Starting with Naruto, I'll become stronger through my own efforts.

Chapter 490 The Collapse of Marineford

The Warring States Marshal stared blankly at the collapsed iron wall, as if he had lost his soul.

His beliefs suffered a heavy blow.

A meticulously planned trap, a painstakingly assembled elite force, weapons of war crafted at great expense, and even the sacrifice of naval officers and soldiers.

The sacrifices here weren't deaths in battle, but rather being crushed by Sakazuki's fire meteors or drowned by the seawater after the ice fields melted.

This was done to maximize the element of surprise, deliberately withholding information from the marines fighting on the front lines.

It's easy to imagine how intense their sense of betrayal must have been.

Why did the Navy have to conduct a "world draft" after the Marineford War?

Of course, it was to fill the vacancies left by Sakazuki's promotion to admiral and Kuzan's departure from the navy, but more importantly, it was to make up for the losses caused by the disunity of 100,000 elite naval personnel.

Otherwise, why would recruiting a few top experts require a name like "World Recruitment"?

Instead, we should use "World Champions" or "World Draft Team".

In short, the Navy paid a huge price, and Fleet Admiral Sengoku even sacrificed his reputation, to drive the Whitebeard Pirates into a corner.

But no one expected that, when pushed to the brink, Whitebeard himself abandoned all his concerns and stepped forward, breaking through Marineford with just two blows and shattering the iron wall surrounding the pirates.

At this point, the attempt to eliminate the Whitebeard Pirates has failed. At most, they can only save Whitebeard himself and half of the Whitebeard Pirates.

The Warring States Marshal's anguish lasted only three seconds. He took a deep breath, regained his composure, and began to consider what he should do next.

Face off against Whitebeard and take him down with your own hands?

The Warring States Marshal gave up on this tempting idea after just one glance.

Whitebeard is now a god, his domineering and boundless Conqueror's Haki filling the sky, his invisible pressure like a god looking down on all living beings.

Whitebeard's Conqueror's Haki overwhelmed the entire scene, single-handedly sweeping away all the Marines below the rank of Lieutenant Commander.

The shockwaves from the Tremor-Tremor Fruit explosion created white ripples that blasted people and rocks away, some even turning into pieces of minced meat on the spot.

All the navy personnel who tried to approach Whitebeard were overwhelmed by the force of the shockwave.

Not only did all the members of the main force suffer setbacks, but the giants were also knocked down by his punches, and even Admiral Aokiji couldn't get close enough to rebuild the ice wall.

We can't go there!

Although Sengoku was not afraid of Whitebeard, he was even confident that he could fight him.

But—what if?

While Kuzan froze the iceberg to seal the breach in the wall, he also froze the camera snail into an ice block, ending the live broadcast of the battle.

But there are also marines and pirates present. If they see the Fleet Admiral defeated, who knows what kind of terrible impact it will have.

If I can't fight Whitebeard, then what am I supposed to do?

Sengoku's eyes swept across the battlefield. He saw the navy's morale waning, gritted his teeth, and didn't know what to say. After all, he was the one who had let them down.

Sengoku saw the sailors floating on the sea, lying on the ice, and sacrificing themselves in the square, and his heart was filled with guilt.

He also saw the 77th Division, which was still in neat formation but had adopted a strange formation.

The Marshal thought to himself: The 77th Branch is so elite, then we must turn them all into troops directly under our command!

Of course, Sengoku also saw Natsuzo and his extremely dissatisfied gaze, which even made the Fleet Admiral shiver.

Finally, he saw Ace on the execution platform, and a flash of inspiration struck him, as if he had thought of something.

But before Sengoku could figure out his inspiration, he discovered that Sakazuki had also rushed towards Whitebeard.

The failure of "Operation Iron Wall" was not only a major failure for Fleet Admiral Sengoku, but also nearly caused Admiral Akainu, who was responsible for its execution, to faint from anger.

The Navy's long-planned and seemingly foolproof scheme was ruined just like that!

Although the current Fleet Admiral Sengoku will inevitably take the blame, Sakasu is fundamentally unyielding, and the absolute justice he upholds will not allow pirates to run rampant in front of him.

Admiral Akainu rushed forward, determined to personally kill Whitebeard and restore the Navy's honor.

Upon seeing this, Sengoku immediately shouted, "Don't be impulsive, Sakazuki!"

However, his reaction was still a step too slow.

