At this time, more than 100,000 fighters stood facing each other, and the ice layer—nearly a hundred meters thick—shook violently beneath their feet.
Of course, these hundred thousand were not ordinary people. Some were giants, and many others were massive figures like Big Mom, towering over eight meters tall.
The earth-shattering roar of battle echoed across the boundless sea, so loud that even the Sea Kings dozens of kilometers away trembled.
Sea Kings were not ordinary creatures — they possessed intelligence on par with, and sometimes surpassing, humans.
And now, already aware of the magnitude of the clash unfolding above, they shivered in fear.
Even they, rulers of the deep, were terrified by this war. If these human monsters destroyed the sea around them, where would they flee? The Sea Kings had territories as well; leaving their waters risked provoking the overlords of other seas, who would strike them down or devour them.
As Akainu had said, this battle was the clash between Marine and the entire Great Pirate Era. Elior, Kaido, and Big Mom together represented the combined might of the entire age.
And now Shanks was dead.
Only three Yonko remained.
BOOM!
With a deafening impact, the forces of both sides collided.
Akainu unleashed a massive lava hound that barreled through Big Mom's pirates, melting through everything in its path.
"Don't try to block me! You're nothing but insects!"
Akainu's attacks were devastating. A single punch could annihilate a squad of Big Mom's pirates, leaving behind screams and scorched corpses.
For Marines, this war must be won.
They had no retreat.
Justice could not fall to evil.
Akainu's target was Elior. His hatred burned as fiercely as Garp's.
"Ikoku Sovereignty!"
Big Mom roared, unleashing a colossal blade of compressed force from Napoleon. It struck Akainu the moment he noticed it.
BOOOOM!
Akainu's upper body exploded into magma. It was merely his elemental form, but even so, the ice behind him shattered into a crater tens of meters wide. The resulting shockwave hurled hundreds of Marines through the air; several were crushed to death on impact.
Ikoku Sovereignty was a technique used by giants capable of splitting the sea. In Big Mom's hands— someone who defeated giants with one hand at age five — it was catastrophic.
"Akainu! I'll be your opponent!"
Big Mom cackled. Napoleon was raised in her hands, Zeus floated beneath her feet, and Prometheus blazed as it merged into her hair.
Hovering in the air, she glared down at Akainu as he reformed.
"Damn you, Charlotte Linlin!"
Furious, Akainu charged upward, fists erupting in lava.
"Cerberus!"
A massive three-headed lava hound burst forth barreling toward Big Mom. She responded with a punch unleashed by a roaring flame whip, clashing directly with the magma beast.
Fire and molten rock erupted in all directions.
"After this war, the Great Pirate Era will finally end!"
Akainu roared, and the Cerberus lunged even faster.
"The Great Pirate Era ending? Oh, of course!"
Big Mom laughed. "Because it will be the beginning of a greater era!"
"This is war! Any of us may die here! No one can afford to be careless!"
Sengoku, in his Golden Buddha form, bellowed. The moment the war began, weaker Marines died instantly. His heart ached, but this was war—death was guaranteed.
"Shockwave!"
Golden energy blasted outward, erupting across the ice. A twenty-meter radius shattered, flinging hundreds of Beast Pirates into the air—many killed instantly.
"Sengoku! I'm here!"
It was Kaido.
Today he fought in his strongest hybrid form, thunder dancing around his kanabo. He was truly Kaido of the Beasts.
"Thunder Bagua!"
Kaido roared as lightning cracked across the sky, swinging his club toward Sengoku.
"Kaido! You bastard! I should have made sure you stayed locked in Impel Down from the start!"
"Shockwave!"
Golden force collided with the thunder-charged kanabo.
KA-BOOOOM!
The explosion obliterated a hundred-meter stretch of ice. Shattered chunks flew everywhere.
Both Kaido and Sengoku were blasted backward nearly thirty meters by the sheer force of their clash.
The ice beneath them cracked apart.
Yet immediately, they rushed forward and clashed again.
Both fought at full strength. Kaido knew that when Sengoku dominated the New World, Kaido had not yet risen as the King of the Beasts, nor had the Beast Pirates even been formed.
Sengoku, on the other hand, knew Kaido was using his strongest form—capable of wielding all the traits of his full dragon body.
Nearby, Mihawk — seeking Elior to avenge Shanks — found his path blocked by Shiryu.
"Let me be your opponent."
Shiryu grinned cruelly.
Mihawk frowned in irritation. He wanted only to face Elior, but now this man stood in his way.
In an instant, their blades collided.
In pure swordsmanship, Shiryu was no match for Hawkeye—but defeating him would not be so simple.
The war had officially started.
"Are you the man said to revive all things? Admiral Ryokugyu."
Facing Bullet was Ryokugyu.
"You flatter me! But yes… that's me."
Ryokugyu pressed his hand to the frozen ground, shattering the ice. A massive tree burst upward, splitting the frozen sea. Within seconds, it expanded into a towering giant of wood, branches writhing like countless tentacles.
Grass spread over hundreds of meters of ice around him.
With a single thought, Ryokugyu could make the branches strike all at once toward Barrett.
"He really IS the man who revives all things."
Bullet was impressed — but only slightly. The only power that truly amazed him was Elior's.
"And what about your power?"
Ryokugyu prepared himself. He knew Bullet was a monster — so strong that even an Admiral could not underestimate him.
Bullet only smirked, then leaped back hundreds of meters, landing on a massive ship.
Using his awakened Devil Fruit, the ship trembled and transformed into a towering wooden giant over seventy meters tall, controlled entirely by Barrett.
The giant took several enormous steps and charged the massive tree.
The writhing branches shot out simultaneously, stabbing toward the wooden giant.
When the titanic forces collided, the impact overturned the ice sheet for thousands of meters.
Pirates and Marines alike were caught in the shockwaves.
Before the power of top-tier monsters, average fighters were nothing more than insects.