Naval Headquarters, Naval Headquarters.
Things happened too suddenly; by the time Sengoku reacted, it was already too late.
He watched with his own eyes as Reno took Tina and Iska right under his nose, yet he was helpless.
"Bastard!" Sengoku's brow furrowed into a 'river' shape, and a cold glint appeared in his eyes.
If nothing unexpected happened, the next time they met, the Marine would be at war with Tina and the other woman.
He was not shooting blindly.
Even Doll, who was once a Marine Vice Admiral, and Pirate Empress Hancock had been successfully conquered by Reno, let alone the two of them.
"Damn brat!" Sengoku's face grew even gloomier, and his Observation Haki enveloped the entire icy battlefield, searching for Reno's presence.
Steel Enclosure Wall.
A group of Whitebeard Pirates Members poured in through the huge gap, charging into the inner bay.
"Ace, wait a moment, we'll rescue you right away!"
"You hateful Marines, don't get in the way here!"
"Brothers, victory is in sight, rescue Captain Ace!"
"Oh oh oh—!!!"
Whether injured or uninjured, all Whitebeard Pirates Members were filled with fighting spirit, their battle intent soaring to the heavens.
Beside Sengoku, Ace, kneeling on the ground, had dark eyes and bit his lower lip tightly, his eyes already blurred:
"Little Oars, and everyone..."
Ace's voice was hoarse, tears streaming down.
At this moment, his heart was a mix of emotions: gratitude, pain, regret, and sorrow.
Only joy was absent.
His grandfather Garp, Little Oars, and so many former comrades died right before his eyes, and every minute, every second, people were falling in pools of blood.
And he was the instigator of this war.
Bitter tears blurred Ace's vision.
Boom—!
A loud noise caught his attention.
That was the battlefield of his father Whitebeard and Admiral Sakazuki.
Whitebeard punched Akainu away, raised Murakumogiri high, and shouted, "Sons, rescue Ace!"
His powerful and heroic roar echoed throughout Naval Headquarters.
His majestic and tall figure made countless Marines tremble with fear.
With the Captain personally present, the White Group Pirates were injected with another dose of adrenaline.
"Don't worry, Pops, today is the day the Marine falls!"
"A dignified Admiral, using such despicable methods, yet in the end, he's still beaten like a dog by Pops?!"
"Hahahahaha... Sakazuki, enjoy Pops's fists!"
"Charge!"
Led by several subordinate Captains and Division Commanders, more and more Whitebeard Pirates Members poured into the inner bay, and the war had already entered a white-hot stage.
The Marine did not show weakness.
Marine Vice Admiral and Rear Admirals led their teams to meet the attack.
Gunfire roared one after another, and in every corner of the battlefield, enchanting blood flowers bloomed at any time.
The vast Naval Headquarters was completely transformed into a giant meat grinder.
Death wielded his scythe, hovering over Naval Headquarters, harvesting tens of thousands of souls.
The tragedy continued.
"Whitebeard!"
Akainu, with intense fury, walked out of the nearby ruins, casually wiping away the blood overflowing from the corner of his mouth.
"Today, Marineford will be your burial ground!"
"Inugami Guren!"
Akainu, enraged, roared, his right arm transforming into a giant magma dog's head, and he punched towards Whitebeard.
Wherever the ferocious hyena passed, the ice quickly melted into water, and even the water vapor in the air was evaporated.
"Magma brat, don't be so arrogant!"
Whitebeard snarled, Murakumogiri imbued with immense Tremor Power, slashing out with a single strike.
The atmosphere shattered, and cracks like a spiderweb rapidly spread.
The Tremor Power completely erupted, directly blowing up the magma dog's head, and countless magma volcanic bombs exploded.
Akainu didn't care, and with even stronger magma power, he launched a more violent attack towards Whitebeard.
He could clearly sense that while Whitebeard's attacks were fierce and sharp.
His physical condition was very bad, and he couldn't sustain such powerful attacks for long.
"Where's Reno? Let him come out!"
Unlike Akainu's magma battlefield, not far away was a frozen battlefield.
The two sides were distinctly separated.
Admiral Aokiji, shedding his usual laziness, struck ruthlessly, leaving Hancock with only the ability to parry.
Garp was his mentor.
Now that he had died before him, how could he not be angry?!
Hancock gritted her teeth and persevered; in a short moment, she had taken more than a dozen of Aokiji's attacks.
"A mantis trying to stop a chariot, overestimating yourself!"
Aokiji coldly shouted, his tall body leaping up.
"Ice Age: Pheasant Beak!"
Accompanied by two sharp beast roars, two giant ice birds imbued with extreme cold power came into being, their wings flapping, bringing forth bursts of ice power.
At Aokiji's command, the giant ice birds swooped down towards Hancock.
"Courting death!" Hancock's eyes lowered, a cold glint appearing.
She was indeed no match for Aokiji in a one-on-one fight, but that didn't mean she had no means to pose a life threat to Aokiji.
The moment Hancock took off her bat ring, a purple longbow instantly materialized.
Seeing the longbow suddenly appear in Hancock's hand, Aokiji raised an eyebrow.
