"Whitebeard is moving!"
Compared to Sengoku and the Admirals, who had their eyes on Jiang Lin, the Marines who had already retreated from the plaza feared Whitebeard even more.
After all, unlike the rookie Jiang Lin, Whitebeard was a true veteran. His strength and the glory of his past battles pressed down on the Marines like an unshakable mountain, leaving them gasping for breath.
Shu!
Whitebeard flipped his bisento, Murakumogiri, and leveled it straight at Sengoku on the execution platform.
"Heh."
A low chuckle escaped his lips, making Sengoku's brows furrow deeply. Even for him, the name Whitebeard carried a weight that could not be ignored.
"Clear a path for Pops!"
The Whitebeard Pirates surged forward like a tidal wave, shouting as they charged fearlessly across the plaza.
After Squard's betrayal, the Marines had nearly finished their withdrawal.
As the pirates stormed forward, the coastal batteries stationed across the plaza swiveled on their mounts under the officers' orders, their black muzzles aimed directly into the bay.
"We cannot allow them to reach the plaza. Fire!"
At the order, the cannons roared to life. One after another, iron cannonballs shrieked through the air toward the incoming pirates.
Shu!
The whistling of shells filled the plaza. Whitebeard looked up, snorted, and simply raised his right hand. With a mighty punch at the empty air—
GANG!
A deafening crack resounded as the very air split apart. Fractures spread outward, shattering the cannonballs midair and crushing the gun batteries behind them into rubble.
BOOM!
A massive explosion lit the plaza. The Marines manning the artillery shielded their faces against the flames, snarling in frustration.
"Whitebeard! Damn you!"
"Activate the encirclement wall!"
Inside the control chamber, Marines frantically pulled a series of levers, each one linked to the great mechanisms buried beneath the ice.
"Is it ready yet?"
Sengoku's voice cut sharply with anxiety as he watched the pirates closing in.
"Apologies, Fleet Admiral! The ice is thicker than we anticipated!"
Below the surface, a vast machine pressed upward against the frozen seabed, slowly pushing the encirclement wall into place.
"I'll hold them back!"
A massive figure leaped from the plaza.
"Don't think you'll set foot here, Whitebeard Pirates!"
A giant Vice Admiral swung his massive blade, cleaving through swaths of pirates and leaving a trail of the wounded in his wake.
"Out of my way!"
The giant finally raised his blade toward Whitebeard himself. But with a casual lift of Murakumogiri, Whitebeard parried the strike, then stretched both hands forward and pulled down upon the air itself.
"The ground—it's tilting!"
The plaza trembled violently as the island beneath them shifted. Marines cried out as the earth slanted beneath their feet, sending them tumbling backward.
"Whitebeard!"
Cold sweat streamed down Sengoku's brow. Beneath his fury lingered a trace of fear.
"What terrifying power…"
Jiang Lin glanced back at the rising sea level, awe written across his face. Whitebeard's strength clearly surpassed his own.
Even though Jiang Lin possessed the same Tremor-Tremor Fruit, his mastery couldn't compare. Whitebeard could tilt the sea and the land itself—something Jiang Lin was far from achieving.
"I must grow stronger… my body must keep up!"
Resolving quietly within himself, Jiang Lin turned back toward the battlefield.
"The sea… the island itself… everything's tilting!"
Even the Whitebeard Pirates stared wide-eyed. None had seen such a cataclysm: the sea and land shifting at their captain's will. This was no mere Devil Fruit power, the miracle of the world's strongest man, Whitebeard.
WAAAAHHH!
Rocks crumbled, fissures tore through the earth, and Marineford plunged into chaos. Warships capsized in the towering waves, and houses collapsed under invisible pressure. The Marine headquarters itself seemed on the brink of ruin.
"This… this can't be real!"
When the world finally stilled, the plaza lay in ruins—shattered walls, broken stone, and collapsed buildings everywhere.
"What terrifying power… Whitebeard, your strength is monstrous. But by the name of Absolute Justice, I will not allow you through!"
The giant Vice Admiral staggered upright. His body trembled with fear, but his grip on his blade tightened with iron resolve as he charged again.
"Hmph!"
Whitebeard leaped, meeting the giant's strike with a single quake-infused punch.
CRACK!
The air split apart, fissures ripping across the ice. The shockwave roared forward, tearing through the plaza walls and racing toward the execution platform.
"They're going to destroy the platform—stop it!"
The pirates shouted in excitement, eyes alight with hope as the quake surged closer.
"We can't stop it!"
Marines scrambled away from the wall as the shockwave tore into it like a cannonball.
BOOM!
The plaza wall exploded into rubble. The shockwave didn't stop—ripping through the buildings behind it until the entire rear of Marineford was shrouded in smoke and flame.
"The execution platform—was it destroyed?"
The Marines stared in horror.
"Did he hit it?"
The pirates leaned forward eagerly, eyes burning with hope.
But when the dust settled, the wooden platform stood untouched.
"What? It's still there?"
"Why? Did Pops hold back?"
The truth revealed itself in the smoke: standing before the execution platform were the three Admirals—Aokiji, Kizaru, and Akainu—side by side, their arms raised, having combined their strength to block Whitebeard's devastating blow.
It wasn't mercy that had spared the platform. It was the Admirals themselves.