The fang-like blade wrapped in two kinds of Haki stabbed viciously into Whitebeard's abdomen, forcefully tearing through his defenses.
As blood was drawn, Saint Topman Warcury's savage Fengxi head jerked upward, hurling Whitebeard into the sky.
Saint Mars, in his Itsumade form, let out a vicious cry and instantly swooped down. His talons were likewise wrapped in two kinds of Haki!
Whitebeard's pupils contracted sharply. White light spread around his body, then erupted.
Violent quake force surged like a raging tide, spreading in every direction, but this time Saint Mars had made full preparations.
His sharp beak pierced through the quake-force assault. His talons swept through the air and seized Whitebeard, and as Saint Mars plummeted at extreme speed, he slammed Whitebeard into the earth.
The immense mass and velocity caused this Red Line fragment—an expanse comparable to Wano in size, yet already ravaged beyond recognition—to tremble once more.
Like the explosion of a small-yield nuclear warhead, it kicked up a terrifying shock wave.
Boom—!
A white fist roared with quaking power, and two kinds of Haki were pushed to the limit.
Most of Saint Mars's body was blown away, and what remained of his shell was sent flying more than ten kilometers.
But before Whitebeard could give chase, the earth beneath his feet abruptly transformed into a gaping maw.
The sandworm that should have been crushed appeared completely intact and swallowed Whitebeard into that enormous mouth.
Its sharp teeth closed. The muscles of the sandworm's upper body wriggled and compressed, grinding the "grain" inside its belly like a millstone, trying to turn him completely into a smear of bloody pulp.
In terms of sheer hardness, with his ability alone, even if what he swallowed was Seastone, he could still crush it.
Squeezing, grinding—
A tyrannical force bore down on Whitebeard's body.
Only now did Whitebeard understand one of the foundations that allowed the World Government to stand for eight hundred years.
It was the Five Elders themselves, who had lived for who knew how many years!
Those so-called highest authorities of the world were now displaying inhuman strength.
All five of them were Zoan-Type Devil Fruit users. Judging by their forms, they were all Mythical Zoans, and every single one of them had reached Awakening.
One had to know that the Awakening of an ordinary Zoan and the Awakening of a Mythical Zoan were not the same.
Although the condition for Awakening was the same—reaching a certain level, then fighting and defeating the Devil Will dwelling within, thereby taking control of the devil and seizing a higher level of Devil Fruit power—
the strength of the Devil Will dwelling inside an Ox-Ox Fruit could not compare to the divine beast Devil Will dwelling inside a Mythical Zoan.
Thus, the stronger the Zoan-Type Devil Fruit, the harder it was to defeat and reach the level of Awakening.
And yet, the black flame clouds wrapped around the Five Elders represented that every single one of them was an Awakened Zoan user.
Most terrifying of all was that their Haki mastery was also extremely formidable.
Although perhaps because they occupied high positions and rarely experienced life-and-death battles, their Haki had not reached the same absolute extreme as his.
Even so, it was still a level ordinary people could never hope to reach. Over the long years, they had even mastered the technique of Conqueror's Haki Infusion.
In other words—each of the Five Elders possessed what Ren called admiral-level strength.
Indeed, because they had lived in luxury and had not brought both their Devil Fruit abilities and Haki to their dual peak limits, they were only middle-tier among admiral-level fighters.
But one must not forget: there were five Elders.
Five peak powerhouses with aligned interests in the same faction—what a terrifying force that was.
Across the hundred years before and after the Great Age of Pirates began, the pirate side had paid with who knew how many pirate lives before finally producing four peak powerhouses.
Yet the World Government had always possessed five.
And it might not even be all of them.
Above the Five Elders, there was still someone called Imu!
'So this is your foundation? As expected of a behemoth that has stood for eight hundred years.'
Whitebeard raised two kinds of Haki around himself, while white waves surged and accumulated all around his body.
If not for the effect of Word Spirit: Don't Die, his previously sickened body would have died long ago.
But now, even while facing such powerful and shamelessly coordinated attacks from the Five Elders, he still had the ability to keep fighting.
After understanding exactly what kind of situation he was facing, he still chose to fight to the death.
The direction Ren represented was where he had placed his hope.
Boom—!
The sandworm, which had gathered its full strength in an attempt to grind Whitebeard to death, suddenly burst into a mist of blood.
The quake force that erupted in an instant tore open its supposedly indestructible interior, crushing the reckless sandworm along the way.
No matter what kind of enemy he faced, there was one fact that could not be denied.
The current Whitebeard—was still the World's Strongest!
"Come on, then! Let me see what these gods are worth!"
Whitebeard charged forward with wild laughter, thoroughly raising the curtain on this great battle.
Whitebeard's homeland, Sphinx.
Because of Saturn's abrupt departure, the state of the battlefield underwent a massive change.
The moment Red Hair was freed, he immediately swung his blade and unleashed a Flying Slash. Its terrifying power directly crippled nearly half of the Marines surrounding and attacking Ace's group.
This forced Sengoku, who had been fighting Benn Beckman, to intervene and stop Red Hair from cutting down their forces ahead of time.
As a result, the situation on the field returned to a standoff.
The Marines led by Sengoku occupied the direction of the harbor exit. Opposite them stood Red Hair and the others.
