Hey guys! How have y'all been?
Got some days left bf other exams, so I wrote up another chapter! I'm going to upload it now, but I might consider fixing it.
Prior to beginning this chapter, remember that this Marineford War is happening earlier than it did in canon.
Overall strength comparisons among the Grimheart pirates: Rowan >>> Carina = Dan > Cavendish = Carmen > Alfred >= Robin > Farul
Anyway, hope y'all enjoy it! Word count of each chapter becoming longer and longer, lmao.
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[Marineford]
The entirety of Marineford, at this moment, was in a chaos. A huge giant, Little Oars Jr., was seen to be in a bloody mess as he lied down unconsciously, with his body serving as the bridge that connects the frozen bay with the plaza.
"""RAAAAA!!!!!""" With the war cries, the pirates continued to advance with their respective weapons facing against the marines, who responded with the determined growls of their own as they clashed.
*BOOM*
Around the Marineford, numerous pirate ships and marine warships collided against one another, with the heavy bombardment of cannonballs that blasted each other apart.
"Don't let the pirates land a foot on the plaza!!!"
*CLANG*
The marine officers commanded as they too clashed their weapons against the notable pirates.
As the battle continued, one man was seen to be observing the situation with a calm expression: Fleet Admiral Sengoku.
And across Sengoku at a far distance away, a man with a huge body frame was glaring back at Sengoku with a grin on his face. He was no one other than Edward Newgate, the Whitebeard.
"You haven't changed, Whitebeard." Sengoku muttered to himself. "Was it that you managed to figure out my plan to corner the pirates by providing the pathway, or was it simply by an instinct?"
Although multi-layered, the primary plan of the Marine was simple: corner the pirates at the particular section of the bay, melt the ice through Sakazuki's magma, before revealing the army of Pacifistas to wipe them out in one go.
However, Whitebeard previously ordered the subordinate pirate crews to attack the marine warships at the edges of Marineford, which allowed his fleet to disperse and evade such a devastating outcome.
'Sengoku, I know that there's a lot more in you than this.' Newgate thought as he swept his gaze across the battlefield, with a slight sweat on his face. 'And this disease of mine... we can't keep this battle up for a long time.'
From Newgate's perspective, the war wasn't in their favour. With them having willingly entered Marine's home turf, with the sheer quantity of their force not amounting to just how much the marines managed to gather up, and with his chronic disease, the successful rescue of Ace didn't seem likely.
Above the sky,
"Yasakani Sacred Jewel."
One of the three Admirals, Borsalino the 'Kizaru,' was seen to be glowing brightly with his arms wide open, as the countless number of light beams blasted towards the opponent he was facing: Marco the 'Phoenix,' the 1st Division Commander of the Whitebeard pirates.
Noticing that Borsalino's gaze was locked onto Newgate behind Marco, Marco let out a growl as he flapped his large blue-flame-clad wings wide open.
*BOOMBOOMBOOM*
As Marco's phoenix-turned body shielded against Borsalino's technique, the loud booming noise resounded throughout the sky.
Watching such a flashy scene down from the ground, Doflamingo let out an amused laugh.
"Heheheheh, isn't this a bit too one-sided?" Impassively cutting down one pirate, Doflamingo turned his head to his right, "What do you think, Mihawk?"
Mihawk replied with a blank expression, "They are fools, but worthy ones."
*CLANG*
"I'm happy that you think so highly of us, Dracule Mihawk." The man whom Mihawk was facing against, Vista the 'Flower Swords,' the 5th Division Commander of the Whitebeard pirates, stated as his sword clashed against Mihawk's.
"And what are you doing, Kuma?" Turning to his left, Doflamingo looked at a huge man who stood on his spot without a word, "Why stand and be boring? Try killing some pirates like a tyrant that you are, heheheheh!!!"
"...I will act when necessary." Kuma shortly replied and continued to stare at a blank space, ignorant of the life-or-death fights that were happening all around him.
On the other side,
"Ice time." Kuzan's ice-turned hand reached out to the muscular man, whose body was partially turned into a diamond. He was 'Diamond' Jozu, the 3rd Division Commander of the Whitebeard pirates.
