"Huh!? That's the Whitebeard Pirates!"

"Beep!"

The messenger, fully prepared, immediately sounded the alarm the moment the Whitebeard Pirates appeared.

Dozens of advanced warships surrounded Marine Headquarters, encircling the Whitebeard Pirates in the center.

One hundred thousand elite marines watched the arrival of the Whitebeard Pirates with caution.

Their previously high morale suddenly became tense.

In front of one of the Yonko who roam the seas, even with careful preparations, they still had to be extremely cautious.

Under the gazes of many marine officers, an old yet still imposing figure walked to the bow of the Moby Dick.

"Ace, just hold on. Pops is here to save you!"

Whitebeard looked at Ace on the execution platform and laughed boldly.

Behind him, all the division commanders stood, firmly supporting Whitebeard.

"Pops!"

On the execution platform, Ace, who had been silent with his head lowered, looked toward Whitebeard and shouted with tears in his eyes.

Sure enough, even if this place were a sea of fire and blades, Pops would come to save him.

But he should not have come this time.

"It has been decades, Whitebeard. Since you dare to come, be buried here along with the Pirate King's bloodline."

Sengoku stood before Ace and stared straight at Whitebeard.

He knew Whitebeard would definitely come. As an old rival from decades ago, he knew Whitebeard too well. This was a man who would risk his life for his son.

This was originally a trap, but Whitebeard was only the backup target.

He would rather see another figure, the one who abducted many of the Marines' elite.

If Caelan came here, he would let him witness the wrath of Buddha.

"Sengoku, you think too highly of yourself. I came today to take my son home."

Whitebeard's gaze spanned a thousand meters, meeting the majestic Sengoku, or perhaps he was looking at Ace behind him.

Although he was old, his six-meter-tall body was still muscular.

He leaned on a naginata as tall as himself, and just by standing there, he exuded an overwhelming aura.

Under that pressure, many marines subconsciously backed away.

The three Admirals, Aokiji, Kizaru, and Akainu, stood up from their seats, ready to end Whitebeard's life at any time.

The Five Elders stood above, looking down at the Whitebeard Pirates with a playful expression.

A terminally ill Whitebeard could be handled by the Marines alone. He was not worth their effort.

"Gurarara, the war begins." Facing this hellish lineup, Whitebeard did not care at all. He looked up and laughed. "Let's make some chaos."

Whitebeard set his naginata aside.

He suddenly hammered the air in front of him with both fists.

"Boom!"

"Crack!"

The sound of fists striking empty air and the atmosphere shattering rang out together.

In an instant, dark cracks like broken glass appeared in the sky.

Amid the incredulous gazes of countless people, with the Moby Dick as the center, the atmosphere within a hundred meters in front fractured, and a tremendous force pressed down upon the sea.

Under the immense force, the sea twisted and sank abnormally, and a vortex with a radius of one hundred meters appeared out of thin air.

Following this vortex, the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, developed to its peak, poured into the sea with brutal intensity.

Gulp.

Gulp.

The seawater rolled outward in waves, growing larger and larger.

Suddenly, a colossal wave several kilometers wide rose into the sky.

One hundred meters, three hundred meters, one thousand meters.

In a flash, the wave reached a height of a thousand meters, and the entirety of Marineford was cast under its shadow.

It blotted out the sun and sky, covering Marine Headquarters.

"How terrifying. Is this the power of the strongest man in the world?"

"It's over."

"We are going to die."

One hundred thousand elite marines stared blankly at the rising wall of water, their hearts filled with helplessness and despair.

They had wanted to achieve merit on the battlefield, but against a thousand-meter-high wave, they could do nothing.

Even without Devil Fruit weaknesses, ordinary officers could not withstand the force of such a wave.

The power he unleashed was comparable to a natural disaster.

They had witnessed how terrifying the Yonko were.

"Ice Age!"

Aokiji stood up from his seat.

Two ice spears, emanating endless cold, flew toward the thousand-meter-high wave.

Before they even reached it, sheets of frost spread across the massive wall of water.

The moment the ice spears pierced into the wave, the terrifying cold spread through its entirety.

Crack.

Crack.

In the end, the wave was frozen midair, and a colossal ice sculpture, several kilometers long and more than a thousand meters high, formed instantly.

A crisis that could have toppled Marine Headquarters was resolved by Aokiji.

"It's Admiral Aokiji!"

"This is the power of an Admiral!"

"This is a clash at the world's pinnacle!"

Tens of thousands of marines were shaken by the gigantic ice sculpture. They looked at Aokiji with gratitude and admiration.

Without Aokiji, the surging wave would have caused devastating losses.

They could not help but feel powerless.

In front of the world's top powers, they were like ants, with no ability to resist.

No wonder Admirals are monstrous existences, and the Yonko make the World Government reluctant to wage war lightly.

"Whitebeard, this is your end."

Akainu jumped down from the platform before the execution platform and faced Whitebeard together with Aokiji.

"Gurarara. You two brats, it is too soon to celebrate."

Whitebeard laughed loudly and poured the deadly drug E.S into his mouth.

He did not know how many he took, but it was at least a dozen.

The remaining vitality in his body was squeezed out, and he seemed to have returned to his prime, even more terrifying than in his youth.

He did not know how long this state would last.

But fireworks only need to shine for a moment.

He had come here resolved to die.

A mist of blood emanated from Whitebeard's body, and the veins beneath his muscles throbbed like dragons.

He gripped Murakumogiri, one of the 12 Supreme Grade Blades, its edge wrapped in black and purple lightning, and slashed down fiercely at Aokiji and Akainu.

It was like a demon star descending from the heavens.

"This…"

Akainu and Aokiji felt their scalps tingle at the sight of the rampaging Whitebeard before them.

Weren't they supposed to wear down the old man slowly?

How did he turn into a demon all at once?

Beside them, Marco, Vista, and the other captains also took a large amount of deadly drugs. They leaped onto the ice and charged toward Marine Headquarters without regard for their lives.

"Pops, fight them!"

"Ace, I am here to save you!"

They laughed heartily and launched fatal attacks at the cost of their lives.

In the crowd, Squard took a token poisonous pill and was swept forward.

The original plan to launch a sneak attack from behind was now completely useless.

In an instant, Marineford became a tragic battlefield.

…

On the other side, Caelan rode the Azure Dragon and arrived at Impel Down, the prison that held countless criminals.

Before him, Blackbeard, Marshall D. Teach, had already broken into the prison.

(To be continued.)

◇◇◇

◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.

◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)