"Let us begin—our war!"
The moment Whitebeard's final word landed, First Division Commander Marco transformed without hesitation into a giant phoenix and flew toward the Marines.
His movement was like a signal.
The Whitebeard Pirates responded as one, roaring things like "Save Ace!" and "Ace, we're coming!" as they launched a collective charge at the Marines.
The commander had already initiated the battle. Anyone who didn't follow would be a coward.
Seeing this, Sengoku's eye twitched nonstop. A group of pirates who had committed all sorts of crimes actually dared to launch a charge at Marine Headquarters, Marineford. This was simply turning the natural order upside down.
Akainu charged forward without the slightest hesitation. A massive fist burning with magma blasted toward the members of the Whitebeard Pirates.
Great Eruption!!!
"Not happening!!!"
Marco flew over without hesitation and kicked out with a Phoenix Brand.
He couldn't just watch his crewmates get bullied by a Marine Admiral.
Although there was still some distance between his strength and that of a Marine Admiral, blocking this move was no problem.
"Don't get too arrogant, pirate!!"
Seeing his attack stopped, Akainu grew even angrier. He launched a Hellhound at Marco.
The blazing magma seemed ready to burn Marco to ash.
But Marco was not afraid. He used his blue flames to create a shield and blocked Akainu's Hellhound.
While the two of them were locked in a difficult fight for the moment, the Marines finally clashed directly with the members of the Whitebeard Pirates.
For a time, battle cries shook the sky.
All across Marineford, roars and the sound of weapons colliding rang out everywhere.
"How scary, pirates."
At that moment, Kizaru, Borsalino, slowly stood up. In a flash, he had already appeared before Whitebeard. His right foot released a dazzling light as he kicked toward Whitebeard.
Light-Speed Kick!
Flame Dragon Emperor!
Just then, a man stopped Kizaru. Flames wrapped around his katana as he slashed out an Eastern-dragon-shaped blaze. The scorching fire, like magma, blocked Kizaru's Light-Speed Kick.
Bang!
A tremendous roar rang out. The resulting shockwave swept in every direction like a collapsing mountain and surging tsunami.
"So the Beast Pirates are getting involved in this battle too, King?"
Kizaru, who had originally seemed lazy, became unusually serious at this moment.
King the Wildfire looked at Kizaru expressionlessly.
"This is my lord's order."
My lord?
Who was that?
A bad premonition immediately surfaced in Kizaru's heart, because King had always called Kaido "big brother," not "my lord."
So this "lord" was definitely not Kaido.
King was fiercely loyal to Kaido. How had he suddenly gained another lord?
Thinking of this, Kizaru felt slightly uneasy.
Even so, his movements did not hesitate in the slightest, and he instantly began fighting King.
King's strength was also inferior to Kizaru's, but only by a slight margin. Holding Kizaru back for a short time was no problem.
Standing on the execution platform, Sengoku's heart sank when he saw this.
Kizaru and Akainu had both been held back. Aokiji was no exception either. He had been restrained by Katakuri, one of the Big Mom Pirates' Three Sweet Commanders.
If they wanted to decide victory or defeat, it would take at least an hour, maybe even longer.
This was extremely unfavorable for the Marines.
More importantly, since King, Katakuri, and the others had joined the battle—
What about Charlotte Linlin? What about Kaido?
Would they join the battle too?
If they had come, why had they not appeared yet? Where exactly were they hiding?
Just as Sengoku kept turning his mind, thinking about this crucial question, a wild burst of laughter swept over.
"Jihahahahaha! Garp! Sengoku! Come die for me!!"
"Lion: Senjindani!!"
Golden Lion Shiki had arrived. His opening move was a big one. One terrifying flying slash after another shot toward Sengoku and Garp.
More than twenty years ago, the Marines had announced unprecedented news.
Pirate King Roger had been captured.
The entire world had boiled over.
Golden Lion, with a ship's wheel stuck in his head, had heard the news and thought it was absolute nonsense. How could someone like Roger possibly be captured by a bunch of Marines?
So, to confirm the truth, he had charged alone into Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
After killing a large number of Marines, Golden Lion Shiki finally learned from Sengoku and Garp at headquarters that Gol D. Roger would be publicly executed in Loguetown, the town where he was born.
This made Shiki, who had always regarded the East Blue as the weakest sea, extremely furious. He believed that was the final insult toward Gol D. Roger before his death.
In order to prevent Shiki from causing trouble when Gol D. Roger was about to be executed, Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral Monkey D. Garp and Marine Headquarters Admiral Sengoku stepped forward to fight him.
The battle between the three of them only ended after nearly half of Marineford's town had been destroyed.
After his defeat, Golden Lion Shiki was thrown into Level Six, Eternal Hell, of Impel Down, the world's greatest prison.
However, not long after, news came from Impel Down that Golden Lion had cut off both his legs and escaped.
