In an instant, lightning raged.
Bolts of lightning surged from all directions, converging above the Buster Call fleet.
Before all the Marine soldiers could retreat into the cabins, ten thousand thunderbolts rained down.
Countless lightning strikes bombarded the warships.
These bolts seemed almost sentient.
If a strike missed or was blocked, it would immediately change direction and target nearby people instead.
Within moments, many Marine soldiers were stunned or injured.
Seeing this, a Marine Vice Admiral with a longsword at his waist couldn't stay idle any longer.
He leapt onto the deck, drew the famed blade from his side, and wrapped it in Armament Haki.
With a single slash, a sword wave shot up into the sky, growing longer with the wind.
By the time it pierced the dark clouds overhead, it had reached over a hundred meters wide, and then exploded.
Like a stone splashing into water, the sword energy rippled outward in all directions.
In an instant, a massive swath of dark clouds above the fleet was cleared.
At the same time, he directed soldiers to treat the wounded.
The officers of each warship also appeared on deck, gathering toward the lead ship.
They stood in battle formation, gazing warily at a few powerful pirates on the distant shore.
"God of Lightning Tenjin!!!"
Charlotte Linlin's furious roar echoed out.
Using her ability, she gathered all the thunderclouds at the breach, layering them upon each other.
The thunder became more and more intense, transforming into a massive storm cloud.
Thick bolts of lightning fired out from it, striking at the warships, while waves of sword energy were launched from the ships to meet them...
Clack, clack, clack, clack...
The steady sound of boots stepping onto the deck rang out—calm, powerful, and purposeful.
The Golden Lion turned to look at the person he had been waiting for.
A brighter smile spread across his face as he spoke earnestly.
"Newgate, let's join forces and turn this world upside down."
"Guralala... You know I'm not interested in that sort of thing, Shiki."
"What I want... is family."
Whitebeard, the last to arrive, walked to stand beside Shiki and looked out at the sea as he spoke.
He seemed distracted, as if seeing something only he could, and a faint smile appeared on his face.
"Each and every one of you... seriously..."
Though he had known this would be the outcome, Shiki still couldn't help but feel a wave of disappointment.
He sighed helplessly.
He quickly readjusted his mindset, turned to Charlotte Linlin, raised his right hand, hooked his fingers upward, then flicked his hand forward.
The few remaining pirate ships soared into the sky, flying toward the New World.
Charlotte Linlin, having vented for a while, had regained some of her composure.
She said nothing more—just had Zeus compress the thunderstorm, pressing it down toward the Buster Call fleet.
When the thundercloud was only a few hundred meters above the fleet, the same Vice Admiral who had earlier shattered the clouds gripped his sheath with his left hand and his blade with his right.
He gathered power on the spot, then launched upward with a sharp kick.
He appeared in midair, a hundred meters high, facing the descending storm.
A formless wave of sword energy flew out, piercing straight through the center of the storm cloud from bottom to top.
The thundercloud didn't appear to change—it still pressed downward.
When the swordmaster Vice Admiral landed back on the deck—
A crisp shiiing echoed as his sword was sheathed.
It was as if the storm only reacted then.
Boom!—it split into two halves and collapsed toward the sea on either side of the Buster Call fleet.
Endless lightning exploded across the ocean's surface.
Within a hundred-mile radius, countless fish and Sea Kings floated up, stunned or dead...
Meanwhile, Sakazuki had stopped several hundred meters underground, beneath the central battlefield.
He released thin traces of Observation Haki upward, sensing above, and quickly retracted it the moment it reached the surface.
Unrestrained waves of Conqueror's Haki clashed through the area.
None of the people fighting sensed that brief flicker of Observation Haki from below.
Sakazuki directed magma currents to flow, setting up several eruption paths.
Then, he withdrew far away.
Only when he reached the outskirts of God Valley did he break through the surface and begin heading off the island.
He would wait until their battle shook the island's foundations—or when the time was right.
Then, endless magma would surge up, like the end of the world, destroying the island in mere moments.
And with it, the super battleship buried underground—marked with a serial number, and not belonging to this era...
(T/N: I wanted to inform you that these chapters were written in 2022, so the author may not know some facts that you already know)
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