As the intense, firecracker-like explosions gradually dissipated, people slowly began to make out the current appearance of that inferno.
Within a few hundred meters of the gap, there were uneven, large and small craters everywhere.
The entire ground had turned charred black, with wisps of black smoke still rising.
The air was filled with a strong scent of gunpowder, so much so that even people outside the blast radius found it somewhat pungent.
And the thousands of Marine who were originally in that area, responsible for defending the gap, were now all incapacitated.
The pockmarked craters were filled with blood and corpses.
Some weaker Marine were blown to smithereens, while others died on the spot.
Those who could barely withstand it were now merely clinging to life, unable to move, only able to curl up in the craters, wailing and moaning.
This scene utterly stunned everyone present, including the entire world.
The surrounding Marine stared blankly at that hell, and at the person standing in the midst of that hell, saying in horror,
"No… no way?! He instantly wiped out thousands of Marine elites?!"
"This ability is too unfair! He alone is practically a walking super humanoid cannon!"
"Speaking of which, the power of this explosion is too exaggerated! It's dozens of times stronger than ordinary bombs! Among those Marine elites, there were even high-ranking officers at the Rear Admiral level, and even they couldn't withstand it!"
"Is this the rumored strength of the Straw Hat?! Any one of them has this kind of combat power! Is this pirate crew perhaps a bit too strong?!"
Just an opening act, and the Straw Hat's performance had already planted a hint of fear in the hearts of the Marine.
Even Doflamingo felt a wave of lingering fear, his eyes filled with shock and excitement, a smile on his lips as he said to Hawkeye beside him,
"Fortunately, we chose to retreat."
"Otherwise, even if it were us, we couldn't guarantee to escape unscathed from that explosion!"
"This group truly consists of monsters!"
"I never thought that they would have already mastered Devil Fruit Awakening after such a short time at sea!"
"This war is getting more and more interesting!"
"Fufufufufu…"
Hawkeye did not respond to Doffy, but his eyes also held a look of shock.
He marveled in his heart,
"Even a regular combatant has such strong combat power!"
"Then how strong are the main combatants, or even the Captain, truly?"
"Straw Hat, your crew is truly going to make the whole world look at you with new eyes!"
...
Holy Land Mariejois!
When they saw Usopp use the power of Devil Fruit Awakening, the Gorosei's eyes widened, and their mood became extremely tense.
Saint Warcury frowned and exclaimed in surprise,
"No way?! They've actually already mastered the power of Devil Fruit Awakening!"
"If his subordinates have all mastered this power, then he…"
Saint Warcury did not finish his sentence, but everyone else understood what he meant.
Saint Mars said with a cold face,
"That Fruit is the 'God' Fruit; no one has ever awakened it in 800 years."
"The difficulty of awakening it is not comparable to ordinary Fruits."
Saint Nasujuro frowned, his eyes filled with worry, and said,
"Even so, it's still very unsettling!"
"Even if he hasn't awakened yet, he has awakened ability users around him."
"Under their influence, his chances of successful awakening will greatly increase."
Pitte Saint said with a grim face and a deep voice,
"We cannot sit idly by and let him grow unchecked any longer!"
"He has repeatedly broken conventions and exceeded our imagination."
"If we let him continue to grow, I'm afraid it will cause consequences that we cannot bear in the future."
"We must act!"
After Pitte Saint spoke, the entire room fell into a deep silence.
The atmosphere instantly became incredibly heavy and oppressive.
A moment later, Satan Saint suddenly stood up from his seat.
This action drew the gazes of everyone else.
Then, they saw Satan Saint say with a serious face and a deep voice,
"I'll go personally!"
"There are practically two Emperor crews on the battlefield now."
"The most crucial thing is that almost all of the Straw Hat are high-level combatants, and they also brought nearly half of the Shichibukai and a Revolutionary Army high-ranking executive."
"Such a combination puts too much pressure on the Marine."
"Moreover, judging by the strength the Straw Hat has displayed so far, even sending CP0 might not guarantee eliminating him~. "
"My going personally… is the best method!"
Regarding Satan Saint's statement, the others thought about it briefly and all expressed their agreement.
Although CP0's strength was not weak, relying on them to eliminate the current Straw Hat was still quite unrealistic.
After a pause, a flicker of anger and cold killing intent suddenly appeared in Satan Saint's eyes, and he said chillingly,
"Kuma's betrayal is my responsibility."
"I trusted him too much and didn't have Vegapunk erase his personality sooner."
"This matter is my fault, so I will go personally to eliminate him and atone for my mistake."
Leaving this last sentence, Satan Saint left the conference room with an imposing aura.
