No wonder the two of them were so stunned.
Looking toward the sky—
At this moment, the entire heavens churned like boiling water, constantly rolling and heaving.
KRAK!!
Countless jagged, black lightning bolts snarled and clashed violently, rending the sky into fractured webs as though the very firmament were about to shatter.
And at the very center of the sky, a colossal black vortex churned, terrifying and vast—
a spiraling maw that looked ready to devour the world.
All of this…
Was the phenomenon born from their clash—
when the Conqueror's Haki of both combatants surged out uncontrollably.
BOOM!
A series of explosive detonations erupted.
The two figures crossed paths high in the air, then were blasted backward like cannonballs, stopping a hundred meters apart under the gaze of everyone in the battlefield.
The space where they had just clashed was fractured, split by deep, pitch-black cracks that seemed bottomless.
"More troublesome than I expected."
Nao looked at Whitebeard.
"Whether it's Big Mom or Kaido—compared to you, they're half a tier weaker."
"But…"
He tightened his grip on both blades, voice calm.
"That's still all there is to it."
After this brief exchange, Nao had already gauged Whitebeard's level.
Whether speed, strength, physical endurance, or mastery of Haki—
Whitebeard fell short of him.
From the moment this fight began, the outcome was already determined.
"Talking big again, brat."
Whitebeard grinned.
"I told you not to lump me with those two. That was just a warm-up. The real fight starts now!"
BOOM!
Whitebeard swung his massive blade again, tearing across a hundred meters of sky in an instant.
With a resonant clang, sparks bursting everywhere, Nao blocked the strike effortlessly with Azakana's blade.
Looking through the gap in the crossing weapons, Nao glanced downward.
"How about we change the venue?"
"Hm?"
Whitebeard followed his gaze and immediately understood.
At their level, a full-power battle released unimaginable force.
Even without intending it, the collateral damage alone was catastrophic.
If they kept fighting here, countless of his own men would be obliterated by stray shockwaves—
and all of Marineford would be reduced to ruins.
"Gurararara! The kid's learned to worry about property damage now?"
Whitebeard chuckled.
"Looks like Shiki's rampage back then left quite an impression on you Marines."
He squinted around.
"So where to? Don't make it too far—I don't have that kind of patience."
"No need to worry. I've prepared for this."
Nao cut him off lightly.
He flicked his finger—
a streak of pale purple lightning shot upward, scattering into the sky.
In the southeast corner of the battlefield, Gion met Nao's gaze across the distance.
She smiled, snapped her fingers—
BOOM!
The sea to Marineford's right erupted violently as the waters surged outward.
From the massive vortex rising from the deep, a floating island emerged, rising steadily into the air.
Its enormous shadow swept across the battlefield, alarming many pirates who thought it was some secret Marine weapon.
But instead, the floating island simply drifted overhead and stopped above the ocean, more than ten kilometers out from the bay.
"Shiki's power, huh…"
Whitebeard looked up at the island as it passed overhead, a faint glimmer of nostalgia in his eyes.
But he said nothing more.
He stepped into the air using Moonwalk and landed in the center of the floating island.
Nao moved even faster—
his entire body erupting into azure lightning as he streaked across the sky, appearing at the opposite end of the island in an instant.
"Well then… shall we begin?"
The two made eye contact.
Whitebeard grinned and tightened his grip on Murakumogiri.
The next moment—
Without a single wasted word, and under the gaze of countless eyes, the two figures on the floating island struck at the same moment—
launching themselves forward in a fierce assault on each other!
There was no doubt about it.
The real battle had finally begun.
In the distance—
At Sengoku's command, two Video Transponder Snails rose into the air, adjusting their lenses to capture the clash atop the floating island.
This was not only a duel between the strongest in the world—
it was a collision between the old era and the new one.
"Nao…"
Sengoku looked toward the sky, his gaze heavy.
As the man who had been Nao's superior for more than a decade, the current Fleet Admiral trusted his power more than anyone else.
What he wanted—
was for the entire world to witness, without the slightest obstruction or concealment, the moment Whitebeard was defeated.
To tear down the pedestal of this so-called "strongest man in the world,"
and shatter the last lingering delusions and fantasies in the hearts of every pirate!
...
The war raged on.
Time felt strangely stretched and heavy, but the sun still climbed steadily across the sky.
Before anyone realized it, noon had already passed.
The grand war that would determine the future of the world had been ongoing for several hours now.
The brutal clash of over a hundred thousand fighters only grew more savage as the hours dragged by.
Southeast corner—
A rugged, tiger-like Longarm Tribe pirate swung his meteor hammer wildly, laughing as he tore through more than a dozen elite Marines.
Before he could catch his breath, he felt a sudden chill at his neck—
Rosinante passed silently behind him, decapitating him with a single slash.
A young Marine from the East Blue, who had joined the Marine to follow Nao, finally overcame his fear.
He picked up a fallen sword and charged forward with a roar—
but before he could take more than a few steps, a rain of black flaming embers fell from above and engulfed him.
His screams were brief; his body was reduced to ash in an instant.
Even Marine Vice Admirals and Rear Admirals,
even pirate officers with bounties over one hundred million—
countless were defeated, gravely injured, or killed outright…
In a world-shaking battle of this scale—
It seemed that no matter who you were,
you were nothing but a small, fragile being,
utterly powerless to control your own fate.
...
No one knew whether, in the very next second, they would be the one gripping an enemy's head and laughing wildly—
or the one dying silently in some forgotten corner of the battlefield, returning to dust.
Even the heavens seemed unable to bear the sight.
