"It doesn't matter. I'm no longer interested in being a Shichibukai. Compared to that, I'd rather take down a Marine Admiral!"
Crocodile's lower body remained transformed into sand as he descended onto the glacier below.
A cigar hung from his mouth as he calmly stared at Kizaru standing opposite him.
Crackle!!
Thunder and lightning suddenly erupted in the sky above Kizaru.
In the next instant, a terrifying pillar of lightning came crashing down, engulfing Kizaru completely.
BOOM!!!
The thunderbolt struck with astonishing force, blasting straight through the glacier and leaving behind a massive crater more than twenty meters across.
"What are you wasting time talking to him for? Just finish him already!"
A bolt of lightning descended from above and landed beside Crocodile.
The lightning faded, revealing Enel.
Bare-chested and carrying his thunder drums on his back, Enel stood beside Crocodile as arcs of electricity continued to dance around his body.
Crocodile narrowed his eyes at him and said indifferently, "A Marine Admiral isn't that easy to take down. But you'd better make sure you don't hold me back."
"Yahahahaha... I should be the one saying that to you!"
Enel threw back his head and laughed wildly.
"Even if I'm following the captain now, a mere mortal like you has no right to question the power of a god!"
As he spoke, Enel's face was filled with undisguised arrogance and contempt.
At the same time, brilliant lightning gathered around his right arm, growing brighter and brighter.
Particles of light began to gather in the air not far away.
Although the previous thunderbolt had possessed terrifying destructive power, it was obvious that it had not truly injured Kizaru.
As his body reformed from countless particles of light, Kizaru appeared completely unharmed.
With his usual seemingly careless expression, he casually raised his hands and fired two laser beams toward Enel and Crocodile below.
"God's Judgment!"
Almost at the exact moment the laser beams appeared, Enel attacked again.
The lightning gathered around his right arm instantly transformed into another terrifying pillar of thunder.
BOOM!!!
The laser beam aimed at Enel collided with the massive thunderbolt in midair, resulting in a violent explosion.
The other laser beam, which had been fired toward Crocodile, was intercepted by a massive pillar of sand released by Crocodile.
Both attacks were successfully blocked.
"That's terrifying," Kizaru remarked.
"One Shichibukai is already troublesome enough, and now there's also a Goro Goro no Mi user. It almost feels like I'm dealing with a Yonko crew!"
Seeing that all of his laser beams had been blocked, Kizaru immediately raised both hands again.
More dazzling laser beams shot toward Enel and Crocodile.
Neither of them showed the slightest fear.
Instead, Enel and Crocodile immediately unleashed even greater power to meet Kizaru's attacks head-on.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The battle between Logia users was unpredictable and ever-changing.
Flashes of golden light.
Blinding bolts of lightning.
Massive waves of yellow sand.
Three completely different Logia powers quickly collided across the frozen glacier.
"Keep firing! Kill all the Marines at the port!"
"The pirate ships have been frozen! Return fire with everything we've got!"
"Move out! Members of the Fifth Brigade, follow me to the port!"
While Enel and Crocodile joined forces to battle Kizaru, the others naturally had no time to stand around.
The gunners of the War Pirates had not been affected by Kizaru's previous attack.
They immediately launched a second round of bombardment toward the port.
At the same time, the members aboard each ship began disembarking in brigade formations.
One after another, the pirates rushed onto the glacier and charged toward the port like a pack of ferocious beasts.
Meanwhile, the situation at the port was equally chaotic.
The Marines who had been hiding near the port had suffered heavy casualties during the War Pirates' sudden bombardment.
However, Marines stationed at the other ports were continuously rushing over to reinforce them.
Naturally, the Marines could not simply allow themselves to be attacked without fighting back.
As the War Pirates launched their second round of artillery fire, the Marines also began firing their cannons from the port.
One cannon after another roared as artillery shells flew toward the War Pirates' ships in retaliation.
At the same time, large numbers of Marines rushed onto the frozen glacier to confront the charging pirates.
Leading the Marine forces were three Vice Admirals.
They were Vice Admiral Momonga, who had arrived alongside Kizaru, Vice Admiral Doberman, and Vice Admiral Dalmatian.
All three belonged to the Marine's combat faction and possessed considerable strength among the Vice Admirals.
Doberman, in particular, was especially aggressive.
Aside from his own considerable strength, Doberman had also shared a close relationship with Henry, the West Blue Vice Admiral who had previously died at Kaito's hands.
Because of Henry's death, Doberman had even traveled to West Blue as Kuzan's subordinate in an attempt to hunt down the War Pirates and avenge him.
Now that he had finally encountered the War Pirates again, Doberman was naturally filled with fighting spirit.
A powerful killing intent radiated from his entire body.
Among the three Vice Admirals, Doberman was the first to lead the Marine forces forward, rapidly closing the distance between himself and the War Pirates who were charging toward them from the opposite direction.
"The members of the War Pirates really are just like the intelligence we gathered from Spring Queen City. Most of them resemble Zoan-type Devil Fruit users, possessing bodies that are half-human and half-beast!"
"They have such powerful auras... Almost every one of them feels far stronger than an ordinary Marine soldier. Damn it, I have a feeling this is going to be a difficult battle!"
Momonga and Dalmatian followed closely behind Doberman.
As they continued advancing, the two Vice Admirals stared at the War Pirates charging toward them.
Their eyes were filled with shock.
The reason was naturally the Beast Warriors of the War Pirates.
Although Stussy had secretly fallen under Kaito's control, and although she had not provided the Marines with detailed intelligence about the War Pirates after returning from Spring Queen City, the Marine's intelligence network was still capable of uncovering information about them on its own.
Among all the information the Marines had gathered, the Beast Warriors were undoubtedly the group that concerned them the most.
There were simply too many warriors among the War Pirates who possessed appearances similar to Zoan-type Devil Fruit users or members of the Mink Tribe.
Even without knowing the exact details behind their abilities, the Marines had no choice but to take such a force seriously.
For that reason, Momonga and the other Marines participating in the ambush at the Water Capital had naturally been informed about the Beast Warriors in advance.
They had already expected these warriors to be difficult opponents.
However, expectation and reality were two completely different things.
Now that they were seeing the Beast Warriors with their own eyes, the powerful auras radiating from them still left Momonga and Dalmatian deeply shocked.
They were too strong.
And there were simply too many of them.
Among the Beast Warriors, even individuals at the level of brigade commanders possessed powerful auras that made Vice Admirals like Momonga and Dalmatian wary.
And that was only part of the problem.
There were nearly ten thousand Beast Warriors in total.
Such a massive force was practically equivalent to an army made up entirely of Zoan-type Devil Fruit users.
The sheer scale of it alone was enough to make anyone feel terrified.
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