...
Marineford!
Just as the Marine side was deeply terrified by Usopp's strength, the pirates on the other side were completely ignited with passion and fighting spirit.
"The artillery has been destroyed! The gap has also been opened!"
"We can finally break through!"
"Brothers, let's charge!"
"Charge! Break into the plaza!"
"Destroy the Marine, save Ace!"
Amidst excited shouts, countless pirates began to surge frantically into the plaza through that gap.
It was as if a valve had been opened, and the surging crowd was like a bursting flood, making the Marine look on in awe.
Seeing the pirates beginning to pour into the plaza at an astonishing speed, Sengoku immediately panicked and issued an order.
"Immediately seal that breach! Don't let the pirates easily break through!"
After giving orders to all the Marines, Sengoku quickly focused his attention on Hawkeye and Doflamingo, who were closest to Usopp and possessed sufficient strength.
He roared at the two of them,
"Hawkeye! Doflamingo! Quickly stop that explosion man! Don't let him use his ability anymore!"
At Sengoku's command, countless Marines immediately surged towards the breach.
However, to Sengoku's surprise, Hawkeye and Doflamingo did not obey his command and attack Usopp.
After a brief moment of stunned, Sengoku immediately roared in fury,
"Did you two hear me?!"
"Hurry up and stop that explosion man!"
The response was still indifference.
At this point, Sengoku was completely enraged.
Frowning, he asked in a deep, furious voice,
"What exactly do you want to do?!"
At this moment, the two finally turned to look at Sengoku.
Hawkeye's face was cold.
Doflamingo, on the other hand, had a smile on his lips, but his brows were tightly furrowed, and the veins on his forehead were clearly visible.
He spoke in a low voice,
"Sengoku!"
"As Shichibukai, we have an equal transaction with you Marines and the World Government."
"We fight for you, and you guarantee our rights as Shichibukai."
"But now, what have you done?"
"Those brats over there have completely replicated our abilities, and they seem to have integrated other powerful bloodlines and abilities."
As he spoke, Doflamingo became incredibly enraged, roaring and screaming at Sengoku,
"Don't think we're fools, Sengoku!"
"You secretly created these things, isn't it to replace us?"
"Even now, you still want us to risk our lives for you!"
"Are you still trying to insult us like we're idiots?!"
With that, Doflamingo completely lost control.
With a wave of his "Five Color Strings" in the air,
sections of Marines were cut by his sharp strings, wailing continuously.
Although Hawkeye did not move, his eyes also held the fury of betrayal.
The Seraphim's appearance and abilities were replicated from them, and they also had other advantages that they did not possess.
It was clear that they intended to create stronger and more obedient replacements.
With Doflamingo and Hawkeye's eyesight, how could they not see this?
Doflamingo's sudden outburst completely stunned the Marines.
"No... no way?! Doflamingo is attacking our own people!"
"Idiot! What 'our own people'?! They're evil pirates!"
"Damn pirates, precisely at this time..."
"Have even the only two remaining Shichibukai betrayed us?! Pirates really aren't trustworthy!"
"Isn't this just natural?! How could such evil beings like pirates stand firmly on our side of justice?!"
The angry and shocked words of the Marines also reached Doflamingo's ears.
And when he heard these words, he immediately sneered disdainfully,
"Pirates are evil? Marines are just?"
"This kind of thing has been rewritten countless times already!"
"Children who don't know 'peace'..."
"and children who don't know 'war'..."
"Their values are fundamentally different!"
"Only those who stand at the top can change good and evil!"
"Justice will prevail? That's natural!"
"Because only the winners..."
"are justice!!!"
As Doflamingo spoke these words, his emotions grew more and more agitated, until finally, he had become almost frenzied.
He spread his arms and laughed up at the sky.
These words and actions made countless ordinary people around the world feel a sense of dread towards pirates.
Only a small portion of those who knew the darkness behind the Marine and World Government could understand and agree with these words.
But such voices, at this moment, ultimately could not drown out the idea of "pirates are evil."
When Sengoku heard Doflamingo's words, he was already gnashing his teeth and trembling with rage.
He stared hatefully at Doflamingo and Hawkeye, his face contorted, spitting out angry words one by one in a deep voice.
"You bastards..."
"Are you going to completely turn against us and stand on our opposite side?"
Doflamingo stopped laughing and said in a deep voice,
"This is the path you chose for us..."
With that, Doflamingo put his hands in his pockets and said lightly,
"Our agreement was actively destroyed by you."
"This war has nothing to do with me anymore!"
"Now..."
"I just want to be a bystander and enjoy this war that is about to change the future of the world."
