KRA-BOOOOM!!!
The collision shattered the eardrums of everyone within a mile radius. The air literally cracked like shattered glass. Whitebeard's quake violently dispersed the magma, sending thousands of burning meteors raining down over the battlefield.
But the sheer force of the clash melted the thick ice beneath the Emperor's boots. Whitebeard began to sink into the freezing, churning ocean.
"GURARARARA!"
Before the sea could claim him, the temperature violently plummeted.
Admiral Aokiji was there. He slid across the remaining ice, plunging both of his hands directly into the boiling, magma-heated water beneath Whitebeard.
"ICE... AGE!!"
The ocean instantly flash-froze. Aokiji didn't just freeze the water; he created a massive, jagged glacier that shot upward, attempting to encase Whitebeard entirely in absolute zero ice.
WHOOOSH!
"Don't ignore me, Aokiji!"
Zoom!
CRASH!
A streak of brilliant blue and yellow flames tore from the sky.
Marco the Phoenix plummeted like a meteor, his talons extended. He slammed directly into Aokiji's chest, his regenerative flames violently clashing with the Admiral's freezing aura.
The impact sent Aokiji skidding backward across the glacier he had just created, shattering the ice spikes aiming for Whitebeard.
"Ara ra ra..."
"I've never liked birds..." Aokiji exhaled, wiping a trace of blood from his lip as he stood up, his arm reforming from shattered ice.
"Grr..."
Akainu, furious that his assault had been thwarted, prepared to launch a Ryusei Kazan (Meteor Volcano) to bury the Emperor and his First Commander.
Screeeech!
But before the magma could erupt from his fists, the elemental battlefield was violently interrupted.
A high-pitched, terrifying screech tore through the air.
Akainu's Observation Haki flared. He snapped his head to the side, his eyes widening in pure rage.
SLASH! CRAAAAAACK!
Screaming across the plaza, flying completely out of control after richocheting off the invisible clash in the center of the bay, was a massive, compressed crescent of vacuum pressure. It was a stray slash from Light Yagami's blade.
A collateral slash none of the two swordsmen cared about.
"BASTARDS!"
The vacuum slash tore into the northern front. It effortlessly cleaved through a towering frozen tsunami that Aokiji had created earlier, splitting the million-ton ice structure perfectly in half.
Craaaaaaaaaack!
The top half of the iceberg groaned, slowly sliding off its base, and began to collapse directly toward where Akainu and Whitebeard stood.
"Just you wait, Yagami!!" Akainu roared. He was forced to abort his attack on Whitebeard.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
He turned his magma fists upward, unleashing a barrage of molten hounds to incinerate the falling mountain of ice before it could crush the Marine lines.
"Troublesome brats!"
Kra-boom!
Whitebeard, too, was forced to act. He swung his bisento, unleashing a small quake to shatter the remaining falling debris that threatened Marco and his advancing sons.
The bigwigs of the battlefield paused, their rhythm completely shattered by the collateral damage of another fight.
"Ha... ha... "
Whitebeard leaned heavily on his bisento, his golden eyes narrowing as he looked past the falling ice, staring directly at the center of the plaza.
He saw the False Deity standing completely still. And he saw Dracule Mihawk, shrouded in the terrifying, crackling aura of red and black lightning.
"Gurararara..." Whitebeard chuckled, though blood dripped from his chin. His eyes analyzed the terrifying display of King's Haki.
"Not bad... He hasn't released his spirit like that since that brat lost his arm."
Whitebeard's gaze shifted to Light Yagami. The Emperor's expression turned somber.
"The False Deity..." Whitebeard rumbled, his voice carrying a mix of anger and deep concern.
The brat had blasted a ship onto the Moby Dick and destroyed their home.
He himself was getting on his years. He hadn't been able to do save the Moby Dick.
His sons would definitely try to take revenge. The concern was that this person was ruthless, perhaps... only Marco could stop him.
"What a dangerous New Era!"
"Gurararara!"
Akainu, his magma boiling furiously, glared at the black lightning.
"Hawk-Eye, you arrogant fool!" Akainu snarled, spitting a glob of molten rock onto the ice.
"This is a war of extermination, not a playground for your swordsmanship!"
"If your stray slashes cost us this victory, Warlord or not- I will end you! You hear me?!"
⬛ ⬛ ⬛
In the center of the plaza, the False Deity stood amidst the ruin, his pitch-black saber held at his side.
The red and black lightning radiating from Dracule Mihawk whipped the air, tearing gashes into the ice and warping the very atmosphere. The pressure was suffocating, a physical weight that demanded submission. It was the absolute pinnacle of Advanced Conqueror's Haki, infused seamlessly into the Black Blade.
'An advanced application of Conqueror's Haki... should be Level 4'.
"Come, Light Yagami," Mihawk challenged, his golden eyes burning with the thrill of the hunt. "Show me the edge of your Will."
