On the TV Conch's screen, which was not especially large yet seemed to cover the entire sea,
the world looked as if it had been split into two halves.
On the left was the barren circular island called Golden Crow, with the Twin Goddesses standing like a tiny dot in front of the air door.
On the right was the vast blue sea, where twenty-five enormous warships, like black ink dots, occupied the entire surface.
Pirates versus Marines.
Rainbow Country versus the World Government.
That was the situation now, clearer than anything.
As something beneath the calm surface of the sea seemed to surge, Yemu was the first to pull open the curtain on this war.
In just a few breaths, under everyone's incredulous gazes, the entire sea rose like a gushing fountain, and the sea level began climbing rapidly.
At first, because the TV image was so small, those watching the war could not fully grasp how terrifying this move was. But as the image zoomed in, as the warships that had looked like ink dots gradually enlarged until they seemed as large as islands, and as the surging seawater continued rising to a height like a natural barrier, blotting out the sky, everyone finally realized in horror just what level of power this war involved.
"W-what is that?!"
"Are you kidding me? Can a human really do something like that?"
"Monster... He's a monster..."
"So this is what pirates of the New World are like?"
Cries like these echoed across every corner of the sea.
On the battlefield, the Marines aboard the warships also began to panic because of this sudden, disaster-like change.
Although the Marines' new warships, because of their tonnage and materials, could already withstand extremely violent fluctuations on the sea surface, this sudden rise in sea level still caused the ships to lose control and sway wildly on the water.
"What a terrifying ability."
On the leading flagship, Garp watched this scene as if he had returned to the days when he fought his old opponent, Shiki.
Just over a year ago, Shiki had relied on the Fuwa Fuwa no Mi's ability to single-handedly destroy half of Marine Headquarters.
And that had been while Sengoku and Garp were both there to defend it.
Now, this most troublesome ability had fallen into the hands of the most vicious pirate in the world.
However, Sengoku and the others were not worried, because this had originally been within their expectations.
Not only had they already prepared a way to deal with it, but the Marine warships deployed this time were different from ordinary warships.
The hulls of these new warships were all built from the extremely hard trunks of Yarukiman Mangrove.
Although they could not compare with Treasure Tree Adam, the toughest and most durable plant in the world, ordinary tsunamis and impacts could not damage these warships in the slightest.
But just then, the sea surface that had already risen suddenly began spinning rapidly.
"Damn it!"
Seeing this, Sengoku quickly understood Yemu's purpose.
And as his voice fell, a huge whirlpool appeared on the sea.
Under the influence of this terrifying vortex, the warships that had only been swaying slightly finally lost control completely. Caught in the rotating current, they began moving with the flow.
Boom...
Driven by the rapidly spinning current, the warships, which had not been very far apart to begin with, finally began colliding with one another in groups of two and three. The soldiers on the warships, who had still managed to steady themselves before, were instantly thrown into chaos by the violent impacts.
Under these conditions, even the well-trained Marines aboard could no longer keep their footing. They fell in all directions, and some soldiers were even thrown straight off the warships and into the sea.
"Bad news! The cabin of Warship No. 3 is starting to break apart!"
"No. 8 too..."
"And No. 15..."
But the truly terrible part was still to come.
If this was not stopped, once all the warships were dragged into the center of the whirlpool, the collisions would no longer be limited to one or two ships.
"Kuzan!"
Unable to wait any longer, Sengoku gave the order.
Kuzan, who had long since been prepared, looked gravely toward Yemu in the distance. As the order came down, he leaped into the air.
"Ice Age!"
In an instant, as Kuzan's figure flew into the sky, a wave of cold air erupted from him.
In a scene that looked like magic, the originally surging sea was completely frozen in that moment, turning into a world of white ice crystals.
"!!!"
If the Fuwa Fuwa no Mi ability Yemu displayed just now only made those watching this war think that perhaps only Fire Dragon Yemu was that strong, then at this moment, the Marine ability that froze the sea once again filled everyone watching with fear.
"I didn't expect the Marines to have someone that strong too..."
"The Admirals and Marine Hero haven't even acted yet, and it's already this terrifying..."
"The sea is terrifying..."
"Maybe we shouldn't become pirates after all..."
On the battlefield, as a massive ice mountain appeared, the Marine warships were also frozen within it.
"Are we safe?"
That was what the Marines thought. Immediately after came a wave of cheers for Kuzan, loud enough to shake the sky.
At this moment, Kuzan also returned to the warship. As he exhaled a breath of cold air, his whole body left its elementalized state.
Sengoku looked at the world before him, which had completely turned into ice crystals, and nodded.
"Well done, Kuzan. Although it's a little different from what we expected, things are finally back on track."
But just then, Yemu's voice rang in the Marines' ears once more.
"You've gotten stronger, Kuzan."
They were clearly enemies, yet he used such a relaxed tone.
It gave every Marine a strange, uneasy feeling.
Fortunately, under everyone's gaze, Kuzan, as a Marine, did not hide anything. He looked at Yemu, who stood not far away on the deck of the equally frozen Twin Goddesses, and spoke in his lazy tone.
"No helping it. This is the result of training hard so I can capture you."
"Surrender, Fire Dragon Yemu."
Yemu ignored him and looked left and right at the icy world before him.
On the surface, this first clash, the Fuwa Fuwa no Mi versus the Hie Hie no Mi, seemed to show the Hie Hie no Mi gaining the upper hand and neutralizing his Fuwa Fuwa no Mi attack. But with his current Fuwa Fuwa no Mi ability, he could actually control ice and snow as well. The Marines' danger had not been removed.
But he did not do that.
The reason was simple.
It was not yet time for king versus king.
If he continued pressing them, he would only force Garp and Sengoku to act.
That did not match his expectations.
Second, was this scene not exactly what he had hoped for?
If it truly came down to competing through ships and artillery, the current him was no match for the Marines.
At that moment, the Marines also moved.
"Proceed according to plan. Attack."
With Sengoku's order, fifty thousand soldiers were left behind on the twenty-five warships as reserves. The remaining one hundred thousand Marine soldiers also received their orders and jumped down from the warships, turning into a dense crowd as they charged toward Golden Crow Island...