Garp, who had been immersed in grief, trembled all over.
He slowly raised his head and looked at the Marine forces, which had now fallen into an overwhelmingly disadvantageous position.
With his mastery of Observation Haki, he could naturally sense that large numbers of Marine soldiers had been injured or killed.
However, Sengoku had previously assured him that every possible contingency had been accounted for in his plan. That was why Garp hadn't considered intervening.
But now, the Marines' defensive lines had completely collapsed.
Two Admirals were seriously injured, leaving Kizaru as the only one still capable of fighting at full strength. Even he couldn't hold the line alone.
As for the remaining Seven Warlords of the Sea, they all had their own agendas.
Hawk-Eye's objective was to test his strength against Whitebeard. He had no desire to help either the Marines or the pirates.
As the world's greatest swordsman, he merely attacked the pirates who approached him. He showed no intention whatsoever of joining forces with the Admirals to fight Whitebeard.
Pirate Empress Hancock was supposedly fighting against the pirates, but her heart had long since been captured by Luffy.
Her eyes practically never left him. Whenever Luffy was in danger of being injured, she would casually intervene and provide assistance while pretending it was unintentional.
Doflamingo was a pure opportunist.
Although he was currently fighting against Whitebeard's forces, he was constantly watching how the battle developed. If Whitebeard ultimately emerged victorious, Doflamingo would undoubtedly switch sides.
Gecko Moria also appeared to be participating in the battle.
In reality, however, he had been collecting the corpses of fallen Marines and pirates while preparing to escape at any moment.
As far as Moria was concerned, the battlefield had already become far too dangerous.
Crocodile still wanted to settle his grudge with Whitebeard, but the gap between their strength was simply too enormous. There wasn't much he could accomplish.
As for Jinbe, he had openly betrayed the Marines and joined Luffy's side.
Unfortunately, even his strength wasn't enough to reverse the situation. All he could do was stay close to Luffy, prepared to sacrifice his life to protect him.
When everything was taken into account, the Marines had only one remaining trump card.
The legendary Garp the Fist.
Garp slowly and painfully rose to his feet.
His gaze swept across the battlefield, taking in the countless dead Marine soldiers.
Then he looked toward Luffy, his other grandson, who was desperately trying to break through the Marine lines and reach Ace.
Unfortunately, Luffy's strength was still insufficient. Every time he advanced, another Vice Admiral sent him flying backward.
Black Armament Haki began gathering around Garp's fists.
A violent aura erupted from his body, creating a storm so powerful that even the soldiers standing on the execution platform struggled to remain upright.
It was obvious.
Garp was finally preparing to fight.
However, just as he was about to move, a single sentence from Ace made him hesitate once again.
"Grandpa! Are you really going to kill even more of my friends?"
Seeing Garp waver, Sengoku lost his temper.
"Garp! If you still refuse to act, I'll have no choice but to order Ace's immediate execution!"
Instead of becoming angry, Garp burst into laughter.
He pointed directly at Sengoku and shouted back.
"And if I do fight, are you going to let Ace go?!"
Naturally, Sengoku's answer was negative.
"That's impossible! The only thing I can do is delay Ace's execution a little longer!"
Ace roared furiously.
"Then you might as well kill me right now!"
The entire Marine position was on the verge of collapse.
Yet Fleet Admiral Sengoku and Marine Hero Garp had actually started arguing on the execution platform!
By this point, the Marines had already shut down the official broadcast of the execution.
For some reason, however, the argument was still being transmitted through a Transponder Snail.
It turned out that a Player was secretly operating another Transponder Snail and had taken control of the Marines' broadcasting system.
If the Marines' internal communications had still been functioning normally, they would have realized that their current chaos was being broadcast to the entire world.
Unfortunately, they were already struggling just to survive.
Naturally, nobody had the time to worry about the broadcasting system.
The entire world descended into panic as news of the Marines' imminent collapse spread.
Meanwhile, pirates everywhere celebrated, convinced that this battle was about to change the world forever.
Such an enormous event naturally reached the Celestial Dragons as well.
Most of them angrily cursed the incompetence of the Marines and their Admirals.
However, the more capable Celestial Dragons immediately recognized the true danger.
The very foundation of their rule over the world was beginning to shake.
They therefore chose to report the situation to the Five Elders, leaving it to them to assess the crisis and determine how to respond.
Naturally, the people fighting at Marineford knew nothing about these developments.
All they understood was that unless the Marines could find some way to reverse the situation, the outcome of today's battle would completely overturn the existing world order.
...
In the end, Garp couldn't bring himself to watch so many Marines die.
He stepped down from the execution platform and approached the seats originally occupied by the three Admirals.
After sitting down, he looked directly at Whitebeard.
"Whitebeard, if you want to rescue Ace, you'll have to get past me first."
