Carl pointed his knife, but Garp's iron fist deflected it, sending Carl flying backward. Carl twisted in mid-air and hit the ground, spitting up blood from his mouth and nose. A sharp, burning pain flared across his forehead, making him furious.
"Garp! You're going too far!" he cursed, wiping the blood from his lips.
"You dare call me old man?! I'll beat you to death, you brat!" Garp yelled back, rushing at him.
Seeing this, Carl quickly jumped onto the giant sword embedded in the ground and launched himself into the sky. He didn't want to get hit again. Garp's punches hurt way more than the wound on his right shoulder.
He wondered why this old man, who should be retired and relaxing, was even here. If something happened to Luffy and Ace because of Garp's interference, not only Dadan but also Makino and the mayor would probably kill him.
But as soon as Carl got airborne, Garp appeared right in front of him. A sandbag-sized fist slammed into Carl's face, deforming it on impact and sending him crashing straight into the ground of the plaza, leaving a deep crater.
The Marines on the battlefield cheered, "Yeah! That's our Vice Admiral Garp! The Marine Hero is amazing!"
The pirates, however, were terrified by Garp's ferocity and took a step back.
Whitebeard immediately tried to calm them. "He's just an old Marine," he boomed. "He's not that impressive. He just took advantage of Carl's injury to get a cheap shot in. The Marines don't fight fair!"
Whitebeard's words immediately stabilized the pirates' morale. They thought it over and realized that Carl was indeed injured and Garp's attack had been sudden, so maybe it wasn't a fair fight.
Now that his opponent was gone, Akainu was free to move. He turned his attention to Whitebeard and launched a powerful attack, a Great Eruption.
Whitebeard stood firm, his hand covered in a ball of white light. He slammed his fist into the magma attack, shattering it instantly. Akainu continued to press forward with a crazy flurry of blows, creating a stalemate between the two.
Aokiji seized the opportunity. He created a spear of ice and thrust it into Whitebeard's right side.
"Pops!" the Whitebeard Pirates cried out in alarm, watching as blood bubbled from their captain's chest.
Carl, just climbing out of the hole Garp made, saw what was happening and knew Whitebeard was in trouble. He immediately shouted, "Marco! What are you waiting for?! Go help him!"
"Oh! Right!" Marco finally snapped out of his daze and transformed into a blue phoenix, flying towards Akainu. He met Akainu with his massive claws, but the Admiral simply stood his ground, still fighting Whitebeard. Marco's claws passed right through him without causing any damage.
Marco's eyes widened in disbelief. "What's going on?! My Armament Haki isn't working?!" he yelled in frustration.
"Marco, your Observation Haki still isn't good enough," Whitebeard said, still locked in a struggle with Akainu. "It's not that your Armament Haki didn't work. It's that he managed to turn into magma the moment you attacked, so you couldn't hurt him!"
Marco, however, was in no mood for a lesson. He flew to Whitebeard's side and winced as he saw the blood-soaked ice shard jutting from his chest. It made his heart clench. He used his blue flames to melt the ice, but just as he was about to start healing Whitebeard, Aokiji came at them again. Marco flew to intercept him, refusing to let two Admirals gang up on his father.
Seeing this, Aokiji simply created an Ice Saber to fight Marco.
With Aokiji gone, Akainu was free to focus entirely on Whitebeard. He gathered his power. "Canine-tooth Red Lotus!" he yelled, unleashing a hound made of magma.
Whitebeard blocked with his Murakumogiri, but with his other hand, he punched straight through Akainu's magma fist, grabbed the front of his jacket, and lifted him off the ground.
Akainu was startled and tried to break free, but he found his arms and legs felt heavy and cold. He looked into Whitebeard's eyes and saw a terrifying pressure that paralyzed him.
Conqueror's Haki! he realized.
Whitebeard threw Akainu into the air, a white halo forming around his fist. As Akainu fell, Whitebeard's fist connected squarely with his waist.
Crrrack! The air around them shattered like glass, and Akainu screamed, a geyser of blood erupting from his mouth. His body felt like it was falling apart.
With the shattered space, violent vibrations exploded and spread in all directions, tearing the plaza ground into a wide canyon. Akainu lay seriously injured and covered in his own blood.
But Akainu's stubbornness wasn't gone yet. He gritted his teeth and manifested a Dark Hound, which bit a massive hole in Whitebeard's stomach, pouring magma into his wound. Whitebeard immediately coughed up blood, gravely wounded.
"Pops!" the Whitebeard Pirates cried out in shock. It happened so fast. One moment Whitebeard was dominating Akainu, and the next, he was the one taking a huge hit. No one could have predicted it. Marco was frantic, but he was still trapped in his fight with Aokiji.
"Fire Fist!"
A massive fist of flames suddenly forced Aokiji back, and Ace took Marco's place. "Marco, go help Dad!" Ace yelled. He wanted to go himself, but he knew Marco was the ship's doctor, and getting him to Whitebeard was the priority. So he stayed behind to block Aokiji.
"Oh, la la. I can't let you do that," Aokiji said, raising his hand to create a huge ice bird. "Pheasant Beak!"
"Flame Emperor!" Ace countered, launching a massive fireball at the ice bird.
There was a thunderous roar as the ice melted into steam, and it was clear that Ace had the advantage against Aokiji. The Marines were shocked to see that Fire Fist Ace could fight on par with an Admiral.
Aokiji, however, wasn't surprised. Ace was also a Logia user, but he knew the battle wasn't just about the Devil Fruit. It was about Haki. He knew Ace's Haki wasn't very strong, and his actual combat power hadn't reached the Admiral level yet, making him much easier to deal with than Luffy or Carl.
On the other side of the battlefield, Marco was about to rush to Whitebeard, but a golden light suddenly descended on him. It was a giant golden Buddha, and its massive hand pressed down on him. A terrifying shockwave knocked Marco into the air and left a huge crater in the ground.
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