Ferrum Sovereignty, Outer Port.
Five massive Marine warships dropped their anchors, the iron flukes biting deep into the seabed. The boarding ramps hadn't even touched the stone of the pier before the orders rang out.
"All units, landfall! Double time to the Central Highland Fortress!"
Vice Admiral Momonga drew his famed katana, his voice a whip-crack over the din of clanking armor. Thousands of elite Marines surged off the ships like a white tide, sprinting toward the smoke-choked peaks.
However, the one-armed titan at the bow had no intention of waiting for the infantry.
"Too slow," Zephyr grunted.
He looked at the black pillars of ash rising from the highlands. With a sudden, violent jerk, he ripped the 'Justice' coat from his shoulders, letting it flutter onto the deck.
BOOM!
The warship's deck groaned and splintered under his heels. Zephyr's massive, tower-like frame launched into the sky like a reverse-firing meteorite.
"Instructor Zephyr!" Momonga barked. He turned to the two Rear Admirals flanking him. "Follow him! We provide the vanguard support!"
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Four consecutive sonic booms detonated over the harbor. Zephyr, Momonga, and the two Rear Admirals kicked the air with high-frequency precision, executing Geppo (Moonwalk). They blurred into four streaks of white and purple, piercing the clouds and leaving the main Marine force far below.
The Highland Fortress Breach.
Ace stood atop the ruins, his silhouette framed by the orange glow of distant fires.
Within the sensory web of his Kenbunshoku Haki, that terrifying mountain of pressure—previously anchored at sea—was now hurtling toward them at an impossible speed.
"Geppo, hm?"
Ace narrowed his eyes. A sharp, predatory fire ignited in his pupils. As expected of the Marine elite, their decisiveness was leagues beyond the squabbling Iron Dukes.
"Sabo."
Ace didn't turn around, but his voice was steady. "The Marines are inbound via Geppo. ETA: ten minutes."
Sabo tightened his grip on his alloy staff. "Should I go down? The encirclement is getting thick."
"No."
Ace's voice wasn't loud, but it pierced through the cacophony of clashing steel and screaming steam-engines, reaching Jeno, Leona, and Buggy in the thick of the fray.
"Marine vanguard arrives in ten minutes. Stop playing with the fodder. Take the heads of the Dukes and move out."
Down in the meat-grinder of the battlefield, the three felt a cold jolt of adrenaline.
"Easy for you to say, Captain!" Buggy shrieked, though his movements became frantic. He knew Ace wasn't an alarmist—if he said the Marines were ten minutes away, every second spent on these soldiers was a second closer to a prison cell in Impel Down.
"No more time for scrap," Jeno spat.
The mechanical rig on his right arm emitted an agonized creak. Hours of high-intensity swinging were beginning to drain his reserves, but he forced the steam-valves open to their limit.
At the rear of the army, the Iron Dukes heard the announcement too.
"Marine support!" Baron Cyclops roared from his chariot, brandishing his saber. "Hold for ten minutes! Just ten minutes and these lunatics are dead! Musketeers, to the front! Shields, lock! Do not let them close the distance!"
The Dukes attempted to build a "Wall of Sighs"—a dense formation of steel and lead meant to stall for time.
"Stall? You're dreaming!" Jeno growled.
His back-mounted boiler spewed a violent jet of high-pressure steam. He charged headlong into the musket fire, lead bullets sparking harmlessly off his heavy exoskeleton. He was a humanoid bulldozer, shattering the shield-line and heading straight for the Baron.
"I'll take your head, freak!" The Baron leaped from his chariot, his heavy machete coming down with enough force to split a boulder.
CLANG!
Jeno raised his mechanical forearm, catching the blade. The hydraulic tubes let out a dull, predatory roar.
"Is that all?" Jeno smirked, his left hand swinging the modified hydraulic hammer in a brutal upward arc. "I use more force than that to crush soda cans!"
HISS—PONG!
The hammer, carrying the kinetic energy of a falling building, slammed into the Baron's chest. Even with his blade braced in a desperate block, the raw industrial strength snapped the steel and sent the Duke flying. He crashed into a derailed armored vehicle, coughing up a mixture of blood and broken teeth.
On the other side, Leona was a shadow in the smoke.
She didn't waste her heavy blade on the rank-and-file. She moved with the lethal economy of a jungle cat, her silver boning knives severing tendons and hamstrings with surgical precision. Soon, she was face-to-face with the Ironclad Bulwark—a leader encased in thick, refined black steel.
"My armor is impenetrable!" the Bulwark laughed, swinging a heavy meteor hammer.
CLANG!
Leona parried the strike, her eyes narrowing as she saw her blade leave only a faint white scratch on his chest-piece.
"Tsk. A 'Turtle-Shell' leader," she muttered. She hadn't yet mastered the art of "Cutting Steel," but as a master butcher, she knew every beast had a seam.
She ducked under the whistling meteor hammer, her silver blades flickering like vipers. Stab, stab. She drove the needles into the unshielded gaps at his knees and armpits.
"AGH!"
The Bulwark buckled. Leona seized the moment, leaping high and bringing her heavy bone-chopping machete down like a guillotine onto his helmet. The shockwave bypassed the armor, rattling his brain and knocking him unconscious instantly.
Meanwhile, Buggy was embracing the chaos.
"Chop-Chop... SCATTER!"
Buggy's upper torso floated like a fighter jet, his fists flying independently to wreak havoc. The final leader, Lancer Captain Marek, was struggling to keep track of the flying limbs. Seeing Buggy's feet planted firmly behind a rock, Marek's eyes turned vicious.
"Got your 'root', Red-Nose!" He hurled his heavy spear with everything he had.
BANG!
A precise lead bullet clipped the spear mid-air, knocking it off course. It hissed through the air, grazing Buggy's heel before thudding into the mud.
"Hurry up, Red-Nose. The clock is ticking," Carina called out from the high ground, calmly blowing smoke from the barrel of her flintlock.
"Don't nag me! I've got this!" Buggy's face turned beet-red. He retracted his hands, slipped on his Sea Stone knuckles, and delivered a brutal shoulder-tackle. As Marek stumbled back, Buggy followed up with a point-blank headshot and a pair of Muggy Balls thrown into the remaining infantry.
BOOM!
With the three Dukes neutralized, the army's will shattered. Fear spread like a plague. Thousands of soldiers threw down their rifles and fled the highlands in a blind panic.
Jeno, Leona, and Buggy stood in the center of the carnage, chests heaving, their eyes bright with the thrill of a hard-won victory.
High above at the fortress breach, Ace watched the retreating tide and felt the air turn cold.
"Right on time."
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Four sonic booms shook the atmosphere. The clouds were torn apart as four streaks of light plummeted from the sky.
They hit the earth between the fleeing soldiers and the Eclipse crew with the force of falling stars. The rocky ground shattered, kicking up a blinding curtain of dust.
As the dust settled, a towering figure straightened his back. His empty purple sleeve snapped in the wind. His eyes—heavy with decades of war and an absolute, frozen hatred for pirates—locked onto Ace.
"So," Zephyr rumbled, his voice like grinding stones. "You're the brat making all this noise."
The pressure was suffocating. The air itself seemed to thicken with the "Haki of the Old Era." Jeno, Leona, and Buggy found it suddenly hard to draw a full breath.
Ace stood on the broken wall, looking down at the former Admiral. He didn't flinch. He didn't speak. He simply clenched his fists, a scorching, long-suppressed fighting spirit finally boiling over.
He had found a real monster.
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