The frozen battlefield of Marineford rumbled as Tenjin hit the ice like a falling meteor, a massive cloud of green steam and pulverized frost exploding outward from his boots. The lingering bitterness and self-doubt that had pinned him to the deck of the Moby Dick were entirely gone, burned away by the fierce, protective flame Gion had reignited within him. His eyes, sharp and crackling with emerald energy, locked onto the cluster of his fellow elite trainees who were currently holding a defensive perimeter.
"Listen up, you slackers!" Tenjin yelled, hit-footing it over to them as the spinning flower on his back roared at a high-pitched hum. He didn't waste a single second on pleasantries, his hyperactive personality bouncing right back to maximum capacity. "Change of plans! We're done sitting on our hands and playing defense. We're going on a full-front charge to utterly smash these pirates into splinters! Follow my lead!"
Hibari, clutching her specialized sniper rifle tightly against her chest, blinked in sheer bewilderment. Her wide eyes darted from Tenjin to the looming flagship behind him. "W-Wait a minute, Tenjin-san! Gion-sensei explicitly ordered us to hold the rear lines and provide long-range support! We can't just break formation and rush into the vanguard without authorization!"
Tenjin scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest as a provocative grin stretched across his face. "What's the matter? Are you guys scared? If you're too terrified to face the real deal, you can stay back here and watch me take all the credit."
"Who the hell is scared?!"
Prince Grus stepped forward, his tall, lanky frame tensing as his characteristically gloom-ridden expression hardened into pure irritation. He adjusted his tilted Marine cap, glaring down at Tenjin with narrow, piercing eyes. "Watch your mouth, plant-boy. Some of us actually follow strategic protocols, unlike a reckless, short-tempered rookie who just got thrown off an enemy ship like a sack of garbage."
"What did you call me, clay-face?!" Tenjin barked, stepping right into Grus's personal space, his green hair practically bristling with offense. "I was getting tactical intelligence! At least I had the guts to climb up there! You're just using rules as an excuse because your muddy little clay toys will wash away the second they get wet!"
"My clay constructs are perfectly reinforced, you over-glorified weed," Grus shot back coldly, his voice dripping with an aloof, superior disdain. "And if I recall correctly, it was your 'forest' that just got turned into a pile of sawdust by Whitebeard. Don't drag us down with your incompetence."
"Alright, alright, boys, save the bedroom talk for after the war," Kujaku interrupted smoothly, stepping between the two clashing egos. She casually twirled her weaponized whip around her fingers, her long legs stepping gracefully over the cracked ice as a dangerous, sultry smirk played on her lips. She leaned in close to Tenjin, her eyes locking onto his with an intense, teasing gaze. "Though I must admit, Tenjin-kun... seeing you this worked up and dominant is rather thrilling. If you wanted to lead me that badly, all you had to do was ask nicely. I do love a man who takes charge."
Tenjin didn't even blink, completely immune to her blatant attempts at flirting. He merely rolled his eyes, pushing her shoulder back with the flat of his hand. "Save it, Kujaku. If you're coming, get your whip ready. If not, get out of my way."
Kujaku pouted comically, crossing her arms. "My, how cold. You're no fun at all when you're focused."
"L-Let's just go!" Helmeppo stammered from the rear, his knees knocking together as he looked at the approaching horde of New World pirates. "If we're going to mutiny against orders, let's at least do it before the Fleet Admiral spots us!"
"Charge!" Tenjin roared.
The Elite Trainees moved like a synchronized tidal wave, completely bulldozing into the pirate frontlines. They didn't just break the enemy formation; they utterly annihilated it. Tenjin led the spearhead, his arms transforming into massive battering rams of dense, black timber that smashed through rows of armored pirates like bowling pins.
To his left, Hibari moved with flawless, acrobatic agility. When a group of pirate swordsmen and riflemen tried to corner her, she didn't just rely on long-range shooting. A pirate captain lunged at her, his flintlock raised to blow her head off, but Hibari lunged forward with supersonic speed. CLANG! She used the heavy, reinforced barrel of her sniper rifle to physically strike the enemy's gun, jamming the mechanism and shattering the weapon's barrel with a well-placed blunt strike, before spinning on her heel to deliver a point-blank shot to his torso.
On the right flank, Kujaku was a vision of absolute, sadistic dominance. Her whip lashed through the air with a wicked, snapping hiss, striking across the shoulders of a dozen pirates at once. The moment the leather bit into their skin, her Devil Fruit powers took hold. The pirates' eyes went completely blank, replaced by tiny hearts as they fell entirely under her thrall.
"Now, my lovely little slaves," Kujaku giggled, resting a hand on her hip as she pointed toward the next wave of enemies. "Be good boys and tear your former friends to pieces for me."
"Yes, Mistress!" the brainwashed pirates screamed in unison, immediately turning around and savagely attacking their own allies, throwing the pirate vanguard into utter, chaotic disarray.
Amidst the slaughter, Kujaku glided past Tenjin, blowing a soft kiss toward his cheek. "See that, Tenjin-kun? Am I keeping up with your wild pace?"
