Soldier against soldier. General against general.
When the four—Crocodile, Neferpitou, Mangu, and Law—faced off against the Marines' Admirals and Vice Admirals, Robin, Laffitte, and the others also led the large force of the War Pirates into battle against the Marines.
A fierce battle erupted.
The two sides were like two massive forces colliding head-on. The moment they met, the battlefield descended into a brutal clash.
"Ah!"
A low-ranking member of the War Pirates charged toward the front line. The moment he encountered a Marine soldier, he immediately unleashed his full strength and killed the Marine with a single punch.
This low-ranking member of the War Pirates had distinct wolf-like features on his body. It was obvious that he was a Beast Warrior whose physique had been fused with that of a wolf.
In a large-scale battle like this, the low-ranking Beast Warrior had barely finished killing one enemy when, in the very next second, another Marine attacked him.
The Marine who attacked was no ordinary soldier.
He was a Marine lieutenant.
This man had mastered Soru, one of the Six Powers. Moving at incredible speed, he appeared behind the Beast Warrior and viciously slashed his blade across the Warrior's chest.
Blood splattered.
Caught completely off guard, the Beast Warrior's chest was torn open, and his entire body was sent flying.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
The Marine lieutenant had no time to withdraw his sword before other members of the War Pirates immediately attacked him.
Seeing their companion injured, three Beast Warriors who were also low-ranking members of the War Pirates immediately charged forward like wolves and tigers.
One unleashed a sharp claw shaped like a tiger's talon, tearing through the air.
Another executed an Eight-Punch Fist, clenching his fist and blasting it forward with tremendous force.
The third swung his sword, a brilliant and razor-sharp slash bursting from the blade.
Poof!!
Blood splattered once again.
The Marine lieutenant did not even have time to react before his entire body suffered devastating injuries.
His right arm was torn apart by the sharp claws.
His chest was crushed by the iron fist.
And his head was severed by the sword's gleaming slash.
In the blink of an eye, a Marine lieutenant had been killed by three low-ranking Beast Warriors of the War Pirates.
As for the low-ranking Beast Warrior who had been sent flying by the Marine lieutenant, he quickly got back to his feet.
Although his chest had been torn open, the powerful constitution he possessed from being fused with a beast gave him astonishing vitality, almost comparable to that of a Zoan Devil Fruit user.
After getting back up, the Beast Warrior saw that the Marine who had attacked him had already been dealt with by his companions.
Without hesitation, he immediately charged toward another group of Marines and continued fighting fiercely.
Scenes like this could be seen everywhere across the battlefield.
Not only did the War Pirates possess twice as many troops as the Marines, but they also held a clear advantage among the lower-ranking fighters.
Even an ordinary low-ranking member of the War Pirates was strong enough to fight against Marine lieutenants and even higher-ranking officers.
Not to mention the squad leaders, squadron leaders, and brigade leaders.
As the two sides continued charging into one another, only Marine lieutenants could barely parry the attacks of the War Pirates' low-ranking members.
And when Commodores and Rear Admirals entered the battlefield...
Although the Marines had more than a dozen generals under the command of the three Vice Admirals, the cadres and cadre candidates of the War Pirates were clearly no pushovers.
Those Marine generals were all intercepted by Robin and the others, leaving them completely unable to provide support to the lower-ranking Marines.
From the moment the two sides collided, the overall situation of the war could essentially be described as one-sided.
The War Pirates easily tore through the Marines' formation, causing Marine soldiers to fall one after another.
In a short period of time, the War Pirates had already surrounded the Marine forces.
"It's unbelievable. The Marines are actually at such a disadvantage?"
"The difference in strength between the two sides is too obvious. But the Marines certainly aren't weak. It can only be said that the War Pirates are much stronger than we imagined."
"Although the Marines have far fewer troops than the War Pirates, I really didn't expect the Marines to be the ones losing."
The brutal battle taking place across the glacier was completely captured by the Sky News birds' video Transponder Snails.
Everyone watching the live broadcast, including Morgans, was stunned by the battle between the War Pirates and the Marines.
At the beginning, everyone had assumed that this would be a battle between two evenly matched forces.
Some had even believed that the Marines would have the upper hand.
After all, in addition to dispatching thousands of elite Marines, they had also sent two Admirals to command the battlefield.
With such a lineup, it was more than enough to deal with a pirate crew that had not even entered the New World.
In fact, such a force was enough to confront one of the Four Emperors' pirate crews.
Yet the development of the battle had completely exceeded everyone's expectations.
The Marines had actually fallen into a disadvantage against the War Pirates, and this had happened not long after the war began.
Whether it was the two Marine Admirals or the generals below them, including the Vice Admirals and Rear Admirals, none of them had been able to gain an advantage in their respective battles.
That's right.
Aside from Borsalino, Kuzan, another Marine Admiral, had also fallen into a difficult battle.
Time returned to the moment when the great war had just begun.
When Kuzan's Ice Block: Pheasant Beak was blocked by Mangu, Kuzan had been preparing to launch another attack.
But before he could make his move, an astonishing golden slash suddenly came from behind him.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The golden slash, rising dozens of meters into the air, was like a massive wave as it tore violently through the buildings and streets in its path.
In the blink of an eye, the golden slash charged out from the city behind the port and swept toward Kuzan, who stood on the glacier in front of the harbor.
The solid glacier was cleaved in two, leaving behind a crack that stretched hundreds of meters.
Ice fragments scattered in every direction.
One of the fragments landed not far from the enormous crack.
Cold air began to rise from it.
The shattered piece of ice rapidly condensed and grew larger, quickly taking the shape of Kuzan's body.
The direction changed.
When Kuzan finished reconstructing his body, he was no longer facing the open sea.
Instead, he was facing the city that had just been torn apart by the golden slash.
Step. Step.
Kuzan took a few steps forward.
A golden saber was held in each of his hands.
Within Kuzan's field of vision, a tall and straight figure soon appeared in the passage that the golden slash had carved through the city.
My guess seems to have been correct.
This guy really did sneak into the city.
He may have even taken the ships from the dock.
As Kuzan stared at the figure walking out of the city, shadows appeared in his eyes, and his expression became grim.
The person walking out of the city was Kaito.
When Kuzan looked at Kaito, Kaito also locked his gaze onto Kuzan standing on the glacier.
"It's been almost half a year. Let me see how much I've grown during these past six months."
Unlike Kuzan's grim expression, Kaito's mouth split into a grin the moment he saw Kuzan.
-------------------------
For advanced chapters, visit patreon.com/Varnok