"Let go of me!"
Chinjao's face was ferocious as he violently shook off Sai and Boo's attempts to restrain him.
"Grandpa, let's go! If we don't leave now, it will be too late!" Boo anxiously pleaded.
"The Happo Navy has lost enough already. You two, go first. Take them and leave!" Chinjao gazed at Sai and Boo, his voice surprisingly calm. He instructed, "I'm leaving the Happo Navy to you. This grudge is mine alone!"
"And all of it... let it end today!"
As his voice faded, Chinjao leaped up, placing himself directly in front of the raging Marines.
"Garp! Golden Ring brat!"
"All the grudges will be settled today!"
Chinjao's voice echoed across most of Marineford.
"Chinjao…"
Garp looked at Chinjao from afar, sighed, but then turned to continue fighting the entire Blackbeard Pirates alongside Sengoku.
"Heh heh heh. Old Man Garp doesn't have time for you right now." Aeridar flew over. "Let me give you a final send-off. The era of you old geezers is over, Chinjao!"
"Hiyahohoho~ You've got guts to say that!" Chinjao laughed, his beard flying and his face resembling a demon. He roared fiercely, "Brat, let me leave a deep mark on you, one you'll remember today!"
Chinjao punched and shattered his already petrified left arm. He then stomped the ground, launching himself straight up as if shooting into the clouds, leaving a vast cracked area on the ground below.
Armament Haki covered his flattened head, turning it into black metal. His massive body descended like a missile, crashing down at high speed.
Hasshoken Secret Art: Non-Drill Dragon Non Nail!!!
"You underestimate me too much, after all these years of stagnation."
"Who do you think I am? A failure?!"
A vicious look appeared on Aeridar's face as he roared and flew skyward.
His body suddenly swelled slightly, his rippling muscular arm was swiftly covered in Armament Haki, and he blasted a single punch forward.
It was a simple swing, but before his fist, ripples like flowing water appeared in the air.
Dong—
BOOM!!!
The iron fist and the iron head collided instantly. A circle of distorted ripples immediately swept outward, and dozens of black-and-red lightning bolts erupted, snaking wildly through the air. As they passed, everyone caught in the area instantly passed out, their eyes rolling back.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The ground shook violently, heaving up and down. A terrifying air current spread outward like a ferocious hurricane. The ground instantly collapsed and sank, forming three massive impact craters.
After only a brief deadlock, Chinjao was sent flying back like a cannonball, quickly becoming a mere black blur due to his speed.
Along his path, countless Marines and pirates were caught in the blast. Those hit head-on were instantly turned into a mist of blood, while those nearby had their bodies torn apart by the razor-sharp windstorm.
The ground of Marineford, the cannon towers, the shore defenses... everything in his way was uncontrollably destroyed. Even two battleships anchored in the bay were completely perforated, smashed to pieces, and sank into the sea.
"Grandpa!"
With a cry of alarm, Sai and Boo barely reacted before they were encircled by the windstorm created by the air currents.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa... that's a bit much!"
Borsalino, who had been lazily drifting around, finally twitched, losing his composure for the first time.
The flying dust mixed with the steam from the air currents, forming a dense, pervasive cloud of smoke that covered an area of several miles.
Everyone stood with their mouths agape; the battlefield fell into an eerie silence.
"Gulp~"
Teach swallowed, cold sweat trickling down his forehead. While he could cause a more exaggerated scene with the quake power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, the critical difference here was that this was purely raw impact and strength, without any specific technique—just a simple, unadulterated physical attack.
Sengoku and Garp exchanged heavy glances, their expressions serious.
"A-A monster!"
Marco's mouth hung open, utterly speechless.
It was clear that the current Aeridar was utilizing the Impact-Impact Fruit's power to its absolute limit. His overwhelming physical attacks were practically unstoppable by gods or devils.
The reason he couldn't defeat Whitebeard earlier was due to Whitebeard's physical strength; Whitebeard's monstrously powerful body, combined with decades of experience mastering the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, made losing to him normal.
But compared to anyone else, even the Marine Admirals, this level of power was enough to make them feel mortal danger.
"Grandpa!"
Sai and Boo shakily stood up in the rubble of the shore, looking bewildered at the ravaged area before them.
Lying on a Grade 1 battleship that looked violently torn open, Chinjao was slumped against a 24-pound naval cannon, his eyes rolled back. The cannon was completely twisted, its refined steel barrel concave and covered in dense, fine cracks.
Chinjao was bleeding from all seven orifices, his skull fractured. The flesh on his flat head was a bloody mess, with white bone fragments piercing the skin, making it look as though one could see his brain inside.
His breath was intermittent, placing him on the brink of death. He had one foot in the grave, so to speak. Only a great pirate like Chinjao could survive this; any ordinary person would have died several times over.
"Oh? Was that all it took? Just one punch?"
Aeridar spread his hands, feigning helplessness. "And here you were talking about 'leaving a deep mark' and 'remembering today.' "
His tone then turned sharp and severe: "An old man who's been stagnant for years, relying on old tricks, you should think before you boast!"
"Zehahahaha! That's quite an exaggeration!" Teach roared with laughter, though his eyes darted around, a clear sense of retreat forming in his heart.
Only Teach and Shiryu had the strongest fighting power in the entire Blackbeard Pirates. Laffitte and the others, who didn't use Haki, had good potential but needed training. As for Pizarro, Shot, and the others, they had been in Impel Down for too long and needed time to recover to their peak strength.
The only people who could become Yonko were him and that monster Aeridar. If Aeridar were to team up with the Marines, even if Teach fought to the death and managed to sink the entirety of Marineford into the sea, he knew he would likely have to leave his entire Blackbeard Pirate crew behind.
A strange calm descended upon the battlefield. No one was fighting.
At that moment, a massive pirate ship with a red dragon figurehead docked in Marineford's bay.
"Oh~ It looks like the war is over!"
A voice rang out. A well-proportioned, handsome man with red hair stepped onto the Marineford plaza.
He had three scars over his left eye, short stubble on his mouth, was one-armed, and wore a white shirt with only half the buttons fastened, a long black cloak draped over his shoulders, a cutlass at his waist, and loose three-quarter trousers paired with sandals.
Though his attire was unconventional, he looked perfectly normal and exuded an aura of dominance.
"Heh heh heh~ So, he's here!" Aeridar turned to face the man.
"R-Red-Haired!"
"A Yonko, Red-Haired Shanks!"
"And the Red Hair Pirates!!!"
"How is this possible! The clash between Yonko Red-Haired and Kaido in the New World feels like it was just yesterday! And yet he's here!"
The Marines gasped collectively as they looked at the newcomer and the red dragon warship docked nearby. The Red Force was filled with the Red Hair Pirates' key executives.
Red-Haired Shanks walked step by step through the gaze of countless people and stopped right in front of Sakazuki.
"I have come... to end this war."