"Krgh...!!" Jozu gritted his teeth as he narrowly dodged Kuzan's hand, before dashing forward with the part of his diamond-turned body facing Kuzan, "Brilliant Punk!!"
However, much to Jozu's dismay, Kuzan dispersed into ice and dodged Jozu's straightforward body slam with ease.
"Unfortunately for you and your crew, this seems to be an end." Kuzan stated with an ice spear forming over his shoulder as Jozu quickly turned around, "Honestly, did you think that you would be able to face the Marine by yourself, at our home turf? You should've let Iron Fist go."
"Don't get cocky, Aokiji." Jozu gritted his teeth as his diamond-turned body began to be imbued by Armament Haki.
Watching such a scene, Kuzan's eyes narrowed, "One of the hardest minerals in the world, combined with a notably potent Armament Haki... haa, this is getting tiring."
*BOOM*
All of a sudden, one section of the bay was blasted by a laser beam that came from nowhere, leading to the sudden deaths of many pirates.
Then, from the back, the hoard of huge individuals, all of them resembling none other than Kuma himself, made their appearances. They were Pacifistas, the human weapons developed by Dr. Vegapunk.
"Are you sure about this, uncle Kizaru? If they're spread out like this, we'll end up destroying some marine warships too." Standing in front of the army of Pacifistas, Sentomaru asked as he looked above at Kizaru, who stared back at Sentomaru.
Marco, who seemed a little ruffled by Borsalino's attack, stood up from the rubbles that he was sent to previously.
"Eh... just don't destroy too many." Kizaru replied while scratching his head with his finger, before dispersing his body into light to dodge Marco's kick, which swept through the open gap.
"All marines, draw back from the bay!!" Sengoku's voice boomed across the area as he spoke through the miniature Den Den Mushi in his hand.
Under all pirates' confused eyes, the marines began to retreat slowly.
At the same time, unknown to the Whitebeard pirates, the Den Den Mushis used to broadcast the battlefield on Sabaody Archipelago, were being shut down one by one; the marines were plotting a scheme.
"Is it ready?" Sengoku turned to Vice Admiral Tsuru, who crossed her arms while nodding seriously.
"It should be... about now."
The final visual Den Den Mushi, Cameko, was turned off, and as soon as Tsuru's words were spoken,
"Pops!!!" Marco's cry was heard as Newgate was stabbed by Squard, the captain of his subordinate crew.
"...Squard... *Cough*" A stream of blood trickled down from Newgate's mouth, as he looked at Squard, who seemed furious, with tired eyes.
"Why did you lie to us, Whitebeard?!!!!" Squard shrieked in a tone full of despair, as his sunken eyes gazed at Newgate with a hint of sorrow.
"...Lie? What... *Cough*... kind of lie has the marines speak into you... my son?"
"It was a deal between you and the marines all along—to exchange the life of Portagus D. Ace with the lives of your subordinate crews!! Just look! They are barely targetting the Whitebeard pirates, while the rest of us continue to suffer!!" Squard, slowly backing off with bloody cutlass in his hands, shouted at his lungs, "How... how can you do this to me!! You plan to make the son of Roger, who demolished my whole crew in the past, a Pirate King?!!"
Sengoku watched the scene impassively before whispering to the marine officer on his right, "Get the barricade ready."
"Gurara... so that's how it is." To Squard's surprise, Newgate's next course of action didn't contain any harmful intention, but was a simple hug to the very person who stabbed him, "Did you truly believe that I would commit myself to deeds as lowly as that? Squard... all of you are my sons just as precious as Ace!!!"
Sengoku was confident that no one knew Newgate more than he did. According to his experiences, Newgate will-
"The rescue of Ace has nothing to do with his affiliation to the Pirate King!! He is my son, and that's all I need to know!!"
Standing back up, with Squard now lowering his head with teary eyes, Newgate's voice boomed all across. Subsequently, Newgate suddenly made a punching motion in the air.
*VROOOOOOOOM*
The whole area shook, and the space itself trembled and cracked without resistance. The frozen walls composed by the sea waves that encased the Marineford broke down, giving the escape routes to the doubtful captains of the subordinate crews.
