Sanders let out a low growl, his frost-covered left hand waving lightly.
Thick ice spikes, as wide as an arm, suddenly erupted beneath Whitebeard's feet. These icy spears radiated an intense chill and sparkled under the lightning's glow, resembling crystal, breathtakingly beautiful.
But Whitebeard wasn't in the mood to admire such beauty. His eyes narrowed slightly as he swiftly dodged the incoming spikes.
"Fivefold Gravity—Heavy Mountain!"
Sanders' low roar echoed once again.
Whitebeard suddenly felt an immense pressure envelop him, as if a mountain had been placed on his shoulders. His body sank, and moving became as difficult as wading through mud.
Despite his incredible strength and years of combat experience, Whitebeard still couldn't completely evade. The ice spikes managed to graze him, and the bone-chilling frost clung to him like a leech.
Frost instantly encased Whitebeard's legs, and his brows furrowed deeply.
In that instant, Sanders closed in, his fist clenched tightly and covered with blinding white lightning intertwined with crimson-black arcs of Conqueror's Haki.
With a thunderous force, Sanders' punch slammed into Whitebeard's chest.
Boom!
Whitebeard was sent flying, crashing heavily onto the icy surface.
"Thunder Flash!"
Before Whitebeard could react, Sanders transformed into a bolt of lightning and shot toward him, appearing above Whitebeard in an instant.
The ice-covered left fist came crashing down, aimed squarely at Whitebeard's head.
But Whitebeard was not one of the most formidable pirates on the seas for nothing. Even after being knocked down, he quickly regained his footing and raised his fist to counter.
Boom!
The powerful collision caused the ice beneath Whitebeard's feet to crack and splinter, seawater surging upward through the fractures.
Using the impact, Whitebeard managed to push Sanders back. He wasted no time leaping to another part of the battlefield.
"You're really getting on my nerves!" Whitebeard said, his expression dark as he glared at Sanders.
The combined powers of the Gravity Fruit and the Ice Fruit were making it difficult for him to fight at full strength, as if an invisible net were constraining him. Even with his immense power, moving freely felt like a monumental task.
Watching Whitebeard's grim face, Sanders grinned, revealing his sharp, white teeth.
"Whitebeard, this is all part of my strength. What's the matter? Don't tell me you think I shouldn't use it?" Sanders sneered, his half-beast form making his grin look particularly menacing, like a demon from the depths of hell.
Since unleashing his full power, Sanders had been completely dominating the fight.
Whitebeard had already taken several heavy blows from Sanders, suffering more injuries than he had throughout their entire battle so far.
The reason was simple—Sanders was using too many abilities.
The Gravity Fruit added pressure to restrict movement, the Ice Fruit slowed reactions, and the Rumble-Rumble Fruit paralyzed with electricity.
Facing him, Whitebeard could only utilize about 80% of his usual strength, which was already considered impressive.
Coupled with Sanders' incredible speed thanks to the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, the gap between them widened.
Even with his extraordinary strength and advanced Observation Haki, Whitebeard could do little more than endure Sanders' relentless attacks.
"Gurararara!"
"You really think highly of me, using so many powers. And you're not bad with any of them!" Whitebeard laughed heartily, but his eyes remained serious as he looked at Sanders.
This opponent's power was truly overwhelming.
Sanders wasn't just strong; his mastery of physical combat and Haki placed him at the pinnacle of the seas. Add to that his adept usage of multiple Devil Fruit abilities, and there was no one else on the ocean who could match him.
Not even Whitebeard.
Not even Gol D. Roger.
Sanders shrugged. "What can I say? Your strength demands it."
A man who once rivaled Roger in power, Whitebeard remained formidable despite his age and injuries. Unlike Shiki the Golden Lion, who lost both legs and spent over a decade without a proper battle, Whitebeard had never stopped fighting.
He continued to clash with top-tier opponents and maintained much of his peak strength.
His only weakness, perhaps, was that he could no longer fight for days on end as he once did.
But who on the seas could endure a battle against Whitebeard for ten days and ten nights without a decisive outcome?
"How about letting your sons join in?" Sanders asked with a smirk, glancing toward the Moby Dick. "It looks like they've been itching to do so for a while now."
As he spoke, the dragon tail behind him swayed, cracking the icy ground beneath his feet.
Since going all out, Sanders had clearly felt that Whitebeard was no longer a match for him.
In terms of strength, speed, defense, and attack power, he held the upper hand across the board.