Sakazuki used Moonwalk to instantly appear above the plaza, and the next second he was in front of Whitebeard.

Upon seeing him, Whitebeard burst into laughter: "Gurararara, Akainu, why did you stop setting off the fireworks?"

Whitebeard was naturally amused. He had brought 50,000 men to rescue Ace, but they were repeatedly ambushed, suffering heavy casualties and even becoming sitting ducks.

But all of this was shattered by his two slashes with his white beard, and of course he had to laugh triumphantly.

You don't need a large cleaver to fight sea lions.

Whitebeard planted the knife in the ground, and his thick, powerful arms suddenly swelled up, his muscles becoming even more muscular.

He reached out and grabbed at the void, his ten fingers gripping the invisible space as if he had grabbed a physical object and pulled hard before releasing it. The vibration of the space spread out like a slingshot.

The higher the hardness of the medium, the faster the vibration propagates, and the hardness of all matter in the world cannot compare with that of space.

The shockwave traveled through space at a speed exceeding 30 times the speed of sound, reaching Sakazuki, who was walking on moonwalk in mid-air, in the blink of an eye, and refocusing.

In an instant, Admiral Akainu swayed, his chest suddenly caved in, as if struck by a hundred-pound hammer.

Sakazuki turned pale and coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Unable to control his Moonwalk, he fell awkwardly to the ground.

Whitebeard knocked Sakazuki down, and, still not satisfied, pounded the space again, creating countless white spatial rifts.

Sewing.

The entire Marineford region was thrown into chaos once again, the surrounding seas shook violently, and a new fault line suddenly appeared on the island and the sea surface.

It was as if the sky had been ruthlessly smashed by a god; the sky tilted, the earth shook, and everything was being destroyed.

Rumble!

Marineford was like a magnitude 8 earthquake; both the navy and the pirates were thrown into chaos, and everyone trembled under Whitebeard's power.

"Whitebeard!!"

Akainu scrambled to his feet, raised his head, and stared fiercely at the tall figure before him: "You're dead today! I will definitely kill you!!"

Whitebeard was also vomiting blood; he would vomit blood every time he unleashed his full power.

Hearing Sakazuki's threat, Whitebeard laughed triumphantly: "Gurararara, Akainu brat, looks like my punch has already blew your mind out!"

Akainu snapped, "Stop talking nonsense, Whitebeard! Don't try to act like you're the strongest in the world!"

As he spoke, Sakazuki unleashed a cruel and ruthless killing intent; in his eyes, pirates were nothing but scum on the sea.

No matter how fancy words pirates use to beautify themselves, such as "freedom," "dreams," "friendship," "bonds," or "great treasure," they cannot change the fact that a thief is a thief and evil is evil.

Freedom and loyalty are just fig leaves; pirates are a group of lawless, thieving, and reckless criminals who disrupt order and deserve to die.

Sakazuki aimed a punch at Whitebeard and unleashed a massive lava fist attack, a fist comparable to that of a giant, which crashed down in front of Whitebeard.

[Major Fire Breathing]

Marco and Jozu, who were guarding Whitebeard, were about to step forward to stop him, but Whitebeard pushed them aside. His old but strong body strode forward, and he raised the large naginata he had pulled from the ground high.

A white-bearded man is a white-bearded man. When he no longer cares about the risk of death, he can naturally extract power from his body continuously, and his powerful and domineering aura emanates from him, making people's hearts tremble.

When facing a Logia-type Magma Devil Fruit user, Whitebeard wisely refrained from using the Tremor-Tremor Fruit's power. Instead, he concentrated his black Haki into his large naginata and swung it fiercely, cleaving the scorching magma fist in two.

The splashed lava rolled onto the ground, and the high temperature of thousands of degrees corroded the ground bricks and stones into molten lava, instantly turning the area into a thick cloud of smoke.

Undeterred by his failed attack, Sakazuki roared and charged at the great naginata, unleashing another column of viscous and scorching magma.

The bright red magma churned and turned large swathes of land into lava, and the scalding lava then evolved into a giant lava hound, as terrifying as a guardian of hell.

【Dog-toothed Crimson Lotus】

The terrifying lava hound opened its orange-yellow maw and instantly lunged at Whitebeard, about to bite down on his neck, face, and wrists.

The white-bearded man laughed heartily, casually released his large naginata, sank his feet, and slammed his arm down on his own foot.

A milky white, transparent halo appeared around his body, then transformed into a shockwave that instantly blasted away the charging lava hound.

