With the battle erupting, the sea and shoreline descended into chaos.
It was like artillery fire tearing through a forest—
Except this was the ocean.
Waves exploded skyward with every collision.
At the center of it all—
Leno and Akainu.
Their clash was the most violent.
"Annihilation of All Things!"
Leno's punch tore through the surrounding matter, splitting everything in its path as it surged toward Akainu.
"Inugami Guren!!"
Akainu roared.
He knew exactly how terrifying that fist was.
He had witnessed it at Marineford.
If he mishandled this—
He'd end up bedridden like Aokiji.
(Aokiji: Excuse me?)
Magma and splitting force collided.
The explosion was deafening.
The shockwave blasted seawater away, carving out a temporary vacuum zone around them.
Each exchange forced the remaining Marines to retreat desperately.
No one wanted to die to collateral damage.
Elsewhere—
Domino faced Tina, Kujaku, and the other newly freed female Marines.
She wasn't in a hurry to kill them.
Instead—
She showcased her Tremor-Tremor power almost playfully.
Yes.
Devil Fruits had tiers.
Even newly acquired, the Tremor-Tremor Fruit vastly outclassed Tina's Cage-Cage Fruit.
"Airquake!"
Her punch shattered the air.
It wasn't Whitebeard at his peak—
But compared to them?
Overwhelming.
Kujaku and the others struggled to remain standing.
"Look at you," Domino smirked.
"Pathetic."
She wielded tremors with ease while stabbing them verbally.
"If you'd made the right choice—like I did—and stood beside Lord Leno…"
"Perhaps one of you would hold this power now."
Back then—
Her relationship with Leno hadn't been as close as theirs.
But she had chosen him.
Not for a Devil Fruit.
Not for power.
Because she trusted him.
Believed in him.
Was willing to give him everything.
And she hadn't even known she'd receive the Tremor-Tremor Fruit.
White light shimmered around her fist.
"This is what unwavering faith earns."
"Trust… and reward."
Her confident stance made those words cut like poisoned blades.
Kujaku.
Ain.
Tina.
Their faces twisted.
Three parts jealousy.
Three parts regret.
Four parts humiliation.
A perfect pie chart of misery.
"Domino! Stop gloating!" Tina snapped, launching black iron bars—only for them to shatter under vibration.
"I'll tear your mouth apart!" Kujaku lashed her whip, but the tremor knocked it aside before it could land.
They burned with the urge to kill her.
She was hitting every raw nerve.
On Amazon Lily's side—
Sandersonia and Marigold prepared to rush into battle.
Gloriosa's cane blocked their path.
"Stop! You cannot join!"
"Why, Elder Nyon?!" Sandersonia protested. "Sister is fighting!"
"We can't stand by!" Marigold added.
Gloriosa sighed.
"You don't understand."
"If you join the fight, Amazon Lily will be forever bound to Leno."
"If… and I mean if… the situation turns—"
Her voice faltered.
"We can push Snake Princess out. Separate her from Amazon Lily."
The sisters stared in shock.
"You'd abandon Sister?!"
Gloriosa's expression was complicated.
"I don't want the island destroyed."
"And can't you see?"
"Snake Princess has fallen ill."
"Severely."
"With love-sickness."
"For that damned Leno boy."
The sisters froze.
Memories of certain sounds from the palace surfaced.
"There is no cure for this disease," Gloriosa continued.
"The best solution… is to let her follow the one she longs for."
"If not, she will waste away."
"She will die."
Her aged eyes trembled.
"I don't want her life to end with regret."
"She chose him. Let her go."
The sisters fell silent.
They hadn't realized Gloriosa had thought this far ahead.
Marigold hesitated.
"But if Sister leaves… we lose our strongest guardian. Won't we become vulnerable?"
Gloriosa tapped her cane.
A powerful aura flickered from her frail body.
It lasted only a moment—
But it made both sisters' hearts tremble.
"You think this old woman can't still move?"
"Amazon Lily is not so easily bullied."
Though facing the Marines directly…
Would still be difficult.
"If necessary… I'll call Shakky back. This is her home too."
And perhaps—
Drag Silvers Rayleigh along as a free bodyguard.
That last part she kept to herself.
The sisters finally nodded.
They held back the Kuja Pirates—
Watching Hancock anxiously from afar.
Far beyond the battlefield—
The Blackbeard Pirates' ship lingered unseen.
Blackbeard peered through a telescope.
He clearly saw Leno and Akainu clashing.
"Zehahaha!"
His laugh was low and greedy.
"Fight! Fight harder!"
He lowered the telescope.
"When both sides are exhausted—that's when I harvest."
"The Mag-Mag Fruit… and the Love-Love Fruit…"
"Perhaps both can be mine."
He had no intention of intervening now.
The shockwaves alone were monstrous.
If he entered prematurely—
He might become the common enemy.
Better to be the lurking opportunist.
After all—
Being the rat in the shadows was comfortable.
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