Regarding Buggy's "performance," Yang Yi, standing at the bow of the ship, merely offered a faint smile, remaining noncommittal.
He leaped down from the bow of the Kuja ship, his body landing lightly on the scarred and battered ice.
Yang Yi's gaze swept across the chaotic battlefield, ultimately resting on Whitebeard and Sengoku with a gentle smile on his face.
"Since Ace has already been rescued."
"Then this stage no longer needs so many irrelevant spectators."
His voice wasn't loud, yet it reached Sengoku and Whitebeard's ears with absolute clarity.
The moment his words fell, he slowly extended his right hand.
A pink, bouncy paw pad materialized out of thin air on his palm.
"That's—!"
On the execution platform, Sengoku's massive golden Buddha form trembled violently.
The strongest captain among them was actually a Paw-Paw Fruit user!
No one dared to underestimate this Devil Fruit; its potential had already been fully demonstrated by Kuma.
No one dared to imagine how far it could be developed in the hands of an even stronger user.
Before the crowd could recover from their shock, Yang Yi bent down and slapped his right hand against the ice beneath his feet.
"Pop~"
A soft sound echoed.
An invisible shockwave centered on his palm instantly expanded across all of Marineford.
The next second, a shocking scene unfolded.
The bodies of the tens of thousands of Marines and pirates who had previously fainted from the Conqueror's Haki impact were actually bounced off the ground by this gentle force.
As if losing all their weight, they hovered in the sky like they were being held up by countless balloons.
Yang Yi then looked up and delivered another palm strike into the empty air.
"Pop~"
"Pop~"
Two crisp sounds rang out.
Following that, a massive number of paw-shaped bubbles were repelled out of the bodies of the Marines and pirates.
Inside those bubbles churned a viscous energy—a negative force comprised of fatigue and pain.
Just looking at the dense cluster of bubbles in the sky was enough to make one feel suffocated.
Having done all this, Yang Yi once again slapped his palm toward the sea.
"Boom—!"
This time, the ice layer beneath his feet shattered explosively. A colossal Sea King, comparable in size to an island, was repelled up from the depths ten thousand meters below and slammed heavily onto the ice.
Before the Sea King could even comprehend what was happening, it saw a massive swarm of paw bubbles flying right at its face.
Yang Yi reached out and pushed.
The bubbles carrying the pain and exhaustion of tens of thousands of people were shoved directly into the Sea King's body.
"Roar..."
The giant beast let out a furious bellow.
Then, its massive body shriveled at a visible rate, as if all the vitality within it had been instantly drained.
Finally, its eyes rolling back, it passed out completely, its size shrinking significantly.
This shocking scene made even Whitebeard and Sengoku, two powerhouses standing at the pinnacle of the era, feel their scalps tingle with dread.
His control over his power was simply terrifying!
Meanwhile, the Marines and pirates suspended in the air gradually began to wake from their unconsciousness.
They stared blankly at the completely upended battlefield below, then at their own hovering bodies, and let out terrified screams.
Completely ignoring their panic, Yang Yi struck out with two more palm thrusts through the air.
All the Marines and pirates were sent flying.
The Marine soldiers were repelled back onto their respective warships.
The pirates under Whitebeard's command were repelled back onto the Moby Dick and its allied ships.
"If you were to travel, where would you like to go?"
Yang Yi asked the Marines and pirates who had just been sent back to their ships and hadn't yet grasped the situation.
Immediately after, under their horrified gazes...
Yang Yi launched several more palm strikes. A massive number of translucent paw bubbles materialized above the fleets of the Marines and the Whitebeard Pirates.
Then, they descended simultaneously.
"Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!"
In the next instant, those ships, along with the Marines and pirates aboard, were directly sent flying by Yang Yi.
They turned into numerous shooting stars, randomly sent off to different corners of the world.
Looking at the suddenly empty battlefield, Sengoku and Whitebeard simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief.
They both recognized this as Kuma's ability and knew that Yang Yi's final action wouldn't harm their subordinates.
Although it was humiliating, at least the lives of the children under their command had been preserved.