And all four of them flew together.

Whitebeard unleashed the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit to its limit, thoroughly demonstrating what it means to be "the strongest man on the sea," and just how unstoppable his power truly is.

Faced with Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit, the magma giant dog was blasted away and only exploded into a lava mess in an instant after flying a long enough distance.

The shockwave, still spreading, then refocused on Sakazuki's location, blasting him to pieces with a loud bang.

However, Sakazuki didn't bleed or have any flesh or bone broken; only scalding lava spewed out, clearly indicating he had been struck by the shockwave.

He had already dodged it beforehand and left behind a magma clone to attract attention.

Even in battles between the world's top experts, little tricks can be very useful.

Admiral Sakazuki of Akainu surprisingly put up a good fight against Edward Newgate of the Whitebeard, much to the surprise of the Marines and pirates.

The navy's morale was thus greatly restored, while the pirates fled even more vigorously, their fear and anxiety becoming increasingly palpable.

Compared to the panic of the lower-ranking pirates, the main officers of the Whitebeard Pirates, such as Marco and Jozu, were even more terrified.

They knew Whitebeard's physical condition well: internal injuries, hidden wounds, diseases, aging, and the burden of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit had long been overwhelming him, and he could collapse at any moment.

Moreover, now that he had been stabbed, he had unleashed two more stabs with all his might, and his aura had suddenly dropped to a shocking level.

Twenty years ago, or even ten years ago, the so-called Admiral Akainu would have been a guy who could have been dealt with in a single encounter by Whitebeard.

The naval admirals of that time were no match for the pirate emperors.

But things are different now. The admirals have reached their peak, while Whitebeard is nearing the end of his life, and even Charlotte Linlin is clearly weakening.

No wonder Fleet Admiral Sengoku suddenly became bold, not only taking on the blame thrown at him by the World Government, but also going all out to set a trap to wipe out the Whitebeard Pirates.

The strategist of the Warring States period was sensing the changing times.

Perhaps he was able to make up his mind because it wasn't just the Three Emperors who were aging, but also the former Admiral of the Navy—Sengoku.

The remnants of the previous era are old and frail. Whitebeard's strength has declined and he is no longer known as the world's strongest. Facing Sakazuki, who is in his prime, Whitebeard actually has no chance of victory.

Forget about the chance of victory; even if he just stood there and continued to fight with ordinary naval personnel, he wouldn't last long. He would inevitably succumb to his injuries and lose his life.

Marco and Jozu are Whitebeard's closest "sons." They understand Whitebeard's condition better than anyone else, so how could they let their father face a powerful enemy alone? Naturally, they rushed to help.

But this time, the admirals won't go overboard.

Sakazuki took the blame for Whitebeard, and if Kuzan and Borsalino don't show some support, how will they survive in the Navy?

The ground where Karara Jozu landed suddenly froze into ice, and Admiral Aokiji appeared in front of him covered in frost, blocking his way with an ice saber.

Marco, who was flying through the air towards Sakazuki, was hit by a precise laser beam halfway there, causing him to stagger and fall to the ground.

Borsalino solidified in the light, blocking Marco the Phoenix's path.

The three strongest members of the Whitebeard Pirates faced off against the combined forces of the three Marine Admirals. They displayed high-end combat techniques such as shockwaves, magma, ice, blue flames, lasers, diamonds, and Haki to their fullest extent. Even the aftershocks of the battle kept ordinary pirates and Marines from getting close.

The battle group, like a mountain, once again blocked the pirates' escape route.

Fleet Admiral Sengoku breathed a sigh of relief and turned his gaze back to the execution platform, looking at Ace thoughtfully.

Sakazuki's ability to withstand Whitebeard was ten times better than he had ever hoped.

This shows that Sakazuki has indeed grown a lot and is clearly superior among the three admirals. It can be said that the next Fleet Admiral of the Navy has been determined.

It's true that Sakazuki has become stronger, but Whitebeard's decline in strength is also far beyond what was imagined.

Seeing that Whitebeard coughed up blood every time he exerted himself, and that blood gushed from the wound in his abdomen, anyone would know that he was doomed.

With Whitebeard dead, the Whitebeard Pirates are doomed.

Even if the navy stops hunting them down, countless pirates will still pounce on them, like hyenas, desperately tearing at the king's flesh and blood to grow stronger.

Unless the Whitebeard Pirates can rise to a new, young leader who can command respect.

For example—Ace!

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