The sight left Blackbeard completely shaken. "Onihime! What is she doing here? Did the Beasts Pirates join this fight too?"
Before he could process the implications, another streak of golden light accelerated toward them. Admiral Kizaru was relentless, unleashing a second volley of high-intensity lasers.
"Again?!" Blackbeard's face turned a sickly shade of green.
Trapped on the open sea, his crew had no cover. They were forced into a passive defense, completely helpless against the long-range bombardment from the sky.
"Captain, the dragon's mouth is glowing again," Van Augur reported, his voice devoid of its usual calm. "It looks like she's charging another blast."
Blackbeard's expression darkened even further. He knew exactly what was coming: another devastating pillar of heat.
"Captain, it looks like we're counting on you again!" Burgess let out a nervous laugh.
Blackbeard resisted the urge to strike his subordinate and braced himself, activating the swirling abyss of the Dark-Dark Fruit to meet the incoming strike.
High above the fortress of Marineford, Haruko watched the horizon. "Young Master, that giant was already pierced by your last attack. Do you really want to keep hitting him?" She couldn't help but feel a flicker of pity for the massive target.
"Of course," Yamato replied. "If I aim for Blackbeard, he'll just suck the attack into that darkness of his. We'll take the big guy out first."
An instant later, Yamato unleashed another Heat Breath. The crimson pillar of fire tore through the air like a spear of the gods, plunging toward the distant sea.
"Wolf, move! It's coming for you!" Blackbeard screamed.
Sanjuan Wolf, still reeling from the agony of his previous wounds, was too slow to react to the warning.
Sizzle!
The white-hot beam sliced through the giant's abdomen as if his flesh were nothing more than parchment.
"AHHHH!"
The Colossal Battleship let out a blood-curdling scream that sent shivers down the spines of the Blackbeard Pirates. But the nightmare wasn't over. The Heat Breath didn't just strike and dissipate; it lingered, acting like a long, fiery blade that Yamato began to sweep upward through the giant's torso.
"Save me... please, save me!" Wolf wailed in terror. He watched in horror as his own body began to melt, the searing red energy carving a path toward his head. Even the seawater around him began to boil and hiss.
The beam finally swept across his upper body, triggering a massive secondary explosion.
BOOM!
Blackbeard and his crew watched, wide-eyed, as Sanjuan Wolf's disfigured form was enveloped in thick black smoke before he tipped backward into the ocean.
SPLASH!
The massive weight hit the water with the force of a falling mountain, displacing millions of gallons of brine and sending monstrous waves surging in every direction. The Blackbeard warship tossed violently, forcing the pirates to cling to the railings to avoid being swept overboard.
"Wolf!"
The crew stood stunned. Given the sheer scale of the damage, they knew the giant's fate was sealed. Sanjuan Wolf made no sound. Even if a spark of life remained, a wound of that magnitude meant he wouldn't last long. Moreover, as a Devil Fruit user submerged in the sea, he was already beginning to drown. Because of his titanic size, there was absolutely nothing his crewmates could do to pull him up.
Kizaru, hovering nearby, was visibly impressed. "To think you'd solve the problem of such a heinous criminal just like that. How frightening!"
He looked at Yamato with newfound respect. Was this the true power of the line of Kaido? The destructive force was staggering. While it lacked the surgical penetration of his lasers, its raw lethality was undeniable. It reminded him of Akainu's magma—a force of pure annihilation.
"I just did your job and took out a major Level Six fugitive," Yamato said, looking at the Admiral. "Don't I get a thank you? Actually, skip the thanks. Just give me his bounty and we'll call it even."
"Dream on," Kizaru replied, rolling his eyes. "I didn't ask for your help; you volunteered. I don't have 1,000,000 to just hand out to you."
"Hey, don't get cheap with me. It's not over yet," Yamato reminded him. "Blackbeard and the rest are still standing."
"Blackbeard..." Kizaru's gaze turned cold. "He broke those monsters out of Impel Down. His status as a Warlord is officially revoked. Do me a favor and help me sink the rest of them?"
"I can try," Yamato pondered. "But his ability is strange. He made your lasers vanish. I wonder if he can do the same to my fire."
"Only one way to find out," Kizaru shrugged.
Yamato nodded, and a third Heat Breath roared toward the warship. On the deck below, Blackbeard saw the attack coming and cursed at the sky. "Onihime, you brat!"
