"Damn monkey,"
Luffy muttered under his breath. He forcefully twisted his body, stretched out his rubber arm, and grabbed the warship's tall mast. Swinging around like an ape, he dissipated most of the impact, then landed lightly on the ship's spacious deck.
"That hurt, you bastard!"
Luffy shouted in Kizaru's direction.
Counting the kick he had received on the Sabaody Archipelago, this was the second time.
Landing a sneak attack was pretty easy when the target was caught off guard.
Unless you kept your Observation Haki at full power at all times or kept your eyes on the opponent the whole time.
"That's why I don't like monkeys."
Golden Lion's voice interrupted Kizaru as he was about to disperse into photons. He appeared in front of Kizaru and grinned. "Get lost."
"How terrifying, Golden Lion~"
Kizaru was sent flying by a slash from Golden Lion's blade.
These guys with their ridiculously powerful Haki were truly terrifying.
Luffy didn't pay attention to that. He scanned his surroundings.
"If we want to leave, warships are the most important thing, right?"
On the deck, dozens of fully armed Marine elites—who had been about to disembark for battle—froze for a moment, then all raised their weapons at the uninvited guest.
"So could you all please get off? I'm borrowing this ship for a while," Luffy said with a smile.
"You must be joking!"
"Fire! Fire!"
The Marines snapped out of it instantly and pulled their triggers with roars.
They were the elite of the elite within the Marines, with astonishingly fast reactions.
Bang bang bang!
Lead bullets poured down like a storm.
Several rapid-fire cannons set up on the deck also spewed hot flames from their muzzles, shells whistling toward Luffy.
These Marines, true elites participating in a top-tier war, had impeccable timing in battle.
Their marksmanship was excellent, and the bullets and shells they fired were even faintly coated with a thin layer of Armament Haki.
Clearly, they knew about Luffy's abilities and were well aware that ordinary guns and cannons had little effect on him.
"Oh? Impressive. You can all use Haki."
A flicker of surprise appeared in Luffy's eyes, but his movements were anything but slow.
His figure flickered and dodged through the hail of bullets like a ghost!
"Soru?"
"Sorry, no."
Luffy's Observation Haki was used with masterful precision.
Bullets grazed past the edge of his clothes. Shells exploded behind him. The blast waves sent debris flying across the deck, kicking up clouds of sawdust and ice dust, but never even touched his clothes.
The next second, Luffy's figure appeared like teleportation in front of a Marine gunner who was gritting his teeth and reloading a cannon.
"Too slow."
Luffy's fist landed squarely on the man's stomach.
Thud!
The Marine gunner's eyes bugged out. His body bent into a shrimp. The cannonball slipped from his hands. He himself, as if launched from a catapult, screamed as he flew over the ship's railing and landed in the distant crowd on the ice.
Swish!
Swish, swish!
Luffy's figure flashed across the deck at high speed. With each appearance, one or more Marines screamed and flew up into the air.
His attacks were simple and efficient, no unnecessary movements. One punch or one kick was often enough to take an elite Marine out of the fight.
Great truth in simplicity.
Garp's fists were the same way.
"Bastard! Don't get too cocky!" a Marine captain roared.
He was carrying a strangely shaped heavy cannon on his shoulder. He aimed at Luffy's figure and squeezed the trigger.
Hm?
He squeezed.
He couldn't squeeze.
A hand covered in pitch-black Haki held his trigger finger firmly in place.
"How is this possible?!"
The Marine captain looked up in shock and met Luffy's face, inches from his own.
Luffy grinned and applied a little pressure with his hand.
Crack.
The faint sound of bones cracking.
"Aaaargh!" The captain screamed. The cannon slipped from his hands.
Luffy smoothly caught the heavy cannon and, swinging it like a straw, hurled it—along with the screaming captain—into the dense crowd of Marines on the other side of the deck.
Boom, crash!
The human cannonball exploded in the middle of the crowd, causing chaos and screams.
"Support! Cannon support! Blast that guy off the ship!!"
Officers on other nearby warships shouted themselves hoarse.