He didn't know why, but he suddenly had an ominous premonition.
At the same time, on the other side.
A golden, shimmering battlefield.
Amidst bursts of delicate shouts, various Devil Fruit Ability emerged one after another.
Kizaru had originally thought he could easily take down Nami and the seven women.
Who would have thought that the seven women's techniques were extremely strange, and even their two types of Haki were not weak.
Like Perona's Negatives.
He had just seen with his own eyes a Marine Vice Admiral, after being hit by a Negatives, immediately kneel on the ground, saying nonsensical things, completely devoid of dignity.
As an Admiral, if he were to behave like that in front of everyone, wouldn't he be a laughingstock?!
Another example was Robin's Hana Hana no Mi (Flower-Flower Fruit) Ability.
It was even more impossible to guard against.
If it were just simple arms, that would be one thing, but what he faced were arms imbued with Armament Haki.
Elementalization was completely ineffective.
Unless he covered himself with Haki to resist or dodged in advance.
Besides that, what he found most troublesome were Nami's Thunder Power and Tashigi's swordsman slashes.
The two women's techniques focused on lethality and were the two who posed the greatest threat to him.
Doll and Kalifa's Navy Six Styles and two types of Haki also posed a minor threat to him.
Among the seven women, the one who posed the least threat to him was Marguerite.
Firstly, because she had been with the Reno Pirates for the shortest time, even with the assistance of the gravity training room, she couldn't become strong overnight.
Additionally, the Neko Neko no Mi was not a particularly outstanding Devil Fruit.
Marguerite knew this, and after a few probing moves, she decisively gave up close-quarters combat with Kizaru, opting for long-range harassment.
Although she couldn't inflict effective damage on Kizaru, with arrows imbued with Armament Haki, Kizaru, out of instinct for self-preservation, dared not take them head-on with his bare body.
On the other hand, being surrounded by the seven women, Kizaru was certainly not having an easy time.
Similarly, facing Admiral Kizaru, the seven women were also fighting a difficult battle.
By now, all seven women had sustained more or less some injuries.
"Hahahahaha... Kizaru, even Garp is dead, you're next!"
Nami ignored her injuries, and with a wave of her delicate hand, lightning raged wildly.
In this battle, she brought the Weather-Weather Fruit's cloud and Thunder Power to their absolute peak.
"Sword of the Cliff!" Tashigi, without a word, delivered a timely follow-up attack.
Kizaru's pupils constricted, and his body began to turn ethereal, dissipating into golden light on the spot.
The next second...
Rumble!!!
Thunder and a slash simultaneously struck the spot where Kizaru had just been!
The girls all turned around, and Kizaru's tall figure coalesced once more.
"You annoying brats," Kizaru said, stepping onto a broken Marine warship, his face ashen.
He coldly surveyed the entire battlefield. Garp was dead, and Reno had vanished.
Sakazuki was locked in fierce combat with Whitebeard!
Aokiji was entangled with Hancock!
The Marine, due to their numerical advantage and the powerful persuasion techniques of numerous Marine Vice Admirals and Rear Admirals, managed to regain some morale and began a counterattack against the Whitebeard Pirates.
Withdrawing his gaze, Kizaru stared menacingly at Nami and the others.
He had to eliminate the seven women as quickly as possible; otherwise, if Reno returned and formed a pincer attack, he would surely die.
At that point, he wouldn't even have a chance to escape.
"This old man won't play with you anymore!!!" Kizaru's lips curled into a cold sneer.
With a flash of golden light, ten Kizaru clones had already surrounded the seven women.
"Everyone, be careful!" Nami's expression changed slightly as she warned everyone.
Robin and the others dared not be careless, their nerves stretched to their limit.
"Yasakani no Magatama!!!" All ten Kizaru shouted in unison, and ten orchid fingers simultaneously glowed with dazzling light.
Boom boom boom!!!
Boom boom boom!!!
In the nick of time, an even more dazzling silver-white lightning descended from the sky, simultaneously striking nine of Kizaru's clones, turning them into specks of golden light that vanished into thin air.
Kizaru's main body, at the moment Observation Haki warned him, had already changed his position in advance, escaping disaster.
"Reno!!"
"Reno!"
"Captain!"
Looking at the tall figure before them, Nami and the seven women all showed expressions of pleasant surprise.
"Is everyone alright?!" Reno asked, looking at the women with concern.
The women all shook their heads.
"Well done." Seeing the somewhat breathless girls, Reno nodded in satisfaction.
Three months, facing an Admiral, and holding their own until now, was already very impressive.
"Robin, Doll, Kalifa, Perona, Marguerite, after we return, have Kaya heal you, and then thoroughly absorb this battle experience."
Reno, without explanation, directly teleported away with the five women.
The next moment, they reappeared before everyone.
"Nami, Tashigi, you two go help Hancock first. I'll be right there."
After using the Healing Power to restore the two women's injuries, Reno said softly.
In reality, with Robin's strength, she could also be of great help.
But even though he had repaid Aokiji's kindness, Reno didn't want Robin to face Aokiji.
"Understood!"
"Leave it to us!"
