As Shanks' authoritative words echoed across the battlefield, looks of genuine surprise flashed through countless eyes.
No one seemed to have expected that Red-Haired Shanks—one of the Four Emperors feared throughout the world—had come here not to join the devastating conflict, but to resolve it peacefully.
Hearing his proposal, countless Marines, pirates, and Revolutionary Army soldiers looked toward their respective leaders, silently awaiting orders and guidance.
However, deep in their hearts, most of them actually wanted this brutal battle to finally end.
This wasn't only because they'd been fighting for most of the day and were physically and mentally exhausted, but also because countless wounded comrades lay scattered across the battlefield and in the rear areas, desperately needing medical attention.
Of course, considering the broader strategic situation, whether the battle continued wasn't their individual decision to make—they were generally prepared to obey whatever choices their leaders made.
Whitebeard's gaze found Sengoku across the plaza. Their eyes met briefly in the air before both returned to watchful calm.
Then Whitebeard turned his attention toward Ace, clearly wanting his adopted son to make the final decision.
After all, the Whitebeard Pirates had come here entirely for Ace's sake.
Ace surveyed the battlefield around him, glanced casually in Jerry's direction, remained silent for several long seconds, then slowly nodded his agreement.
After Luffy's disappearance—knowing his sworn brother was now out of immediate danger—Ace was determined to rescue Robin for Luffy's sake, then return to settle accounts with Teach later.
Now that their rescue objective had been essentially achieved, the fighting remained fierce and costly. If they insisted on continuing this war solely to pursue Teach, his brothers-in-arms would probably suffer countless additional casualties before they could end this conflict. That didn't seem like a wise strategic choice.
It was precisely because of this reasoning that Ace chose not to insist on continuing the battle.
On the other side of the battlefield, Dragon maintained his characteristically calm expression in the sky above, revealing none of his internal considerations.
He looked at Kizaru for a brief moment, then glanced down at Robin and the others who had retreated to the rear of their formation. His figure dissolved into wind and materialized beside Sabo in the blink of an eye.
Dragon and Sabo exchanged meaningful looks before both nodded slightly in agreement.
Seeing these developments, most people present breathed sighs of relief.
As a result, everyone's attention focused intently on the top Marine leadership.
Akainu sneered with obvious disdain: "Since when do pirates get to make decisions about Marine operations? If you want a ceasefire, hand over Nico Robin first!"
The moment those words left his lips, the atmosphere—which had grown slightly more relaxed—suddenly became tense again as both sides fell back into defensive stances.
Shanks chuckled quietly, his eyes lingering on the Admiral who was clenching his remaining fist, before turning toward Sengoku.
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku, your primary target for this execution was Luffy, and that young woman over there was merely incidental, correct?"
"As far as I understand, she's been fleeing for years without causing any significant incidents or harm."
"Why not end things here? If this war continues, it will only result in unnecessary suffering and loss of life."
"Just give me some face this time!"
Hearing Red Hair's diplomatic appeal, Sengoku raised his hand to prevent Akainu from responding immediately.
The Fleet Admiral pondered for several moments, as if carefully weighing various strategic considerations and consequences deep in his mind.
Just as Sengoku parted his lips and prepared to speak, he heard a thunderous shout in the distance, accompanied by a tremendous crash that shook the entire battlefield.
Jerry's furious roar shattered the gradually peaceful atmosphere settling over the plaza.
A massive slash erupted from Jerry's position in mid-air, cutting viciously toward the ground below.
"ARGH!" Teach's muffled scream rang out from the rubble of destroyed houses.
At the same time, Garp laughed heartily and threw a devastating punch at Shiryu, who was dragging the injured Devon while trying to reach Teach's position.
"CRACK!" Shiryu raised his sword defensively, but Garp's legendary fist possessed such overwhelming power that he was immediately knocked back several steps.
Noticing that Jerry was charging toward Teach once again, Garp swung his other fist without hesitation, continuing his assault on Shiryu and the remaining Blackbeard Pirates.
Throughout the plaza, representatives from multiple factions were left speechless by Jerry and Garp's complete disregard for the ceasefire negotiations.
On the Marine side, everyone looked at Garp, then turned toward Sengoku with complicated emotions clearly visible in their expressions.
Everyone understood that when Garp became truly determined about something, very few people aside from Sengoku could easily stop the legendary hero.
The pirates and Revolutionary Army members looked at each other with obvious bewilderment.
After the previous extended battles, they had all come to fully understand that Leviathan Jerry—who appeared somewhat casual and humorous most of the time—actually possessed unfathomable strength hidden beneath his seemingly harmless exterior.
Therefore, they all looked toward Whitebeard, Ace, and Dragon, trying to gauge how the situation would develop and whether it would ultimately lead to continued war or genuine peace.
Just when everyone remained confused and hesitant about the next course of action, many people saw only a brief flash before their eyes as Shanks' figure rapidly materialized at the current battlefield's center.
"Leviathan! I hope you can give me some face and listen to reason. Otherwise, we'll have no choice but to intervene forcibly." Shanks' voice carried clearly through the air.
As he spoke, he used his advanced Observation Haki to predict the devastating attack Jerry was about to launch against Teach, and his expression grew noticeably more serious.
While Shanks was certainly pleased to see Teach receiving his comeuppance, he felt it would be better to end things at this particular moment.
Moreover, most combatants on the main battlefield had basically accepted the decision to implement a ceasefire.
If he allowed Jerry and Garp to continue their violent pursuit, he feared all his previous diplomatic efforts would prove completely worthless.
With lightning-quick decision-making, Shanks drew his sword without hesitation and moved to block Jerry's attack trajectory.
The moment his legendary blade collided with Jerry's fishing rod, invisible energy ripples surged outward as the Conqueror's Haki wrapped around each fighter's weapon suddenly swept across the surrounding area, making distant observers feel tremendous oppressive force.
"Red Hair! Of course I can stop—but the prerequisite is that I must receive approval from my friends first! Otherwise, I will never let anyone who dares to harm my friends escape easily!"
During their weapons' stalemate, Jerry shouted with passionate intensity, and the Conqueror's Haki coating his fishing rod seemed to become even more violent and chaotic.
Shanks' pupils contracted sharply as he gripped his sword tightly with one hand, his facial expression becoming far more serious and focused.
They stepped back almost simultaneously, then steadied themselves before launching absolutely devastating attacks at each other.
"Water Blade: Dimension Slash!" Jerry understood perfectly that combat effectiveness depended entirely on the power of his battle cry. He roared with tremendous volume, as if trying to concentrate all his strength into that single thunderous shout.
"Divine Departure!" Shanks spoke with calm authority, but his hands moved with incredible swiftness and precision, showing no hesitation whatsoever.
A tremendous metallic clash shook the very heavens as powerful wind pressure erupted suddenly. The incomparably heavy and breathtaking Conqueror's Haki formed visible shock waves that swept outward in all directions.
Like a hurricane roaring across the landscape, with the two combatants' clash as the epicenter, everything in the surrounding area was blown about with tremendous force as countless debris and loose objects were launched through the air.
As the two titans collided with earth-shaking violence, the entire world seemed to respond, with winds and clouds surging dramatically overhead.
Almost simultaneously, a tremendous shock wave erupted as a massive circular crater—over one hundred meters in diameter—instantly appeared where they had been fighting.
Immediately afterward, both Jerry and Shanks were involuntarily launched backward in opposite directions, each striking the crater's edge with tremendous impact.
The spreading waves of Conqueror's Haki once again overwhelmed people across a vast area, especially those positioned closer to the former execution platform, causing their eyes to roll back as they collapsed unconscious to the ground.
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