Sengoku stood frozen.
So stunned he could barely breathe.
For a moment he almost didn't believe his own ears.
But Momousagi had no reason to lie.
Impel Down really had been destroyed. Magellan was gone. And that damned bastard had even seized Sabaody Archipelago.
Countless thoughts flashed through Sengoku's mind at once.
First: Impel Down's destruction would deal an unprecedented blow to the prestige of the Marines and the World Government.
Second: Sabaody's fall was like a knife being pressed against the heart of Marineford and Mariejois.
Both were urgent disasters that couldn't be delayed.
Sengoku was so anxious the corners of his mouth were already blistering.
And yet, he forced himself to stay calm.
Because if he lost his composure now, the entire Navy would lose theirs.
Then this war would be doomed—everything would spiral into something even worse.
Sengoku quietly put away the Den Den Mushi.
He intended to suppress the news—hide the destruction of Impel Down, hide the occupation of Sabaody.
He had to stabilize morale first and finish off the Whitebeard Pirates.
However…
Things didn't go the way he wanted.
A newsbird suddenly swooped in from the sky, scattering countless newspapers over Marineford like snow.
"No… that can't be—"
Sengoku's pupils trembled. He snatched up a paper—and the instant he read it, his head spun.
Only after a long moment did he roar through gritted teeth:
"MORGANS, YOU BASTARD!"
That bird was clearly one of Morgans' messengers.
And splashed across the front page were the exact two pieces of news Sengoku had wanted to bury.
Two massive black headlines screamed across the top:
"THE WORLD'S 'IMPREGNABLE' PRISON IMPEL DOWN DESTROYED BY FIFTH EMPEROR LUO XING—SUNK INTO THE SEA, ERASED FROM EXISTENCE!!"
"FIFTH EMPEROR LUO XING SUBDUES IMPEL DOWN'S CRIMINALS AND SEIZES SABAODY—A BLADE PRESSED TO THE HEART OF THE NAVY AND WORLD GOVERNMENT!!"
Those two lines alone made the Navy's vision go dark.
A hundred thousand Marines erupted into chaos, shouting in disbelief:
"No way! That's Impel Down! How could it be destroyed?!"
"Magellan and Shiryu were guarding it!"
"Didn't you read it?! Magellan was killed, and Shiryu defected!"
"What?!"
"So Impel Down is really gone… and the monsters locked inside joined the Beasts Pirates… what do we do now?!"
Panic spread like wildfire.
"And the worst part is Sabaody! Luo Xing took Sabaody!"
"That place is so close to Marineford and Mariejois… we'll never sleep again!"
Morale began to shake.
Even the elite Vice Admirals looked pale.
Momonga stared at the paper in his hands, trembling.
Back in Dressrosa, he had only glimpsed that man from afar—
who could've imagined that in such a short time, he'd become even more terrifying than before?
On the Warlords' side—
Gecko Moria laughed with glee.
He had already submitted to Luo Xing, and he'd known the plan from the beginning.
Boa Hancock—also aligned with Luo Xing—didn't care about anything else. Her eyes were fixed on Luo Xing's photo on the paper.
Morgans had chosen an especially striking shot:
the instant Luo Xing swung "Purgatory—Demon God" at Bullet's fused behemoth.
The picture captured his overwhelming aura and his sky-splitting dominance perfectly.
Hancock looked entranced, her eyes practically turning watery.
On the other side, Mihawk's pupils narrowed.
When he'd heard Luo Xing appeared on Sabaody, he already knew it wasn't simple.
And sure enough—
Luo Xing's true target had first been Impel Down, and only then Sabaody.
A textbook feint. A perfect misdirection.
He'd spun the Navy and World Government around like toys.
Even Mihawk had to admit it was impressive.
On Whitebeard's side—
Marco had also met Luo Xing before. Seeing the newspaper now, he couldn't hide his shock.
Their Summit War had only just begun—
yet that man had already pulled off something this massive.
Fast, decisive, and ruthless—like fire and thunder.
Whitebeard himself didn't say anything, but the way his eyes widened made it obvious he was shaken too.
In his heart, he thought:
"Kaido… you picked yourself one hell of a son-in-law."
Whitebeard also noticed the paper mentioned Jinbe's submission.
Instead of anger, he felt relief.
He had long sensed his own end approaching. Back on Fish-Man Island, he'd told Neptune to prepare an escape route.
Now that Jinbe had joined the Beasts Pirates, Fish-Man Island would naturally fall under their protection.
For Fish-Man Island, being sheltered by the strongest Yonko crew alive…
was unquestionably a good thing.
For a brief moment, the entire battlefield at Marineford stalled.
Marines and pirates alike were shaken speechless.
Garp's face was grim.
"Fifth Emperor Luo Xing… that bastard nearly killed Luffy at Sabaody, and now he's committed crimes of this scale."
"He's even worse than Rocks was back then!"
At God Valley, Garp had once fought alongside Roger to bring down the Rocks Pirates.
He never expected that forty years later—
someone even more troublesome than Rocks would rise again.
Among the Navy's three Admirals—
Aokiji looked heavy and tense.
Kizaru tilted his lips.
"Scary methods… scary speed… Fifth Emperor Luo Xing."
Kizaru had already dealt with Luo Xing once, and he had zero desire to face him again.
Fighting to the death wasn't good for an old man's back.
Better to "pace himself" in this war… that suited him just fine.
But Akainu, unlike the slippery Kizaru, was violent-tempered and held to absolute justice.
"That damned bastard!"
Akainu melted the newspaper into ash with magma, roaring:
"Destroying Impel Down! Releasing those criminals!"
"What kind of world will this become?!"
Akainu was furious beyond measure.
He wished he could fly to Sabaody right now and kill Luo Xing with his own hands.
He stood up—then saw the Navy's collapsing morale.
That only made him angrier.
He bellowed at the troops:
"What are you panicking for?! They're just a bunch of pirates who are going to die anyway!"
Then he raised his arms.
"Meteor Volcano!"
Countless magma fists rained down like meteorites.
Sengoku's eyes brightened.
In a moment when morale wavered, nothing boosted spirit like slaughtering the enemy.
He immediately ordered the harbor's seastone walls raised, sealing the Whitebeard Pirates in and forming a kill-box.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Magma smashed into the Whitebeard Pirates, throwing the battlefield into chaos.
Many pirate ships were destroyed outright.
One massive magma strike even flew toward Whitebeard.
Whitebeard raised his Supreme Grade blade—Murakumogiri—and met the attack head-on, laughing low.
"Magma brat… with that level, go light candles on a birthday cake!"
Speaking of Supreme Grade blades—
there were no longer only twelve.
Now there were thirteen.
The newest among them was Yama, the sword Luo Xing carried.
When Luo Xing struck down Bullet, his overwhelming Haki fully forged Yama into a black blade, elevating it from Great Grade to Supreme Grade.
Standing shoulder to shoulder with Whitebeard's Murakumogiri, the Pirate King Roger's sword Ace, and Mihawk's black blade Yoru.
With Akainu and Whitebeard both making moves, the Summit War's tempo accelerated compared to the original timeline.
And at the same moment, out in the New World—
another war erupted, equal in scale and lineup to Marineford itself.
The two sides were—
Kaido and Big Mom's Yonko Alliance versus the Red-Haired Pirates, a crew with "dual-Yonko-level" power.
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