I had to take a second to fully comprehend the power Whitebeard had just displayed; the level of strength he had just shown was something that I'd never witnessed before; neither Akainu nor even Sengoku had displayed this level of might.
"Hehehe, this just makes me want to fight you even more." Muttered Diddy softly with a wild grin as he stared at a younger-looking Whitebeard with hungry eyes, only to suddenly drop to one knee.
Clutching my heart while kneeling on the ice, I felt my consciousness turn hazy as I felt a sizeable chunk of my strength suddenly fade away, causing me to nearly faint.
'F-Fuck, transferring that much vitality to Whitebeard must've fucked with Freyja's Lust Emperowement; tsk, to think she was providing so much help, annoying.' Thought Diddy with an unsightly expression as he clutched Naga-sa, using it for support while slowly standing back up.
I wasn't the only one who seemed surprised by Whitebeard's sudden increase in power; he, himself, seemed to be slightly taken aback as I saw him looking down at the hand he had just punched with.
"This strength, this is the type of might I wielded back in my haydays." Said Whitebeard lightly, only for him to glance at Kizaru, Aokiji, and Sengoku with a grin.
"You said you wanted to see what the strength of the strongest man is? Well then, you ignorant brat, let me show you." Added Whitebeard with a smirk as he completely ignored Diddy while walking forward, his every step causing the entire bay to tremble while the water in the distance aggressively shook.
Watching Whitbeard make a move, I pushed off the ground, leaping into the air before landing on top of his ship, watching him slowly approach the two admirals and fleet admiral, who were all staring at him with grim expressions, causing me to grin as I felt my heart beat in excitement.
One man's presence alone was causing three of the five strongest beings on the Marines' side to show grim expressions as they looked somewhat hesitant to confront him; this was the type of strength I wanted; this is what I strived for. I wanted my mere presence to instill fear within everyone in my vicinity, and then…
'…Then, I'll see what type of strength lies further beyond that.' Thought Diddy with a ferocious yet eager expression as he intently eyed Whitbeards every move.
After a few seconds, the three admirals lost their hesitance, yet instead of trying to confront him directly, Sengoku faced Whitebeard head-on while the two admirals went to chase after Luffy and Ace; although my condition was beyond terrible, that didn't mean I was frighted of them, in fact, after seeing Whitebeard's strength, it was the completely opposite.
Clenching Naga-sa, I coated my body in haki and surged lightning through my nervous system as I speedily dashed through the sky using geppo and soru, intercepting both Kizaur and Aokiji before they could make it far. Flexing my non-damaged muscles, I did something I had failed at earlier and extended my haki onto my bo-staff, causing it to take on a blackish hue as I swung it at the two admirals, intending to stop them. However, even though I've made some good improvements on my haki thanks to all the powerful opponents I've been fighting throughout the last three hours, it wasn't enough to close the gap between the admirals and me, especially since I'm far from my peak strength, and at this point, I was merely forcing my body to move.
Aokiji caught my bo-staff and covered it in ice along with my arm while Kizaru pierced a beam of light right through my chest, near my heart, though I managed to move it at just the last second, further extending my life. With Aokiji's ice permeating through my body, I couldn't move my right arm without risking it breaking in multiple sections, and just when the two were about to pass right by me, a burst of conquerors haki erupted from Whitebeard.
"Where do you think you two brats are going? No one is harming my children!" Declared Whitbeard sternly as he coated his naginata in armament and conquerors haki before leaping into the air and slashing downwards.
The two admirals attempted to stop Whitebeard by raising their hands and using haki along with their devil fruits ability, yet, to my surprise, Whitebeard's attack cleaved right through their defense without too much trouble, though in the end, his attack ultimately missed as they were able to just barely dodge it in time, forcing them backward.
Though what I was most shocked about wasn't how powerful the attack was, it was the fact Whitebeard had infused his conquerors haki in that attack, which opened up a whole new path for me.
'Conquerors haki, so that's how you can use it?' Thought Diddy with a large grin as he stared at Whitebeard, who charged toward the three admirals like a ragging bull, preventing any of them from attacking his crew.
