Sengoku loudly issued the command: "All forces attack! Surround the Rocks Pirates!"
"Understood!"
All warships adjusted their formations, their cannons turning completely to form a crescent-shaped encirclement closing in on the Rocks fleet.
Sengoku and Zephyr exchanged glances and nodded.
Then the two simultaneously stepped off the deck, using Moon Walk to create sonic booms in the air, their figures transforming into two meteors as they approached the main ship of Rocks.
"Gehahaha... boys, charge with me!"
Golden Lion Shiki stood treading on air, his golden mane wildly dancing in the wind.
He grinned ferociously as he drew his twin swords Cherry Ten and Withered Tree from his waist:
"Drive all the Marines into the sea! The Celestial Tribute is destined to belong to the Rocks Pirates!"
Behind Shiki, over a dozen pirate ships accelerated simultaneously, charging toward the Marine formation.
"Kill them—!"
The pirates surged onto the boarding warships like starving tigers pouncing on prey.
Grappling hooks flew through the air everywhere, with sword glints and musket fire roaring simultaneously. On the deck of the first warship to be boarded, nearly a hundred pirates instantly swarmed in, and both sides became entangled in close combat.
At the bow of the main ship, Whitebeard stood firm and unmoving.
"Gurarara... Sengoku!"
Watching the golden Buddha figure rushing toward him, Whitebeard grinned widely, his fighting spirit igniting explosively within his chest.
He clenched his five fingers, his muscular arm suddenly exerting force as he swung Cloud Cutter through the air.
"Today, I'll settle this with you!"
A translucent glow appeared on the blade, the air distorting on both sides of the edge as fine cracks spread like spiderwebs - it was space itself groaning in protest.
By now, Sengoku had closed within a hundred meters.
The golden great Buddha's palms came together, forming an energy sphere over ten meters in diameter between them.
"Whitebeard, the end has come for the Rocks Pirates!"
Sengoku's eyes widened in anger, his voice like a great bell: "Everyone will be imprisoned in Impel Down, repenting for their sins in the eternal hell!"
"Great Buddha Shockwave—!"
The giant palms pushed forward, releasing a torrent of energy through the air.
Where it passed, the atmosphere was compressed into a vacuum channel, the sea surface splitting to both sides to reveal a trench dozens of meters deep.
How could Whitebeard back down?
"Too naive, Sengoku!"
Cloud Cutter, wrapped in destructive tremoring power, met the attack head-on with mountain-splitting, sea-rending force.
"Air Quake·Sea Split!"
Where the blade passed, the atmosphere cracked like glass with countless fissures.
Cloud Cutter and the golden Buddha palms collided in mid-air.
Time seemed to freeze for a second.
The next moment—
BOOM—!!!
The explosive roar shook heaven and earth, the sound waves transforming into visible white air rings that madly expanded in all directions.
The sea surface exploded into a giant crater a hundred meters in diameter.
This wasn't mere splashing - the seawater was completely evaporated and pushed aside, revealing the rugged seabed rock beneath. At the crater's edge, furious waves rose into fifty-meter-high tsunamis.
Pirates and Marines fighting nearby didn't even have time to scream before being torn to shreds by the erupting shockwave.
In the center, shrouded in dust and steam, two figures fought with white-hot intensity.
Sengoku maintained his ten-meter golden Buddha form, each fist carrying shockwaves capable of splitting mountains and cracking stones.
Whitebeard danced with Cloud Cutter like a dragon, each swing making space tremble and crack.
The two figures were enveloped in flowing Armament Haki, their fists and blades clashing as residual shockwaves swept through like a storm. Each collision erupted with ring-shaped impacts, plowing deep trenches across the sea surface.
"Gurararara... exhilarating! Sengoku, you've grown considerably stronger compared to three years ago!"
Whitebeard laughed heartily while executing a horizontal slash, the resulting shockwave spreading in a fan-shaped arc that forced Sengoku to retreat a hundred meters.
The Golden Buddha responded with rapid palm strikes, dozens of impact waves counterattacking like a torrential downpour.
"You're no slouch either, Newgate!" Sengoku's voice resonated deeply. "But today, the Rocks Pirates must be eradicated!"
