A thunderous roar shook the sky.
Endless magma exploded from Sakazuki's body like a volcanic wrath unchained. The ground trembled beneath the weight of his power as waves of molten fire surged outward, devouring everything in their path.
In the blink of an eye, the entire battlefield was flooded in searing magma.
Whitebeard's children, caught in the heart of the eruption, were overwhelmed by the sheer force and unbearable heat. One by one, their cries were silenced—only a blue flaming bird struggled to stay afloat.
But Sakazuki had no time to care. Whitebeard's counterattack had already arrived.
Buzz—! Crack—!
A low tremor echoed, followed by the deafening sound of the atmosphere itself fracturing. The ground split apart as seismic shockwaves erupted in all directions, blasting magma high into the sky and clearing the field in an instant.
The blue phoenix, wings scorched and body battered, finally broke free from the inferno. The others, however, lay motionless across the shattered battlefield.
From Whitebeard, a tide of Conqueror's Haki burst forth, heavy with rage and murderous intent.
"Magma brat!!!"
His naginata, surging with the same savage Haki, crackled with veins of black lightning. With a mighty stomp, he launched himself forward like a cannon blast, tearing up the ground and stirring a spiraling storm of wind and debris in his wake.
Sakazuki watched him approach, surrounded by a raging aura. Unfazed, he clasped his fists together and pulled apart—drawing out a magma blade over three meters long. Its shape flickered and pulsed, but the heat was focused, sharp. The blade darkened as it hardened with Armament Haki, and Conqueror's Haki flared along its edge.
He swung his magma blade head-on to meet Whitebeard's strike.
Clang!
The sharp clash of metal rang out as the earth beneath them cracked and split inch by inch.
Their Conqueror's Haki collided violently, sending black and purple bolts of lightning shooting outward. The surrounding terrain was ripped apart, craters forming wherever the lightning struck. Everything caught in their battle's radius was obliterated.
The two men, locked in fierce struggle, wore twisted, ferocious expressions. Their eyes blazed with killing intent, and their bodies tensed with power. Veins bulged across their arms and necks like writhing serpents.
Sakazuki, despite his fury, was slowly being pushed back. But then, the magma raging inside him surged once more, pushing steadily against the pirate's strength.
Whitebeard's muscles swelled even larger as he pushed down harder on the vice admiral.
At the point where their weapons clashed, a blinding white light began to shine, growing brighter and brighter, filling both their eyes until they could no longer see each other.
Finally, even their silhouettes were swallowed up by the endless white.
BOOM!!!!!
An earth-shattering explosion roared. A mushroom cloud, a thousand meters tall, rose into the heavens. Blistering heat waves swept across the island, splitting the land into fractured pieces.
Above, the thick clouds were torn in half, stretching endlessly across the horizon.
In the distance, Marco, transformed into a phoenix cloaked in blue flames, stared toward the heart of the explosion with deep worry.
"POPS!!!"
Far from the battlefield, Sengoku, who was supporting Quell, narrowed his eyes. In a flash, he transformed into a towering golden Buddha. A radiant shockwave gathered in his palm before he hurled it toward the blue phoenix.
As it traveled, the shockwave expanded into a massive ball of energy several dozen meters wide, roaring toward Marco's small figure.
The pirate's instincts screamed danger. His body tensed as he turned his head, his pupils shrinking violently.
"What?!"
The massive shockwave filled his entire vision, crashing toward him. Locked onto by Sengoku's Conqueror's Haki, Marco felt his body freeze under the crushing presence. A sharp sense of impending death flooded his senses.
Suddenly—
Crack!
From the center of the distant explosion, a smaller, semi-transparent ripple shot out. It intercepted the shockwave just in front of Marco.
Boom!
The two forces collided and detonated. Marco was blasted hundreds of meters away, tumbling through the sky. As he steadied himself, he looked at the source of the ripple, his heart lifting with relief.
"Pops!"
A strong gust of wind swept through, clearing away the dust and smoke. There, standing firm with his naginata planted in the ground, was Whitebeard with a grim look on his face.
"Marco, get out of here."
His voice was calm, but the storm of Conqueror's Haki pouring from him spoke volumes.
Turning to the golden figure in the distance, Whitebeard narrowed his eyes.
"Sengoku."
The admiral quickly pulled Quell behind him, his face tightening slightly. With a cold snort, he unleashed his own Conqueror's Haki, the clashing waves of Haki whipped up violent winds, tearing across the battlefield.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap...