"Saturn has already left. Do you still intend to continue?"
Shanks said coldly, "Something that could make even him change color and leave using his Devil Fruit ability is most likely Whitebeard going to Mary Geoise, right?
"Does the safety of the Celestial Dragons' Holy Land truly not matter? Sengoku, you abandoned the Marines' justice because of one Celestial Dragon."
"The order from the Five Elders is to keep you here. Since that is the case, I will not disobey.
"If something truly happens to Mary Geoise, there will naturally be forces to handle it. Besides—the Marines' justice has never disappeared.
"You do not need to concern yourself with any of this. Unless you hand over Ace, today will never end peacefully."
Transformed into a gigantic golden Buddha, Sengoku wiped the blood from his body as he spoke.
At the same time, his gaze fell on Benn Beckman beside Red Hair, and a trace of wariness flashed through his eyes.
That was what he said, but in truth, he had no confidence at all—especially with the loss of Lord Saturn as a combat force.
The impact that brought was enormous and irreparable. After all, the opponent they had to face was that balanced iron wall.
The greatest reason for that title was that the crew possessed Benn Beckman, who was only slightly weaker than Red Hair.
Whether it was marksmanship, physical techniques, Haki, or anything else, he stood at the level of a peak powerhouse.
Sengoku was already over seventy years old. Even if he had also been at that level in the past, under the merciless blade of time, he had still declined greatly.
He was already at a disadvantage one-on-one, let alone one against two.
Shanks naturally thought the same, but he knew the Marine Fleet Admiral before him was a brilliant strategist.
Perhaps the Five Elders' orders were indeed part of the reason, but there had to be some possibility of success!
Shanks suddenly asked, "Are you waiting for the God Knights?"
"..."
Sengoku did not speak. Not even his expression changed. But he immediately realized that no change in expression was also an answer.
"Is he coming?"
Red Hair frowned slightly, revealing an expression that suggested he found things troublesome.
It seemed that among the soon-to-arrive God Knights, there was an enemy even he found difficult to deal with.
"There are presences approaching from across the sea. Many of them."
Benn Beckman suddenly said, "Also, behind us, there's another presence. Very, very strong."
As he spoke, a massive ship emerged from the line where sea met sky, approaching Sphinx at astonishing speed.
At the bow of the massive ship—
an elderly swordsman with white hair and beard sat upon an ornate throne. His cold gaze crossed the sea and sky, landing on Red Hair.
"Go and safely retrieve that useless trash. Leave the rest to me.
"The disgrace of the Figarland family should ultimately be resolved by the Figarland family."
Saint Figarland Garling stood up and issued his order as Supreme Commander of the God Knights without looking back.
"Yes!"
Amid overlapping replies, the God Knights born as Celestial Dragons lowered their heads respectfully.
They saw off the King of God Valley amid the sound of him breaking through the air.
After a single breath, Saint Garling appeared at the Marines' flank, revealing his figure beneath the sunlight.
He wore a deep-blue robe, orange sunglasses, and had an exceptionally distinctive hairstyle with sharp points at both top and bottom, like a crescent moon.
On both sides of his temples were horizontally jutting, cone-like sideburns. His nose was hooked like an eagle's beak, and his expression was incomparably cold.
"Lord Saint Figarland Garling."
As Sengoku greeted him, he quietly let out a breath of relief. No matter what, once the God Knights arrived, the situation became controllable.
Red Hair was certainly strong, but this man, known as a legendary king, would not be weak either.
However, Saint Figarland Garling ignored the greeting.
"Shanks, you should know what I came here to do, yes?"
Saint Figarland Garling stared at Shanks, who shared the blood of the same family as him. His expression could not help but show disgust. "In the past, when you refused to return, I only regarded it as a child's playfulness.
"But this time, you actually chose to stand against us. That disappoints me greatly."
"Being lectured in the tone of an elder—blood relation or not—really makes it hard to feel interested."
Shanks's expression did not change.
"Heh heh. You truly are garbage."
Garling pressed his hand onto the hilt of the rapier at his waist, his expression shifting from disgust to cold cruelty. "A Celestial Dragon who has become garbage must be executed and purged."
Shanks neither confirmed nor denied it. He only said, "Since you plan to make a move, why not have that guy behind us come out and attack together?"
"Behind you? Is he not one of yours?"
Garling frowned, seemingly somewhat puzzled.
As the two looked at each other, they both noticed the surprise and confusion in the other's eyes.
Bzz—!
The air suddenly trembled. Scorching waves of heat rose along with an ascending blazing sun.
It was as though they had been thrown into a drought-stricken land, forced to experience excessive sunlight!
The brightness of Sphinx Island instantly became a blinding expanse of white.
If someone endured the piercing sunlight and looked, they would discover that within that blazing sun, the silhouette of a figure bearing six wings could faintly be seen.
Demon Ren had made his grand entrance!
"He's mine. I'll leave the rest to you. Settle your grudges in a duel afterward."
Ren informed Red Hair in the briefest words possible. Then his entire body transformed into a fierce, swift flash of explosive light.
When he appeared again, his five fingers were already pressing down on Garling's sheathed rapier as Garling lifted it to block.
(End of Chapter)