"Try it if you can!"
The fierce battle reignited.
This time, neither held back their probing strikes. At their full power release, the very sky above the entire sea area began to change colors.
In another battlefield, the duel between Golden Lion Shiki and Black Arm Zephyr reached equally extreme intensity.
The sky was Shiki's domain.
His Float-Float Fruit ability allowed him to move like a fish in water, his figure drifting unpredictably like a phantom. His twin blades "Cherry Ten" and "Withered Tree" transformed into countless silver flashes, each slash cunning and vicious, aimed directly at vital points.
"Lion·Thousand Slash Stream!"
Shiki spun continuously, unleashing dozens of golden slashes that poured down like heavy rain, sealing all of Zephyr's escape routes.
The slashes didn't travel straight but curved and twisted unnaturally through the air, attacking from impossible angles.
Zephyr employed Moon Walk, his figure leaving seven afterimages in the air.
The Armament Haki covering his iron arms had hardened to its limit, each block spraying blinding sparks.
"Hmph... Golden Lion, are you trying to tickle me?"
Zephyr shattered three slashes with a single punch, the remaining momentum carrying straight toward Shiki's face.
Though the punch appeared simple, it actually incorporated the principles of the Navy Six Styles' "Finger Gun" into its technique. Before the fist even arrived, compressed air bullets had already broken through the air ahead of it.
Shiki crossed his blades to block, getting knocked back over ten meters, yet a flicker of excitement shone in his eyes.
"Now this is more like it!"
He licked his lips, tightening his grip on the twin blades as his aura suddenly surged.
Golden Haki rose from the blades like flames.
"Let me show you... the results of my six months of training!"
Shiki's expression turned serious as he raised both blades overhead, the swords vibrating with a dragon-like hum.
The airflow within a hundred-meter radius began swirling madly, the sea surface sucking up dozens of water spouts.
"Lion's Roar·Sky Split!"
The blades descended with overwhelming force.
Where the blade edges pointed, the sky itself was torn open, revealing a dark fissure!
Zephyr's pupils constricted sharply.
No way to dodge.
This strike wasn't targeting his body, but the entire space itself.
In that case—
"Black Arm·Secret Skill·City Breaker!"
Zephyr abandoned evasion, instead sinking into a horse stance while pulling his right arm back like a fully drawn bow.
The Armament Haki no longer merely coated his surface but converged toward his fist like a vortex. The blackness grew so profound it began absorbing light, the space around his fist slightly distorting.
No reliance on Devil Fruits, specializing in physical techniques and Haki, pushing the Navy Six Styles to new heights—this was the way of "Black Arm" Zephyr!
One punch, unleashed.
The moment fist met blade light, time seemed to slow.
BOOM! CRACK—!!!
Chain explosions blossomed in the air.
The shockwave swept through like a tsunami, capsizing two ships that had approached too closely below, pirates and marines falling into the sea like ants.
Through the smoke, two figures shot backward simultaneously.
Zephyr crashed back onto the main ship's deck like a cannonball, his feet plowing ten-meter-long trenches in the steel deck before he barely stabilized.
On the other side, Shiki was sent flying a hundred meters by the impact, his twin blades vibrating uncontrollably.
He licked the blood from the corner of his mouth, the fighting spirit in his eyes burning even brighter.
"How fascinating... utterly fascinating! Zephyr, you're even stronger than the rumors suggest!"
On the main battlefield, the Marines and the Rocks Pirates had now fully engaged in combat.
Sengoku the Buddha faced Whitebeard, while Golden Lion Shiki battled Black Arm Zephyr.
The clashes between these four top-tier combatants had already reduced the surrounding sea for miles into complete devastation.
On the secondary battlefield, over a dozen Squad Captains of the Rocks Pirates were keeping four elite Marine Vice Admirals occupied.
Raiver Sky hovered in mid-air, his Space Perception sweeping across the entire scene before finally settling on thetreasure ship protected at the center of the formation.
With its white hull, World Government flag, and heavily laden draft, it was clear the vessel contained the Celestial Tribute from multiple member nations - the very foundation of the Celestial Dragons' extravagant lifestyle.