The broadside cannons of several nearby ships turned. Gunfire thundered. A deadly web of fire converged on Luffy's ship.
Luffy wove through the cannon fire, dancing on the edge of a blade.
Sometimes he leaped up, stepping on incoming shells for leverage.
Sometimes he ducked down, letting shells whistle past his back and blow huge holes in the ship's cabins behind him.
"Annoying," Luffy said.
"Fire! Fire!"
The support cannon crews shouted.
Shells thundered toward him.
Luffy simply tilted his head slightly and easily dodged. The shells flew past and exploded behind him, kicking up debris and dust.
Then Luffy leaped high into the air. His ordinary fist instantly swelled, covered in pitch-black Armament Haki. He smiled at the charging Marines. "Now try my fist."
Gomu Gomu no Giant Pistol!
Boom, crash!
The maximally inflated fist slammed down into the center of the deck.
The entire enormous warship leaped up violently. The sturdy, thick oak deck—like a fragile cookie—layered its way outward from the point of impact in a radial pattern of cracks.
A terrifying shockwave swept outward. The Marines on the deck were sent flying into the air like autumn leaves, screaming as they fell into the sea or onto the distant ice.
A massive hole, over ten meters wide, appeared in the center of the warship, reaching down to the lower decks. Through the hole, you could even see the sea surface frozen below.
This elite warship, one of the front-line strong points, had lost most of its combat effectiveness from that single punch.
"Whoops. Got a little carried away."
Luffy scratched his head.
He had been planning to use this ship to escape.
But soon, another volley of cannon fire came straight at him. The Marines would never allow a warship to be stolen.
"Garp, as I thought..."
On the distant flagship, Sengoku watched Luffy wreak havoc on the warship. He gritted his teeth, his fists cracking.
He had held back, hadn't he?
But Sengoku could not blame him more than that. He understood Garp better than anyone.
Had Garp's momentary distraction just now also been because he had sensed something?
Whitebeard was here!
"Attention!"
"The Whitebeard Pirates Grand Fleet has appeared!"
"I repeat! The Whitebeard Pirates Grand Fleet has appeared!"
"All hands, prepare for battle!"
The lookout's hands trembled as he held the Den Den Mushi and made the announcement.
Sengoku had not expected things to head in the direction he had most dreaded.
He snapped his head around to look at the sea area shrouded in mist—the area the Gate of Justice had opened up.
There, on the previously empty sea, the mist parted as if pushed aside by an invisible giant hand. One ship, two ships, ten ships, dozens of ships... Pirate ships flying all manner of Jolly Rogers appeared like a ghost fleet emerging from the deep sea, densely packed on the peripheral waters of the ice plain battlefield.
So fast?
"How did they do that?!" a Marine officer exclaimed in shock.
"Gehahaha! They coated their ships!"
Golden Lion, in the sky, laughed loudly. He saw the key at a glance. "Whitebeard was planning to give the Marines a surprise, wasn't he? He was going to attack Marineford directly from underwater. But now, he's just showing up in a different place. The effect is about the same!"
Coating their ships and sailing underwater, crossing the Calm Belt and the Marine defenses to appear directly in the heart of the battlefield...
What audacity and strength!
Sengoku looked at the suddenly pirate appearing fleet. His expression darkened.
"Is this good fortune or bad fortune?" he muttered.
At this point, things had completely spiraled out of any scenario he had initially envisioned.
Whitebeard's strategy had been unexpected.
"Can you locate Whitebeard?!" Sengoku asked.
"Not yet!"
The lookout scanned the area. "I can only see the subordinate crews of Whitebeard's Grand Fleet."
"Forty-three ships in total. The captain of each ship is a New World big shot!"
"Thunder Lord McGuy! Decalvan Brothers! Square the Spider!"
Names that struck fear into the hearts of many in the New World appeared in the Marines' observation reports and the shouted exclamations of their officers.
At this point, the Marines had no way back!
"I order!"
Sengoku picked up the Den Den Mushi. "Except for the First Combat Fleet, which will continue surrounding and eliminating the escaped prisoners on the ice plain, all other fleets are to turn around immediately and form a defensive formation. Prepare to engage the Whitebeard Pirates in naval battle!"
