Even on the icy battlefield below, the Whitebeard Pirates, who had appeared to still hold the advantage, had already fallen into dire straits.
Marco was forced to confront a sword slash attack while trying to observe the overall situation from the sky.
The Shichibukai had officially joined the battle.
The four of them had originally been watching the spectacle, claiming to be "assessing the situation"—commonly known as slacking off.
But after receiving a warning from Sengoku, they had no choice but to put on a show for the sake of keeping their convenient Shichibukai titles.
Mihawk casually sent a slash toward Marco in the sky.
His intended opponent had been Vista, but who would have thought a Marine Admiral Candidate would pair up with the opponent he had his eyes on?
Moria charged into the center of the battlefield, using his shadows to ambush Whitebeard's commanders.
Simultaneously, he used his abilities to harvest shadows from both Marines and pirates, devouring them to strengthen himself.
He had no choice, in a direct confrontation, many enemies were stronger than him, so he could only resort to underhanded methods.
Boa Hancock unleashed her abilities, filling the sky with pink heart-tailed arrows that rained down fiercely upon the pirates.
Anyone struck by them turned to stone.
Doflamingo fought while playing around, sending countless invisible thin threads descending to attach themselves to the pirates. Large groups of pirates began turning on each other.
The intervention of the Shichibukai completely turned the tide against the pirates.
This situation led everyone present to acknowledge a statement that had once been made: the Marines and the Shichibukai combined are enough to maintain balance against all the Yonko.
Even the Whitebeard Pirates, the strongest Yonko crew on the seas, saw their situation drastically change once the four Shichibukai became their active enemies.
The extent of their disadvantage was visible to the naked eye.
...
Stationed at the rear, Whitebeard saw this scene clearly as if looking into a mirror.
He had to take action!
His three strongest commanders were all restrained.
Jozu and Vista were still evenly matched with the Admiral Candidates.
But Marco's situation was extremely dangerous.
Even Whitebeard acknowledged Mihawk's strength.
The swordsman was used to acting alone, but if he ever had the idea of building a force, he would undoubtedly become a Yonko-level pirate.
Sighing, Whitebeard picked up his naginata, Murakumogiri.
With both arms exerting force, he activated the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit.
Spatial energy flowed along the blade of Murakumogiri.
Even this simple charging motion caused faint cracks to appear in the space around the famed weapon.
Sengoku, Garp, and the three Admirals all reacted simultaneously upon seeing this.
Kizaru activated his Glint-Glint Fruit ability, instantly flying into the distance.
Aokiji, enveloping his arms in cold air, leaped onto a wall two kilometers away from the execution platform to prevent Whitebeard's attack from breaching their defenses.
Akainu stood up, his arms transforming into magma as his eyes fixed directly on the sky.
Sengoku and Garp watched Whitebeard's direction with grave expressions.
Their goal was simple: they had to ascertain Whitebeard's true strength.
Even now, Whitebeard's aura felt as dazzling as the scorching sun under Observation Haki.
Was he bluffing, or was he truly in his peak condition?
...
Crack!
A terrifying sound of shattering space echoed throughout Marineford.
Spiderweb-like spatial cracks appeared in the sky above the Moby Dick, covering nearly a one-kilometer radius.
Immediately afterward, a spatial slash hundreds of meters in size surged toward the inner wall of Marineford.
Along its path, space trembled and the earth shattered.
Any Marines who failed to evade in time were swept into the air by this force, their fates unknown.
Among them were two Giant Vice Admirals.
The power of the world's strongest man was truly terrifying!
Just as the massive shockwave was about to breach the inner wall, Admiral Kizaru made his move.
"Yasakani no Magatama!"
Countless beams of light collided with the vibrating shockwave, but Kizaru deliberately controlled his attack range to avoid harming the two Giant Vice Admirals caught in the blast.
Though diminished, the shockwave continued carrying the giants forward.
In the blink of an eye, a tremendous wave of cold energy emerged.
The shockwave dissipated as the two Giant Vice Admirals turned to ice and fell into the shattered sea.
Aokiji's "Ice Age," enhanced with advanced Armament Haki, completely neutralized the remaining shockwave, preventing this terrifying attack from reaching the execution platform.
At this moment, all the top-tier experts on the Marine side wore grave expressions.
The power behind Whitebeard's recent attack was truly fearsome, even factoring in his charging time and Kizaru holding back to rescue the Giant Vice Admirals.
Garp, Sengoku, Akainu, Kizaru, and Aokiji all recognized the truth.
That power carried only Armament Haki, not the terrifying Conqueror's Haki infusion.
Yet even so, intercepting it required full power from Admiral-level combatants.
From this assessment, they deduced that Whitebeard likely remained in his prime condition.
After all, the strength of most Devil Fruit abilities correlates with physical prowess.
An aged and weakened Whitebeard could never unleash such terrifying vibrational shockwaves.
Therefore, the next phase of operations needed to commence earlier.
"Sakazuki, proceed."
As Sengoku's order came, Akainu nodded in response.
Raising his magma arms, he launched searing molten rock projectiles kilometers into the air like laser fire.
Soon, the bright sky darkened as shadows fell, and the air temperature rose noticeably.
Whitebeard furrowed his brow, recognizing the impending fire rain.
"Watch the skies!" he roared.
His powerful voice echoed across Marineford Plaza, reaching every pirate present.
Most pirates created distance from their opponents, turning their gazes upward.
Then, their pupils contracted in horror.
Their Marine opponents, as if forewarned, had already begun retreating toward the inner wall while creating separation.
Driven by fear, the pirates' first instinct was to flee toward what felt safest—naturally, toward Whitebeard's position at the plaza's rear.
Whitebeard and Marco sighed inwardly.
'These foolish children had fallen for the trap.'
Yet one couldn't blame them, as enormous magma meteors began raining down on the icy plaza from above.
Due to acceleration, such attacks possessed devastating impact power upon landing.
Compounded by the extreme heat, few besides the captains and commanders could withstand the dual effects.
Seizing the opportunity to disengage from Hawk-Eyes, Marco shouted, "Scatter and evade! Anyone who can enter the sea, get in the water now!"
Ten seconds later, endless magma crashed onto the ice surface.
The thousand-degree heat combined with immense impact force created an effect akin to missile strikes.
Despite having mentally prepared themselves and begun evading in advance, thousands of pirates still perished under the first wave of the Meteor Volcano attack.
The number of severely wounded was beyond count. Initial estimates indicated casualties exceeding ten thousand.
Akainu looked at the scene before him and couldn't help but reveal a confident smile.
His Meteor Volcano assault wasn't limited to just this one wave.
Sure enough, after merely a few seconds of pause, another massive shower of fire rained down from the sky.
But strangely, why did these magma fragments seem so much smaller this time?
Originally, each piece had a diameter of over three meters, with the largest reaching up to ten meters.
Yet now, they all appeared to be only about ten centimeters in size.
Some were even as small as one centimeter!
As for the surface temperature, many were just hot rocks falling down, without even visible traces of flames on their surfaces.
Frowning, Akainu fixed his gaze high in the sky, seemingly having discovered the reason.