At some point, the sunlight disappeared, and the sky filled with heavy clouds.
Rain began to fall.
At first it was only a faint drizzle, but it quickly turned into a torrential downpour.
Raindrops splattered across the frozen sea surface and the devastated harbor plaza.
The impact stirred up a light white mist.
Suddenly the world grew dim, distant—
the shouts of battle and the metallic stench of blood felt separated by an entire world, blurred behind the curtain of rain.
Buzz!
Within this somber, oil-painting-like downpour, a brilliant golden light suddenly pierced the rain, exploding in midair.
The torrential rain in the surrounding area vanished instantly.
At the center of that golden radiance, Kizaru floated motionlessly, his index finger slightly bent.
Opposite him—
The blue phoenix flames died out, and a broken body plummeted from the sky, crashing into the ground without a single movement.
Many pirates stared blankly at the trajectory, eyes widening in disbelief.
"Commander Marco!!"
"Commander!!!"
Heart-rending screams came from every corner of the battlefield.
Kizaru continued to stand in the rain, unmoving, merely glancing at the crater below as he shrugged.
"I should say… not bad for the phoenix. Even more troublesome than I expected. He was already at his limit hours ago, and he still managed to hang on until now…"
"But now, at last, I can free up my hands to deal with the other ones—hmm?"
Kizaru suddenly let out a soft "Oh?" and raised an eyebrow, looking toward the southwest corner.
Boom!
At almost the exact same moment—
The surging black flames that had filled the southwestern sky abruptly vanished.
A black, toothless pterosaur let out a long, mournful cry as it crashed into the ground.
Buzz!
Swordlight blazed, cutting through the remaining flames and splitting them apart.
A graceful figure floated beneath them.
"You're pretty fast, Gion…" Kizaru murmured, a trace of surprise in his eyes.
Below, the pirates—still stunned by Marco's defeat—exploded into chaos.
"Hey, that, that's…"
"It's the head of the Beasts Pirates' Three Calamities, Wildfire King!!!"
"H-How could this be? Didn't they say that female Marine was only an Admiral candidate? How did Captain King lose so quickly!"
The Beasts Pirates' members trembled, their eyes filled with disbelief.
On the high platform at the rear of the plaza—
Sengoku, sitting at the execution platform and commanding the entire battlefield, jolted upright in excitement.
At last, after hours of grueling war—
a breakthrough.
Across the entire pirate alliance, excluding Whitebeard, Kaido, and Red the Aloof, the strongest fighters acknowledged by all were Marco and King.
Now, both had fallen—
completely losing their combat ability—
while Kizaru and Gion, two of the Marine's top combat powers, were now free to intervene elsewhere in the battlefield.
With this shift in momentum, even though the duel between Nao and Whitebeard atop the floating island had yet to reach a conclusion—
the outcome of this world-shaking war was already decided!
"Continue the assault!"
Holding the Transponder Snail, Sengoku bellowed his command across the battlefield:
"Whitebeard Pirates First Division Commander Marco, and the head of the Beasts Pirates' Three Calamities, King, have both been slain!"
"The Pirate Alliance has lost its momentum!"
"All units, coordinate your attacks! The outer fleet is to begin encirclement immediately! Do not allow a single pirate ship to escape! Exterminate every last pirate within this harbor!"
"YES, FLEET ADMIRAL!"
Responses erupted from every corner of the battlefield, roaring like thunder!
Almost everyone had seen what happened just moments ago, and with Sengoku's broadcast added on top of it, the Marine's morale soared to its peak.
Meanwhile, on the pirate alliance's side, panic spread rapidly.
Some pirate officers who had just been holding their own in battle suddenly exposed fatal openings in their panic, leading to devastating injuries.
And with Kizaru and Gion returning to the battlefield after only a brief rest, the situation across Marineford plaza shifted sharply to one side.
The Marine fought with increasing ferocity, while the pirates were beaten back at every turn.
All of this was broadcast across the world, projected onto countless screens, igniting excitement and cheers everywhere.
On the execution platform—
Sengoku put down the Transponder Snail and swept his gaze across the prisoners.
Most of them had closed their eyes in pain and despair.
Only the 4th Division Commander, Thatch, and a few core members of the Whitebeard Pirates still stared stubbornly at the floating island in the sky, teeth clenched, eyes filled with desperate hope.
Are they pinning their last shred of hope on Whitebeard?
Sengoku sneered inwardly, then lowered his head to glance at his watch.
There was less than half an hour until the scheduled execution.
Judging from the current situation, within that time, the pirates in the plaza would be completely routed and then crushed by the Marine ships waiting outside the bay.
In other words, the fall of the pirate alliance would coincide perfectly with the moment of execution.
And when this was broadcast live to the entire world, it would sound the final death knell for the Great Pirate Era.
And the prestige of Marine Headquarters would ascend to an unprecedented peak—
Enough to deter all criminals.
Enough to stabilize the world.
Enough to finally bring peace to these chaotic seas.
Thinking of this, Sengoku could barely contain his excitement.
But at that very moment, the Transponder Snail in his hand suddenly began shaking violently—an urgent incoming call.
"Hm?"
Sengoku frowned.
This snail, during wartime, was restricted so that only calls from the strategy division could get through—and only for major emergencies, to avoid disrupting battlefield command.
A vague sense of dread rose in his chest.
Still, he answered immediately:
"This is Sengoku. What's the situation?"
"F–Fleet Admiral! Something terrible has happened!"
On the other end, someone was panting frantically, voice trembling, clearly terrified beyond measure.
"It's Impel Down! We just received word—
S–Something huge has happened in Impel Down!!!"