"All officers, carry out your assigned duties according to plan!"
"The Admirals will handle Whitebeard! The Vice Admirals and the Warlords will handle his division commanders!"
"Under no circumstances are they to join forces!!!"
The enormous Marine fleet began to move like a precision machine.
They had kept enough distance from the beginning. All the warships turned to defend in an orderly fashion.
Most of the ships adjusted their headings, turning their gun muzzles toward the newly appeared pirate fleet. Well-trained Marine soldiers quickly moved to their new battle stations.
"A lot of people came."
Luffy stood on the wreckage of the nearly destroyed warship, looking out at the huge pirate fleet in the direction of the Gate of Justice.
Dozens of pirate ships broke through the mist, riding the waves with intimidating momentum.
"Is there still no sign of the Whitebeard Pirates' main crew?" Sengoku's voice was sharp.
"No!"
The lookout searched intently. "I only see the flags of the subordinate fleets. The Moby Dick is not in sight!"
"You can't locatete him?"
Sengoku's brow furrowed deeply. "What the hell is that old man up to?!"
All the main ships of Whitebeard's subordinate fleets were here. He himself could not possibly be absent.
Was he not going for a frontal assault? Was he taking a different route?
Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle.
In the center of the ice plain battlefield—the relatively open sea area left by the First Fleet and other withdrawing ships—bubbles appeared.
Nearly every strong fighter's gaze turned in that direction.
"Is that?!"
Under the watchful eyes of countless shocked gazes, the ice shattered!
A white whale-shaped bow, covered in a transparent coating bubble, broke through the water. Glittering ice fragments and droplets of water refracted brilliant light in the sun.
"The Moby Dick!" the Marines exclaimed.
"I see."
Sengoku looked at the Whitebeard's main ship, which had emerged from beneath the ice with such overwhelming presence. His expression was as dark as it could get. "Every ship was coated and traveled underwater. The main fleet was hiding until now?"
The ships that had appeared first on the periphery were just decoys and feints!
The real killing blow was the Whitebeard Pirates' main ship—using coating technology to bypass the front lines and launch a strike at the very center of the battlefield.
This was arrogance to the extreme.
"How terrifying~ Whitebeard."
Kizaru dispersed into photons and appeared in midair. The lenses of his glasses reflected cold light. "They sailed right into the heart of our pocket formation. So who's surrounding whom?"
Indeed.
Who was surrounding whom?
Luffy was quite curious about Ace's highly respected old man—the so-called World's Strongest Man.
At the very least, the Whitebeard Pirates' choice of entrance was worthy of an Emperor's crew!
They had appeared right in the middle of the Marines' formation. They practically had the word "arrogant" written on their faces.
The Marines looked at the scene. Their throats moved.
"All three ships of the Whitebeard Pirates' main crew are here!"
"All fourteen division commanders are on board!"
"Kurarara!"
A bold laugh rang out.
The voice came from the bow of the Moby Dick. It seemed to shake the entire sea, drowning out all the clamor of the battlefield!
A giant of a man, tall as a mountain, wearing a white coat and wielding an enormous naginata, Murakumogiri, walked step by step to the very front of the bow.
Just by standing there, he stilled the surrounding waves and turned the air of killing to silence.
White crescent-shaped mustache. Eyes weathered by time but still sharp as a hawk's. And that overwhelming, emperor-like aura that looked down on all—the result of countless battles and endless refinement.
The World's Strongest Man.
They called him Whitebeard—Edward Newgate!
Luffy held down his straw hat, nearly blown off by the blast of air from the ship breaking through the ice. He looked at the enormous, mountain-like white ship.
"Yo, old man!"
Luffy waved vigorously toward the bow of the Moby Dick, his voice loud and clear. "You came just in time."
The way he called out "old man" nearly made the surviving Marines on Luffy's ship fall off.
The prisoners who had escaped from Impel Down and were huddled together for warmth were also scared out of their wits!
He... He just casually greeted that man like that?
That was the World's Strongest Man!
Whitebeard had briefly locked eyes with Sengoku just now. Status mattered on the sea.