Whitebeard's expression turned cold.
"Don't underestimate me, Sanders!" Whitebeard roared, his muscles bulging with veins popping.
Invisible shockwaves erupted from his body, sweeping through the battlefield.
The frost and lightning lingering in the air were obliterated in an instant.
Covered in an intense aura of Haki, Whitebeard launched himself at Sanders.
His fist, imbued with the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, struck fiercely toward Sanders.
Sanders showed no fear, meeting Whitebeard's blow head-on with his own punch.
The battlefield erupted into chaos, lightning flashing and thunder roaring.
The shockwaves of Whitebeard's attacks ravaged the area, while Sanders countered with his freezing powers, sealing the fractured ice in seconds.
The entire sea surface now resembled an ancient glacier, unmelted for decades and exuding bone-chilling cold.
Whitebeard's moves were straightforward and devastating, his raw power evident in every strike.
The shockwaves seemed capable of obliterating everything in their path, threatening to shatter the very world.
Each of his attacks hit Sanders with overwhelming force.
On the other hand, Sanders' combat style was far more flamboyant.
Lightning, ice, Haki, and martial arts—he wielded them all seamlessly, unleashing a barrage of attacks on Whitebeard as if they cost him nothing.
Under this ferocious assault, even Whitebeard, with his extraordinary strength, found himself repeatedly pushed back.
Before long, more wounds appeared on Whitebeard's body, leaving him looking increasingly battered.
Sanders, by comparison, was in much better shape. Though he wasn't unscathed, his injuries were negligible and had no impact on his combat ability.
"Vista, should we step in?" Diamond Jozu asked, his face filled with anxiety as he watched Whitebeard.
"No!" Flower Sword Vista gritted his teeth and growled.
Originally, Vista had intended to intervene. But the moment Whitebeard declared, 'I am Whitebeard!' he knew their father did not want them to interfere.
"This is Father's fight!" Vista said firmly.
"But at this rate…" Jozu trailed off, unwilling to accept the situation.
Whitebeard's honor was important, but his life was paramount.
What pirate had never faced defeat? Losing wasn't the end—they could always reclaim their pride later.
"Unless Father's life is in danger, we mustn't interfere," Vista said solemnly.
After witnessing Sanders' mastery of multiple Devil Fruit abilities, Vista realized something: their invincible father might actually lose.
On the battlefield, Sanders and Whitebeard continued their fierce clash.
The deafening sound of their blows echoed across the sea.
"Whitebeard!" Sanders roared mid-punch. "Even your sons probably think you're going to lose!"
"You think defeating me will be that easy, Sanders?!" Whitebeard bellowed, refusing to back down.
"Is that so?" Sanders replied, glancing at Whitebeard, who was now panting heavily.
He could tell that the old man before him was beginning to feel the strain.
The effects of Sanders' various Devil Fruit powers were taking their toll on Whitebeard, draining his stamina significantly.
It wouldn't be long before the old injuries in Whitebeard's body were aggravated, and when that happened, he wouldn't be able to maintain his current peak state.
Sanders' thoughts raced as he decided to end the battle sooner rather than later.
After all, he had been fighting Whitebeard for more than a day now.
It was time to end this.
An endless frost radiated from Sanders' feet, spreading across the ice layer beneath him.
The battlefield's icy terrain, already formidable, thickened further as his power surged.
Roar!
A deep, resonating beastly roar echoed across the sea.
Sanders transformed from his half-beast form into a massive dragon, hovering menacingly in the sky.
"So, you're getting serious now, Sanders?"
Whitebeard looked up at the colossal dragon in the air, his expression growing more solemn.
The dragon floated amidst the stormy clouds, surrounded by crackling lightning, exuding an overwhelming aura of destruction.
"Let's settle this once and for all, Whitebeard!" Sanders declared, his gaze cold and commanding as he looked down on Whitebeard from the heavens.
He was already aware of Akainu's arrival in the vicinity.
The last thing Sanders wanted was for his battle with Whitebeard to be interrupted, potentially allowing Akainu to swoop in and take Whitebeard down.
It wasn't concern for himself—he was confident in his strength. However, if Whitebeard were defeated and Akainu capitalized on the situation, Sanders' carefully laid plans could be jeopardized.
For that reason, he resolved to end the fight as quickly as possible, ensuring that the Whitebeard Pirates still had a chance to retreat.
