This war.
The Golden Lion Pirates descending from the sky were not a surprise force.
The zombie army, which had been lying in ambush beneath the plaza before the battle began, was not a surprise force either.
Nor were the Pacifistas, who were soon to enter the battlefield from the rear to attack the Whitebeard Pirates.
The true surprise force—
Was the Straw Hat Pirates, who had allied with the Revolutionary Army, and even Maude himself had no idea when or where they would appear.
Likewise, the number of forces the Revolutionary Army would deploy was also beyond Maude's grasp.
At present,
The only ones guarding the execution platform were Sengoku and Garp.
Sengoku had to oversee the entire battlefield and would not recklessly join the fight. His focus was on monitoring the situation at all times.
Garp, though unable to swiftly defeat Marco, could at least ensure that Marco would not be able to rescue Ace.
In the sky,
On the ground,
The situation was gradually becoming clear.
And now, only a little over thirty minutes remained until the execution was set to begin.
Barring any unexpected developments, the Navy was fully capable of carrying out Ace's execution under the watchful eyes of the entire world and the Whitebeard Pirates.
Thus, up until this moment, the ones who should be feeling anxious were always the Whitebeard Pirates—not the Navy, which had the luxury of taking its time.
This assumption, of course, was based on the premise that no unforeseen changes would occur.
And Maude was the only one present who possessed the most information.
He was well aware of the existence of this unexpected variable—the Revolutionary Army and the Straw Hat Pirates.
He also knew very well that Straw Hat Luffy was the greatest weakness of the Navy's legendary hero, Garp.
If Garp's interference could be removed, then unless Kizaru and Fujitora could act in time to stop him—
Marco would undoubtedly be able to take Ace to safety.
Of course.
The fundamental reason Maude had moved to the rear was to prevent such an outcome.
If Marco successfully rescued Ace, this war would reach its conclusion far too quickly.
And before he could claim Whitebeard's experience for himself, that was not the ending Maude wanted to see.
"Should I take this chance to eliminate Marco…?"
Maude glanced at Marco, who was being pummeled back and forth by Garp, and fell into thought.
If he were to focus on dealing with Marco, it would inevitably hinder his efforts to retrieve the scattered zombie shadows one by one.
In that case, the trade-off wouldn't be worth it.
"Forget it, I'll take things one step at a time."
After some deliberation, Maude ultimately abandoned the idea of taking out Marco first.
Compared to that, ensuring the retrieval of every zombie's shadow was far more important.
No longer paying attention to Marco's battle, nor bothering with the rampaging beasts around him,
Maude first looked up at the aerial combat unfolding above.
The hundreds of elite Marines, all skilled in Moonwalk, whom Sengoku had dispatched, were not targeting the floating fleet. Instead, they focused on dealing with Golden Lion himself.
This strategic decision freed Kizaru's hands to go after the airborne fleet.
Utilizing the terrifying long-range attack capabilities of the Glint-Glint Fruit, Kizaru repeatedly intercepted the fleet's cannon fire aimed at the ground while also unleashing laser beams to strike their ships.
Against Kizaru's precise attacks, the ships hovering in midair were nothing more than stationary targets.
Every so often, yet another ship would be shot down by Kizaru.
This was the inherent flaw of Golden Lion's ability—
An aging Golden Lion, facing hundreds of elite Marines and the constant watch of Fujitora, had no spare energy to ensure the safety of his fleet.
Even if he could simultaneously battle the Marines while adjusting the positions of dozens of ships to evade attacks,
Kizaru's Glint-Glint Fruit still remained the greatest counter to his floating fleet.
Ultimately, it came down to Kizaru being too fast—so fast that at close range, the massive ships simply could not dodge his light-speed attacks.
In other words, as long as those elite Marines could hold their ground, Kizaru alone was enough to wipe out the entire floating fleet.
Never in his wildest dreams had Golden Lion expected that the fleet, which had allowed him to run rampant over twenty years ago, would be so powerless in this war.
Nor had he anticipated that the Navy would have monsters like Kizaru and Fujitora, who were particularly problematic for him.
Twenty years of change.
Had shown Golden Lion the twilight of the old era, and the sharp edge of the new one.
For him, this realization was undoubtedly cruel.
From his vantage point, Maude observed the disadvantaged Golden Lion and his fleet.
The arrogant confidence Golden Lion had displayed upon arrival was now in stark contrast to his current predicament.
"Times have changed, Golden Lion…"
Muttering to himself, Maude withdrew his gaze from the sky and instead turned his attention to the battlefield ahead.
While the individual strength of the zombie warriors was formidable, the elite fighters of the Whitebeard Pirates were far from weak.
In this evenly matched confrontation, the zombie army had begun to suffer casualties.
As the zombie warriors fell, the shadows residing within their bodies flew toward the sky.
But in an instant, under Maude's control, they were drawn back to the ground, swiftly traveling along the earth and gathering before him.
This was—
A power akin to a "Shadow's Asgard."
With a mere thought, no matter how far scattered they were, the shadows would return to Maude at the fastest possible speed.
"Even if the corpses and shadows are of high quality, if they can't use Haki…"
While casually firing his gun, Maude gathered the retrieved shadows into the palm of his hand.
At this climactic stage of the war, every passing second saw pirates and Marines alike falling, and the zombie army was no exception.
Under the concentrated attacks of the Whitebeard Pirates, the casualties among the zombie warriors were rising rapidly.
The expelled shadows, however, were steadily making their way back to Maude under his command.
Due to the page limitations of his Hunter's Notebook, Maude couldn't possibly record every member of the Whitebeard Pirates.
As a result,
The zombie army's relentless and fearless slaughter did not bring Maude any substantial gains.
Unless they happened to take down a division commander or a major fleet captain…
But the odds of that happening were slim.
In truth, Maude's primary goal in deploying the zombie army at Marineford was not to harvest experience points.
One by one, the shadows that had departed from fallen zombies traveled across the ground, converging at Maude's feet before being compressed into his palm.
At any moment, should he choose, Maude could cut down these shadows to claim their experience points and replenish his stamina and Haki.
But before that—
These shadows still had greater value to be exploited—
The key to securing Whitebeard's experience.
"I wonder just how many shadows I can endure…"
Maude pondered.
Meanwhile, on the battlefield—
As more zombie warriors fell,
Smoker and Hina, who had stubbornly remained to fight against the Whitebeard Pirates, were beginning to struggle.
With the zombie army's dwindling numbers, they could no longer absorb much of the enemy's firepower.
At this rate, if they continued to stand their ground, they would likely meet their end here.
"These two are really stubborn…"
Watching Smoker and Hina gritting their teeth and refusing to retreat, Maude shook his head.
"You're neither zombies nor Monkey D. Luffy…
"If you don't learn to adapt, you'll only suffer for it."
—————————
Want to read waaaay ahead of schedule? Head over to my Patreon ——— patreon(.)com/EmperorGarus [remove the parenthesis ( )]
NOTE: This fanfic has been fully translated and is available on my Patreon!