Luffy and the others nodded in agreement, but just as they were about to move forward, they saw another massive sword slash racing toward them.
Hearing Sabo's urgent warning, everyone instinctively dove to either side to avoid the attack.
"Hey! Your opponent is me! I can't just stand by and watch you slice up my friends like that!"
Following that fierce roar, Luffy and the others turned toward the source of the voice to see Cavendish glaring intensely at his opponent, Gion.
Obviously, both slashes had come from the Vice Admiral.
Skull cupped his hands around his mouth like a megaphone and shouted loudly: "Cavendish! Can you handle her?!"
Cavendish's eyes suddenly became razor-sharp as an extremely violent killing intent erupted from him, then immediately vanished without a trace.
To prevent his friends from being harmed due to his negligence, Cavendish decisively merged with his second personality and threw himself into battle with full intensity.
"Don't worry! I won't give her another chance to attack you!"
As he spoke, his figure suddenly transformed into a bolt of lightning and disappeared from sight.
"What?!" Sensing the dangerous aura hidden beneath his opponent's calm exterior, Gion's expression became deadly serious.
"Beautiful Sword: Lightning Slash!"
In the blink of an eye, Cavendish combined lightning speed with the power of wind and thunder, unleashing countless sword strikes in an instant.
"Sakura Storm: Thousand Blades!"
Gion wasn't about to be outdone. She let out a sharp battle cry and focused completely on her fierce duel with Cavendish.
"Right... let's retreat while we can."
Zoro's eyes swept across the endless storm of sword energy in the area where Cavendish and Gion were fighting. He took a deep breath and turned to address Luffy and the others, who were battling the Marines converging around them.
However, before he could finish his sentence, a thunderous crash suddenly erupted nearby.
A blazing figure fell like a meteor, striking the plaza with tremendous force.
Then Akainu spoke in a low but carrying voice: "Your pitiful flames are no match for my magma."
"Cough... ptui! So what? You still couldn't defend the execution platform!" Ace leaped up from the crater in the ground, wiped blood from the corner of his mouth, and flashed a defiant smile.
He then turned to Luffy and the others beside him. "Skull, thank you so much! Luffy, finally we—"
Before he could finish his words, Ace spotted Sabo and froze in shock. "You... who are you?"
Sabo and Luffy exchanged glances, smiled, and nodded in recognition. They were about to speak when their eyes suddenly widened in alarm.
While they'd been talking, Akainu had appeared beside Ace like a phantom, swinging his superheated magma fist in a devastating attack toward the distracted Fire Fist.
At this critical moment, Sabo instinctively rushed forward several steps, shoving Ace aside with his left hand while quickly coating his right hand with Armament Haki. His five fingers curved into claws as he launched a swift counterattack.
"Dragon Claw!"
There was a tremendous roar as Sabo's hasty defense failed to completely block Akainu's powerful magma punch.
In just a split second, Sabo was sent flying by the Admiral's fist and crashed heavily to the ground.
"Sabo!" Luffy couldn't help but cry out upon seeing this.
Noticing Akainu's relentless advance, Zoro immediately rushed forward and swung his sword with all his strength.
However, Akainu remained completely expressionless, not bothering to defend against Zoro's attack at all, allowing the blade to pass straight through his molten body.
Zoro's powerful slash swept directly across Akainu's torso but caused absolutely no damage whatsoever.
The next second, Akainu sneered. While Zoro was unable to withdraw his sword, the Admiral swung his fist and sent the swordsman flying dozens of meters away.
Luffy and Robin had barely opened their mouths to say something when Akainu cut them off with a cold snort. He sneered mockingly: "What a bunch of fools! You're not naive enough to think you can escape safely just because you left the execution platform, are you?"
"You bastard!" Luffy snarled through gritted teeth, his face filled with rage.
"Luffy, you guys retreat now! Don't waste time here!"
At that moment, Ace had fully recovered his focus. He shouted decisively and flew forward to intercept Akainu, who was clearly preparing to attack Luffy and Robin.
The sudden turn of events in just a few seconds allowed the Marines—whose morale had plummeted after watching Luffy's group escape—to regroup and become even more motivated than before.
Akainu's imposing presence and seemingly invincible power acted like a shot of adrenaline for many Marine officers, making them incredibly excited as they charged toward their enemies with renewed desperation.
This chain reaction didn't just affect the regular Marines, but also inspired the officers to fight even harder to block all the Whitebeard division commanders and Revolutionary Army executives who were trying to provide support.
"Magma brat! Don't get so full of yourself!"
Whitebeard's voice suddenly boomed across the battlefield. He had somehow made his way to the edge of the plaza without anyone noticing.
Deuce, Carrot, and the others also appeared at the same time, following closely behind the World's Strongest Man.
As soon as he finished speaking, Whitebeard raised his fist again, preparing to launch a long-range attack on Akainu.
"Long time no see, Whitebeard!" Sengoku's voice suddenly echoed from above.
Obviously, even in this chaotic battlefield, Whitebeard's movements couldn't escape the Fleet Admiral's watchful eyes.
Sengoku descended from the sky in his golden Buddha form, bringing his massive palm down like a mountain crushing everything beneath it—majestic and unstoppable.
"Sengoku!"
Whitebeard's eyes narrowed as his swinging fist instantly changed direction, smashing directly toward the approaching Fleet Admiral.
Since the war began, this was the first direct confrontation between the top leaders of both sides—a contest between the vibrations of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit and the shockwaves of the Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Zoan Model: Daibutsu.
The two titans' devastating attacks collided in an instant, and the energy waves generated spread outward like ripples, affecting everyone in the vicinity.
The previously noisy nearby battlefield also paused momentarily under the impact of this tremendous force.
Whitebeard's body stiffened as he involuntarily took several steps backward. In contrast, Sengoku was launched through the air, using the momentum to land steadily in the Marine ranks dozens of meters away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Writing takes time, coffee, and a lot of love.If you'd like to support my work, join me at [email protected]/GoldenGaruda
You'll get early access to over 50 chapters, selection on new series, and the satisfaction of knowing your support directly fuels more stories.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~