(Today there will be 3 more chapters coming Give Powerstones)
"Sakazuki!"
Garp's face changed. He was about to rush over when a huge shadow loomed.
Kaido laughed wildly, his kanabo crashing down in a crackle of black-red lightning.
"Wororororo! Old man Garp, shouldn't you worry about yourself first? Thunder Bagua!"
"Damn it!"
If he ignored Kaido and rushed past, that club wrapped in Conqueror's Haki would absolutely cave his skull in. Garp sucked in a sharp breath, twisted his hips, and met the blow head-on.
"Fist Bone… Rush!"
BOOM!
At the same time, Whitebeard's massive fist slammed into Sakazuki. It wasn't just the power of the Gura Gura no Mi—white cracks of energy shimmered around his hand—but faint arcs of black-red lightning danced along his knuckles too.
Crack.
"Gah—!"
Akainu's Armament Haki shattered like glass. The impact hit him full on.
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!
Air fractured, ice split, and the frozen battlefield tore open in jagged lines.
SHOOM!
Sakazuki's body was sent flying like a comet, smashing through layers of ice and into the rear of the Marine base.
Whitebeard threw his head back and laughed.
"Gurararara! Little magma brat… you're still too green!"
"Wooooooh! Pops is the strongest!"
The Whitebeard Pirates howled with excitement. Seeing their old man send an Admiral flying with one punch lit a fire in their blood.
On the other hand, the marines' hearts clenched.
"Th-the Admiral…"
Panic rippled through the ranks.
On another section of the battlefield, the 16th Division Commander Izou reloaded calmly, shotgun leveled.
"Hehe… Marines, how long do you think you can last?"
BANG!
A bullet coated in Haki knocked Doberman's blade aside and forced him back.
"Don't get cocky, pirate!" Doberman roared. "Admiral Akainu isn't that easy to take down!"
He lunged, sword whipping through the air. Izou twisted gracefully away, heels skimming the ice, always just out of reach—then snapped off another shot.
Doberman's face grew darker and darker.
Damn cross-dressing freak… keeps kiting me. If I rush in, he slips away. If I hang back, it's Haki bullets in my face…
Regular bullets he didn't care about. But these? These hurt.
Down in the crater, magma boiled and bubbled.
"Damn… Conqueror's Haki, huh?"
Sakazuki took a quick internal accounting of his body.
It was bad. Very bad.
"Whitebeard…"
He roared and blasted back into the sky, magma spraying in his wake.
Whitebeard snorted.
"Gurarara… ready for a second round already, magma brat?"
"Great Eruption!"
Akainu wasted no time. His right arm turned into a massive magma fist, swelling and swelling until it dwarfed battleships, then launched straight at Whitebeard.
Whitebeard's eyes narrowed in amusement.
"Gurarara…"
He tightened his grip, white cracks flashing around his fist, and punched.
CRACK.
Space itself shattered. The clash of quake-power and magma detonated outward, blowing open a ring of craters in the ice.
"Gurararara! Still haven't learned your lesson, magma brat?"
He put more force into it.
CRACK!
The giant magma fist collapsed, chunks of molten rock spraying in all directions.
"Go to hell!"
Akainu dodged the follow-up slash by a hair's breadth. The place where he'd just been standing turned into a deep gouge in the ice.
Realizing his mid-range wasn't working, he suddenly rushed in—straight toward Whitebeard's body.
Whitebeard grinned.
"Gurarara, come on then!"
He kept one hand on his naginata, Murakumogiri, and fought Sakazuki hand-to-hand with the other.
BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM!
It only took a few exchanges for Whitebeard to find an opening.
BOOM!
Another quake-powered punch hammered Akainu and sent him skidding across the ice.
THUD-THUD-THUD—
He rolled, magma spraying, and finally clawed his way back to his feet. His whole body went glossy, shifting fully into magma form to reduce damage.
"Meteor Volcano!"
Magma fists shot into the sky and then rained down, slamming toward Whitebeard in a relentless barrage.
"Annoying…"
Whitebeard casually batted each blow aside. His naginata hummed as he infused it with quake energy and sent a crescent-shaped slash screaming toward Sakazuki.
"Shit—!"
Akainu threw his body aside at the last second. The slash smashed into the ice behind him and blew out a crater.
He barely had time to breathe before he felt it—
A presence behind him.
Whitebeard had quietly closed the distance.
Murakumogiri rose, black and crackling with Conqueror's Haki.
"Gurararara… told you, you're still too tender, magma brat."
The blade descended.
SSSSCHHK—!
A deep gash opened along Akainu's back, boiling magma spilling like blood. Sakazuki screamed and lurched forward, barely keeping his feet.
"Ma-ma-ma-ma… looks like that magma brat is about done."
Big Mom laughed as she swung Napoleon again, thunder booming around her.
"Damn it…"
Aokiji blocked another of her strikes with an ice blade, knees bending under the impact. He kept glancing toward Akainu's direction. For all their ideological clashes, they were both Marines. It burned to see Sakazuki being overwhelmed like this.
Big Mom noticed his distraction immediately.
