"Robin!" Luffy screamed, the panic in his voice nearly drowning out the distant thunder of cannon fire.
He struggled fiercely to break past Marco again and again, but Marco moved with seasoned precision, forcing Luffy back each time.
From a distance, the sight that met Luffy's eyes tore his heart apart.
"Robin."
Her body was pinned to the ground, impaled by a spear driven through her chest. The weapon belonged to Speed, captain of the 14th Division. Blood soaked her once-bright clothing, and her wrists were being stomped relentlessly under his boot.
On the other side, Franky was already on his knees, crushed under the assault of Kingdew, captain of the 11th Division.
Only Zoro and Brook were still on their feet, battered but refusing to fall.
"Get out of my way!" Luffy's bloodshot eyes flickered with frenzied crimson light as he dodged another strike from Marco. He lashed out, punching Marco hard in the face and forcing himself toward the collapsed Franky.
He had failed to protect them again.
Just as he had before, and just like now.
"Franky!" Luffy screamed, his determination exploding outward.
"Get out of my way, Gum-Gum Black Mamba!" he bellowed, launching himself forward in a blur of motion, his fist arcing like a crimson comet toward Kingdew.
Just then, lightning cracked through the boiling black clouds above. A terrifying roar accompanied a bolt of thunder that coiled around a massive club and slammed into the ground with the force of an apocalyptic storm.
A gargantuan figure erupted onto the battlefield, its wild presence sinking deep into the battered earth. The aura it exuded was like the draw of an abyss or the pull of a soul-devouring sea.
"Thunder Bagua!" came the thunderous declaration that cut through the chaos.
Luffy's eyes flared with red, but the force came too fast. He raised a hand, and before he fully knew what was happening, a massive shockwave smashed into him from behind. He screamed in pain, blood flying from his mouth as the ground exploded around him and Kangchang Avenue warped into a shattered ruin under his body.
He was buried in the wreckage, barely able to push himself up.
The terrain around him had become twisted hills of fractured stone and dust, the air thick and suffocating.
"Beast Kaido!" someone gasped, their voice trembling with shock.
All eyes were fixed on the towering, fearsome figure wielding that enormous weapon. It was one of the Four Emperors, Kaido of the Beasts, a living tempest of ruthless strength.
"Why did Beast Kaido appear?" another voice asked in disbelief.
But the surprises were far from done.
From the sky came another wave of thunderous impacts, figures smashing onto the battlefield with earth-rending force.
"Three Calamities: King, Queen, Jack!"
"Ulti, Black Maria, Page One…" voices continued as more terrifying names were announced.
The battlefield seemed to buckle under the sheer might of the descending Beasts Pirates. The number of warriors backed by Kaido's forces was staggering, a seemingly endless tide of subordinates and fighters ready to tear the world apart.
"The Beasts Pirates have unleashed everything!" someone cried.
"Why… why would the entire Beasts Pirates show up here?"
"Kaido just struck Straw Hat!"
But before the shock could fade, more reinforcements thundered from above.
"Oh no… no way…" a Marine whispered, eyes wide in terror.
A strange, booming laugh echoed, and from falling clouds of sun and shadow emerged a colossal figure in a pink dress, holding an enormous blade and roaring with ferocity.
"BIG MOM!" the crowd gasped.
Behind her, Sweet Commanders and powerful family leaders dropped into the war as though descending from doom itself: Charlotte Katakuri, Cracker, Smoothie, and other fierce warriors of the Big Mom Pirates.
The battlefield seemed frozen in horror as more and more pirates crashed down, a cascade of unstoppable power.
"It's overwhelming," someone gasped, clutching their chest.
Big Mom herself looked down upon the carnage with a twisted, frightening grin.
Charlotte Compote, her eldest daughter and Minister of Fruits, stood beside her in a lavish dress and fruit-adorned headpiece, exuding dominance and pride almost equal to Big Mom's.
The sky continued raining combatants as dust and debris settled, shrouding the entire scene in bleak, suffocating gloom.
Then came another wave, announcing itself with chilling certainty.
