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"A Devil Fruit user?" Marco said. He transformed into his phoenix form and shot toward Law, his talons extended.
Law raised his sword to block, but Marco's speed was blinding. All he saw was a flash of blue flame.
Then he was sent flying.
"Fish-Man Karate!" Wilson roared, engaging the Eighth Division commander, Namur—a Fish-Man vs. Fish-Man duel.
"Impact Dial!" Wyper shouted, facing off against the Sixth Division commander, Blamenco, who wielded a massive hammer.
"Cien Fleur: Delphinium!"
"Two-Sword Style: Dance of the Blade!"
Robin, Reiju, and Raki all threw themselves into the battle.
Only Maya remained at the edge of the battlefield, perched atop Shiro's head, acting as a sniper.
They were immediately hit with the terrifying reality of the Whitebeard Pirates' strength.
Of the sixteen divisions, with the exception of the long-vacant Second Division command, all fifteen commanders were roughly equal in strength.
One by one, Jin's forces were beaten back, injured.
Jin watched calmly. Strength doesn't just appear out of nowhere. To become strong, you have to be baptized in the fires of battle.
He looked up at Whitebeard.
The two of them, separated by the chaos of the battlefield, stood in a pocket of absolute silence.
Jin took a step forward, his foot landing on empty air.
He had mastered the Six Powers, Moonwalk and Shave, to the point where he could move through the air as if it were solid ground.
He walked forward, his steps even, steady, as if he were walking on invisible drums.
Marco looked up and saw him. He unleashed a wave of blue flame, sending Law flying back, then spread his wings and shot into the sky.
"Hey! You want to fight Pops? You'll have to get through me first!" he screeched, diving down, his talons wreathed in flame, his speed incredible.
Jin shot him a sidelong glance.
BOOM!
The two of them collided.
In an instant, a shower of blue flames rained down.
Marco was sent flying back.
Not just flying, but tumbling through the air.
A single fist had met his attack, a brutally simple, overwhelmingly powerful blow.
The force of the impact had sent him reeling.
Marco grit his teeth, the taste of blood in his mouth. A powerful, penetrating force was tearing through his body.
What kind of Haki is that?
He got past Marco?
Jozu was stunned. He smashed Vergo aside and strode over to a massive cannon emplacement. With a roar, he ripped the multi-ton, bronze-cast cannon from the ground.
"STAY RIGHT THERE!" he bellowed, and with a mighty heave, he threw the entire cannon—shells, soldiers, and all—at Jin.
The sheer force of Jozu's throw, combined with the weight of the cannon, was immense.
Jin met it with a single, mid-air kick.
The shells on the cannon exploded.
But the massive cannon itself shot through the flames, heading straight for Whitebeard.
"Pops!"
"Look out!"
"Dammit! That guy...!"
The commanders all cried out in alarm.
Whitebeard just glared. "Hey, you foolish sons! Stay out of this!" he roared, and with a single swing of his bisento, he brought it down.
"I'm not so weak that I need you to protect me! I'm not on my deathbed yet!"
The slash flew through the air.
It not only sliced the cannon in two, but the shockwave from the blow shattered it into a thousand pieces.
The commanders who had been about to rush to his aid all froze. They remembered. This was Whitebeard.
For so long, they had been sheltered under his wings. When had it become their job to protect him?
He had let them, for their own sake. But now... this was his fight.
"We understand, Pops!" Marco said. "All hands, stick to the plan! Our objective is to rescue Vista, Ace, and the others! Leave this to Pops!"
"YEAH!"
The Whitebeard Pirates roared, their morale soaring.
To have such a powerful, reliable father... they were truly blessed.
"Hey! We're not done yet!"
Law was standing in front of Marco again. He blocked Marco's kick with his long sword, sparks flying.
"You're still standing?" Marco said, his gaze intense.
Law took a deep breath. He could feel the immense pressure from the man's gaze.
And this was just one of Whitebeard's commanders.
'Just how strong is Whitebeard?' he wondered. 'Can he really be defeated? No... the Boss has a power that is just as unfathomable.'
Hadn't he dealt with the terrifying, mysterious, and bizarre Tot Musica?
"It doesn't matter what tricks you have up your sleeve," Marco said, his wings spreading wide, a torrent of flame erupting from his body as he charged at Law. "In the face of absolute power, all of it is meaningless."
"Power?" Law said, undeterred. "Calm."
He unleashed the domain of his second fruit.
The Paramecia Calm-Calm Fruit.
Layered with his ROOM.
"Aural Deprivation."
As the ship's doctor, after the ordeal on the island of Mors, Jin had granted him a second Devil Fruit. He had chosen Corazon's Calm-Calm Fruit. It was a sentimental choice, but it meant the world to him.
Hm?
Law... was gone.
Not just Law, but all sound had vanished. Even his Observation Haki could sense nothing.
Observation Haki was, at its core, the ability to "listen" to the world. By layering his two abilities, Law had created a zone of absolute silence—he had stolen Marco's ability to hear.
A flicker of danger sparked in Marco's mind.
Law appeared out of nowhere, without a sound, and the Kikoku flashed.
Though Marco's instincts screamed at him to dodge, he was a fraction of a second too slow. To his utter astonishment, his arm, wreathed in blue flame, fell away.
—————————
Before the Moby Dick.
"You've got a fine crew, Whitebeard," Jin said, walking out from the fiery explosion, his clothes untouched by even a speck of dust.
"Don't stand there talking like an old man," Whitebeard said, his bisento pointed at the ground.
The oppressive atmosphere suddenly became violent. The already fierce wind whipped into a frenzy.
"A punk like you should learn some manners."
His eyes blazed, and sparks of lightning shot from his pupils. He unleashed a massive wave of Conqueror's Haki.
Even in his old age, at this moment, the king's aura shook the heavens and the earth. The wind howled, and the sea in the harbor was pulled back, as if by an invisible hand.
The legend who had once ruled the seas radiated an aura of absolute, indomitable conviction.
He swung his bisento, wreathed in Conqueror's Haki, and brought it down on Jin.
The seemingly "ordinary" blow carried the weight of the sky, of a mountain range.
"Manners?" Jin said, drawing his sword and bringing it up in a single, upward slash to meet the bisento. "The relics of the old era should have made way long ago."
A golden light shot from his eyes.
CLANG!
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Sparks of black and gold lightning arced between the two blades before they even met, the space between them vibrating, crackling with raw power.
One shockwave after another rolled out, and pirates and Marines alike fell to the ground, unconscious.
"This is..."
Jozu, Robin, and the others all turned to look. A brilliant light, brighter than the sun, exploded between the two men, banishing the night and illuminating the world in stark relief.
In that moment, everyone felt as if a mountain had been dropped on their shoulders, the pressure so great it was almost suffocating.
The sea and the sky roared.
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