A thunderous roar echoed through the sky.
Endless magma erupted from Sakazuki's body.
The ground trembled wildly.
The restless magma swept over everything, and within a single second, it engulfed the entire world.
Everywhere one looked, it was nothing but erupting magma.
Whitebeard's sons, caught in the epicenter, were instantly swallowed by the violent blast and lost all signs of life.
Only a blue flame bird continued to struggle.
But Sakazuki had no time to deal with it, as Whitebeard's attack had already arrived.
A tremor sounded, followed by the sound of the atmosphere shattering.
The earth split open as countless tremors erupted from the ground.
The magma covering the ground was blasted tens of meters into the air, instantly clearing the surface.
The blue flame bird broke free, but everyone else lay motionless on the ground.
Whitebeard's Conqueror's Haki surged out with killing intent:
His naginata, wrapped in Conqueror's Haki, pulsed with fury. With a stomp of his foot, he charged toward the forming Sakazuki like a thunderclap.
Sakazuki stared at the incoming Whitebeard, his aura raging.
He clenched both fists and pulled them apart—forming a magma greatsword over three meters long.
It instantly solidified, coated in Armament Haki, and entwined with Conqueror's Haki as he slashed toward Whitebeard's blade.
The clash of metal rang out as the ground behind both men cracked inch by inch.
The collision of their Conqueror's Haki erupted in a storm of black and purple lightning shooting in every direction.
They struck surrounding buildings and the ground, creating countless massive craters.
Everything struck was obliterated.
Their snarling faces clashed blade to blade, eyes brimming with endless killing intent.
Power surged through their bodies, and veins bulged like giant serpents beneath their skin.
Sakazuki was slowly being forced into a disadvantage.
But then magma power within him surged, gradually pushing back against Whitebeard.
Whitebeard's arms bulged with another burst of muscle and pressed harder on Sakazuki.
At the point where their weapons clashed, a blinding white light flared.
It filled their eyes, growing brighter and brighter.
In that boundless white glow, their murderous gazes were swallowed.
Until neither could see the other anymore.
A deafening explosion rocked the world.
A mushroom cloud soared a thousand meters high.
A scorching shockwave swept across the island.
The entire island was instantly split apart.
The thick clouds overhead were parted in two, stretching beyond the horizon.
In the distant sky, Marco—transformed into a phoenix wreathed in blue flames—looked toward the explosion center, worry in his eyes:
Also far from the battlefield, Sengoku, supporting Kvel, narrowed his eyes.
In an instant, he transformed into a towering golden Buddha, several meters tall, as a shockwave sphere appeared in his hand.
With a straight punch, he hurled it toward Marco in the sky. The shockwave grew larger with the wind.
A shock sphere dozens of meters wide surged toward Marco's slender figure.
Marco's body sensed danger, nerves flaring as he turned and his pupils contracted sharply:
A massive shockwave filled his vision, roaring toward him.
Locked on by Sengoku's Conqueror's Haki, Marco's body stiffened slightly as a sense of death surged in his heart.
A white, semi-transparent shock ring—many times smaller than the shockwave—blasted out from the explosion center.
It exploded right in front of Marco.
An endless wave of tremors surged toward Sengoku's shockwave.
The shockwave detonated instantly, sending Marco flying hundreds of meters.
But he turned midair, eyes filled with joy as he looked back toward the explosion center:
A great wind swept through, clearing away the smoke and dust.
Revealing a figure holding a naginata, body damaged in many places:
Then appeared Whitebeard's stormy expression, as his overwhelming Conqueror's Haki surged forth:
Sengoku shielded Kvel behind him, his face tense as he snorted coldly.
His own overwhelming Conqueror's Haki erupted in kind.
The collision of Haki stirred up wind and waves, rampaging across the surroundings.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap...
Unhurried footsteps sounded, and amid the Haki clash, Whitebeard glanced sideways.
Sakazuki, in Magma mode, emerged from the explosion.
The heat of his magma body caused the air around him to ripple faintly, golden light blazing in his eyes.
Expressionless, he stared at Marco.
Whitebeard, seeing this, charged at Sakazuki with his naginata and ordered:
"Marco, go wait for me."
His immense Conqueror's Haki surged with killing intent toward Sakazuki.
But Sakazuki didn't budge.
His eyes remained fixed on Marco flying away in the distance:
His crimson arm turned into a smoky stream of magma and shot out, stretching infinitely.
It surged toward Marco at terrifying speed.
Whitebeard's figure appeared, slashing his naginata at the extended magma arm.
But the remaining magma continued to shoot toward Marco at full speed.
It struck Marco and exploded on contact.
The magma surged endlessly, enveloping his form, igniting his will to survive.
His entire body burst into blue flames, struggling to escape and flying away again.
Whitebeard unleashed his power with a sweep, and the shattered air exploded everything before him.
A shockwave raced straight at Sakazuki.
Before the wave hit, Sakazuki's body exploded, scattering into magma and sinking underground.
Then, centered beneath Whitebeard's feet, the earth twisted and turned red across dozens of meters.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!...
As Whitebeard dodged—
Several massive pillars of lava erupted beneath his feet, soaring skyward.
Whitebeard's eyes narrowed with trouble. He channeled his Gura Gura no Mi power into his legs.
Dodging again, just as another lava vent formed beneath him.
He stomped hard, driving shock force into the ground.
It shattered the congealing magma underground and cracked the earth itself.
For thousands of meters around, the ground split into countless shards.
Bottomless fissures crisscrossed the earth.
Red light shimmered from the depths of the cracks.
Without the earth to seal it, the scorching heat surged upward.
Seeing more and more red light in the cracks, and feeling the rising heat—
Whitebeard narrowed his eyes, as if realizing something. He looked toward a certain spot:
"You sly little brat."
From that point of magma emerged Sakazuki, formed anew, speaking in a cold voice:
"So you found me. What a miscalculation."
Whitebeard let out a chuckle:
He didn't believe Sakazuki was truly disappointed. Gripping his naginata with both hands, he moved it behind him and infused it with power.
He slashed diagonally downward at Sakazuki.
As his naginata neared the ground, the vibration on the blade exploded.
Above the ground, a several-meter-long crack in the air appeared. With more power channeled—
Whitebeard's arms bulged with veins and muscle.
The crack in the atmosphere widened.
The tens-of-meters-long air fracture exploded downward into the ground.
The entire island quaked violently with constant booming.
The magma gathered beneath the island shattered completely, unable to reform for now.
The earth-shaking island was split into massive, uneven plates.
As if something forcibly altered its tectonics.
Centered on the island, a shockwave sent towering waves crashing outward in all directions.
Whitebeard and Sakazuki each stood on a separate massive land plate.
Whitebeard spun his naginata and thrust it into the ground, then clenched both fists and pulled them to his waist.
With a mighty sweep, the atmosphere on both sides exploded.
The seas flanking the island seemed twisted by some unseen force.
Massive, rectangular slabs of seawater surged upward like flipped lids.
They crashed down toward Sakazuki in the island's center.
Looking at the huge slab of seawater overhead—
Sakazuki remained expressionless. His body crumbled, melting into a flowing mass of magma on the ground.
But Sakazuki's presence emerged beneath Whitebeard, deep within the magma underground.
The ground beneath Whitebeard shook violently.
Raging magma gathered under Sakazuki's control, building power.
The enormous slab of seawater slammed onto the island, unleashing a thunderous roar. Endless waves surged outward.
Beneath Whitebeard's feet, the subterranean magma erupted.
A pillar of magma a kilometer wide shot into the sky, expanding outward.
Destroying everything on the island.