Light Yagami looked at the Warlord. He felt the terrifying, island-shattering power radiating from Yoru. He knew, with absolute certainty, that if he engaged Mihawk now, it would not be a brief skirmish.
Back at Impel Down, he had prioritised upgrading his Observation Haki to Level 5 (max) for 10 million points. The rest 5 million he had gained from Impel Down's Sixth Level, he had dumped in Life Force. Life Force, now Level 20, had given him a comprehensive boost, his body could now handle Force with enough power to lift and throw warships at high speeds sustainably at Marineford.
But, he couldn't do what Mihawk was doing with Conqueror's Haki yet. From the looks of it, the power output would receive a massive boost.
He couldn't let in a clean hit.
Still, if he truly gave it his all with Future Sight, Max Level Swordsmanship, Internal-Destruction level Armament and the newly upgraded Force Authority, he wasn't afraid of losing!
GRIP.
"Ha..."
Light's grip tightened on his saber. A dark, terrifying aura began to bleed from his coat. The black lightning of his own Conqueror's Haki began to spark around him, but not particularly surrounding his saber, answering the Warlord's challenge.
"Good!" Mihawk was expecting it now.
He saw the boy could affect his surroundings with Conqueror's Haki but wielding it in his strikes was something he hadn't learned yet.
But he didn't mind. The boy wasn't far away. He would teach the kid a lesson, teach him more about a swordsman's spirit. And perhaps, in a few months the boy would be ready.
But most importantly, it was his eyes. The boy's eyes weren't nervous!
Back to Light.
Light's pride, the absolute certainty of his own divine judgment, demanded that he step forward and crush the obstacle in his path.
He hardly had any points left for a System help.
Light chuckled.
'Fine.'
'I'll learn it myself!'
But as Light prepared to step into the abyss, his Observation Haki violently pulsed.
It wasn't a warning of an attack. It was a shift in the emotional current of the battlefield.
Zoom!
Light's eyes flicked away from Mihawk, instantly tracking the source of the shift. He looked high above the Warlord's shoulder, piercing the smoke and dust, his gaze locking onto the towering execution scaffold.
He had felt it even before the Fleet Admiral had made up his mind to kill him.
His Future Sight, somehow combined with his Empathic Omniscience made it all possible.
This was Level 5, the maximum.
He knew what people would think without them ever have thought of it yet.
Now, he felt it again.
In a few seconds, the Fleet Admiral Sengoku's absolute, cold resolve would crystallize. He felt the shift in the Marine command structure in the future. The panic over the falling battleships would subside, replaced by a ruthless, calculated desperation in the Buddha's mind.
Maybe it was the presence of Whitebeard or Rayleigh or his own that had driven Sengoku to this point but it in a few moments...
Sengoku was moving the execution forward!
Light's mind, operating with the terrifying, cold logic of a supercomputer, instantly ran the calculations.
'If I engage Dracule Mihawk now' Light processed, his dark eyes instantly cooling, the bloodlust receding back into the depths of his mind.
'I would be trapped.'
He looked at the kneeling Ace. He looked at the hundreds of high-karma Marine officers and pirate captains actively escaping the meat grinder while the top tiers were occupied.
'Luffy will fail. My promise won't stand.'
His primary objective was the systematic execution of sinners. His secondary objective was the rescue of Ace. Engaging in a prolonged, glorious duel of swordsmen achieved absolutely nothing for his crusade. This whole thing was an obstacle to his plans from the beginning.
"Forget it, Hawk-Eye. I won't do it. "
Light Yagami let out a slow, irritated breath. The black lightning sparking around his coat vanished instantly.
Cling!
He lowered his pitch-black saber.
Mihawk, poised to launch a strike that would split the heavens, saw the False Deity's aura completely evaporate. The Warlord's golden eyes narrowed in profound confusion.
Weren't they about to take it to the next level?
The bloodlust that had been radiating from Light just a microsecond ago was simply gone, replaced by a cold, distant distraction.
Mihawk slowly lowered the tip of Yoru, though the red and black lightning still crackled fiercely around the blade.
"You lower your sword?" Mihawk asked, his deep voice carrying a dangerous edge of insult. To turn away from a duel at the precipice of absolute power was a slight he had never experienced.
Light didn't look at Mihawk. His dark eyes were still locked on the execution platform, watching the executioners lift their blades.
He had already paid enough attention to the swordsman.
"You seem busy," Mihawk observed, his sharp intellect quickly piecing together the False Deity's line of sight. He followed Light's gaze to the scaffold, understanding the shifting tides of the war.
Light slowly turned his head back to the Warlord. He didn't offer a battle cry. He didn't offer an excuse.
"Yeah," Light answered simply, his voice returning casual. He slid his pitch-black saber smoothly back into its scabbard with a crisp, echoing click.
"Do whatever you want, I won't fight."
.
.
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A/N: Y'all remember how Mr. 3 is dead?
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