Whitebeard wasn't surprised in the slightest by Garp's appearance.
Instead, he burst into his familiar booming laughter.
"Gurararara! Garp! I never imagined we'd meet like this today!"
"Are you ready, you old bastard? Don't disappoint me!"
Garp responded with an equally arrogant laugh.
He couldn't resolve the conflict between his family and his allegiance to the Marines.
However, facing Whitebeard made things much simpler.
All he needed to do was defeat Whitebeard with his fists, and everything would come to a peaceful end.
"Whitebeard! This time, I'm going to beat you half to death and throw you into prison!"
After declaring this, Garp turned toward Akainu and Aokiji.
His expression darkened as he examined their injuries.
"You two need to get those wounds treated immediately. If you delay any longer and those Seastone fragments enter your bloodstream and internal organs, you'll never be able to remove them completely."
Akainu and Aokiji nodded.
Escorted by several Vice Admirals, they began retreating into the interior of Marine Headquarters.
Although many of the headquarters' surface structures had been destroyed, the hidden underground shelters should still have been operating safely.
However, both Admirals understood that removing the Seastone fragments lodged inside their bodies would be anything but simple.
They probably wouldn't be able to recover their full combat strength anytime soon.
What neither of them knew was that the people waiting for them weren't the highly skilled medical personnel of the Marines.
Instead, a team of Players had already prepared an ambush specifically targeting these two Admirals.
"Something's wrong..."
Aokiji was the first to raise his head, looking toward the surrounding ruins.
Unfortunately, before he could finish speaking, countless invisible chains emerged from the ground and walls.
They wrapped tightly around both Aokiji and Akainu, completely restraining them.
The two Admirals hesitated for only an instant before releasing their Haki, attempting to break free of the chains.
To their astonishment, however, the Haki that had always served them so reliably was completely ineffective.
That was because the power restraining them wasn't a Devil Fruit ability.
It was the power of a stand.
The stand user was hiding among the shattered stones and rubble nearby.
His stand resembled a gray humanoid creature whose entire body was wrapped in countless chains.
Its ability allowed it to transform targets into prisoners by binding them with spiritual chains.
These chains couldn't be destroyed through brute force or ordinary physical weapons.
Apart from defeating the stand user himself, the only way to break free was through elemental or mental abilities.
Even a flame no stronger than the fire produced by a lighter could burn the chains, effectively burning the stand user's mind.
Unfortunately, Aokiji and Akainu had already lost access to their Devil Fruit abilities.
Neither of them possessed Conqueror's Haki either.
As a result, this particular stand ability completely countered them.
Of course, they could still attempt to release their Armament Haki outward and use it to engage the Player in a contest of spiritual strength.
But the other Players had clearly prepared for that possibility as well.
"Hurry up! I can't hold them much longer!"
The stand user transmitted his warning through a microphone near his mouth.
The next instant, several Players wearing optical camouflage equipment abandoned their concealment and leaped into view.
Leading them was a muscular, bald man wearing a sleeveless shirt.
With a savage grin, he charged toward the Marine Vice Admirals escorting Aokiji and Akainu.
His speed was astonishing.
In an instant, he exceeded the speed of sound.
His enormous fist smashed into a Vice Admiral's face, sending the completely unprepared officer flying dozens of meters backward.
The man crashed into a distant building.
Another Vice Admiral drew his sword and slashed toward the bald man's body.
However, the muscular Player didn't even attempt to dodge.
The blade struck his skin without leaving so much as a red mark.
"Armament Haki? No, his body hasn't changed color. Could it be a Devil Fruit ability?"
Seeing this, another Vice Admiral coated his fist in Armament Haki and attacked the muscular man's body.
What awaited him was a punch from the bald man himself.
The moment their fists collided, the Vice Admiral's arm exploded apart.
Realizing that close-range combat was ineffective, the remaining two Marines immediately drew their firearms and aimed at the bald man.
However, a figure suddenly shot toward them from a distant tower.
The newcomer carried two swords.
Using the extraordinary speed provided by his omni-directional mobility gear, he spun through the air like a whirlwind of blades.
Both Marines were cut down before they could react.
Watching their most trusted subordinates die one after another, Aokiji and Akainu were practically beside themselves with rage.
Haki poured from their bodies without restraint.
They no longer cared about aggravating their existing injuries.
They had finally understood their predicament.
If they couldn't escape these strange chains immediately, they would be the next ones to die!
However, before they could make another move, a deep voice suddenly sounded.
"Why bother resisting? If you just behave yourselves, you won't have to suffer nearly as much."
The instant the other Players heard that voice, they immediately took out the earmuffs they had prepared and covered their ears.
Aokiji and Akainu realized something was wrong.
Unfortunately, they had no opportunity to protect their own hearing.
The voice, imbued with Nen, entered their ears.