There were few people here who could warrant a second glance from Whitebeard.
But—
"I heard, Straw Hat. You're Ace's little brother, aren't you? Gurarara."
Whitebeard laughed. "Well done! Before us old-timers could even get here, you managed to save my beloved son all on your own!"
His gaze swept to Ace beside Luffy, who was looking at him with emotion. His smile grew even brighter. "Well? Is my beloved son alright?"
"Pops!"
Ace shouted with all his might. His eyes grew a little hot.
"You seem full of energy! Kurarara!"
Whitebeard laughed. "Then get ready. We're going home!"
Home!
Those two simple words made every member of the Whitebeard Pirates' blood burn—and made the Marines feel immense pressure!
"Whitebeard!"
Sengoku's furious voice rang out. "I'm not going to let you just leave!"
Luffy and Whitebeard were talking as if no one else was there. Were they treating the 100,000 Marine elites like air?!
"Gurarara, Sengoku. It's been decades since we last saw each other, hasn't it?"
Whitebeard finally turned his full attention to Sengoku, and his eyes were full of arrogance. "You look pretty pathetic. You've been run ragged by a kid who just set sail."
"Jihahaha! Whitebeard!"
Golden Lion laughed, controlling a piece of floating rubble to carry him to Luffy's side. "This guy isn't some kid who just set sail. Underestimate him, and you'll pay a heavy price!"
The smile on Whitebeard's face faded slightly. He looked up at Golden Lion as if just noticing him. "Shiki... So you're here too. I'm getting old. My memory isn't what it used to be. I almost forgot—you were sent to Impel Down by this boy, weren't you?"
Golden Lion: "..."
One sentence nearly choked Golden Lion to death. The debris around shook him unsteadily with his rage.
Whitebeard's personality was still so awful!
Back on Rocks's ship, he had wanted to cut him down so many times.
A cloud of sand swirled. Crocodile's figure appeared on the wreckage of Luffy's ship. His gaze was cold as he stared at Whitebeard. His golden hook glinted.
"Whitebeard! I'll take your head!"
"Oh? It's you."
Whitebeard glanced at Crocodile, his smile unchanged. "The line of people who want my head stretches from here to the New World. Get in line."
The next second, Whitebeard's expression shifted slightly.
Because a pitch-black blade, wrapped in black-red Haki, had silently appeared—right next to Crocodile's neck.
The cold killing intent emanating from the blade instantly froze Crocodile in place.
"Don't move, Crocodile."
Luffy's voice was calm, but carried an authority that allowed no argument. "Are you planning to end our cooperation right here?"
The corner of Crocodile's mouth twitched violently.
He could clearly feel it. Luffy was not joking.
If he made another move, that blade would actually come down!
Luffy had never truly let go of what Crocodile had done in Alabasta. This so-called cooperation was only temporary—a combination of mutual benefit and Vivi's request.
"Got it?" Luffy stared at Crocodile.
His eyes were full of killing intent.
Crocodile had no doubt that if he crossed the line, Luffy would not hesitate to eliminate the internal threat first.
"Hmph."
Crocodile snorted. His body relaxed slightly. The signs of evaporation faded. He had tacitly accepted Luffy's warning.
Only then did Luffy slowly withdraw Magi.
In the span of a few moments, Golden Lion, Crocodile—these unruly legendary pirates—had all come to Luffy's side, seeming to take him as their leader.
Even the Whitebeard Pirates' division commanders were greatly surprised at this sight.
"Ace's little brother has become quite a big shot already."
Marco the Phoenix landed on the railing beside Whitebeard. His blue flame wings slowly folded as he looked at Luffy, his gaze serious.
Their original plan had been to break through the Marines' defenses at all costs and rescue Ace.
But what they saw before them was:
Ace had already been rescued. The Marines were in chaos.
All that was left was to get Ace on board and retreat.
And at the center of it all was Ace's little brother—the one Ace talked about all the time and they had all assumed was just a promising rookie.
Whitebeard looked at the man in the distance wearing the straw hat.
Monkey D. Luffy,
This boy already had the bearing of an Emperor.
***
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