"You're missing a spot on the left," Tenjin responded blankly, his arm extending into a massive log that crushed three more pirates who were sneaking up behind her. Kujaku just laughed, thoroughly enjoying his stoic rejection.
However, the utter destruction of the frontline did not go unnoticed by the true heavy hitters of the Whitebeard Pirates.
High up on a ridge of displaced ice, four massive figures stood watching the trainees dismantle their vanguard.
"Water Buffalo" Atmos, the 13th Division Commander, gripped his twin giant broadswords, his armored chest heaving with anger. "Those Marine brats are tearing through our men like paper! We can't let them compromise the flank!"
"They've got a couple of Logia and paramecia users leading the charge," Namur, the 8th Division Commander, rumbled, his massive Fish-Man jaws snapping as his webbed fingers twitched. "The green-haired one and the clay user are causing too much trouble."
"Let's go put those children back in their place," Blenheim, the 9th Division Commander, spoke coldly, drawing his massive, broad-bladed cutlass from his back.
Beside him, Blamenco, the 6th Division Commander, nodded silently, his hands reaching into the pockets built into his chin to pull out a comically massive, wooden mallet that carried enough crushing weight to flatten a battleship.
The four New World Commanders leaped from the ridge simultaneously, hitting the ice floor directly in front of the Elite Trainees' advance. The sheer, collective pressure radiating from the four veterans was suffocating, instantly causing the air temperature around the trainees to drop.
Tenjin skidded to a halt, his wooden boots grinding against the frost as he stared at the four commanders. Instead of backing down, his aura flared to maximum capacity. He pointed a finger at Prince Grus. "Listen to me, mud-man! Stay the hell out of my way! I'm going to take all four of these guys by myself!"
"Don't flatter yourself, rookie," Grus countered smoothly, his hands already glowing with a dense clay substance as he stepped up beside him. "Your reckless swings will only get you killed against opponents of this caliber. Stay out of *my* way, or I'll bury you along with them."
Behind them, Koby and Helmeppo looked like they were about to faint. Koby's face went completely pale, his instincts screaming in absolute terror as he sensed the monstrous, unyielding strength of the four commanders.
"C-C-Commanders?!" Helmeppo shrieked, his swords trembling so violently they clattered against each other. "Four of them at once?! Tenjin, Grus, you guys are insane! We're going to get slaughtered!"
"Keep your chin up, Koby!" Hibari shouted, though a bead of sweat was rolling down her own temple as she reloaded her rifle. "We have to hold the line!"
Meanwhile, back on the shattered deck of the Moby Dick, a battle of cataclysmic proportions was reaching its tragic conclusion.
Vice Admiral Gion moved like a silver phantom, her blade *Konpira* executing a flawless, high-velocity aerial dance. She had pushed her physical limits to the absolute absolute, her Armament Haki coating her steel in a brilliant, silver sheen.
But against the strongest man in the world, it simply wasn't enough.
Edward Newgate stood like an immovable mountain in the center of his ship. Gion launched a rapid-fire sequence of advanced flying slashes, but Whitebeard didn't even bother to parry most of them. He simply swung his massive bisento in a wide, casual arc.
*BOOM!*
The localized vibration from the Tremor-Tremor Fruit shattered Gion's flying slashes into loose air currents, the sheer kinetic shockwave tearing through her defensive stance and forcing her to cough up a spray of blood. Whitebeard blurred forward with a speed that defied his massive bulk, appearing right in front of her. He brought his massive, Haki-coated fist directly down into her shoulder.
*CRACK!*
Gion let out a sharp cry of agony as her collarbone fractured under the immense pressure, her body being forcefully driven into the wooden deck with enough force to splinter the entire structure of the ship. Whitebeard didn't stop. He raised his bisento, a massive bubble of quaking air enveloping the blade as he prepared to deliver a clean, decisive execution strike that would split her in two.
This was the absolute, terrifying reality of an Emperor of the Sea. When he chose to fight seriously, even the Marines' top candidates were nothing more than insects beneath his boots.
Yet, Gion was a Vice Admiral for a reason. Operating on pure, frantic survival instinct, she didn't try to block the descending bisento. Instead, as the blade fell, she used the absolute last ounce of her remaining strength to execute a desperate, spinning thrust from her prone position.
*SLASH!*
The tip of *Konpira*, driven by the full weight of her advanced Haki, managed to slice cleanly through the side of Whitebeard's right thigh, leaving a deep, bleeding gash across his muscular leg.
"Ugh!" Whitebeard grunted, his descending strike faltering for a single microsecond as the pain flared through his leg.
Gion didn't waste the fraction of a second. Utilizing a high-speed, desperate Soru combined with Geppo, she launched her broken, bleeding body backward off the ship's railing, falling through the air toward the frozen bay below to make her narrow escape before the old Emperor could recover and finish her off.
Whitebeard looked down at the bleeding cut on his thigh, then out at the retreating form of the female Vice Admiral. He let out a low, respectful grunt, wiping a trace of blood from his lip. "A sharp blade... You've got a good spirit, girl. But you're a hundred years too early to take my head."
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