"Fufufufufu..."
With that, Doflamingo laughed as he walked towards a place far from the battlefield.
Even though he harbored anger towards the Marines, choosing to wage war against the entire Marineford for it was clearly a foolish choice.
The Straw Hat and the Whitebeard Pirates were on the same front to save Ace; he had no such reason.
If he rushed in now and faced an Admiral, no one would come to save him.
So at this moment, being a bystander was the best choice!
Hawkeye, after a brief pause, suddenly turned to look at Zoro on the surrounding wall.
He had originally wanted to fight Zoro again to see his growth.
But now was clearly not a good time or place.
"~ Let's fight again next time!"
Muttering to himself, Hawkeye put away his Black Blade and followed Doflamingo away from the battlefield.
He also did not intend to leave immediately but wanted to witness this war with his own eyes.
As the two began to walk away from the battlefield, countless Marines around them instantly appeared somewhat bewildered, unsure how to treat them.
At this moment, Sengoku suddenly shouted an order,
"Don't mind them! Prioritize dealing with the Straw Hat and the Whitebeard Pirates!"
At this point, Sengoku no longer had the mind to pay attention to Hawkeye and Doflamingo.
The mere appearance of the Straw Hat had already made him feel immense pressure, and he dared not show any negligence.
Upon hearing Sengoku's command, all the Marines immediately ignored Hawkeye and the other, focusing instead on charging towards the Whitebeard Pirates who were continuously pouring into the plaza.
Because Doflamingo had suddenly attacked earlier, causing the Marines to stunned for a moment, many pirates had already broken into the plaza.
And these pirates, upon entering the plaza, immediately charged forward and engaged in fierce combat with the Marines.
This bought time for more and more pirates to break into the plaza.
Luffy no longer waited at this moment and said to the others,
"You guys move too!"
"Help the Whitebeard Pirates complete their breakthrough!"
As his voice fell, the others beside him leaped down, engaging in battle with the continuously charging Marines.
Only Luffy remained standing on the surrounding wall, awaiting a suitable moment.
With the entry of the Straw Hat, the opening that the Marines had slowly torn open immediately grew larger and larger.
In the battlefield, lightning flashed, thunder roared, and explosions were constant!
Slashes, flying kicks, and various other powerful attacks continuously struck into the Marine crowd.
Each member of the Straw Hat was like a god of war, sweeping and rampaging through the continuously charging Marines.
In just a few tens of seconds, that breach was extended by another hundred meters.
Seeing that the pirate breakthrough was a foregone conclusion, Sengoku immediately adjusted his battle orders (good Li Zhao), roaring at the battlefield,
"All units, attention!"
"Abandon blockading that breach! Let the pirates come in!"
"We have a numerical advantage now; expanding the battlefield is beneficial to us!"
The Marines had suffered minimal losses from the start of the war until now.
The Whitebeard Pirates, however, had suffered heavy losses due to facing a barrage of cannon fire and being surrounded by various attacks.
If they continued to fight in that small breach, it would prevent the Marines from fully utilizing their strength and would cause them to lose their advantage.
Furthermore, because the Marines' positioning placed the relatively weaker ones in the front lines, most of the high-level combatants were guarding the execution platform.
Now, countless relatively ordinary Marines were blocking the way there, making it difficult for higher-level combatants to squeeze in.
This also led to virtually no one being able to stop the Straw Hat's slaughter of the Marines.
Expanding the battlefield would also provide enough space for these high-level combatants to enter the battlefield and stop them.
Upon receiving Sengoku's command, all the Marines who had been continuously surging towards that breach immediately stopped.
And began to retreat, allowing the pirates to enter the plaza.
As they continuously retreated and dispersed, the battlefield quickly grew larger and larger.
The Whitebeard Pirates' breakthrough speed also became faster and faster.
After just a few minutes.
The Whitebeard Pirates, including all the pirates under his command, finally all broke through and arrived in the plaza.
And Whitebeard himself, including Marco who had been knocked away earlier, and all the division commanders, were all present.
The current battlefield had completely transformed into a new appearance.
The Marines formed a giant semicircle, enclosing all the pirates within it, along with the surrounding wall.
At the apex of the semicircle was the execution platform where Sengoku and the Three Admirals, the highest combatants, were located.
In front of them were various Vice Admirals and other high-level combatants.
The Whitebeard Pirates were located near the edge, inside the encirclement.
Standing between the two forces were the Straw Hat!
Seeing that the time was ripe, Luffy leaped down from the encirclement and joined the Straw Hat.
He glanced at the numerous Marine in front of him and smiled faintly.
"The real battle… has begun!"