He threw his hands out, black mist surging forward to form a pitch-black vortex.
BOOM!
The fire slammed into the darkness and was steadily swallowed up. However, after absorbing the blast, Blackbeard's face grew noticeably pale. It was clear that while his fruit could absorb energy, the physical strain of doing so was immense.
"It seems he can absorb any energy-based attack," Yamato analyzed.
"A tricky power," Kizaru noted. "If he can nullify abilities, he's a natural counter to most Fruit users."
"He counters people like us who rely on elemental blasts," Yamato clarified. "If Akainu or Aokiji were here, he'd have a harder time. Magma and ice are physical matter, not just pure energy."
"True. This Teach guy is going to be a headache," Kizaru admitted. "So, what's the move?"
"Why overthink it?" Yamato asked, rolling her eyes. "Just keep blasting until he breaks. No matter how strong his fruit is, he has a limit. I don't believe for a second that he can keep this up forever."
Kizaru blinked, a look of realization dawning on his face. "That actually makes a lot of sense! You're quite clever."
Yamato and Haruko shared a look of pure exasperation. He's an Admiral, and he didn't think of that?
"Let the firepower coverage begin," Kizaru said. He leaped higher into the air. "Yasakani no Magatama!"
Golden light rained down in a relentless torrent. Yamato joined in, opening her mouth to release a massive, laser-like pillar of golden lightning.
On the warship, the Blackbeard Pirates watched the sky turn into a mosaic of death.
"We're sitting ducks out here!"
"Protect the ship! If it sinks, we're done for!"
"Dark Water!" Blackbeard roared. He pushed his fruit to its absolute limit, creating a massive barrier of black smoke in front of the vessel.
Lasers and lightning slammed into the shroud of darkness. Blackbeard's knees buckled under the sheer pressure. Cold sweat poured down his face as he was pushed back across the deck.
"Damn it... even with the Dark-Dark Fruit, I can't hold this forever!" he hissed. "And they're so far away I can't even touch them!"
"Captain, they aren't going to stop until we're at the bottom of the ocean," Lafitte said. His arms transformed into white wings as he took to the air. "We have no way to fight back from here. We need to retreat."
"Lafitte is right," the others urged. "Without this ship, we're as good as dead. We have to leave!"
"Damn it all!" Blackbeard growled. He had planned this perfectly. He was supposed to swoop in, take advantage of the chaos, and cement his place as a new Emperor of the Sea. To run now was to watch his greatest opportunity slip through his fingers.
But as he looked up at the Admiral and the dragon, he knew he was outmatched. If he stayed, he would die before ever reaching the plaza.
"Fine! We're retreating! I'll get the Tremor-Tremor Fruit some other way!" Blackbeard barked. "Get ready, I'm dropping the barrier!"
"Everyone, move!"
BOOM!
The moment the darkness faded, the concentrated fire hit the warship. The vessel vanished in a spectacular explosion, tossing the Blackbeard Pirates into the air.
In the distance, Yamato and Kizaru watched the smoke clear. "They gave up that easily?" Yamato asked, surprised. "That doesn't seem right."
"Just to be safe, let's plow the area," Yamato suggested. She unleashed several more rounds of lightning, detonating the wreckage and churning the sea into a frothing mess of splinters and foam. She didn't stop until the entire area was pulverized.
Kizaru watched her with a mixture of awe and concern. "I have to ask... did Blackbeard do something to offend you?"
"No," Yamato lied smoothly. "I've only met him twice. I just don't like his face."
In reality, she was ensuring he never got close enough to steal Whitebeard's power. If she could keep him away from the battlefield today, he would never sit on a Yonko's throne.
"Then he is truly the unluckiest man alive," Kizaru muttered. He felt a bit embarrassed; as an Admiral, he wasn't nearly as dedicated to "finishing the job" as this pirate was.
Suddenly, the entire island of Marineford buckled. A massive tremor surged through the ground, causing the fortress to tilt dangerously. Kizaru nearly lost his footing as a giant crack split the main building in half.
"Whitebeard," Kizaru whispered.
Yamato looked toward the execution platform. Sengoku had transformed into a towering, golden Great Buddha. But the platform was empty. Ace was no longer in chains; he was down on the battlefield, sprinting through the chaos alongside Luffy.
"Is that for real?" Kizaru asked, his eyes wide. "They actually pulled it off? Fire Fist Ace is free!"
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