"Vice Captain, the Navy's here."
When the Roger Pirates got the news, the Whitebeard Pirates naturally learned of it as well. Every pirate who had been resting got to his feet, looking fully prepared for battle.
"Get ready. A huge fight is about to start." Rayleigh stretched his body. It had been a long time since he had taken part in a battle on this scale, and the fighting instinct in his blood had been itching for it.
Everyone headed for the edge of the island, and what came into view were three massive warships.
"All old friends, huh."
Garp and Sengoku stood in the most prominent positions aboard the warships. Judging by the coat Garp had already taken off, he clearly could not hold himself back any longer.
Baichuan also saw the Navy's future three admirals. Aokiji was on the same ship as Garp, Kizaru was with Sengoku, and Akainu was commanding a warship on his own. Sakazuki, Kuzan, and Borsalino were all Marines of the era who later became admirals, and Kuzan's "Ice Age" is an established large-scale freezing technique.
"All evil should be eradicated," Akainu said with his arms folded, his expression stern. The frightening heat rolling off his body could already be felt by everyone nearby.
"Vice Admiral Sakazuki is getting serious again." The Marines on the same ship as him wiped the sweat from their foreheads as they felt that pressure.
"Very good." Sensing Sakazuki's mindset, Sengoku nodded in satisfaction.
Although he had not yet become Fleet Admiral, it was already practically decided. And among the three little monsters, Sakazuki was the one Sengoku thought most highly of.
"So scary, Sakazuki," Borsalino said in that irritating drawl of his.
"I'd be satisfied if you had even half his diligence." Sengoku shot Borsalino a disappointed look.
Borsalino spread his hands helplessly. There was nothing to be done. That was just his personality.
"Long time no see, Rayleigh. Where's Roger?" Even though Garp could already sense Roger fighting Whitebeard, he still asked.
"Garp, I'm not going to let you go disturb Roger."
"Whether you let me through or not isn't up to you." As soon as he said that, Garp leaped off the warship and charged straight at Rayleigh.
"Garp!" Sengoku shouted, clearly meaning to stop Garp from being so reckless.
"Full assault!"
Since Garp had already moved, the rest of the Navy obviously could not just stand there. Sengoku immediately issued the order to attack.
"Kuzan."
"Got it."
Kuzan jumped onto the sea, reached down and touched the water's surface, then shouted, "Ice Age!"
In an instant, the surface of the ocean froze solid under an enormous layer of thick ice. Kuzan's "Ice Age" is a canonical technique that freezes vast stretches of sea.
"Charge!"
Now that there was a battlefield, the pirates also rushed toward the Navy one after another. They were not just any pirates. Naturally, they had no reason to fear the Marines.
Sengoku made his move too, but the one who stopped him was Kozuki Oden.
After transforming into his giant golden Buddha form, Sengoku immediately became the brightest focal point on the battlefield.
Marco's opponent was Borsalino. Kuzan's opponent was Whitebeard's Third Division Commander, Diamond Jozu. Sakazuki's opponent, meanwhile, was Gaban of the Roger Pirates.
That way, the Navy's strongest forces were evenly tied down. As for the remaining vice admirals and rear admirals, the other officers of the two pirate crews handled them.
"So Garp and Sengoku came too?" Roger and Whitebeard naturally sensed the Marines' presence.
But after only the briefest pause, the two of them clashed again, because both believed in their own crews.
Baichuan's opponent was a rear admiral. You could say Baichuan deliberately chose him, because even when the higher-ranking officers passed by, they did not make a move on him. Baichuan had gone out to find a suitable opponent for himself.
"Didn't expect you to be pretty strong," the rear admiral said after the two had exchanged several moves.
"And why exactly did you think I was weak?" The rear admiral Baichuan had chosen looked somewhat familiar to him. If he was not mistaken, this man should be the future Vice Admiral Momonga, whose purple pinstripe suit and mohawk are part of his known appearance.
He wore a pale purple pinstripe suit, had a punk-style mohawk, and sported a beard, with both his hair and beard a dark purplish shade. In the future, he would become one of the Navy's major vice-admiral-level combatants.
"You're right. To express my apology, I'll be using my full strength to crush you."
"That's exactly what I want." Battle intent constantly poured off Baichuan. His earlier fight with Marco had felt suffocating the whole way through. It had left him with an unbearable sense of not having enjoyed himself at all.
A sharp, cutting presence suddenly burst from Momonga's body. It was the aura only a true swordsman could release.
"A swordsman, huh? Good. So am I."
For some reason, Baichuan had a remarkably high talent for swordsmanship. In less than a few months, he had already reached the level of a swordmaster. Maybe it had something to do with the Sword of Damocles over his head. Or maybe his natural talent was simply that high.
The moment Baichuan got serious, the Sword of Damocles appeared over his head once again.
As expected, it instantly drew everyone's attention on the battlefield.
"What is that?"
Many of the Marines muttered in fear, their voices tinged with unease.
Even Sengoku stared at that sword with a grave expression. After all, the unknown was always the most terrifying.
"Did that kid create it?" Sengoku looked toward Baichuan, because he could sense the same aura on Baichuan that came from that giant sword.
A gleam flashed across Sengoku's glasses as he marked Baichuan down as a dangerous figure.
At that moment, a massive ball of molten magma suddenly flew toward the giant sword. If there was no mistake, it had to be Sakazuki's attack.
"Not good." Gaban cursed under his breath. He did not know whether Baichuan's sword could withstand Sakazuki's attack, but by then it was already too late for him to interfere.
He had not expected Sakazuki to make a move like that, something close to a sneak attack.
But when the magma sphere got within about two meters of the sword, it was stopped. A transparent barrier enveloped the entire blade, and Sakazuki's attack could not break through its defense.
Seeing the fireball blocked, Gaban let out a breath of relief, then shifted all of his attention fully onto Sakazuki.
The Marine in front of him actually dared attack someone else while fighting him. Was he really looking down on him that much?
Gaban was not exactly someone obsessed with winning or losing.
But being ignored like this would definitely give Rayleigh an excuse to laugh at him for days later, especially when Rayleigh was over there dutifully doing his job and keeping Garp occupied.
Although Garp was also surprised by the giant sword, he quickly came back to himself and simply treated it as some sort of rare Devil Fruit ability.
But as for Akainu, this battle had become miserable for him.
Even though he was a Logia-type Devil Fruit user, he had not yet grown into his future strength, and in front of Gaban he was completely outmatched.
Before, you could at least call it evenly matched.
Now it would not be an exaggeration to call it one-sided abuse.
After several exchanges, Akainu's body was already covered in wounds, and the rose pinned to his chest had been stained red with blood.
His Devil Fruit had tremendous offensive power, but if he could not hit his opponent, then all he could do was take the beating.
And Gaban, meanwhile, was a master marksman.
He had no need whatsoever to fight Akainu at close range.
/-\
Enjoying the story? Want to read ahead?
Support the novel and unlock early access to unreleased chapters!
~ +20 Advanced Chapters Available on Patreon! (+1 Chapter daily)
https://p-atreon.com/Its_Zack
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access Patreon normally)