"Believe what you want to believe!!!"
With Newgate's declaration, and Squard having realized that he's been tricked by the marines to stab his forgiving leader, the whole pirate fleet erupted into a cheer.
"Prepare for the attack of the 'Strongest Man of the World!!!'" Sengoku stated strictly as the marines tensed up.
From the execution platform, Ace watched these scenes with wavering eyes.
"Pops..." In his eyes, he could see just how sickly his captain was; the fact that it was none other than Ace himself that forced everyone into this situation, crushed him under the guilt.
Momentarily gazing at Ace, Sengoku watched as Newgate, who, with his grip on his huge naginata, Murakumogiri, jumped down from the deck of Moby Dick and began to walk triumphantly.
'You may think that you've won the psychological warfare, Newgate. However...' This was just the chance that Sengoku was looking for. The moment where the pirates would lose their calm and let their bodies be guided by the excitement. This is where the war ends.
Under Sengoku's signal, the barricades suddenly rose, leaving the pirates no way out except for the gap provided by the fallen Oars Jr. They found themselves cornered.
"Hm...!" Raising his fist up, Newgate slammed his tremor-incorporated punch onto the wall, only to see that it managed to withstand his attack, under his surprise.
(AN: Sorry for ruining the immersion, but wth? This context came from canon, and... bruh. A barricade being able to withstand Whitebeard? What? I contemplated for a long time if I should include this smh.)
"Sakazuki." With Sengoku's call, Sakazuki the 'Akainu' finally began to move. Standing up from his seat, his body began to gush out a vast amount of extremely hot magma.
"Don't tell me-" Marco widened his eyes upon realization as his eyes gazed at the trapped Whitebeard pirates, however,
"You've let your guard down." Borsalino made a sudden appearance on Marco's side with a bright flash, before slamming a blindly fast kick onto Marco and sending the latter crashing onto the hoard of pirates.
"It wasn't as difficult as we feared." Kuzan stated with Jozu's body entirely frozen on his back. "Your endurance is incredible, but that's about it, Diamond Jozu. All I had to do was to freeze you little by little."
"Damn it, help pops to get out of there!!" The members belonging to the subordinate crews of the Whitebeard pirates, attempted to break through the marines from the edges of the Marineford, upon sighting the situation that the Whitebeard pirates were within, but to no avail.
Whitebeard grimaced as he assessed the situation around him. 'A little bit more. If we can withstand magma brat's attack, we can bring up the hidden paddle ship and enter the plaza,' He glanced at Oars Jr., 'since Oars seems to be conscious still.'
Raising both fists, which were encased by a huge mass of magma, up in the air, Sakazuki's attack began.
"Meteor Volcano!"
The pirates found the hopes dropping as the large clusters of magma were blasted up into the air, before beginning to descend onto them, who were cornered atop of the frozen bay, with frightening accuracy.
'Perfect. Everything is set as to how it should have been.' Sengoku accessed the situation, before raising up the mini Den Den Mushi close to his mouth,
"And now, we will begin the execution of..." Sengoku's voice boomed out simultaneously, "...Portagus D. Ace!!!"
Newgate tightly gripped onto his naginata as he looked back and forth between the magmas on the sky and the blades that were on Ace's neck with troubled eyes.
"You think I won't be able to stop- *COUGH* *COUGH*" Newgate suddenly fell onto one knee with his whole body shaking uncontrollably. He was covering his mouth with his free hand, in an attempt to hide the blood that was threatening to spill.
"""POPS!!!""" The pirates simultaneously shouted in disbelief.
And at the same time, the executioners lifted their execution blades up.
The sudden turn of events brought despair to the Whitebeard fleet. Although Marco desperately flew towards the execution platform, he was quickly interfered by Borsalino and Kuzan, and the frozen Jozu was carefully being held by a couple of pirates.
With three Admirals adamantly blocking the way, as well as Sengoku and Garp who are yet to join the battle, the pirates instinctively knew that Ace's execution wasn't preventable by them alone.
"Ace…!" Vista gritted his teeth as he furiously slashed his sword against Mihawk, who impassively returned Vista's techniques with his own.