Standing back onto my feet, I gazed onward as Whitebeard took on the three admirals by himself, all while still holding his ground; I mindlessly watched for multiple minutes, enjoying possibly the highest level of strength the world has to offer, only stopping when I spotted Akainu attacking the retreating Whitebeard's crew along with the remaining marines.
'Tsk, what a fucking snake.' Thought Diddy as he gave one last look at Whitebeard before clicking his tongue and kicking the ground, lunging towards Akainu, who was causing mass destruction and casualties by the second.
Although I'm sure Whitebeard would love to help his crew, even with his current strength, he was having a hard time stalling those three, let alone trying to stop a fourth one; however, that was fine; I had a personal vendetta against Akainu. Once Aokiji's ice had finally been melted away with my lightning, allowing me to freely move my arm around, I swiftly lunged at Akainu from behind and swung my haki-infused bo-staff at him from behind, yet he effortlessly blocked it by raising his hand.
"Immmmm, baaaaaackkk." Said Diddy with a large, feral smile as he leaned forward while licking his fangs, only to suddenly leap backward when a magma bubble emerged from Akainu's back, which erupted in a violent explosion.
Landing on the ground behind, Akainu glanced at me with furious eyes, yet unfortunately for him, I was far from the only one fighting him as Marco, a man with two swords and the man who can transform into a diamond, attacked him simultaneously, yet he wasn't an admiral for nothing as he managed to block and even repel their attacks before counter-attacking, while I used that chance to regroup with my own crew.
"Heh, well, aren't you guys having fun." Said Diddy with a smirk as he swung his bo-staff, knocking a marine out of the way as he approached his crewmates, who all gave him an exasperated look.
"Tsk, aren't you one to fucking talk Diddy? Fighting Whitebeard, fighting the admirals, attempting to fight the fleet admiral, yet somehow, you're still alive; I'm both happy and pissed." Said Freyja with an irritated expression as she violently slashed her nails at an incoming enemy before glancing at Diddy, who merely chuckled in response before staring at her lips, causing her to scoff.
"Don't even bother; my lust empowerment has a downtime; it makes you stronger in exchange for turning your lust into strength, and if you have no lust, you get no strength." Added Freyja in a faint smirk as she looked at Diddy, who grunted in annoyance, finding joy in his misfortune.
"Ugh, annoying, though that at least explains why it lasted for so long compared to last time; I had a lot of backed-up lust thanks to being imprisoned." Muttered Diddy with a nod as he eyed Freyja's figure, yet he didn't feel even the slightest bit of arousal.
"Hoho, I know that feeling all too well, Captain; this old body of mine is like a cage to my more animalistic desires." Stated Sebas with a soft chuckle as he launched invisible attacks at multiple enemies, causing them to all collapse without any sign of injury.
"Hmph, that's merely an excuse; you seemed pretty active during the beauty contest between Freyja and Hancock." Said Mael with a grunt as he slashed downwards with his golden axe, creating a large golden arc of plasma that burnt anyone who came into contact with it.
"To be fair, Mael, Freyja, and Hancock are the two most beautiful women in the world; I feel like that's a reasonable excuse." Remarked Scar lightly as he kicked his legs, creating strong blades of wind that sliced several marines in half before he contorted his body, dodging an attack from behind only to pierce the attacker's skull with his finger.
"Justifiable, in my opinion." Stated Grand loudly with a grin as he punched a marine with such force he flung into several more like a bowling ball, causing them all to collapse dead on the ground.
"I'm a woman, and I agree; they had me thinking I liked women. Maybe I actually do?" Said Trenza with a nod as she used her pistol that caused corpses to drop on the floor with a bullet hole perfectly between their eyebrows, only to glance at Freyja before looking at Diddy and shaking her head.
"Eh? What are you guys talking about? Freyja and Hancock? Can I get a picture?" Asked Janet curiously as she used her hands to take pictures, trapping several marines into a silent world forever, unaware of whether they would ever gain freedom.
"Heh, I wish we had a picture." Muttered Scar lightly with a sad sigh, his words causing everyone, excluding Freyja, to silently nod in agreement.