Normally, the appearance of such Conqueror's Haki in Mary Geoise would attract countless people's attention.
But now... Mandy and Koala frowned; neither of them possessed Conqueror's Haki.
Rayleigh's Haki, even without using it for direct attacks, could still affect their movements.
But Rayleigh had no intention of giving the two a chance to adapt; he stomped, shattering the ground, and approached like he was flying close to the earth.
The strong wind from his long sword swept the scattered petals on the ground into a crimson vortex.
"Underworld Path: Dawn!"
A Blake-red slash suddenly erupted. Mandy hurriedly erected several ice walls to slow the attack, then drew her sword to meet it.
The ice walls were torn like paper as their long swords collided.
With a clang, Mandy slid back more than ten meters before stopping.
A golden flash, Koala had already appeared behind Rayleigh's side, raising her leg for a light-speed kick.
Rayleigh spun to dodge, and his calloused hand precisely gripped Koala's ankle, swinging her.
Koala's body uncontrollably slammed towards Mandy.
Bang!
Ice crystals and light particles scattered, yet quickly reassembled, leaving both unharmed.
Rayleigh's pupils suddenly contracted, and his sword strike paused for a moment:
"This is... a Marine's Devil Fruit?"
"How is this possible?!"
Being in a well-informed place like Sabaody Archipelago, Rayleigh naturally knew the Devil Fruits of the Marine higher-ups.
Precisely because he knew the ownership of these two Logia Devil Fruits, he was especially shocked to see this scene.
Even Rayleigh, who had participated in the God Valley incident, reached Raftel, and considered himself knowledgeable, couldn't help but strongly doubt the common sense he had held for so many years.
Mandy and Koala, however, did not hesitate. Seizing the opportunity while Rayleigh's mind was shaken, they attacked again, and the three quickly became entangled in a fierce battle.
"Times have changed, old man!"
Blake leaned against the gilded railing, chuckling, his fingertips reflecting the blood-colored Moonlight from the wine glass:
"Isn't it a bit too early to be surprised now?"
Rayleigh did not answer; his attention was now entirely focused on Mandy and Koala.
kogarashi suddenly pierced the ground, and freezing air spread wildly along the cracks.
The entire courtyard's shadowed areas instantly solidified into a mirror-like surface, and hundreds of ice prisms shot at Rayleigh from different angles.
Rayleigh relied on his Observation Haki advantage, dodging or parrying, his movements showing no distortion.
Koala, however, had already appeared in his blind spot, her hands clasped in a cannon-firing posture.
"Light Speed Impact: Starburst!"
The highly condensed ball of light exploded, and blinding white light engulfed most of the courtyard.
Rayleigh parried with his long sword, colliding with Koala's forearms. Koala rolled a few times in the air with the momentum, flying backward.
Just as Rayleigh was about to press his advantage, he found a chill spreading from the ground up his calf, freezing him in place at a visible speed.
Not far away, Mandy was already holding kogarashi, its blade wrapped in a spiral of freezing air, thrusting directly at him.
"Underworld Path: Crescent Moon!"
Rayleigh roared, and the Blake-red crescent moon slash from his long sword carved a large deep pit in the ice.
Amidst the splashing ice shards, silver-white hair fluttered. Rayleigh leaped into the air, only to be intercepted by Koala mid-flight.
Eight golden afterimages attacked from different angles, each carrying a light-speed kick powerful enough to shatter mountains.
Rayleigh's Observation Haki operated at full capacity, and his long sword executed precise blocks in an extremely short time.
When the last afterimage was cut down, he suddenly spun and performed a horizontal slash.
The blade grazed Mandy's throat, leaving a trail of ice crystal debris — active elementalization.
The strongest aspects of Logia Devil Fruit users are their large-scale attacks and their ability to survive.
In most battles, the situation changes rapidly, making it difficult to set up powerful ultimate moves.
Therefore, active elementalization can help them immune some attacks.
"Excellent! Truly excellent!"
Blake raised his glass, shaking it towards the Moonlight:
"The remnants of the old era can still jump so high!"
...Just as Mary Geoise was in chaos, and even Blake's manor was engulfed in battle—
Marineford, Marineford.
In Fleet Admiral Sengoku's office, the atmosphere was so heavy it was almost suffocating.
The desk was piled high with urgent distress telegrams from Mary Geoise, each marked "Top Priority."
Among them were messages from the Red Port defenders, CP, government officials... Sengoku had even received calls from the Gorosei.
That's right, Mary Geoise was already in such disarray, yet the Gorosei temporarily had no intention of directly intervening.
Intervene for what? Hasn't Garling already gone?
It was just a Slave uprising; it was difficult to truly harm the Celestial Dragons.
This was completely different from the pirate invasion of God Valley back then.
Therefore, these five elderly people were not panicked at all.
Vice Admiral Tsuru stood to the side, her fingers gently tapping the desk, her brows tightly furrowed.
Garp sat on the sofa, holding a pack of senbei, but uncharacteristically not putting any into his mouth.
Aokiji leaned by the window, his eye mask pulled down, seemingly uninterested in the meeting.
But those familiar with him could tell that his brain was operating at high speed.
Borsalino sat in the corner, his fingertips gently caressing a teacup, trying to minimize his presence.
The golden lenses reflected the light, making his expression unreadable.
Sengoku took a deep breath, his low voice breaking the silence:
"The situation in Mary Geoise has spiraled out of control, with the Revolutionary Army invasion and Slave uprising occurring simultaneously."
"Currently, Admiral iron wall's communication has been completely cut off, and his situation is unknown."
"Red Port might have already fallen."
In reality, Sengoku still overestimated the Red Port garrison.
Red Port had long since fallen; iron wall had failed to hold the elevator from the very beginning.
"Akainu's fleet is still in the New World, confronting the Big Mom Pirates, and cannot return to reinforce in a short time."
Beside Sengoku, Tsuru's voice remained calm and steady.
Sengoku's gaze swept over everyone present, stopping on Kuzan:
"That is to say, the highest combat power the Marines can currently deploy is only Aokiji."
Aokiji slightly raised his head, exhaling a puff of white air, and the office temperature instantly dropped a few degrees.
He slightly opened his sleepy eyes:
"Ara la... So you want me to go?"
Sengoku nodded:
"You are the only choice now."
As he spoke, he glanced at Garp, who was leaning against the wall as if nothing was happening.
Garp suddenly crushed the senbei in his hand with a "crunch," scattering crumbs everywhere.
He grinned and said:
"Don't look at me, I'm not going!"
"I was tricked by you last time; this time, I won't go no matter what!"
The "last time" Garp referred to was naturally the God Valley incident.
When he arrived at the scene and saw the countless civilian corpses in God Valley, he immediately regretted coming.
However, he was in a difficult situation at the time, but now he had a choice.
Sengoku frowned, and said in a deep voice:
"Garp, now is not the time to be willful!"
"I'm not being willful."
Garp shrugged and retorted:
"The Revolutionary Army is attacking Mary Geoise; do those old men really feel at ease letting me go to support?"