Five minutes had passed.
Whitebeard had gradually advanced to the center of the icy battlefield.
Wherever he passed, not a single Marine remained standing.
This was Whitebeard's strategy—to steadily build pressure on the Marines. Their disadvantage against the Navy was significant, his pirates had already suffered one-fifth casualties from Akainu's earlier attack.
Even with their stronger momentum, after fighting for an hour, they still couldn't break through the frontline icy terrain.
There was only one solution: continuously boost their own morale while disrupting the enemy's resolve.
Hence, Whitebeard moved slowly.
He chose to utterly crush every Marine who approached him.
To the Whitebeard Pirates, this scene meant they had a reliable and powerful leader backing them up, filling them with an immense sense of security.
To the Marines, Whitebeard was a terrifying grim reaper, approaching inexorably and unstoppably, as if claiming their lives was merely a matter of time.
As one side rose, the other fell.
The Whitebeard Pirates' fighting spirit soared, advancing toward Marineford's inner walls at an increasingly rapid pace.
The situation among the top fighters remained relatively stable. After a brief skirmish with Boa Hancock, Jinbe tacitly parted ways with her. He had intended to support Marco but was ultimately refused.
Currently, Jinbe was fighting alongside Buggy, Vista, and Jozu against the Marine Admiral Kizaru.
Even so, the four of them could only barely hold him off.
The strength of an Admiral was truly fearsome.
Kizaru showed no obvious weaknesses in physical combat, Haki, or Devil Fruit abilities.
The silver lining was that, with their coordination, Kizaru seemed genuinely restrained here.
As for Crocodile, he was still battling Moria.
The awakened Crocodile was indeed powerful, but Moria had harvested too many shadows on the battlefield, significantly boosting his own strength.
However, while fighting, Crocodile kept a close watch on Whitebeard and the Admirals.
His elegant combat style against Moria seemed almost dismissive, as if he didn't take him seriously at all.
"Damn you! Shadow Stab!" Moria fumed, feeling scorned by Crocodile.
Dozens of massive shadow spikes infused with Haki shot violently toward Crocodile.
Floating in the air, Crocodile merely glanced coolly at Moria.
He casually created a 'Desert Spada' to barely block the shadow spikes for two seconds before effortlessly evading the follow-up attacks.
This taunting style of combat left Moria humiliated and enraged.
'Goddammit, can anyone just push me around? Take this seriously, will you?!'
Crocodile ignored Moria's tantrum before him, his gaze shifting to the unstoppable Yonko a thousand meters to his left as his brow furrowed.
'Whitebeard, you must have noticed it by now, right? The Marines aren't fighting seriously at all.'
Whitebeard was well aware of Crocodile's speculation.
He knew perfectly well that the top Marine brass must have some scheme. But to save Ace now, he needed sufficient forces to push into the inner city. Only when the inner city was chaotic enough would he have a chance to rescue Ace.
Since the Admirals still hadn't come to stop him, he would use this ample time to kill as many Marines as possible, easing the pressure during their eventual retreat and keeping his crew's morale boosted.
...
Another three minutes passed.
Whitebeard had already reached a point less than one kilometer from the inner wall. Some pirates had even closed to within a hundred meters of Little Oars Jr.
This meant they were about to breach the inner city.
Seeing this, Sengoku and Akainu exchanged glances. "Sakazuki, it's time to make our move. The Whitebeard Pirates have no chance of escape now."
Hearing Sengoku's words, Aokiji, standing below the execution platform, pursed his lips.
"We've sacrificed quite a few Marines for this step, and our morale has taken a serious hit."
Akainu remained expressionless. "Sacrifices are necessary to eradicate evil. Our opponent is Whitebeard. If he stayed in the outer perimeter, we wouldn't be able to encircle their rear."
"Understood. Then let's move, Sakazuki."
After holding back for so long, the Admirals were finally going to act.
There was only one reason they hadn't intercepted Whitebeard until now: they needed to ensure Whitebeard advanced deep enough to completely neutralize the pirate fleet's rear defenses.
If they launched an encirclement battle against Whitebeard too early, they feared he might choose to break through and escape if given the opportunity.
Especially after witnessing Whitebeard's power still at its peak, they became even more certain of their battle plan.
If the World's Strongest Man decided to flee, even all of them together might not be able to stop him.
If Whitebeard escaped, what would it matter if they annihilated all the other Whitebeard Pirates members? Whitebeard would then become an elderly man with nothing left to lose.
If he chose to retaliate against the World Government, that would be truly disastrous.
Since they were fighting an enemy with the power to destroy the world, they had to ensure they could kill him.
Of course, Whitebeard most likely wouldn't run away.
But if he actually did, the Navy couldn't bear the consequences. So they had waited until now, finally able to execute the perfect encirclement and annihilation operation.
...
At Sengoku's command, hundreds of laser beams simultaneously appeared at the far end of Marineford's port.
The terrifying explosions completely destroyed all the pirate ships left behind in the rear.
Among the pirate crew members responsible for guard duties, less than one in ten survived.
Except for the officers, the remaining pirates all met their glorious end in the Pacifistas' ambush. As cyborgs, Pacifistas couldn't be detected using Observation Haki.
They had hidden in the island's fortifications in advance, remaining undetected even by Whitebeard and Marco.
To ensure they wouldn't be discovered, these Pacifistas had even powered down.
Thus, the Whitebeard Pirates' rear guard fleet was essentially wiped out.
...
Before the inner wall.
The moment the lasers appeared in the rear, Whitebeard sensed the situation.
The scene made the corner of his mouth twitch slightly.
He looked up toward the execution platform.
"Sengoku, you're still as cautious as ever. But I am Whitebeard! I never had any intention of retreating from the start!"
Sengoku and the others had naturally considered this possibility.
Having fought Whitebeard his entire life, how could he not understand?
But today's battle was too important to allow any mistakes.
Moreover, their plan couldn't possibly be that simple.
With a single order from Sengoku, hundreds of 'black steel walls' rose from around Marineford's inner harbor.
Simultaneously, a beam of light shot from the execution platform toward the Pacifistas' location in the rear.
The speed was so absurdly fast that Buggy, Vista, Jozu, and Jinbe, who were still engaged in battle with Kizaru, couldn't react at all.
Seeing Kizaru rush to the rear, Whitebeard immediately sensed something was wrong.
His Observation Haki, capable of foreseeing the future, allowed him to perceive what was about to happen.
"You've got some nerve, Sengoku, thinking you can defeat me so easily?"
Whitebeard flew into a rage, simultaneously wrapping his Conqueror's Haki and advanced Armament Haki around the shockwave at the blade of his Murakumogiri.
The space above Marineford nearly split apart, with web-like cracks, red and black lightning, and a 300-meter-diameter shockwave appearing all at once.
A world-shattering strike was launched toward the execution platform.
He had witnessed the future scene of the ice surface completely sinking beneath the iron barrel encirclement.
If that scenario played out, the Whitebeard Pirates' fleet would likely be reduced to less than one percent of its original strength.
Thus, he got serious.
Marineford truly possessed terrifying, impenetrable defenses. The only way to minimize casualties was to break through forcefully before these walls fully rose.
Because those walls, standing 50 meters tall, were all made of Seastone.
In this world, Seastone is an existence that no one can destroy, harder even than diamonds!