru's attack.
The world's most beautiful woman went full berserk.
She was no longer bothering with pirates.
She was solely hunting Marines, pushing backward through the ranks, trying to reach the spot where Rok had vanished.
Hundreds of elite Marines had already been petrified — and the number kept climbing!
"Pirate Empress! You're a Shichibukai! Stop this at once! The enemy is behind you!"
A Marine Rear Admiral stepped in to block her path.
No matter the reason — this was too much.
Was she defecting in the middle of the war?!
As expected from a pirate — utterly unreliable!
"Get out of my way."
Hancock didn't even glance at him.
She had only two goals now:
Confirm Rok's fate.
Murder everyone responsible.
BAM!
One aromatic kick to the head.
The Rear Admiral's skull instantly turned half-stone and he collapsed, never to rise again.
"Boa Hancock! What the hell do you think you're doing?! Do you want your Shichibukai title stripped right now?!"
Sengoku had finally had enough.
On his orders,
Vice Admirals Doberman and Onigumo charged at Hancock together.
No one — no one — was allowed to sabotage morale like this.
Meanwhile,
Admiral Candidate Momousagi Gion, who had been holding back the entire war, suddenly moved.
She sprinted toward the crater where Rok disappeared.
Before she got far,
a towering figure radiating absolute zero blocked her path.
"Admiral Kuzan… are you going to stop me?!"
"I'm just going to check if he's alive!"
Momousagi's face was ice-cold, her body trembling with barely-contained rage.
Last time, Rok's career was destroyed by Celestial Dragons and she couldn't do anything.
This time — with him in mortal danger right in front of her — she would not stand by again.
How could she face all those times he called her "Teacher Momousagi"?!
"Gion… you know this was his choice. His fate."
Aokiji dropped his usual lazy act, expression grim.
He had hoped Rok would pull off a miracle and escape unscathed.
But Kizaru went all-out.
There was nothing more he could do except stop Momousagi from charging to her death.
Because if she kept going, the next person she'd face would be Akainu.
"Kuzan… move. This is my choice."
Momousagi drew her Supreme Grade blade Konpira without hesitation.
"Oh man… things just keep getting messier."
Aokiji sighed, then raised ice walls to block the sightlines of regular Marines.
Since words wouldn't work,
he'd have to stop her by force — but gently.
…
While Hancock and Momousagi both went rogue trying for the same man,
Robin and Nami refused to sit safely on the Moby Dick.
They owed Rok their lives.
Even if it meant diving back into hell, they would never abandon him.
That was their choice.
Of course, on a battlefield of this level, the two were struggling hard — every soldier and pirate was elite.
Luckily, Whitebeard's 1st Division Commander Marco recognized them as Ace's brother's crewmates and ordered the Whitebeard Pirates to protect them.
"Gurarararara!"
"Who was that interesting brat just now?! One kid managed to turn the whole war upside down!"
Whitebeard laughed thunderously.
He had noticed both Hancock and Momousagi suddenly switching sides.
It didn't take long to connect the dots to the young swordsman who unleashed that terrifying blood-moon slash.
That slash reminded him of Roger's Divine Avoidance — just far weaker.
Otherwise Kizaru would never have survived it so easily.
What a pity.
He had really taken a liking to that boy.
Besides Ace, that kid was the most dazzling newcomer he'd seen in years.
He had even considered adopting him.
Now it was all for nothing.
The seas would lose one hell of a future legend.
He could only hope the kid somehow clung to life.
BOOM!
Just as Marineford descended into chaos —
a Marine warship suddenly crashed into the bay.
Leading the charge:
Straw Hat Luffy, Crocodile, Jinbe, Ivankov, and the full Impel Down jailbreak army!
"Nami! Robin! Hehe, Rok's so reliable!"
"Now then — ACE! I'M HERE TO SAVE YOU!!"
Luffy's arrival drew every eye on the battlefield.
Almost no one was still paying attention to whether Rok was alive or dead.
So no one noticed —
deep inside that smoking crater,
Rok's body was undergoing a cataclysmic transformation.
Thanks to the blinding cover of Kizaru's Yasakani no Magatama,
he had managed to swallow both mythical fruits completely undetected.
They tasted like absolute garbage.
But worth it.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
Right above the very spot where Hancock was fighting Doberman and Onigumo,
as more Vice Admirals closed in to surround her —
a pillar of blood-red light suddenly pierced the heavens.
Then —
KABOOOOOOOM!!!!
A single thunderclap shook all of Marineford.
==============================================================Support me and be 100 chapters ahead of webnovel:
patreon.com/inkshield