Nami and Tashigi, without the slightest hesitation, quickly rushed towards the battlefield of Aokiji and Hancock.
Reno glanced over, looking at the purple longbow in Hancock's hand, a playful curve forming on his lips.
Soon, he would let the world witness the terror of the heavenly pearl arrow!
But for now...
Looking at Kizaru's gloomy face before him, a cruel smile appeared on Reno's face.
Killing a person's spirit.
Reno put away his Seven Star Sword and took out the magic blade thousand blades that had once severed Kizaru's arm!
"Kizaru, next, it's your turn."
Like a devil's whisper.
Kizaru suddenly felt a chill shoot from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head.
Even at his peak, he was no match for Reno, let alone in his current broken state.
Most importantly, Reno hadn't even used Conqueror's Haki Coating back then.
Plus Garp's prior example...
"Reno, don't think this old man is afraid of you!!!"
A flicker of unnatural emotion crossed Kizaru's face, but he quickly concealed it.
"This old man will make you die here at Naval Headquarters today!!!"
After throwing out a threat with no deterrent power, Kizaru leaped into the air, continuously firing light arrows from his fingertips at Reno.
Seeing this, Reno couldn't help but laugh aloud.
Kizaru was indeed attacking him, but why was the distance between them getting farther and farther?!
Instead, he was getting closer and closer to the execution platform.
"You can't run," Reno said, shaking his head disdainfully, and chased after him.
"Kizaru!!"
On the execution platform, Sengoku shouted anxiously.
The moment he saw Reno closing in on Kizaru, he truly panicked!
Even Garp's top-tier defense couldn't withstand Reno's killing moves.
What's more, Kizaru had always been lax in his Haki training, overly relying on his Pika Pika no Mi Ability.
Sidelong, Sengoku glanced at Ace beside him, and a fierce glint suddenly flashed in his eyes.
The World Government's reinforcements had not yet arrived, and if he continued to stay here and wait for death, the Marine's high command would all be killed by Reno!!
"Everyone!!!"
Suddenly, a powerful, resonant voice clearly and distinctly reached everyone's ears through the amplified den den mushi.
On various battlefields, everyone tacitly stopped, their gazes unanimously turning towards Sengoku.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, Sengoku, his old face taut, held the den den mushi and declared in a deep voice:
"I now announce the execution of Portgas D. Ace!!!"
As his voice fell, Ace's body trembled. Two executioners raised their long swords...
Seeing this scene, all members of the Whitebeard Pirates, including Whitebeard himself, glared with wide, angry eyes.
"Ace!!!"
"Damn it, it's not even the execution time yet, you despicable Marine!!!"
"Damn it, get out of my way, don't block me from saving Ace!!"
"Captain Marco, stop them quickly!!"
"Aim the cannons at the execution platform, we absolutely cannot let them kill Ace!!"
"..."
For a time, countless Whitebeard Pirates Members roared hysterically, rushing towards the execution platform as if their lives meant nothing.
On the Marine side, they gritted their teeth and resisted with all their might.
Facing the White Group Pirates who disregarded their lives, they had to fight with all their strength.
Whitebeard gritted his teeth, stared coldly in the direction of the execution platform, and roared, "Sengoku!!!!"
"Hehehehehe, Whitebeard, accept your fate. Today, not only will you not save Ace, but you too will die here!!!"
Akainu sneered, charging towards Whitebeard with an even more ferocious killing move.
At this critical moment, he absolutely could not let Whitebeard interfere.
Reno merely glanced over before shifting his gaze, already having a rough idea of what was happening.
Sengoku was likely afraid that Kizaru would die by his hand, and after dealing with the threat of Ace, he planned to rush over to provide support as quickly as possible.
Trying to save someone from his hands? Ridiculous!
After shaking his head dismissively, Reno once again locked onto Kizaru's position and instantly teleported!!
At the same time, Sabaody Archipelago.
In Area 1.
Tens of thousands of spectators watching the live broadcast held their breath, their eyes wide and unblinking.
"Ace... is Ace really going to be executed?!"
"Probably, why are those two so slow!!"
"Damn it, why am I so nervous?!"
"Hehehehehe, once Ace dies, the Whitebeard Pirates will have nothing to show for their efforts!!"
"That's right, I think Whitebeard is basically running on empty too!"
"Look, everyone, it's Marco!!"
A reporter from an economic society suddenly pointed at the big screen and shouted, and everyone looked over.
In the image, Whitebeard Pirates 1st Division Commander Phoenix Marco flapped his azure wings, leaving a trail of flames as he rapidly flew towards Ace.
On the execution platform.
A sharp bird cry suddenly erupted. Marco, imbued with an unstoppable momentum, surged forward.
Even when facing Fleet Admiral Sengoku, he showed no fear.
He absolutely would not let Ace die in front of him.
"Phoenix Imprint!!" His hands transformed into bird claws, fiercely striking at Sengoku.
"Marco, this is not a place for you to be presumptuous!!"
"Execute him immediately!!"
A dazzling golden buddha suddenly appeared on the execution platform.
At the same time, the two executioners' eyes sharpened, and their raised long swords ruthlessly fell!
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