Meanwhile, in the waters not far from the battlefield…
Akainu stood at the bow of his warship, his eyes cold as he stared down a pirate vessel before him.
"This is the territory of the Whitebeard Pirates! Leave immediately!" Marco shouted from the deck of the pirate ship, his expression tense as he glared at the approaching Marines.
"The sea belongs to the world, not to pirates," Akainu retorted, his voice dripping with disdain. He clenched the cigar between his teeth, his fiery gaze fixed on Marco.
"Do you think you can stop us, Marco?" Akainu sneered, showing no fear of the famed Phoenix.
"Are the Marines planning to go to war with the Whitebeard Pirates?" Marco's tone grew grim, his blond hair whipping in the sea breeze.
In the past, he wouldn't have bothered with so much talk.
He'd have attacked outright, letting strength do the talking.
But the current situation was different.
Whitebeard was still locked in battle with Sanders on the other side, and the odds weren't in their favor.
If they clashed with Akainu now, the Whitebeard Pirates might suffer devastating losses.
"War?" Akainu raised an eyebrow, scoffing coldly.
"So what if we do?" he said with a sneer before barking a command to his crew.
"Fire the cannons! Sink that pirate ship!"
Boom!
The cannons on the warship roared to life, firing a barrage of shells toward Marco's flagship.
On Akainu's warship, Marines armed with rifles followed their orders without hesitation, pulling the triggers and aiming at the pirates on deck.
Akainu's subordinates were well-disciplined, fully aware of their commander's ruthless nature.
Defying Akainu's orders could very well mean being reduced to ash by his magma.
His unyielding justice was applied equally, sparing neither pirates nor disobedient Marines.
Faced with Akainu's decisive aggression, Marco's expression darkened.
Flames of pale blue erupted around him, and his body ascended into the sky.
"Blue Flame Arrows!"
Flapping his fiery wings, Marco released a volley of flames, intercepting the incoming cannonballs and bullets mid-air.
Akainu's gaze shifted to Marco hovering above.
Without hesitation, his arm transformed into molten magma, bubbling ominously.
Gurgle…
The intense heat of the magma radiated, carrying the terrifying power to incinerate everything it touched.
"Great Eruption!"
Akainu unleashed a massive fist of magma, launching it like a volcanic eruption.
But his target wasn't Marco—it was the pirate ship he had brought along!
Akainu had no intention of wasting time battling someone who could simply evade his attacks by flying.
He needed to resolve the situation with the pirate ship in front of him as quickly as possible and head to the battlefield where Saunders and Whitebeard were engaged!
Previously, during the battle between Kaido of the Beasts and Saunders in the Dressrosa Kingdom, he had arrived too late and missed the opportunity to participate. Now, having caught another chance, he would not let it slip away again.
His goal was clear—to capture Saunders.
Even though he didn't want to admit it, Akainu understood that capturing Whitebeard was incredibly difficult. Even if Whitebeard and Saunders ended up severely injuring each other, the captains of Whitebeard's pirate fleet weren't easy opponents. The people he had brought along were simply no match for them.
But Saunders was different.
That man had come alone.
Marco's expression shifted as he immediately understood Akainu's intentions. Without hesitation, he leaped into action.
"Undying Thistle!"
Blue flames materialized in front of Marco, forming a circular shield that firmly blocked the incoming volcanic eruption.
The searing magma erupted and scattered across the sea. When it hit the water, it produced a hissing sound as steam rose thickly into the air, distorting the battlefield with rolling white mist.
"Move the ship farther away!"
After deflecting the volcanic eruption, Marco issued a command and flapped his wings to charge toward Akainu.
There was no way he would let Akainu succeed in bypassing them and reaching the battlefield.
"Phoenix Seal!"
A powerful shockwave radiated from Marco, hurtling toward the warship where Akainu stood.
Akainu intended to sink their ship to get past them.
Marco could do the same—sink the warship and block Akainu's path.
As the intense shockwave roared toward him, Akainu's expression remained impassive. Standing at the bow of the ship, he exhaled a puff of smoke and declared:
"Hellhound!"
His magma-formed arm extended rapidly, striking the Phoenix Seal with immense speed.
Unlike Marco, Akainu didn't have defensive techniques like shields.
His Magma-Magma Fruit abilities were purely offensive.
If he used a large-scale attack like the Great Eruption, the resulting magma rain would likely damage the warship he stood on.
And out here on the vast ocean, he needed a solid foothold.
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T/N:
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