Instantly, everyone on the battlefield tensed up, their breathing halted, nerves stretched to the limit.
Whitebeard's entire body tightened, muscles coiling as he prepared to withstand the impending attack.
Marco, Jozu, and the other division captains quickly formed up, the entire crew entering their highest state of alert, ready for battle.
Everyone held their breath, silently awaiting Ivan's move.
One second, ten seconds, thirty seconds…
Dozens of long seconds passed quietly. The world remained peaceful, the anticipated attack nowhere to be seen.
Nothing happened.
After the dead silence, a furious roar suddenly erupted.
Whitebeard's face turned ashen, his brows furrowed into a knot as he bellowed angrily:
"Damn brat! You deliberately bluffed, trying to deceive me!"
Beside him, Buggy, who had been tense and terrified, now realized he had been deliberately stalled and toyed with. His face twisted with dissatisfaction as he loudly complained:
"How despicable! Utterly shameless! Deliberately conjuring up a terrifying move just to create pressure, all to buy time and play with everyone!"
Sengoku also wore a strange expression as he looked at Ivan, asking sternly:
"Ivan, is what they're saying true? Is this move of yours nothing but a bluff?
Have you been stalling for time all along?"
Facing everyone's doubts, a faint, composed smile slowly curled at the corner of Ivan's lips. He spoke calmly and unhurriedly:
"Don't rush. Being too hasty might make you miss the show.
Such a massive object from beyond the heavens has a long way to travel. Why not let the meteor fly a little longer?"
The moment his lighthearted words fell—
The light across the entire sky suddenly dimmed!
A vast shadow abruptly enveloped the entire area where the Whitebeard Pirates stood.
A suffocating aura descended from above, a crushing pressure weighing down on every pirate's heart, making it hard to breathe and stiffening their limbs.
One pirate instinctively looked up. When he saw the sight in the sky, his pupils shattered instantly. Extreme terror tore through his reason, and he let out a horrified scream:
"Aaaaaah! It's bad! Everyone, look up! Wh-what is that?!"
Hearing this, Whitebeard, the division captains, and all the pirates instinctively raised their heads, gazing up at the high heavens.
With just one glance, everyone froze instantly, their faces drained of color, expressions filled with utter horror, their bodies turning ice-cold.
In the sky above, a colossal meteor, larger than a mountain, tore through the clouds, plummeting downward at an unimaginably terrifying speed.
An overwhelming, suffocating pressure locked onto every member of the Whitebeard Pirates. There was no avoiding it, no escaping it.
Doom had abruptly descended upon Marineford.
Whitebeard looked up, his eyes fixed on the sky-obscuring celestial body. His massive frame tensed abruptly:
"Damn it… What in the world is that?!"
A meteor with a diameter of a kilometer streaked across the sky, trailing burning stardust as it fell.
The sheer wind generated by its descent alone tore through the ice, toppled broken walls, and churned the entire inner bay into a frenzy.
Such a scene of destruction, defying all reason, sent a chill even through Whitebeard's heart.
Beside him, Marco stared fixedly at the colossal object overhead, his voice filled with awe:
"Such terrifying power exists in this world… To forcibly pull down such a massive meteorite with sheer human strength—this has already surpassed the realm of an Ability User, hasn't it!"
Across the battlefield, all the powerful figures froze in place, their gazes fixed on the sky.
At the edge of the execution platform, Garp clenched his fists tightly, his deeply lined face etched with utter shock.
He had personally witnessed Fujitora's technique of manipulating gravity to summon meteorites, but the two were worlds apart.
"The Gravity-Gravity Fruit can indeed pull down meteorites from the heavens," Garp muttered under his breath. "But the meteorites Fujitora can control are at most a few dozen meters in size.
Yet this behemoth spanning a kilometer before us could easily obliterate Marineford…
Such a heaven-defying feat—can it truly be accomplished by Ivan alone through gravitational force?"
Even the Navy Hero, accustomed to grand spectacles, had to admit it.
The power Ivan displayed had completely shattered his understanding of the world's top-tier fighters.
If nothing unexpected happened, once this war ended, the Gorosei would undoubtedly summon Ivan for a talk.
Such terrifying power could not be ignored, even by the Gorosei!
On the execution platform, Sengoku stared at the approaching colossal meteorite, and a flicker of wild joy suddenly crossed his tense face.
Regardless of how Ivan had achieved it, with such a terrifying meteor strike, the dawn of victory shone clearly before the Navy for the first time.
"Excellent! With this, the Navy stands a great chance of winning this war!"
Yet after the initial elation, reason swiftly returned. Sengoku suddenly realized the hidden danger.
If this kilometer-wide meteorite crashed down completely, not only would the Whitebeard Pirates be annihilated, but the entire island of Marineford would suffer catastrophic damage.
The navy fortress, harbor defenses, and countless Navy soldiers would all be buried in the ruins—a loss far outweighing any gain.
At this thought, Sengoku's expression changed abruptly. He immediately turned to Ivan and issued a warning:
"Ivan, control the intensity of your attack at once! You must not destroy Marineford along with it!"
Facing Sengoku's admonition, Ivan paid no heed whatsoever.
"We've already reached this point—there's no extra energy left to worry about anything else," Ivan's voice was hoarse. "The only focus now is to completely eliminate Whitebeard and quell this chaos! Besides, don't underestimate Whitebeard—they can intercept this meteorite!"
With those words, Ivan held nothing back. Violent gravitational force coiled around the falling meteorite.
Instead of slowing, the meteorite's descent grew even more rapid.
In an instant, the massive meteorite tore through the clouds at high speed, violently rubbing against the atmosphere. The surface rocks instantly ignited, blazing with rolling crimson flames.
The fiery glow illuminated the entire sky, and scorching heat radiated outward, baking the entire battlefield.
After a brief moment of shock, Whitebeard forcibly suppressed the dread in his heart.
He knew that if he allowed this meteorite to crash down, all his sons under his command would be instantly wiped out, with no chance of survival whatsoever.
"Marco, everyone, listen to my command!" Whitebeard roared deeply. "All must join forces, exert every ounce of strength, and together intercept this fatal blow!"
With that, he turned to Misaka Mikoto not far away, his expression grave and earnest as he pleaded:
"Miss Misaka, for this crisis, I must ask for your assistance."
Misaka Mikoto's clear eyes remained fixed on the burning meteor overhead. Hearing his words, she gave a slight nod:
"Don't worry, I certainly won't just stand by and watch."
Having reached this understanding, Whitebeard hesitated no longer. Veins bulged across his entire body as he unleashed potential beyond imagination in that moment.
All the wounds on his body tore open, blood continuously seeping out.
Yet he completely disregarded the intense pain of his flesh, forcibly overloading his power to the limit. He superimposed Vibration Power and Conqueror's Haki, condensing them to their utmost extreme.