The battle in the sky island continued.
anwhile, down in the harbor—
RUMBLE!
Amid continuous cannon fire, five stolen Marine warships finally broke through the outer blockade with ease and forced their way into Marineford Plaza.
"Damn it!"
"Stop them!"
Several Marine Vice Admirals nearby turned pale. They imdiately issued orders, sending large numbers of troops to surround the intruders.
However—
Even though the defending Marines were all elite Headquarters soldiers, after such a prolonged and exhausting battle, they were in no condition to face this fresh wave of enemies.
The pirates who had been imprisoned in Level 6 didn't even need to fight seriously. The encirclent shattered instantly, torn open in several places as the formation collapsed.
"Hey hey hey, so these are the so-called Marine Headquarters elites? Not impressive at all."
"When I ruled the seas more than ten years ago, your predecessors weren't this weak!"
The pirates laughed wildly as they slaughtered, mocking the Marines without restraint.
Many of them had been locked in Impel Down for years, even decades. Now that they were free again, they were like beasts unleashed, venting all their pent-up brutality in a frenzy of bloodshed.
FWOOSH—!
Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh!
Suddenly, golden beams of light shot out from the distance—one after another, dazzling and rapid—followed by a series of thunderous explosions.
Where the lasers landed, several pirates in prison uniforms were instantly pierced and killed before they could react, their bodies collapsing rigidly backward.
The nearby pirates shrieked in shock and instinctively turned their heads.
At the southeastern coastline, enormous silhouettes appeared—two, three, four massive figures. They resembled giant apes, their bodies covered in steel, each over five ters tall. Sunlight glinted off their tallic forms as they marched forward step by step, radiating crushing pressure.
"Target: Dostreino Koven. Bounty: 73 million. Eliminated."
"Target: Demon-Carver Molten. Bounty: 60 million. Eliminated."
"Target: Nightmare Blade Akra. Bounty: 92.5 million. Severely injured. Continuing elimination attempt."
Cold chanical voices ca from the giant apes' mouths. On each of their chests was engraved a code beginning with OX.
"W-What are these things?!"
"The lasers just now… isn't that Admiral Kizaru's ability?!"
"They can beat near-100-million-berry pirates so easily… this has to be a joke!"
With just one round of attacks, the visual impact and the resulting casualties were staggering, instantly throwing the pirates into panic.
Even the legendary Level 6 criminals who had not yet taken action narrowed their eyes, visibly shaken.
"Continue the attack! OX-1! OX-2!"
A chubby young man carrying a massive axe stood at the center of the giant apes' formation, shouting orders.
"We finally got a chance to show up—don't let HQ or the old man look down on us!"
The "old man" he referred to was their superior, Admiral Kizaru.
And this chubby youth was none other than Sentomaru, captain of the Marine Science Unit.
FWOOSH—! FWOOSH—!
Before the pirates could react, the giant apes opened their mouths once more, unleashing dozens of golden laser blasts across the battlefield.
In an instant, another dozen escaped prisoners were killed.
The OX-series war machines—also known as the Pacifistas—had undergone more than ten years of research and iteration by Marine Headquarters to achieve their current power.
Compared to the PX series from the original tiline, which used Bartholow Kuma's appearance, they were still inferior, and far below the later ultimate weapons known as Seraphim.
But killing pirates with bounties in the tens of millions was still effortless for them.
"Looks like we can't just sit back and watch anymore."
Catarina Devon—the woman known as the most vicious female pirate in history—flicked the ash from her cigar.
"I'll take the three in the middle. The rest are yours to handle."
"We don't need you ordering us around."
So legendary pirates snorted, while others grew excited, cracking their knuckles.
"Heh, interesting. New toys cobbled together by Vegapunk? They're perfect for warming up."
"Alright, let's go!"
SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!
Several figures shot forward, but the fastest wasn't Catarina Devon—rather, it was a man with long, ssy hair and a body as thin as a skeleton.
With one bounding step, he leapt to the right flank. His right leg, hardened with dense Armant Haki, swept out in a vicious arc.
Accompanied by hissing smoke, two war machines were instantly smashed apart.
"Oi! That guy—if I'm not mistaken, isn't that the forr Warlord, Doflamingo?"
An older Marine Lieutenant Commander shouted in shock.
His companion beside him was equally stunned.
"You can still recognize him? What happened to him—why does he look like a ghost now?"
"Who knows… but why do I feel like his Haki and physical abilities are way stronger than before?"
The two Marines weren't far away, so their conversation fell clearly into the ears of Doflamingo, who had just blown apart two war machines.
"Fufufufufufu…"
Doflamingo landed on the ground.