'Everyone...' Ace lowered his head, knowing that there was no way out of this. 'I'm sorry for bringing you into this.
Goodbye.'
The time seemed to slow down in Sengoku's eyes, as the time he has been waiting for, was about to unfold in front of him.
'With this, the Great Age of Pirates is finally over.' Sengoku's glasses flashed as he gazed at Newgate coldly.
From the lower platform, Garp closed his eyes tightly as he clenched his fists hard, unable to see his grandson being executed just as his biological father did.
This is the end, right? Or... is it not?
*ZOOM*
*Thud* *Thud*
The executioners fell down all of a sudden with bleeding holes on their heads, causing Sengoku's eyes to widen.
"What?!!" Sengoku's eyes widened at the sudden turn of the event.
"Phew, that was way too close for my liking."
A voice was heard as one man stood on top of the executioner platform, earning the shock of many. Subsequently,
"Phoenix Ascension."
"60 Million Volt: Magnetic Smash!!"
"Beautiful Sword: Sabre Ecrasant!"
three individuals, Carmen, Dan, and Cavendish, made an appearance in the sky to interfere Sakazuki's Meteor Volcano.
The whole sky shook and the gust of wind from the incredible forces swept through all pirates and marines, as the magmas in the sky were exploded into the oblivion by the combination of three different attacks.
"...Huh?" Surprised that he was still alive, Ace lifted his back up, and sighted the familiar jolly mark that was engraved on the jacket of one man who was standing before Sengoku.
"He is..." Having memorized the man's face from the bounty poster, Sakazuki snarled as the magma around him boiled, reflecting his turbulent emotion. "Grimheart...!"
"Pops!!! Are you okay?!!"
Having seen that Ace's execution has miraculously been prevented, Marco quickly approached Newgate and inspected the latter's condition. His eyes turned to that of sorrow upon realizing just how critical the latter's state was.
"*Huff*... Gurarara... I'm fine, Marco." Newgate slowly lifted up his head and gazed at the man who made a sudden appearance on the platform, "That boy over there, *Cough*… isn't too bad, gurarara."
Recognizing the man's face, the veins popped out of Sengoku's forehead as he spoke with anger, "How did you escape from the Impel Down... Grimheart?!"
The man facing Sengoku was none other than Rowan. His appearance brought shock upon everyone, for he suddenly entered the scene out of nowhere, through Carina's ability.
Rowan returned Sengoku's glare with a mischievous grin, "What do you think?"
Simultaneously, the marines who quickly surrounded Rowan, raised their guns up towards him.
"Magellan... if Grimheart is here, it means that he..." Calming himself down, Sengoku felt himself surprised by sensing a potent Haki within Rowan. Recognizing the latter as a dangerous foe, Sengoku transformed into a huge, golden-coloured, and Buddha-like figure that towered over Rowan.
Rowan was a factor that Sengoku had to get rid of, as fast as possible. Although the bounty of 850 million Beli was previously made to attract the eyes of the bounty hunters, Sengoku could tell right off from the bet, that Rowan's threat level far surpassed such bounty.
"Ro…wan." Ace muttered in disbelief.
"He isn't blind?" Garp commented in a shaky tone. If looked closely, a slight glimmer of hope could be seen within his eyes.
Kuzan's expression became stoic, 'His Haki... just what happened to him? It's as if it's been doubled in potency and amount.'
"Giant golden humanoid. Probably Mythical Zoan." Unfazed by Sengoku's fearsome transformation, Rowan inspected the latter's features impassively.
Sengoku gritted his teeth as he threw his giant arm towards Rowan, in an attempt to grab the latter, however,
*BOOOOOM*
The bounce force suddenly exploded from the soles of Rowan's feet, bringing upon the destruction of the execution platform.
Everyone momentarily halted their vicious battle with stupefied expressions on their faces.
Along with the collapsing segments that originally constituted the execution platform, Rowan, Ace, Sengoku, and the others who were standing on top of it, all fell without an exception.
*BOOM*
Now, with the cloud of dust rising from the site of destruction, everyone in this war could feel it; the change in the tide of the battle.