"Blackbeard Pirates."
"Evil King, Combat Champion, Big Barrel…"
"That's Impel Down Warden Magellan!"
"And Jailers, Jailor Beasts, and criminals!"
The sheer number of Blackbeard's reinforcements alone dwarfed even the combined might of the Beast and Big Mom Pirates. Tens of thousands of figures poured out, each one a convicted criminal pulled from the deepest depths of Impel Down, most of them incomparably strong even before arriving.
This war had completely spiraled out of control. The simultaneous appearance of the Big Mom Pirates, the Beasts Pirates, the Blackbeard Pirates, and countless Impel Down forces made it clear there was more behind this chaos than anyone could yet understand.
Sengoku clenched his fists, jaw tight and face grim. The purpose behind this convergence of devastating power was still unknown. If they were hostile to the Marines, the Marines would be nothing more than dust beneath the world's feet unless the World Government intervened with unparalleled force.
Dragon's face was even darker; he could sense hostile intent radiating from the invading hordes.
"Magellan, Shiryu… why are you here?" Sengoku asked, voice trembling with dread. A faint hope still burned in his heart, despite the rising panic.
Shiryu exhaled smoke from his cigar and grinned eerily.
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku, isn't it obvious?" he said, his voice slow and unsettling. "The jailers and criminals don't want to stay in Impel Down anymore. They wanted a change of scenery." His laugh was as chilling as the steel at his side.
Magellan stood behind him, expressionless and silent, ignoring Sengoku entirely.
A distant, childlike call came again from the sky. Dragon's gaze snapped upward.
"Sengoku, my target isn't the Marines, so you'd best not act rashly," Big Mom's booming voice threatened, echoing across the battlefield. "Capture those scrawny ones first."
Beside her, Katakuri and the other Sweet Commanders advanced without hesitation, their presence alone like looming specters of destruction.
Kaido roared in response to Big Mom's command.
"Hahaha, Big Mom, you want to fight me over them?"
Almost as one, Sengoku and Dragon felt a flicker of hope that the Beasts Pirates and Big Mom Pirates might clash with each other.
But that hope was immediately crushed.
"The Furious One is yours, the Rose Queen is ours," someone declared coldly.
"No problem," came another reply.
"Straw Hat will be ours."
Jozu and several other Whitebeard commanders abandoned their positions and charged toward the recovering Luffy.
Blackbeard laughed, the sound oily and terrifying in the chaos.
"Revolutionary Army and Marines, do not interfere, or it won't be good for anyone."
Luffy's scream echoed again.
The Marines might have ignored Blackbeard's warning, but the Revolutionary Army would never stand down.
Dragon, Kizaru, and all four army commanders moved as one toward the onslaught!
"Dark Hole!"
"Poison Dragon!"
"Drawing Slash!"
The Blackbeard Pirates and Magellan's hordes launched a brutal assault on the Revolutionary Army, ignoring the Marines entirely. And the Marines, wary of internal betrayal and massive hostility, dared not step into the crossfire.
Suddenly, every Revolutionary Army captain was blocked.
"Get out of my way!" Luffy roared once more, but two fists alone were no match for four arms fortified with Haki.
Marco, Jozu, Vista, and half a dozen other captains pummeled him mercilessly until he fell back in exhaustion.
As for Ethan and Emma, they faced the horrors of the Beast Pirates and Big Mom Pirates respectively, practically alone, with Kaido and Charlotte Compote personally joining the battle.
It was like a single mortal standing against rampaging titans.
The fate of the Straw Hat Pirates was already sealed.
The power gap was too great.
"Brother, exchange for a Teleportation Talisman and leave first," Emma called out, her voice shaky with dread as they faced overwhelming odds.
"Roar!" Ethan plunged forward with his massive club, clashing with Kaido while King, Queen, and the others attacked. Hearing Emma's desperate plea, he didn't hesitate, he spent ten thousand exchange points to obtain a Teleportation Talisman and vanished in an instant.
No one had time to react to the sudden disappearance of Ethan and Emma.
___
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