Behind his disheveled hair lurked a sinister, twisted grin. He lifted his head toward the floating island above, bloodshot eyes filled with barely contained venom.
"I've finally waited for this day… Natsuya Nao…"
Seven years!
A full seven years!
Ever since his easy defeat by Nao in the North Blue seven years ago, he had been locked in the lowest level of Impel Down, living through days of endless torture in a world without light.
Never enough food, never warm enough…
And for the first few years, he suffered constant retaliatory abuse from Shiryu of the Rain.
If not for the lingering pride of his Celestial Dragon blood—and his burning desire for revenge—he would have long gone insane.
Or… perhaps he had already gone insane?
Fufufu… who could say?
Either way, he had finally erged back into the sunlight, stepped onto Marineford's soil, and once again laid eyes on that man.
And the man he was now—was no longer the man he was back then.
Four years ago, when his neighboring cell was replaced by the infamous Douglas Bullet, he began mimicking Bullet's training, turning his hatred into fuel, never stopping his physical and Haki training.
He didn't know why, but even after escaping and being free of seastone, he still could not use his String-String Fruit abilities.
But without a doubt—
The man he was today was far, far stronger than the clown who had been beaten like a dog in the North Blue seven years ago!
White Dragon Nao—
Back then, you spared because of that traitor Rosinante…
Today, I will show you how foolish that decision was!
"Fufufufufufu…"
With eerie laughter, Doflamingo vanished again.
At the sa ti, on both sides of the battlefield, several legendary pirates struck, easily destroying the war machines around them.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The massive figures toppled like mountains.
In less than a minute, more than one-third of the war machines brought by Sentomaru had been destroyed.
"What Pacifists? OX-whatever? What a ss."
Catarina Devon drifted down lightly, glanced back at the three massive machines she had taken down, brushed off her sleeves with disdain, and sneered:
"So this is all they amount to…"
"Damn!"
"As expected—even Pacifistas can't handle these monsters from Underground Level 6?"
Seeing this, the surrounding Marines turned pale.
Monts ago, they had relaxed at the sight of these war machines.
Now, anxiety flooded their hearts once more.
"Hmph."
Catarina Devon let out a cold snort, taking out a cigar and preparing to light it.
But not far away, Douglas Bullet—who had been silently observing the entire ti without taking action—suddenly narrowed his eyes, noticing sothing.
His expression shifted.
He barked sharply:
"Behind you, woman—MOVE!"
Hm?
Catarina Devon froze for a split second.
Instinctively, she turned around—
Only to see a powerful fist rapidly filling her field of vision—
THUD!
A dull impact.
Catarina Devon's face caved in; her body flew like a ragged sack, blood spraying as she crashed onto the ground more than ten ters away.
W–Who…?
She struggled to widen her eyes, trying to see the attacker's face—
But her vision was blurred red.
A second later, she coughed up a huge mouthful of blood, her neck went limp—
And she passed out instantly.
What just happened!
Instantly defeated?
Nearby pirates froze in shock.
Their eyes shifted past the fallen Catarina Devon toward the approaching figure.
When they finally saw clearly the white-haired old man wearing a white Justice coat, walking toward them with an emotionless expression—
Many pirates gasped sharply, faces turning pale.
"Th-that guy is…"
"F-Fist Garp!"
"That old bastard… he's actually still alive?!"
Among the escaped prisoners, many had been locked up for more than ten or even dozens of years—completely cut off from the outside world.
Their mories of the past were blurry, distant, almost lost.
But Garp's na was an exception.
This man who once shook the seas—
The man who personally captured the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger—
Even after so many long years, even with hair now white as frost…
The mont he appeared, countless pirates felt their hearts quiver, an old terror long buried rising once more!
"The war has reached this point…"
Garp's deep voice rumbled.
His footsteps slowed, step by step, until he finally stopped about ten ters in front of the Level 6 pirates.
He raised his head, baring his teeth slightly in a grin.
"At a ti like this,
there's no room for a bunch of filthy sewer rats who just crawled out of the gutters
to co and make trouble."
His words fell—
and silence swept across the battlefield.
A full five or six seconds passed before a thin old man with a handlebar mustache on the right side snorted and said:
"Oi, oi… Isn't this the Marine's legendary hero, Garp-san?"
Garp glanced at him.
"I rember you. More than twenty years ago, an 800 million bounty—'Head Hunting Devil' Balu, wasn't it?"
Garp narrowed his eyes.
"If I rember right, I was the one who personally threw you into prison back then.
A pity you didn't die in there."
He cracked his knuckles.
"And now you crawl back out…
Are you asking to send you right back to hell myself?"
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