Its power traveled through their blood vessels, spreading into their brains and throughout their bodies.
Their previously unshakable wills began to waver.
At the same time, the hidden injuries caused by the Seastone fragments inside them began bleeding more rapidly.
Blood started flowing from both Admirals' noses and mouths.
For the first time, an emotion called fear appeared in their minds.
This was yet another ability that Haki couldn't defend against!
And that still wasn't the end of it.
The bald muscular man wiped some blood from their mouths and noses with his finger.
He then flicked the blood toward a short man standing farther away.
Although the newcomer was small, he carried an enormous scythe.
After receiving the blood, he began humming an unfamiliar tune while drawing a pentagram beneath his feet.
He then swallowed the blood.
Next, he raised his scythe and aimed it toward one of his own vital points, apparently considering where he should strike to make the process more comfortable.
"Hurry up! We need to withdraw before Whitebeard and Garp start fighting!"
A woman emerged from the shadows.
She held an electronic map displaying the names of everyone on the battlefield.
However, most of those names had been automatically hidden because their owners were too weak to matter.
The bald muscular man crossed his arms and sneered.
"Captain, this isn't our first time participating in the Summit War. We know the procedure. What could possibly go wrong?"
The female captain gave him a long, meaningful look before answering.
"This time is different. Two unrelated Players have joined our faction. They've accumulated enormous amounts of Contribution Points, and their strength shouldn't be underestimated."
Only then did the thin man holding two swords speak.
"Are you saying that if they survive until the end, they'll receive the faction rewards?"
The bald muscular man scoffed.
"Survive until the end? What kind of joke is that?"
"Nobody can survive a Summit War like this. That guy isn't going to sit quietly and watch the Marines get completely destroyed."
"We're just making money by exploiting the time difference before he acts."
However, just then, another voice suddenly interrupted them.
"Who exactly is 'that guy'?"
It was Makoto.
Everyone turned toward him in disbelief.
They couldn't understand how his voice had managed to reach their ears when their own people were wearing earmuffs.
As for why Makoto had appeared here, the explanation was simple.
He had noticed the unusual movements of these Players and decided to investigate.
Using Sky Manipulation and his stand's abilities, he had concealed both his appearance and the sounds he made.
Unexpectedly, he had stumbled upon an enormous secret while listening to their conversation.
Akainu and Aokiji were equally shocked to see him.
They hadn't expected this concealed newcomer to be wearing a Marine uniform.
So Makoto wasn't working with their attackers!
Akainu immediately shouted an order.
"The person controlling us is hiding beneath that pile of rubble! Defeat him and free us! That's an order!"
Aokiji took a somewhat more diplomatic approach.
"So it's you! Once this war is over, I'll personally recommend you for promotion to Vice Admiral at Marine Headquarters!"
However, Makoto completely ignored both Admirals.
He was far more interested in what the Players had just revealed.
After all, his most important objective right now was to survive until the Summit War ended and collect his rewards.
Yet these Players had just claimed that nobody would survive this war.
That directly threatened Makoto's most fundamental interests.
He had absolutely no intention of working this hard only to walk away with a few minor rewards from the Newcomer Reception Mission.
Unfortunately, the other Players clearly had no intention of discussing the matter peacefully.
The female captain immediately issued an order.
"Attack!"
The moment she spoke, she rapidly retreated.
Her fingers moved across the electronic screen in her hands at astonishing speed.
Makoto raised an eyebrow.
He was just about to pursue her when the bald muscular man charged toward him with a savage grin and threw a powerful punch.
Makoto made no attempt to dodge.
He activated Armament Haki and met the attack head-on.
Boom!
A thunderous impact echoed through the ruins.
Makoto was forced backward more than ten meters.
The muscular man's face also revealed an astonished expression.
"I didn't expect your Armament Haki to have reached this level!"
Makoto was equally surprised.
His opponent hadn't appeared to use any special ability whatsoever.
It seemed that the man had managed to knock him backward through sheer physical strength alone.
Could this be a Veteran whose Strength attribute was approaching 30 points?
Makoto didn't waste time dwelling on the question.
He immediately charged forward again.
This time, he spoke while attacking.
"My Armament Haki is capable of much more than that. Have you ever witnessed the power of max-level Armament Haki?"
The next instant, Makoto's fist turned completely black.
Even the air surrounding it began displaying lightning-like patterns.
This was the manifestation of advanced Armament Haki Emission.
However, Makoto still wasn't satisfied.
After all, two highly prominent Admiral-level characters were standing right beside him!
[Ding, Making Fake Become Real triggered...]
[Akainu's Fate Value: 30. Trust Level: 20%. Manifestation Points: 6.]
[Aokiji's Fate Value: 30. Trust Level: 30%. Manifestation Points: 9.]
…