But today, when Sengoku and Garp saw Golden Lion again, not only had his lost legs grown back, even the ship's wheel on his head was gone.
His entire body looked full of vitality, as if he had returned to his prime.
This made Sengoku feel that it was unbelievable.
Buddha Shockwave!!!
He transformed into a golden Buddha and casually struck out with a terrifying shockwave, smashing all the incoming sword energy into pieces.
"Shiki, you've gone too far!"
Although Sengoku had no idea how Golden Lion Shiki had recovered, seeing Shiki act so wildly still enraged him.
"Shiki, you bastard! Take this old man's fist!"
Garp, who had originally been standing beneath the execution platform with a conflicted expression, saw Golden Lion Shiki acting so outrageously. His anger surged up at once. He stepped on the air with Moonwalk and shot forward, arriving before Golden Lion in the blink of an eye.
"Get down there and cool your head!"
Golden Lion refused to back down. Haki wrapped around his two supreme-grade blades as he chopped viciously toward Garp's fist.
"The one who should go down is you, old bastard, Garp!!!"
Fist Bone Impact VS Lion: Cross Slash!
Two completely different powers collided violently like falling meteors. The enormous storm they created echoed above Marineford.
Visible ripples formed ring-shaped shockwaves, advancing rapidly in all directions. Everyone who saw it was stunned and horrified.
Without question, a battle of this level was far too terrifying.
If ordinary Marines got caught in it, they were basically guaranteed to die.
Seeing this, Sengoku's gaze fell on the Warlords of the Sea, who were watching from the side.
"You lot, hurry up and help!"
Heavenly Yaksha Doflamingo sneered.
"Are you kidding, Sengoku? Back then, you said we were going to war with the Whitebeard Pirates. You never said we'd be fighting Whitebeard, Kaido, and Big Mom at the same time."
One had to know that he also operated in the New World.
Offending Whitebeard alone was already troublesome enough. If he offended Whitebeard, Kaido, and Big Mom all at once, could he still survive in the New World?
The New World was the territory of the Four Emperors.
And on top of that, there was also Golden Lion.
The Marines were probably in danger today. He was not willing to risk his entire life and fortune just for the title of Warlord. It wasn't worth it.
When Sengoku heard this, his anger flared.
"Doflamingo, are you trying to become a traitor?"
Doflamingo said calmly, "I never said I was on your side."
Whoosh!
At that moment, a dazzling sword aura flew toward Katakuri.
It was Admiral candidate Momousagi who had made a move.
Her timing was perfect. It was exactly when Katakuri was being restrained by Aokiji and couldn't spare attention.
However, Katakuri's Observation Haki had long since reached the realm of seeing the future. At the critical moment, he avoided the sword aura.
But Aokiji seized the opening and punched him flying. Half of Katakuri's body was frozen over.
He couldn't help shivering.
"Good chance."
Aokiji Kuzan naturally would not let this excellent opportunity pass. He was about to rush forward and completely defeat Katakuri.
But then, a sword aura even more terrifying than the one from before descended with a roar, blocking Aokiji Kuzan's path and saving Katakuri.
"Hawkeye, what madness is this?"
Seeing this, Sengoku roared at Hawkeye, because it was Hawkeye who had unleashed the sword aura just now and saved Katakuri.
Dracule Mihawk walked expressionlessly in front of Katakuri, blocking Aokiji Kuzan.
Aokiji Kuzan's expression instantly became extremely grave.
"Do you know what you're doing?"
He did not understand why Dracule Mihawk would betray them at such a critical moment.
"I'm here to repay a favor," Mihawk said calmly.
Doflamingo laughed wildly. This was truly too interesting. Hawkeye, one of the Seven Warlords, had actually chosen this moment to attack the Marines.
Looks like he didn't think much of the Marines either.
As expected of the former Marine Hunter.
"I'll deal with him."
Admiral candidate Momousagi strode over on her long legs, staring fixedly at Dracule Mihawk. As a great swordswoman, she also wanted to challenge the strength of the world's greatest swordsman.
Aokiji nodded. "Be careful."
He withdrew and prepared to go support Kizaru.
As for Katakuri, half his body had been frozen. He had lost more than half his combat power and was no longer a threat.
However, at that moment, a tall figure appeared out of thin air in front of him, blocking his path.
"I'm sorry, but this road is closed."
"Bartholomew Kuma, what are you doing?!!"
Seeing the Tyrant Kuma stop Aokiji, Sengoku was so angry his head almost exploded.
Jinbe, one of the Seven Warlords, had been arrested because he refused to attack the Whitebeard Pirates.
Crocodile had been arrested after being involved with the Ancient Weapon Pluton.
Gecko Moria had disappeared and was suspected to have been killed by a mysterious person.
They had finally managed to summon the remaining four, and now two of them had turned traitor on the spot.
Were they trying to completely bury the Marines?
~~~
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