Slow, deliberate footsteps echoed over the shattered ground. Whitebeard, still locked in his Haki clash, glanced sideways.
Out of the swirling smoke, Sakazuki's figure emerged, still in his Crimson Lotus Mode. The air around him shimmered with oppressive heat, and the golden light in his eyes burned even fiercer.
Without a word, he stared coldly at Marco.
Seeing this, Whitebeard raised his naginata and charged at Sakazuki, roaring over his shoulder.
"Marco, go to Valoris Island and wait for me!"
A surge of Conqueror's Haki, filled with killing intent, pressed down on Sakazuki.
The vice admiral remained unmoved. His eyes stayed locked on Marco, who was flying into the distance.
"Hellhound."
His crimson arm transformed into a thick, smoking stream of magma that shot forward with terrifying speed.
Whitebeard appeared in front of it, his naginata slashing down on the stretching molten arm. With a single strike, he severed it, but the remaining magma continued to race after Marco.
Boom!
The molten mass struck the phoenix, erupting on impact. Magma clung to Marco's body, igniting his survival instincts. Blue flames erupted from him as he struggled to break free and flew farther away.
Crack!
Meanwhile, Whitebeard swung his arm, using his Devil Fruit to shatter the air in front of him. A powerful shockwave shot straight at Sakazuki.
Bang!
Before the shockwave hit, the vice admiral's entire body exploded. Magma scattered across the ground, sinking into the earth.
Then, starting from the ground beneath Whitebeard's feet, the earth within dozens of meters began to twist and turn red.
Boom! Boom! Boom!...
As Whitebeard dodged, several thick pillars of magma burst from under him, shooting into the sky. The pirate's expression tightened as he sensed trouble. He channeled the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit to cover his feet.
Dodging again, he stepped just as another magma vent formed beneath him. With a heavy stomp, the shockwave force blasted deep into the ground. It shattered the gathering magma below and split the earth itself.
Rumble!!!
Within several kilometers, the ground cracked into numerous small fragments. Bottomless fissures crisscrossed the land, and countless red glows flickered at the depths.
Without the land covering it, the searing heat surged to the surface. Seeing the growing red glow in the cracks and feeling the rising temperature, Whitebeard furrowed his brows.
It was as if he understood something. He looked toward a certain spot.
"You sneaky brat."
At the spot where his gaze landed, magma gathered and formed into Sakazuki's figure. A cold voice rang out. "Got found out, huh. What a miscalculation."
Whitebeard let out a soft chuckle. "Ho."
He clearly did not believe Sakazuki was truly disappointed. Gripping his naginata with both hands, he pulled it behind him, channeling his Devil Fruit power to cover the blade.
Buzz—!
He swung downward diagonally toward Sakazuki . As the naginata neared the ground, the shockwave coating the blade exploded outward.
A crack several meters wide appeared in the air above the ground. As Whitebeard kept pouring his strength into it, his arms, gripping the naginata, bulged with raging veins and swelling muscles.
The crack in the air continued to expand.
Rumble!!!
The dozens of meters wide air crack exploded, slamming violently into the earth. The entire island shuddered, deafening booms rolling across the landscape. The magma gathered underground was shattered completely, making it unable to reform for the moment.
The ground shook and the island's surface broke apart into huge uneven plates, as if some force had forcibly shifted the tectonic layers. Centered on the island, shockwaves stirred up towering waves that surged in all directions.
Whitebeard and Sakazuki each stood on massive separate plates of land.
Whitebeard spun his naginata once before stabbing it into the ground. Drawing back his clenched fists to the side of his abdomen, he swung them outward with tremendous force.
The air on both sides of him detonated.
The seas on either side of the island seemed to twist under some unknown force. Several massive, rectangular blocks of seawater rose into the sky, like giant lids being lifted.
They came crashing down, aiming directly at the vice admiral.
Looking up at the incoming blocks of seawater, Sakazuki showed no expression. His body collapsed into a mass of flowing magma, sinking into the fractured earth.
A second later, his presence appeared deep underground, within the molten sea below Whitebeard's feet. The ground beneath the pirate started to shake violently. The restless magma, under Sakazuki's control, gathered its power.
BOOM!
The colossal seawater blocks slammed into the island, letting out a deafening roar as endless torrents of water surged in every direction.
BOOOM!!!!
At the same time, beneath Whitebeard's feet, the earth exploded.
A magma pillar, nearly a kilometer wide, erupted from the depths, consuming everything in its path and scattering devastation across what remained of the island.
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