A deafening explosion swallowed Whitebeard whole.
Yet, in the very next instant, the blast reformed—shaping itself into a small lion's head that caught Whitebeard and hurtled him away from the carnage.
BOOM! BOOM!
Sonic booms thundered beneath Garp's feet as he rocketed after Whitebeard, his presence a force of nature.
In a blink, he closed the gap, appearing right in front of Whitebeard.
Whitebeard's eyes narrowed, his right hand surging with power as he slammed it forward.
CRACK!
The air in front of him shattered, colliding head-on with Garp's charging iron fist.
Feeling the immense force pushing back, Garp grinned, eyes wild.
"Bone Crusher—AAAHHHH!!!"
With a primal roar, his aura exploded, a storm of violence erupting from his body.
CRACK!
The shattered air disintegrated into fragments, vanishing—nothing now stood between Garp and his prey.
Pushing through the aftershocks, Garp drove his fist straight for Whitebeard's heart.
At the last possible moment, Whitebeard twisted his body, shifting just enough.
Garp's lethal punch scraped past his ribs.
CRUNCH!
It missed his heart, but the sound of bones breaking was unmistakable.
Only Whitebeard knew—half the ribs on his left side had just been pulverized.
Then Garp barreled into him, full force.
In that instant, Whitebeard unleashed his power again, detonating a shockwave before him.
But this time, the vibration was twofold.
It halted Garp for a split second—just long enough for Whitebeard to be blasted backward, sent hurtling at high speed, retreating in a wild arc.
He veered toward Golden Lion's position.
On the other side, just as Golden Lion finished unleashing his power and prepared to take flight, Kong caught up from behind.
His fists blurred, afterimages flickering as Armament Haki condensed into cone-shaped shockwaves, pinning Golden Lion to the ground.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Golden Lion raised his swords to block, forced to retreat again and again.
Suddenly, the ground around him writhed and softened, dotted with countless glowing red spots.
WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
The earth erupted—countless magma lances, each one sheathed in Armament Haki, shot up in a crisscrossing web, trapping Golden Lion in the center.
With a snarl, Golden Lion stabbed both blades into the ground and spun, his entire body twisting. Two massive molten lion heads materialized, spinning with him, their forms condensing tighter and tighter.
The colossal lion heads, clad in Armament Haki, smashed through the magma lances all around.
Surrounded by the two roaring lions, Golden Lion shot skyward.
But even as he soared dozens of meters into the air, Fleet Admiral Kong was already above him.
From overhead, Kong hammered down with a devastating punch.
Golden Lion crossed his twin swords defensively, angling them up.
The two massive lion heads converged from both sides, crashing toward Kong.
BANG! BANG!
Twin explosions rocked the sky—a cone-shaped shockwave pierced through the lion heads, barreling straight at Golden Lion.
CLANG!
Steel shrieked against steel as the shockwave dissipated, revealing Kong himself—his fist smashing down on Golden Lion's crossed blades, driving him toward the ground like a meteor.
BOOM!
The earth within a hundred-meter radius caved in, spiderweb cracks radiating from the impact.
A wild surge of air erupted from the crater, blasting skyward.
At the bottom, Golden Lion lay flat on his back, arms straining as he held his swords crossed, barely blocking Kong's crushing force.
Around them, the once-solid black rock began to writhe, as if preparing to float and merge.
Suddenly, the black stone turned red-hot—magma once more. Golden Lion's pupils shrank.
Every chunk of rock he'd manipulated with the Float-Float Fruit became molten and exploded.
Magma splattered everywhere, then pooled and solidified into a forest of magma spears, each one stretching and thrusting toward Golden Lion.
With no way to dodge, Golden Lion cloaked himself in Armament Haki.
Several spears struck home, detonating in violent bursts.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The pain was searing, sending his rage into overdrive. Muscles bulged along his arms—he actually managed to lift Kong off him by sheer brute force.
At that moment, a shockwave tore through the earth, blasting straight for the two trapped in the crater.
BOOM!
The shockwave detonated, splitting them apart.
Golden Lion shot skyward, Kong in hot pursuit.
The instant Whitebeard and Golden Lion regrouped, they spun as one, slashing behind them in perfect unison.
Then, with a flourish, Golden Lion pressed a palm to Whitebeard's cape, imbuing it with floating power.
The two of them soared upward, coming to a stop hundreds of meters above the battlefield, gazing down at the chaos below.
Golden Lion glanced sideways, catching the drifting snowflakes.
Below, Kong and Garp regrouped, while nearby, Sakazuki's magma form slowly began to reform beside them.
A wicked grin curled Golden Lion's lips as his voice boomed out, arrogant as ever:
"Looks like it's three on three now!"
As his words faded, the scattered snowflakes suddenly multiplied, swept up by violent winds and spinning into a blizzard.
The snow condensed into a figure—upper body human, lower body a swirling drift of snow—floating beside Golden Lion, his gaze wild and manic as he stared down at the trio below.
Blizzard Frank had joined the fray.
With the arrival of the distant snowstorm, the battlefield split into two extremes.
On one side, magma poured forth in endless waves. On the other, snow and ice piled up, freezing the sea in ever-thickening layers.
Suspended midair, Golden Lion extended his right hand. A few snowflakes landed on his palm. He flipped his hand, letting them fall.
As the snowflakes touched the frozen sea below, Golden Lion's eyes sharpened. He swung his right hand upward:
"Lion's Might: Imperial Palace Earth Scroll!"
His voice, brash and domineering, thundered across the heavens. Several colossal, three-hundred-meter-tall snow lion heads materialized, circling the trio in midair with thunderous roars.
As Golden Lion's laughter echoed, more and more giant lion heads formed, surging down toward the three on the ground.
On the battlefield, Sakazuki let out a cold snort, pressing his palms together:
"Infernal Overlord!!!"
The magma side of the world shook violently. Rivers of molten rock surged toward Sakazuki, swirling and coalescing.
In mere seconds, a towering magma giant with eight arms—eight hundred meters tall—took shape. Its feet fused with the ground, and thick black smoke billowed from each of its eight arms.
Under Sakazuki's control, all eight arms locked onto the three in the sky and the endless barrage of blizzard lion heads.
The air shook with relentless roars.
The eight arms blasted forth with rocket-like force, launching toward their targets.
The magma giant's feet remained rooted, endlessly drawing magma from deep below, as its arms regenerated and fired without pause.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The battlefield became a cataclysm of ice and fire.
~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~
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