The sword energy erupted with a force rivaling that of the elderly Golden Lion, engulfing both Kuzan and Tyrael entirely!
Since the attack wasn't imbued with Armament Haki, Kuzan simply dissolved into shards of ice to avoid harm.
Tyrael, however, was frozen from the waist down and couldn't move an inch.
"Ughhh!"
Tyrael let out a pained cry and cast a desperate glance behind Issho.
But Issho had already anticipated this and called out in advance: "Vice Admiral Kizaru — he's aiming for the space directly behind me!"
"Got it~!"
Kizaru crossed his hands in mid‑air. The instant Tyrael vanished, Kizaru unleashed his ultimate technique, saturating the entire area behind Issho with blinding light!
"Yata no Kagami!"
Tyrael materialized right in the center of the bombardment, catching the full force of Kizaru's particle rain head‑on this time!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!…
One explosion followed another without pause, lasting a full thirty seconds before slowly dying down.
As the smoke cleared, the ground was revealed to be shattered, uneven, and scarred with craters — the entire landscape reduced to ruins.
Tyrael's figure had vanished completely, dissolving into a stream of light that returned to the realm from whence he came.
Kuzan, who had been shattered into ice fragments by Issho's strike, reformed back into his human shape.
He sat on the ground, gasping for breath, casually freezing two lesser angels that wandered too close.
"Even without Armament Haki, an attack of that magnitude is still dangerously powerful!"
"Forgive me… but at least we finally got rid of that nuisance!" Issho said, still shaken by the intensity of the fight.
"He may have lacked high intelligence or judgement, but his strength was monstrous… he was absolutely at Admiral‑level!"
Kuzan struggled to lift his head, his face covered in cuts and bruises, and looked toward the far end of the battlefield. "So… how is it going on Mr. Garp's side?"
"TAKE THIS!!"
Garp roared and slammed his fist violently into the earth, tearing the ground apart.
This single blow further split the island — which had already been broken in two — into even smaller fragments!
Grimm fell deep into the massive fissure, instantly turning into a streak of golden light in an attempt to float back up to safety.
"DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!"
Kong adjusted his stance, both hands now coated entirely in thick, black Armament Haki. "Secret Technique: Ten Steel Bone Finger Pistols!"
Kong drove all ten fingers into the ground with crushing force. If Garp had merely cracked the island, Kong completely pulverized the land itself, turning solid earth into nothing but rubble and debris!
Under the impact of Kong's overwhelmingly powerful attack, the ground crumbled like crushed tofu.
Issho quickly drew his sword and, using his Devil Fruit powers, lifted up the remaining Marines — once numbering fifteen thousand, now reduced to less than a thousand — keeping them suspended safely above the destruction.
Meanwhile below… the ground — or rather the entire island — had completely fractured and was beginning to collapse and sink into the ocean below.
"There's no way to keep fighting under these conditions!" Kuzan stood beside Issho on a floating rock formation.
"Seems the Fleet Admiral intends to end this all in one decisive strike!" Kizaru grinned.
"With our numbers as they are, I cannot hold on much longer either. Let's withdraw back to the ships!" Issho declared.
It wasn't that he wanted to flee; there was simply no place left to stand. What started as a chaotic brawl had escalated into total devastation.
Between the meteorites, Grimm's Call of the High Heavens, and the sheer destructive force of the battle between Imperius and Garp, this once‑large island had been wrecked beyond repair.
Between Garp's punch and Kong's fingers, there was literally no solid ground left to fight upon.
CRACK‑BOOM‑CRASH!!
Everything collapsed completely. While the angelic army could fly, under the relentless attacks from the Admirals and future Admirals, any that fell were swallowed instantly by the sea.
Grimm himself was battered downward by an endless rain of falling stones, plunging toward the ocean floor.
Guided by his Observation Haki, Kong shouted: "Garp! Two o'clock direction! The boy is falling! Don't let up — finish him off for good!"
"HA!!"
Garp blew on his right fist, charged toward the indicated spot, and threw a heavy punch downward.
The explosive pressure of the blow pierced through layers of rock like an invisible sledgehammer, striking Grimm — who was desperately blocking with his shield — and driving him straight down into the ocean depths!
BOOM!
Water exploded upward in a plume a hundred meters high.
The land, already smashed into rubble by Kong, finally reached its breaking point and could no longer support anyone's weight.
Kong leaped nimbly into the air using Geppo, moving as effortlessly as if walking on flat ground.
Garp jumped onto a larger piece of debris to steady himself.
"If he's a Devil Fruit user… that ought to have finished him!" Garp stared at the swirling waves, the spot where Grimm had vanished.
"It's not enough… and besides, we don't even know for certain if he is a user!"
Kong turned away abruptly, pulled out a miniature Den Den Mushi, and issued an order: "All warships — move to heading nine o'clock and prepare for full bombardment!"
"Aye aye, Sir!" came the reply.
In less than ten minutes, over a dozen warships arrived. Once capable of carrying thousands of soldiers, these massive vessels now held barely a hundred survivors each.
If Kong hadn't held back some reserves earlier, they would have even fewer men left.
"Fleet Admiral! Mr. Garp!"
A Rear Admiral steered his ship alongside them. Both men leaped onto the bow deck.
"No time for words!"
Kong pointed sharply toward the spot where Grimm had sunk. "That location! Fire! Use every shell you have — blast that area to pieces!!"
The Major in charge of logistics, who hadn't fought directly, didn't fully understand the reasoning, but orders from the Fleet Admiral were absolute — they were carried out immediately.
On command, the broadside cannons of the fleet rotated and aimed toward the sinking point, unleashing continuous fire. For a long time, columns of water erupted without end.
Because the area was also filled with the bodies of fallen Marines, the blasts churned up clouds of blood; it was impossible to tell whose remains were whose.
Kuzan — wrapped in bandages, head bound, arm in a cast — along with Strawberry, Momonga, Onimaru, and others emerged from the medical bay just in time to witness the scene.
Kuzan narrowed his eyes, muttering almost like a tongue twister: "Eternal life… I wonder if you can be eternal this time…"
"If he is a Devil Fruit user, he cannot survive. If he isn't…" Momonga paused for several seconds, then finished grimly, "…after being submerged for this long… surely he must have suffocated by now."
The relentless bombardment continued for more than twenty minutes until every single shell aboard the ships had been expended. Slowly, the shaking and noise subsided.
Twenty minutes… not even Garp himself could hold his breath that long.
"He's dead… surely…"
Logically speaking, no one could possibly survive such punishment. But then again… was Grimm a person bound by logic?
He was an existence that defied all common sense; one man who fought like an entire army.
Yet at this moment, there was nothing more to be done, no order to give like "Bring me the body, dead or alive."
"WITHDRAW!"
The first to speak the command wasn't Fleet Admiral Kong — it was Garp.
For just then, the golden "sun" hanging in the sky flickered twice… and vanished completely.
The remaining stunned and confused lesser angels let out a collective mournful cry, then dissolved into particles of light and faded away.
__________________
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