After another hour had passed, far out at sea, the warships of Marine finally arrived.
"Has it started?"
Tsuru raised her telescope and spotted the frozen waters outside Whole Cake.
The first thing she saw was Big Mom and Elior clashing on the nearest ice sheet.
These two monsters were locked in an unbelievably fierce battle.
They had been fighting for over an hour, and the thick sheet of ice had already been shattered in several places.
At that moment, Sengoku was also present.
On this flagship stood Tsuru, Sengoku, Akainu, and Ryokugyu. Of course, not all of the Marine's top fighting power was here — after all, other dangerous pirate forces across the seas still required Admiral-level presence to keep in check.
Even so, this lineup was terrifying. The Marine's current strategy was to simply wait and watch. It wasn't the first time they had taken this approach.
"Here's fine! That ice sheet is about two kilometers away — more than enough."
Akainu waved his hand, and the other warships immediately understood. Soon, all eight vessels came to a stop. In a battle like this, getting too close was suicide.
"Best case scenario, those two tear each other apart. Then we can take them both down in one stroke."
Akainu hated all pirates, including the Shichibukai.
"Not that easy" Ryokugyu said with a shake of his head.
Big Mom hadn't faced the Marine directly in years. Since the start of the Great Pirate Era, emperors had claimed the New World one after another, and the World Government's strategy had been to maintain a balance among them. That made it harder for the Marine to truly gauge the power of a natural-born monster like Big Mom.
It had been twenty years since the Great Pirate Era began.
If they wanted to suppress Big Mom, they'd likely have to dispatch at least two admirals.
As long as an admiral came out of a fight without suffering a loss, that was enough.
And when you factored in the forces under a Yonko's banner, things became even more complicated.
—SHRING!—
A dark red slash suddenly ripped through the sea, heading straight for the warship.
"They're coming!"
Akainu's expression hardened. This was why the fleet couldn't get closer. A single slash like that would rip an ordinary warship to pieces.
The lower-ranking sailors panicked instantly.
"Let me handle it!"
Sengoku's voice rang out, suddenly serious. Before the eyes of countless stunned Marines, his body flashed with golden light and transformed into a giant Buddha.
Towering over the deck like a hill, Sengoku's massive frame made the warship tilt slightly toward him.
His golden radiance and sheer presence brought the Navy an overwhelming sense of security.
"Shockwave!"
Just as the slash was about to slice the ship in half, a golden shockwave burst from Sengoku's palm, colliding with the incoming red slash.
BOOM!
The sea exploded. Water blasted skyward before crashing down as torrential rain on the warships. The entire fleet rocked violently with the waves.
"Sengoku the Buddha!"
"I haven't seen him use that power in years!"
"He's incredible!"
The younger Marines were awestruck, while the top brass remained calm.
"That was a Great Swordsman's slash" Sengoku noted, his eyes narrowing toward the distant battle.
"This is my first time seeing it in person" Ryokugyu admitted. "The Buddha's power really is legendary."
Tsuru asked quietly, "I wonder how long those two monsters can keep going."
"No matter how long, the best outcome is taking them both down" Akainu replied coldly. "We can wait. The longer they fight, the more exhausted they'll be — and the easier our job will be."
Akainu's gaze locked onto Elior with open hatred.
Elior had directly challenged the Marine's sense of justice, killed Aokiji, and left Akainu gravely wounded in the same battle.
Akainu had a thousand reasons to kill him — but he also knew that Elior's strength made that easier said than done.
This was a problem that even the Marine and World Government found difficult to solve.
"Hey… wait, is that—?"
"This can't be happening!"
"The Red-Haired Pirates are here too!"
"Fleet Admiral! It's the Red Force!"
"What?!"
A wave of shouts rippled across the fleet.
Akainu, Sengoku, and the other officers turned to where the sailors were pointing — and there it was.
The Red Force.
The Red-Haired Pirates.
"Those guys again?"
Akainu's frown deepened. Back during the Battle of Marineford, he had been knocked unconscious by Elior, so he didn't witness what happened afterward — such as Aokiji's death, Whitebeard's death, and other turning points.
He did know, however, that the Red-Haired Pirates had appeared at Marineford to bring the fighting to a halt — and to carry away Whitebeard's and Ace's bodies.
And now, they were here again.
"That red-haired bastard shows up everywhere…"
Akainu's fist transformed into molten rock, steaming in the cool air — a sure sign of his growing irritation.
On the deck of the Red Force, Shanks stood calmly at the bow as his crew approached.
"Their arrival could ruin our plans" Ryokugyu muttered, uneasy.
Tsuru's face hardened.
Sengoku frowned. "If Elior and Big Mom both end up injured, or one falls and the other is weakened, we could move in. But with the Red-Haired Pirates here, it'll be far more complicated."
"For their own safety, they won't just stand by and watch" Tsuru agreed.
In the New World, the Four Emperors maintained a fragile balance. If the Marine tried to destroy one, the others would inevitably intervene when their own interests were at stake — no matter their rivalries.
Now that Shanks was here, the question became: would he actually engage the Marine?
The top brass watched the Red-Haired Pirates with suspicion, their irritation mingled with caution.
On the other side, the Red-Haired crew were equally surprised to see such a massive Navy presence.
"So the Marine's here too…" Shanks said gravely.
He had come to learn exactly what Elior's ambitions were.
If Elior managed to take down Big Mom, the next target could very well be the Red-Haired Pirates themselves.
It wasn't paranoia — it was logic.
Since entering the New World after Marineford, Elior had taken all of Whitebeard's former territory. Any sensible man could see that his ambitions were massive.
"Shanks, what now?" Yasopp asked.
"I don't know. For now, we wait and see. That Marine lineup suggests they want to use this chance to take out both Big Mom and Elior" Shanks replied.
Beckman nodded. "This just got a lot more complicated."
And so, the top officers of the Red-Haired Pirates and the Marine watched one another in tense silence.
On the battlefield itself, Big Mom and Elior both noticed the newcomers.
They hadn't expected both the Marine and the Red-Haired Pirates to appear.