In the sky where a few white clouds drifted, several seabirds flew frantically over the sea as if fleeing, heading toward the far end of the ocean. The source of their fear was beneath them, on the vast, boundless sea, where countless warships the size of small islands advanced while belching black smoke.
Gathered together like dark clouds before a storm, the warships moved slowly forward in a triangular formation toward an extremely regular circular island ahead.
Only when they were about ten nautical miles from the island did they stop under orders and anchor on the sea.
"Something's wrong..."
At that moment, it was not only the Marines who felt this way. Everyone watching the live broadcast of the war felt it too.
The reason was simple. This sea was far too quiet. It did not have the atmosphere of a great battle about to begin at all.
It was as if the people on this huge island called Golden Crow had no reaction whatsoever to the enemy's arrival.
Then, as the image zoomed in, everyone finally noticed that this enormous island, which looked extremely desolate, like a desert wasteland, seemed to have nothing on it except the huge statue of a strange three-legged bird standing at the center of the island, which none of them had ever seen before, and stone-paved roads connecting the two ends of the island.
"Did the Sky Pirates run away?"
That was what everyone thought when they saw this scene.
It seemed only natural.
Faced with such a terrifying Marine offensive, running away would be the normal thing to do.
Yet for some reason, many people instinctively felt a little disappointed.
The Marines, however, were thinking more.
Through the binoculars in his hand, Sengoku observed the empty island before him, where everything was visible at a glance. Instinctively, he felt uneasy.
"Have we fallen into a trap?"
That was the first thought that flashed through his mind. He then turned to Hammond beside him and asked, "What's going on? Was there a problem with the intelligence?"
"No..."
At that moment, Hammond also looked at the island before them with some confusion.
"That's impossible. Our intelligence officer sent information half an hour ago. He personally saw Fire Dragon Yemu and his three major fleets, the Thunder God Pirate Crew, the Sun Pirates, and the Sword Wind Pirates, land on this island. The Marines monitoring the surrounding area also found nothing unusual."
"Can we still contact them now?"
Hammond shook his head.
"I'm sorry, Fleet Admiral Sengoku. You know Thunder God Enel's ability. To ensure the safety of our intelligence personnel, unless absolutely necessary, they can only contact us. We cannot contact them."
Hearing this, Sengoku said coldly, "Is this not a critical moment?"
Hammond froze, then nodded and said, "I understand. I'll try contacting them."
But no matter how he called through the Den Den Mushi, there was no response at all, as if the other side did not exist.
As an Admiral, Zephyr found this scene somewhat familiar and spoke.
"Looks like the Sky Pirates have blocked the Den Den Mushi signals."
"Did we come all this way for nothing?"
Borsalino looked at everyone, then looked at the empty, desolate, uninhabited island not far away.
"No..."
Sengoku frowned tightly as he stared at the island before him and said with absolute certainty, "I have a feeling that Fire Dragon Yemu and the others are hiding on this island right now, watching us..."
Sengoku's words startled many people on the flagship.
He stared coldly at the island in front of him, as if he wanted to see through the empty island completely.
The entire Marine fleet had been extremely tense and fully focused in preparation for this war. But because of the enemy's disappearance, the Marines began to relax slightly, and their originally strong momentum started to weaken.
But just then, the Den Den Mushi in the hands of the twenty-three Vice Admirals and two CP0 members stationed across the twenty-five warships rang at the same time.
"All warships, turn your cannons and fire one full volley at the island ahead."
Without the slightest hesitation, and without questioning why Sengoku had issued such an order, the twenty-three Vice Admirals and two CP0 members quickly passed down the command. The Marines who received it also grew tense and began operating the cannons on their warships.
"No. 1 ready..."
"No. 2 ready..."
...
"No. 25 ready..."
"Fire!"
Without any hesitation, Sengoku gave the order directly.
Boom...
Cannon fire roared like thunder, and countless shells followed, raining down densely from the sky.
One had to know that the standard Buster Call configuration was only ten ordinary warships.
Just the firepower coverage of ten ordinary warships was enough to erase an island from the sea completely.
But this time, twenty-five warships had been deployed. All of them were new model warships built by Vegapunk at the full request of the Marines and the World Government, influenced by the Sky Pirates' ship technology.
Neither their performance nor their firepower could be compared to ordinary warships.
After this volley, perhaps the entire island would not be destroyed, but overturning the island's surface would not be a problem.
At this moment, Sengoku's goal was very clear.
Although Fire Dragon Yemu and the Sky Pirates could not be seen anywhere within sight, his intuition was firm. Fire Dragon Yemu and the Sky Pirates were hiding on this island, watching them. So he had to force them out.
Under the gazes of everyone present, as well as everyone watching the war,
the sky-blotting rain of shells turned into black lines trailing gunpowder smoke as they flew toward Golden Crow Island.
Just as the shells were about to reach Golden Crow Island's coastline, Sengoku, Garp, and Zephyr on the Marine flagship all seemed to sense something, and their expressions changed slightly.
"They finally came out!"
As Garp's words fell, waves suddenly began to rise on the calm sea.
Almost instantly, an enormous palm made of seawater appeared, blotting out the sky. Like a hand plucking stars and seizing the moon, it grabbed the rain of shells that covered the heavens.
Boom, boom, boom...
The sounds of exploding shells rang out one after another.
The chain reaction of violent explosions directly blasted the giant hand apart. Towering seawater fell from the sky, forming a waterfall as if descending from the Milky Way itself, splitting the entire world in two.
The Sky Pirates were on this side.
The Marines were on the other.
Whether in the Four Seas or the Grand Line,
those who had never witnessed the true monsters of this world stared at that miracle-like scene, utterly dumbfounded.
"You've got to be kidding. That kind of power... can humans really do that?"
As the towering seawater fell and the curtain of water dispersed, it was as if the entire world had been washed clean.
Behind the water curtain, Golden Crow Island finally showed a change.
Under everyone's incredulous gazes, a massive air door, like a small mountain, appeared in their field of vision.
Seeing this, the many Marine commanders finally understood completely.
"So that's it. The ability of the Doa Doa no Mi?"
"What a troublesome ability..."