"Communications Division, send people immediately and find out what's happening!"
After receiving Sengoku's order, the communications officers rushed to investigate.
Not long after, they contacted him again.
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku, the investigation results are in."
"Speak!"
Sengoku's expression was grim.
If traitors could appear even after security checks for a war of the Summit War's scale...
That would be more terrifying than losing the war to Whitebeard.
"It's pirates."
"There are no traitors within our forces."
"Pirates are the ones operating the warships!"
"Booooom—!"
"Booooom—!"
At that exact moment, the horns of warships echoed across the harbor.
Four fully loaded Marine warships rapidly sailed in from the outer sea and entered the port.
"Yes!"
"Now that the ice on the sea has been destroyed, our three hundred warships can come support us!"
"The Whitebeard Pirates were already losing. Aren't they finished now?"
The Marines were overjoyed the moment they saw the ships.
Even if the soldiers aboard were nothing compared to elite battlefield fighters...
Those were still warships.
Every single vessel carried dozens of cannons.
Just artillery and gunfire support alone would be enough to wipe out the already pressured Whitebeard Alliance.
"It's over..."
The pirates had the exact opposite reaction.
The moment they saw the warships enter the harbor, their expressions changed completely.
Some had already begun thinking about fleeing.
"Should... should we run first?"
Just as the morale of the Whitebeard Alliance began to waver, Renji spoke again.
"Everyone, don't panic!"
"These warships don't belong to the Marines."
"They're reinforcements I brought."
Reinforcements?
At that moment, more than two hundred thousand people from both sides were stunned.
The next second, their confusion vanished.
People quickly disembarked from the four warships.
Leading them were Jinbe, Emporio Ivankov, and Crocodile.
Behind them...was a mass of prisoners dressed in prison uniforms.
Those people were nothing but a mass of prisoners.
"How much damage did the warships take?"
On the execution platform, Sengoku was visibly agitated.
Even now, he still could not understand what had happened.
There were around twenty thousand prisoners.
But the real problem was this:
How had they seized the warships?
And where had Renji even found that many prisoners?
"Report to Fleet Admiral Sengoku!"
"Because the incident happened so suddenly, the warships panicked and opened fire on one another."
"Thirty-seven ships were completely destroyed."
"More than one hundred twenty warships suffered serious damage."
"The remaining ships all sustained varying levels of damage."
"Hiss..."
Sengoku inhaled sharply.
He felt dizzy.
Then he asked again:
"Can the remaining warships still support the battlefield?"
"They cannot."
The response from the communications and intelligence divisions came immediately.
And it was terrible news.
"Damn it!"
At that moment, even Sengoku lost control.
He had originally believed Renji had come alone.
Though troublesome, Renji's arrival had also broken the frozen sea and released the trapped fleet of over three hundred warships.
Instead of increasing the Marines' difficulties, Renji had seemingly helped solve the problem left behind by Aokiji.
But now,
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku!"
The Den Den Mushi rang again.
An urgent voice shouted from the other side.
Before Sengoku could speak, the report came rushing out.
"This is bad! Impel Down has been breached by Renji!"
"He has already brought twenty thousand prisoners toward Marineford!"
The line was filled with chaos.
Sounds of fighting and screaming continued nonstop.
It was obvious that the prison side had only found a brief chance to send this message.
"I—"
Sengoku had just been about to ask for details.
But the line abruptly cut off.
Most likely, the messenger had either been killed...
Or stopped.
"Damn it!"
He cursed once more.
Then his gaze shifted toward the prisoners still pouring down from the warships one after another.
In the end, Sengoku fixed his gaze on Renji, who was currently stabilizing the morale of the Whitebeard Alliance.
"I knew you would be troublesome."
"But I never imagined you'd be this troublesome."
At that moment, Sengoku recalled the day Kizaru had returned to Marine Headquarters in disgrace.
For the first time, regret rose in his heart.
"If I had known, I would've sent Aokiji or Akainu along with him and killed you first."
If Sengoku had truly done that...
Renji would have died without question.
Even with his cheat ability, it would not have mattered.
He had already been exhausted back then.
Facing another Admiral would have left him no chance of survival.
Unfortunately...
There was no medicine for regret in this world.
Now Renji had become a force capable of changing the outcome of the Summit War.
With Whitebeard's death no longer possible, Kizaru immediately retreated together with the unconscious Akainu to avoid being surrounded by the Whitebeard Alliance and the prisoners Renji had brought.
Aokiji, who had been blocking Marco and Jozu, also stepped aside.
Marco immediately came over to Renji.
He looked at him curiously.
"You were gone for so long. Where the hell did you go?"
"And who are these prisoners?"
"Where did you even get them?"
"It's a long story..."
Renji did not hold back.
He briefly explained almost everything that had happened after reaching Sabaody Archipelago.
His battle with Kizaru.
Infiltrating Impel Down under Silvers Rayleigh's arrangements.
Learning Ace's whereabouts.
Then causing chaos in the prison and bringing twenty thousand inmates to Marineford.
"That's basically it."
"If I go into more detail, you probably won't want to hear it anyway."
"And I'm too lazy to explain further."
After speaking, Renji looked around.
Marco.
Jozu.
Even Whitebeard himself...
All of them were staring at Renji in shock.
Now that they knew what he had gone through, none of them held any complaints anymore.
What truly stunned them was this:
That was Impel Down.
Even Shiki had lost both legs escaping from there.
Yet Renji had escaped unscathed.
And even brought out more than twenty thousand pirates.
That achievement alone was no less shocking than the Summit War itself.
"What?"
Renji looked around in confusion.
He knew it had not been easy.
But was it really worth this much shock?
"Amazing."
Marco gave Renji a thumbs up.
"I'm convinced."
Jozu also spoke sincerely.
The rest of the Whitebeard Pirates all looked much the same.
Then Whitebeard spoke once more.
"Renji..."
Renji turned toward him.
At that moment, Whitebeard's face showed something unexpected.
Admiration.
According to Marco, Whitebeard had only ever shown that expression toward three men:
Gol D. Roger, Sengoku, and Monkey D. Garp.
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