The shockwave slammed into the Whitebeard Pirates like a tsunami. Momonga's eyes remained cold as he watched pirates cough blood and tumble into the sea. He didn't hesitate, raising his palm for another strike.
"Again!"
Behind him, four Vice Admirals—Doberman, Onigumo, Yamakaji, and Strawberry—transformed into their Buddha forms alongside him. Golden energy radiated from their bodies, forming rings of translucent white light. A second wave of devastating shockwaves prepared to crash down.
Above them, five Marine officers transformed into dragons hovered, gathering heat for their own assault.
If both groups attacked simultaneously, the Whitebeard Pirates would suffer catastrophic losses.
"Not on my watch!" Marco burst from the Moby Dick, his flames of regeneration burning bright. He shot toward the sky to intercept the attack.
"Speed is power." A lazy voice drifted through the air. "Have you ever been kicked at light speed, First Division Captain?"
Borsalino, the Yellow Flash, materialized in a beam of light, his leg already swinging. The kick, glowing with golden photons, connected with Marco's cross-guarded arms.
BOOM!
Marco held firm, but the impact sent him rocketing back to the Moby Dick's deck. He couldn't bypass the Admiral.
Rosen watched from the flagship, his gaze calculating. He glanced at the map. "The distance is about right."
The 48 pirate ships had launched their assault, but they were over five kilometers from Ford Island's shore. The main battlefield was far enough away to protect the civilians. The Whitebeard Pirates had stretched themselves thin, taking the bait.
"Kuzan."
The message was clear. It was time to lock down the battlefield.
Kuzan flashed forward, leaping a hundred meters above the ocean. "Ice Age!"
Two massive ice pillars pierced the waves. A freezing torrent exploded outward, instantly solidifying a ten-kilometer radius of sea into a thick sheet of ice.
The charging pirate ships froze mid-stride, trapped like flies in amber.
Jozu, sensing the ice's unnatural hardness, stomped onto the frozen surface, cracking it web-like for ten meters around him. "Abandon ship! Keep moving forward!"
The order rippled through the ranks. Captains and crew alike leaped from their ships, boots hitting the ice. Thousands of pirates charged like a tidal wave, fishmen and humans alike, surging toward the Marine line.
Rosen remained impassive. "Yellow Flash."
From the Marine formation, 350 soldiers stepped forward. They wore sleek combat uniforms, cloaks of justice billowing behind them. They hovered effortlessly above the ice, looking down on the charging horde.
"Fire."
350 right arms rose in unison. Palms faced the enemy.
Fwoosh!
A rain of searing laser beams poured down, not aimed at individuals, but saturating entire zones. The ice shattered and vaporized where the beams struck. Pirates armed with Haki-infused blades tried to deflect them, but the sheer volume overwhelmed them.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Explosions erupted across the ice field. Golden fireballs swallowed whole squads. Screams echoed as the first wave of pirates was incinerated.
"Deep Blue Lightning Strike!"
Another 350 Marines moved to flank. Arms extended, palms facing down.
CRACKLE!
Eerie white lightning, thick as pythons, crashed from the sky. The electrical discharge danced across the ice, seeking out targets. Pirates convulsed as millions of volts surged through their bodies.
Left flank: Lasers.
Right flank: Thunder.
The combined 700-man unit formed a pincer of destruction. Corpses littered the ice, bodies charred and riddled with holes.
"Scarlet Flame!"
The final 350 Marines deployed, completing a golden triangle formation. They clenched their fists, crimson energy gathering around their arms.
WHOOSH!
Jets of intense fire erupted from their fists, mimicking the Mera Mera no Mi. The heat was so intense it boiled the ocean beneath the ice. Pirates became human torches, their screams swallowed by the roar of the flames.
The Marine Science Unit—only 1,050 strong—was decimating the fifty-thousand-strong Whitebeard Pirates. It wasn't a battle; it was a massacre.
The pirates realized the terrifying truth: bullets, cannonballs, and even sword slashes were useless. The Marines possessed an insurmountable technological and tactical advantage.
"Individual strength means nothing against a barrage," Rosen muttered.
A pirate might block a single laser with Haki. He might dodge a bolt of lightning. He might even cut through a fire fist.
But he couldn't block 350 of them. And he certainly couldn't survive the second, third, or fourth volley.
This was the Marine Science Unit. A terrifying new force that crushed the world's strongest pirates through overwhelming firepower and coordination.
But the Marines hadn't deployed just their science unit.
"Sakazuki."
The Fleet Admiral stepped forward. No warships blocked his line of fire—only allies were on the ice.
"Meteor Volcano."
Sakazuki raised both arms. The air shimmered with heat. Hundreds of magma fists, each the size of a house, erupted from his body. They soared skyward, blotting out the sun, before arcing down like a meteor shower.
They didn't just strike; they obliterated.
Wherever a magma fist landed, it carved a crater of molten rock. Captains of affiliate crews barely had time to scream before they were vaporized. Vice Admirals and Warlords could only watch helplessly as the sky rained fire.
The sheer scale of the attack turned the ice field into a hellscape. The Whitebeard Pirates, once the undisputed rulers of the seas, were drowning in magma and despair.
Rosen watched the devastation with cold, analytical eyes. This was the power of the Marines. This was the future he was forging.##
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