"Ma-ma-ma-ma! Little ice brat, you're still worrying about others at a time like this? What, am I invisible to you?!"
Napoleon rose high, wreathed in black-red lightning.
"Die!"
Aokiji didn't even consider blocking.
I'd be an idiot to take that head-on…
Big Mom had giant blood and Conqueror's Haki. That combination was not something you "tested" with your face.
He slipped aside, feet gliding over the ice.
Aokiji thrust both hands forward.
"Ice Ball!"
Shu—!
Freezing mist burst outward, engulfing Big Mom. In the next instant, a huge ice sphere formed, encasing her completely.
"Haah… haah…"
Aokiji panted, watching warily.
CRACK.
A second later, the ice ball exploded from the inside. Big Mom stood there unharmed, crystals sliding off her in chunks.
"Ma-ma-ma-ma! You dare freeze me, brat? Zeus! Prometheus!"
"Here, Mama!"
"Yes, Mama!"
A thundercloud and a living sun rushed to her side.
"Heavenly Fire – Three-Thousand-League Roaring Light Cannon!"
She swung Napoleon, and a massive horizontal beam of blazing energy roared straight toward Aokiji.
He couldn't dodge. Behind him were marines—if that hit, they would be obliterated.
He clenched his jaw.
"Pheasant Beak!"
An enormous ice-bird shot from his arm, screeching as it flew into the light beam.
BOOOOOOM!
The clash lit up the sky. Energy washed over the battlefield, forcing both marine and pirate to shield their faces.
"Ararara…"
Aokiji watched as his ice was steadily eaten away. He summoned more ice-lances and hurled them into the beam one after another, trying to slow it.
Not far away, Marco kicked another vice admiral clean off his feet. He took a quick read of the battlefield and smiled.
"Heh… looks like the Marine's not doing so well."
"Don't underestimate the Marines," spat the vice admiral he'd just knocked away—Headquarters Vice Admiral Onigumo, known as Ghost Spider, eight arms, eight blades.
He launched himself back at Marco.
"Oh? Still got fight in you? That's fine by me."
Marco flapped his wings once and shot straight up.
Tch. Devil Fruit users are a pain…
Ghost Spider gritted his teeth and stepped into the air.
"Geppo!"
He chased after the phoenix.
"Marine," Marco called lazily, "fighting me in the air is probably the worst tactical decision you could make, y'know?"
"Phoenix Brand!"
He descended in a blur of blue fire, feet turning into blazing talons that hammered down.
"Urgh—!"
Ghost Spider crossed multiple swords to block, but the impact still sent him hurtling back to the ice.
"Phoenix Flame!"
A huge ball of blue fire followed, crashing toward him.
"Damn it!"
Ghost Spider rolled desperately to the side. The fireball slammed into the ice where he'd been and exploded, sending nearby marines screaming as the flames splashed and burned.
"Uwaaaaah—!"
"Yoih… do you Marines not care about friendly fire?" Marco mocked.
Ghost Spider's expression didn't waver.
"For justice, sacrifice is inevitable. That is only natural."
"What a waste," another voice cut in, dripping with disdain. "Trash is still trash."
Kuro spread his mantis wings and rose into the sky.
Marco's eyes narrowed.
"Oh? Another one? An Ancient Zoan, huh?"
They leveled out, wings beating as they flew side by side.
"Heh. Let me keep you company, First Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates… 'Doesn't Wash His Feet' Marco."
"IT'S THE UNDYING PHOENIX!"
Marco almost popped a vein.
He flared his wings and dove at Kuro, talons outstretched, blue fire sizzling.
Kuro blocked with chitinous, blade-like forearms.
"What're you angry at me for? I'm just repeating what someone else called you," Kuro smirked.
"Damn marines… your mouths are worse than pirates'!"
The two clashed in midair, exchanging blow after blow—but in truth, Kuro was on the back foot. That blue flame's regeneration made Marco incredibly hard to deal with.
"Marine!" Marco shouted over the roaring wind. "Time for you to pay for your rude mouth!"
He hurled a condensed ball of phoenix fire straight at Kuro.
"Come try it then." Kuro's mantis blades glowed with Haki. His arms blurred—shnk-shnk-shnk-shnk!—and the incoming fireball was shredded into dozens of smaller wisps that harmlessly dispersed.
"Heh. You've got more backbone than that earlier Headquarters vice admiral," Marco said. "I'll give you that."
"Don't you dare lump me in with that kind of trash," Kuro snapped. His wings beat once, and he blurred forward, closing the distance.
After trading blows for a while, he'd already figured Marco out.
He's relying too much on his fruit and regeneration. He tanks hits and shrugs off damage. His Haki isn't bad, but he's leaning hard on the flames.
White-bro's words echoed in his mind:
In the New World, Haki is what really matters.
Kuro made up his mind.
No more distance games.
He went straight into a brutal, close-quarters assault.
"I want to see just how far that 'immortal' regeneration of yours can go, Phoenix!"
His mantis forearms blurred, dozens of slashes digging into Marco's flaming body in the span of heartbeats.
Marco grimaced, phoenix fire struggling to keep up.
"Damn… this guy's Haki really is no joke…"
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