At the same time.
The outer battlefield had also shifted from artillery battle to boarding combat.
It had fully entered a white-hot state!
On the sea, smoke filled the air, and the sound of cannon fire gradually ceased, replaced by the clanging of swords and the shouts of combat.
The ships of the Endgame and the Navy pressed against each other, figures interlocking on the decks, blood splattering.
"Charge! Seize this deck! We can't let them encircle us, the counterattack depends on us, brothers!"
An unusually hairy Navy Rear Admiral swung his sword and roared, leading dozens of elite Marines onto the enemy ship.
But they were met head-on by a three-meter-tall Silver Wolf, its fur cascading like a waterfall.
Awoo!
The Silver Wolf raised its head and howled at the sky, making the Marines feel a chill race down their spines, so much so that they could barely hold their swords steady.
However, they quickly adjusted, but the leading Rear Admiral was the most overwhelmed, his legs suddenly going soft and he fell to his knees with a thud.
"Rear Admiral?!"
The Marines were dumbfounded.
"Uh... uh..."
The hairy Navy Rear Admiral knelt on the deck, trembling uncontrollably, low whimpering sounds escaping his throat involuntarily.
Something's wrong!
How could this happen!
He inexplicably felt a fear and submission originating deep in his bloodline from this Silver Wolf, an irresistible instinctual suppression!
Let alone standing up to resist, even moving was difficult.
I am clearly a pure-blooded human, could it be because...
"Is the Devil Fruit ability backfiring?"
This Rear Admiral gritted his teeth, "What the hell, Dog-Dog Fruit: Husky Form, shouldn't be scared out of my wits by a wolf, right?"
Awo?
Ah Yin paused, tilting its head, looking at the opponent in slight confusion.
It clearly didn't expect that just a casual howl could have such an unexpected surprise.
The last time its bloodline exerted such suppression, seemed to be in Spring Queen City, against some CP-9 agent whose name it forgot?
No matter.
Suppression is a good thing, after all. It always avoided digging into the roots, immediately grinned, and with a sudden leap, its massive body shot like a silver lightning into the crowd.
Bam!
Amidst the violent tremor of the deck, Ah Yin charged back and forth several times, with dozens of Marines emitting screams like bowling pins being struck, flying out and plunging into the sea.
That Rear Admiral suffered the same fate, unable to last even a second before gurgling into the sea.
"Such high efficiency."
Not far away, Shiryu exhaled a smoke ring, withdrew his gaze from Ah Yin, and sneered, "At this rate, complete victory can be achieved within half an hour at most."
Beside him, there were piles of fallen Navy soldiers, either fainted or with severed limbs, moaning incessantly.
Blood flowed everywhere, and not a single one could match him.
Yet, this was Shiryu adhering to the usual endgame style, restraining his attacks on the lower-level Marines as much as possible.
"Not on the same level at all."
Shiryu shook his head, continued forward with an indifferent expression, while many Marines, upon seeing him, were as if seeing a ghost, retreating in fright.
The Endgame's North Sea operation this time took away the majority of the Combat Corps' elite.
Compared to the last Ten Thousand Nations War, both in terms of troop size and coordinated combat capability, there had been a significant improvement.
The quality of the cadre was even more critical!
Already there was a considerable gap, especially since Akainu, during his earlier breakout, took away most of the mid-to-high-level combat power to rescue as many Heavenly Celestial Dragons as possible.
The remaining forces were simply powerless to resist the Endgame's mid-tier cadre.
As for the high-level combat power...
Shiryu looked up at a certain direction in the sky.
"Tch, fighting four at once, still barely holding on, that old monkey, really putting his life on the line this time..."
...
"Wind-Cut Sky!"
Accompanied by Kuina's low shout, a blue-green Sword Qi horizontally slashed through.
Instantly it severed a photon clone at the waist, tearing it into countless light particles.
But in the next second.
Those light particles quickly converged again, reforming into the image of Kizaru, who smilingly grasped the Ama no Murakumo once more.
"Again, such a hassle."
Kuina wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, frowning slightly at the scene.
She knew she was no match for Kizaru's true form, but after a brief one-on-one battle, defeating these photon clones wasn't much of a problem.
The trouble is, as long as Kizaru's main body remains undefeated, these clones can infinitely reassemble.
Every time they are vanquished, they quickly return to form.
This has kept the battle in a stalemate.
"Don't be impatient, Miss Kuina."
A calm voice came from behind; Fujitora landed on the deck alongside Kuina:
"I can sense it, with each reassembly, Kizaru's main body expends a substantial amount of energy, and maintaining so many clones already consumes several times the normal rate."
Fujitora, gripping his staff blade, closed his eyes and sensed a particular energy fluctuation, saying solemnly:
"Even for a Grand Admiral, stamina is not unlimited. If we continue battling for a while longer, he is bound to fail."
To hold off four top executives simultaneously, relying solely on clones, truly merits world-class strength.
But this also has a time limit.
From the current big picture, the Endgame's Combat Corps' main force will need at most half an hour to completely annihilate the Navy's fleet.
As for Kizaru, even if he stakes his life, he can only delay them for a few more hours at most.