Sengoku had long suspected that Garp would eventually slack off.
This old guy has always been a magnet for trouble.
Protecting Roger's wife.
Adopting Ace.
His son is a revolutionary.
His grandson is a pirate.
A family of criminals.
Garp himself has always been free-spirited and undisciplined.
Sengoku, despite everything, tolerated it all.
Because, in the end, he knew that Garp sought peace—he just despised the Celestial Dragons.
So, Garp balanced maintaining peace with deliberate slacking, ensuring he didn't give the Celestial Dragons too much of his energy.
Sengoku didn't care much for the Celestial Dragons either and preferred to turn a blind eye to Garp's behavior.
But now—now the situation was dire!
The three admirals had been defeated one by one by Kaido.
Even Sengoku himself had suffered an injury from Whitebeard.
At such a critical moment, Garp needed to step up.
Ace's execution was necessary to deal a blow to the pirates' morale.
This was no time for games.
But Garp—Garp still played games.
He even let himself get punched by Luffy, of all people.
Couldn't he at least act like he cared?
Letting things slide so easily—shameless.
Did Garp really want to see the Navy destroyed?!
"Ace!!"
Luffy made it to the execution platform.
Sengoku tried to stop him, but Whitebeard held him at bay, preventing any distraction.
When Sengoku looked toward the three admirals, his frustration deepened.
Kaido had shattered the arms and legs of Kizaru and Aokiji.
Now Kaido was pursuing the two admirals relentlessly.
The admirals were running—running for their lives.
Chasing admirals like prey?
What kind of monstrous power was this?
Akainu had rejoined the fight halfway, but it didn't matter.
The three admirals—together—were no match for Kaido.
They fought as a unit, but Kaido still crushed them, one by one.
Kizaru and Aokiji, now gravely injured, were only at 70-80% of their peak strength, and it was declining by the second.
Akainu, having been struck twice by Kaido, was barely at 80% of his full power.
Meanwhile, Kaido stood at his absolute peak.
Every move from Kaido felt unstoppable, his raw strength bordering on the godlike.
Against this overwhelming force, the admirals' combined efforts were nothing short of a joke.
"Urgh—!"
Akainu spat blood, his body sent flying backward.
Kizaru and Aokiji were knocked down again, blood streaming from their wounds.
Kizaru's normally calm expression was gone, replaced with fatigue and pain.
Aokiji bled heavily from a gash across his forehead.
Kaido, however, didn't finish any of them off.
"Killing an admiral sure is tough," Kaido muttered, swinging his mace once more with a grin.
The admirals, battered and bleeding, abandoned all thoughts of fighting and focused solely on survival.
Why fight?
The gap in strength was so absurd that continuing to fight would be suicide.
The three admirals couldn't beat Kaido, not even together.
Instead, they were being hunted down like animals.
Navy morale crumbled.
Everywhere, soldiers were deserting.
"The admirals are getting wrecked!"
"One against three—and Kaido's playing with them!"
"I shouldn't have joined the Navy."
"Kaido's not just going to be Pirate King—he's going to rule the whole world!"
"Run! There's no point staying!"
"Ahhhhhh—"
The battlefield devolved into chaos as the Navy's remaining forces lost hope.
If the admirals couldn't win, what could ordinary marines possibly do?
"Captain Buggy!"
Buggy's subordinates found him sprawled in the square, deep within the navy camp.
With the soldiers deserting, Buggy had miraculously survived untouched.
Relief washed over him as his men rushed to his side.
"Captain Buggy! Now's your chance! If we wait any longer, it'll be too late!"
Buggy froze.
What? Did they mean the pirates were losing? If the pirates lost, Buggy's only option was to escape.
"The three admirals were crushed by Kaido! He's hunting them down right now!"
"If you don't act now, Kaido will steal all the glory!"
"Yeah, Captain! We need to take down one of the admirals and make the world tremble!"
"Kaido might not dare stop you—he knows Captain Buggy's strength matches his!"
Buggy's head spun, and his heart pounded.
