Akainu stiffly turned his head, and when his gaze fell upon the towering, mountain-like figure, a wave of bone-chilling dread instantly surged within him.
He instinctively wanted to retreat and dodge to the side, but under the restraint of Whitebeard's Conqueror's Haki, his body felt as heavy as if filled with lead. Despite his extreme panic, he couldn't even manage to assume an evasive posture.
In the next moment, Whitebeard slowly raised his massive fist, its surface swirling with a layer of translucent, crystalline light.
Without uttering a single word, he struck in fury. His fist, as heavy as a mountain, carried an overwhelming force as it crashed directly toward Akainu's head.
Boom!
A dull, thunderous explosion erupted.
The fist landed squarely on Akainu's skull, and the tyrannical Vibration Power instantly surged into his body. Akainu's entire head twisted and deformed violently under the immense impact.
A terrifying shockwave spread wildly across the ground. The earth beneath their feet shattered and collapsed, crisscrossed with spiderweb-like fissures. Rubble churned, rock layers sank, and the entire ground trembled violently.
Akainu's body stiffened, his vision darkening repeatedly. Blood and energy churned wildly within him, a metallic taste rising in his throat as he collapsed heavily onto the cracked earth.
He felt his limbs go numb, as if every bone and tendon in his body had been jolted out of place. Struggling several times, he found himself utterly unable to rise from the ground.
With a single strike, Whitebeard had severely wounded and knocked down a Navy Admiral. Yet, the fury in Whitebeard's eyes remained unabated. His body suddenly leaped into the air, hovering mid-sky.
He raised his right leg high, his foot also covered in a dense, white glow of vibration. The Tremor-Tremor Power condensed to its peak as he stomped down viciously toward the head of the fallen Akainu.
At this critical moment of life and death, Akainu gritted his teeth through the excruciating pain, forcefully rolling to the side with all his might.
With a swift motion, his body slid awkwardly across the shattered rock layers, barely avoiding the fatal stomp just before Whitebeard's foot descended.
Boom!
Whitebeard's foot slammed into the ground, causing a vast expanse of the surrounding rock layers to collapse instantly. A bottomless chasm split open, and dust and debris shot into the sky, the spectacle utterly terrifying.
Even while rolling to evade, Akainu didn't remain idle. Enduring his injuries, he quickly gathered his arms, launching several ferocious, scorching magma fists toward Whitebeard.
Facing the onslaught of magma fists, Whitebeard remained composed.
With a casual sweep of his arm, most of the magma fists were shattered by the Vibration Power the moment they approached him, unable to get anywhere near his body.
Only one cunning magma fist broke through the defense, striking Whitebeard squarely on the side of his face.
Blazing heat instantly engulfed his face, distorting the surrounding air.
Yet, in the next moment, Whitebeard's expression remained calm. The Armament Haki covering his face was dense and solid, completely isolating the magma's heat and impact.
The magma burned against the Haki, producing only waves of scorching air, unable to harm even a fraction of his skin.
The physique and Haki foundation of a top-tier powerhouse of the seas were on full display at this moment.
While Garp could withstand Divine Departure with his ultimate Iron Body, Whitebeard, though slightly inferior in physique compared to Garp, was more than capable of shrugging off mere magma attacks without his defenses being breached.
Having blocked Akainu's counterattack, Whitebeard no longer held back. He raised his hand and tightly gripped Murakumogiri.
He swung his arm with immense force, gathering vast tremor power to unleash a terrifying Flying Slash that cleaved fiercely toward Akainu.
At this moment, Akainu had no strength left to resist and was forced to endure the slash head-on.
In the next instant, he was sent flying backward, crashing heavily to the ground.
Now severely wounded, a bloody gash appeared across his abdomen, bleeding profusely.
Afterward, the two became locked in a fierce struggle.
Relying on his Admiral-level physique, Akainu launched relentless assaults, and in his desperate struggle, he managed to leave several burn marks on Whitebeard.
Compared to Whitebeard, Akainu's injuries were far more severe, his body covered in wounds.
The balance of their battle gradually shifted from an initial stalemate in Whitebeard's favor.
The outcome was now clear—Akainu was powerless against Whitebeard at his peak.
Seizing an opening in the midst of their clash, Whitebeard landed a heavy fist infused with Tremor-Tremor Power squarely on Akainu's waist and abdomen.
With a sickening crack of shattered bones, Akainu's body contorted violently, his face turning deathly pale as he spewed a mouthful of crimson blood. Completely out of control, he was sent flying backward, tumbling along a massive fissure in the earth before plummeting into a bottomless canyon crevice.
This strike contained Whitebeard's full power, and after hitting Akainu, the remaining force erupted outward.
The entire Marineford navy fortress shook violently, the ground trembling wildly as mountains swayed and rock layers crumbled, as if the very earth were on the verge of collapse.
Structures within Marine Headquarters crumbled one after another, the once-imposing navy fortress completely collapsing under the earth-shattering shockwaves.
Standing atop a high vantage point, Sengoku gazed at the scene of devastation before him, then turned his eyes to Whitebeard, his expression grave and filled with apprehension:
"Damn that Whitebeard… Back at his peak, he truly remains as terrifying as ever, still wielding the power to shake the world."
On another side of the battlefield, Garp watched as Ace was successfully rescued and Luffy remained unharmed. The heavy weight in his heart finally lifted, and with no need to keep up appearances any longer, his long-suppressed fighting spirit erupted in full force.
He suddenly soared into the air, darting into the center of the battlefield, his body enveloped in Conqueror's Haki Lightning as he faced Whitebeard from a distance.
Throwing his head back with a hearty laugh, Garp locked eyes on Whitebeard:
"Hahaha, Whitebeard!
Since you've already gone all out, let me be your opponent!
Take this—Galaxy Impact !"
As his words fell, Garp crossed his fists, condensing his Conqueror's Haki to its peak. It transformed into countless dazzling bands of light intertwining behind him, sketching the illusion of a boundless, brilliant galaxy.
In the next moment, he threw a mighty punch, and the galactic bands of light behind him erupted forth, carrying an unstoppable fist momentum as they surged toward Whitebeard.
Watching this attack, Whitebeard's expression turned solemn. Gripping Murakumogiri tightly, he swung it to meet the galactic fist force:
"Garp, you old bastard, you haven't changed a bit after all these decades—your fists are still as domineering as ever! Air Shake: Sky Split!"
As the great blade swept out, invisible shockwaves tore through the sky, forming a massive vacuum-splitting force that clashed head-on with Garp's Galaxy Impact.
The two top-tier powerhouses collided with a thunderous impact. Violent shockwaves and tremors swept outward in all directions, and the already devastated navy fortress could no longer withstand such terrifying aftershocks. Marineford teetered on the brink, on the verge of complete collapse.
With Whitebeard firmly restraining the high-ranking Marines, and the Whitebeard Pirates' division commanders desperately holding off the Marine officers, Ace, under everyone's cover, steadily approached the harbor. It seemed he was about to break free from Marineford completely.
Everyone believed the situation was settled, that Ace and Luffy would ultimately escape safely.
But at that moment, a strange Darkness suddenly enveloped the sky above.
A figure abruptly descended from the heavens, landing steadily not far from Ace, blocking the path ahead for everyone.