In the blink of an eye, the clamorous battlefield was completely cleared out.
Only the high-tier combatants of both sides remained, facing off from a distance.
Next, Yang Yi lightly tapped himself. His figure instantly vanished, reappearing right in front of Whitebeard.
"Whitebeard, it looks like there's still a tough battle ahead."
"Can your old bones still hold up?"
Whitebeard looked at him, momentarily stunned, before letting out a hearty, booming laugh.
"Gurarararara! Brat, although I don't know who you people are, thank you for saving Ace!"
"As for my body, fighting for another three days and three nights won't be a problem at all!"
His voice remained loud and clear, brimming with the confidence and domineering aura of the world's strongest man.
However, just as his words fell, an uncontrollable urge surged up his throat.
"Cough... Cough, cough, cough!"
He coughed violently, a mouthful of dark red blood spraying from his lips and staining the ice before him.
"Pops!"
"Pops! Are you alright?!"
Seeing this, Marco, Ace, Jozu, and the others paled in shock. Abandoning their fights, they rushed straight over.
The hero was in his twilight years; Pops probably couldn't hold on much longer.
This sight filled the hearts of all the present Whitebeard Pirates members with an indescribable bitterness.
Yang Yi merely watched quietly and gave a gentle shake of his head.
Raising his hand again, he delivered a palm strike to Whitebeard's leg.
"Thwump—!"
A red paw bubble, far more massive than the combined pain bubbles of the tens of thousands of people from before, was repelled out of Whitebeard's body.
Contained within it were all the hidden injuries and illnesses this man had accumulated over decades of dominating the seas.
As this colossal mass of damage was completely extracted from his body, a miracle occurred.
Whitebeard's body, which had appeared somewhat frail due to old age and illness, once again stood as tall and imposing as a mountain.
His sagging skin tightened, and his knotted muscles bulged like stacked boulders, radiating an explosive sense of power.
BOOM—!!!
The peak aura belonging to the "World's Strongest Man" erupted from his body without reservation!
That aura was even more overwhelming than it had been in his youth!
All of Marineford trembled violently beneath this Emperor's Conqueror's Haki!
With a casual wave, Yang Yi shoved the energy sphere containing a lifetime of Whitebeard's injuries and illnesses into another unfortunate Sea King he had summoned from the ocean depths.
The giant beast had barely popped out of the water before it was instantly blown apart by the terrifying damage, turning into a sky full of blood mist.
"Gurarararara!"
Feeling the unprecedented surge of immense power within his body, Whitebeard threw his head back and laughed, the sound shaking the very heavens.
The World's Strongest Man in his absolute prime announced his return at this very moment!
Just as the Whitebeard Pirates were overwhelmed with ecstasy and the Marines' faces turned grim...
An equally unparalleled Conqueror's Haki—perhaps even surpassing it in purity—descended from the sky like a collapsing heaven.
Near Marine Headquarters, a massive pirate ship was rapidly approaching.
At the bow, a red-haired man draped in a black cloak with a longsword at his waist was leading his officers to the scene.
"Everyone."
Red-Haired Shanks's voice echoed across the entire battlefield.
"Could you give me, Red-Haired Shanks, some face and bring this war..."
Before he could finish his sentence.
A heart-stopping slash descended from the sky, cleaving straight toward his head!
Shanks's expression changed drastically. He instantly drew Gryphon from his waist and blocked horizontally in front of him.
"Clang—!!!"
A deafening crash rang out.
Two extreme bursts of Conqueror's Haki collided like two crashing stars.
Black-and-red lightning tore through the sky, and terrifying shockwaves swept in all directions.
Everyone's gaze turned toward the person who had attacked Shanks.
And then, the whole world went crazy.
The broadcast Transponder Snails faithfully transmitted this scene to every corner of the globe.
The crew members of the Red Hair Pirates were dumbfounded, their minds going completely blank.
Because the man wielding a longsword and clashing with their captain...
...looked exactly like their captain!
The only difference was that his eyes held not a trace of warmth, only bone-chilling coldness and killing intent.
The newcomer was none other than a member of the Holy Knights, Figarland Shamrock!