Kaido… beating all three admirals?
This monster was on a whole different level—even stronger than Roger.
If Buggy went near him, Kaido could probably kill him with a sigh.
Sweat poured from Buggy's face.
Thinking fast, he stiffened his posture and placed his hands on his hips.
"Ha… haha... No need to bother with the admirals," Buggy declared awkwardly. "Let Kaido have them. Our real target… is the Fleet Admiral! Or better yet, Garp himself!"
His followers stared at him, wide-eyed.
"W-What?!"
"You mean... you've been holding back this whole time because you think the admirals aren't worth your time?"
"Our minds are so small—we couldn't see Captain Buggy's true plan!"
"Captain Buggy, your vision is beyond us!"
Tears streamed from his followers' eyes as they praised their captain.
They had believed that taking down an admiral or even a Yonko was the pinnacle of glory.
But Captain Buggy—the great and fearless Buggy—aimed for far greater heights.
The admirals? Mere trifles.
Only the likes of Sengoku or Garp were worthy of Buggy's attention.
Suddenly, the air in the square grew unbearably hot.
Akainu, pushed to the brink, unleashed his full potential.
Molten magma erupted from his body, the heat warping the very air around him.
"Hm?"
Kaido halted, his eyes narrowing at the sight of Akainu's transformation.
Even the other two admirals, battered and near defeat, looked on in shock.
Their pupils contracted, disbelief written across their faces.
"Could it be that...?"
Aokiji and Kizaru exchanged glances, realization dawning on their bruised faces.
"Akainu…" Sengoku muttered, his eyes wide with disbelief.
Even Garp, slowly rising to his feet, brushed off the dust from his uniform and said, "Has his fruit evolved to a higher level? Is this the true limit?"
Akainu's Magma-Magma Fruit was unlike any other.
A Logia-type fruit—yes. But it wasn't just any Logia.
It was the strongest Logia.
Among all natural fruits, Akainu's Magma-Magma Fruit stood unmatched, even surpassing the power of Blackbeard's Dark-Dark Fruit.
Though the Dark-Dark Fruit had unique qualities, such as nullifying devil fruit abilities, its combat prowess was limited. Blackbeard still needed the Tremor-Tremor Fruit to fight on equal footing with top-tier enemies.
As for the much-hyped Thunder-Thunder Fruit? Garbage.
Even with the Mantra (Heart Net) enhancing its user's sensory abilities, Enel and his Thunder-Thunder Fruit couldn't defeat Luffy, a rookie who had only just set out to sea. It put the Thunder-Thunder Fruit on the same level as Crocodile's Sand-Sand Fruit—a potent tool, but far from invincible.
The Magma-Magma Fruit, however, was different.
It had layers—depth beyond what anyone thought possible. It had room to grow even after reaching mastery, unlike other Logia fruits that plateaued.
Kaido's unrelenting assault had backed Akainu into a corner.
And in this desperate moment, Akainu's potential, which lay dormant for years, burst forth like a volcanic eruption.
The fruit had reached perfection.
Something no one—not Sengoku, not Garp, not Aokiji or Kizaru, and not even Akainu himself—had anticipated.
Kaido certainly hadn't expected it either.
But he could feel it now.
Akainu's power surged, radiating a heat so intense it seemed to distort reality itself.
It was no longer just strong.
It was bordering on invincible.
Kaido narrowed his eyes, gripping his spiked kanabo more tightly.
The weight of Akainu's newfound strength pressed down on the battlefield, sending waves of molten energy into the air.
This was no ordinary transformation.
Akainu, driven by fury and desperation, had achieved something that defied expectations.
The air rippled as molten fists cracked the earth beneath him. His body, now overflowing with pure, destructive magma, felt limitless—more powerful than ever before.
Kaido grinned, feeling the thrill of battle coursing through him. "So... you've got more in you, huh?"
The Beast Emperor wasn't one to back down, not even from this.
But even Kaido, who prided himself on being the strongest creature in the world, had to admit…
Akainu was dangerously close to reaching something beyond mortal limits.