The magnetic field exploded into chaos—so intense that even Marco felt as if the very space around Darren had begun to blur.
A pressure so dense it crushed the air blanketed nearly half the island.
Blue lightning, clearly visible to the naked eye, leapt across Enma's blade before bursting into exaggerated force, launching the so-called "Hell-Destroying Demon Blade" like a screaming rocket.
Marco's pupils shrank, blood vessels bursting in his eyes.
Within his Observation Haki, Enma, propelled by the rampaging magnetic field, broke the sound barrier almost instantly. It tore through the air, generating ripple after ripple of white shockwaves in its wake.
Its terrifying speed and power dragged the earth into a spiral trench as it tore through, leaving a devastating rift in its path.
That chilling breath of death washed over Marco. He glanced down at the gravely wounded Kozuki Oden and clenched his jaw.
This strike... couldn't be dodged!
Blue-green flames erupted around Marco's body, rapidly forming a massive circular shield in front of him.
Enma, wrapped in overwhelming penetrative force, crashed into the blue-flame shield. It stalled for only a brief instant—before breaking through.
One of Marco's phoenix wings was severed, flying away in the storm, dissolving into scattered blue flames midair.
Marco's face turned pale as blood trickled from the corner of his lips.
Even with his near-immortal regeneration, the toll still came at a heavy cost—his stamina.
That Marine's attack had struck with such raw, unstoppable force that Marco hadn't even had time to move his body before the blade hit.
The full sonic boom finally detonated, deafening and violent.
Marco exhaled deeply.
At least he had stopped it.
But the next moment, his expression changed.
Enma—after shredding through his flame shield and wing—hadn't slowed at all.
Instead, like a rocket, its tail continued to burst with accelerating airwaves, hissing with explosive force.
At a speed even more terrifying—
It tore through hundreds of meters of sea!!
Marco's eyes widened in shock.
He roared in panic, his eyes red with desperation.
If this attack landed, the entire ship could be split in two in an instant!
With Enma's cutting edge and Darren's magnetic propulsion, Marco had no doubt about its destructive power.
Aboard the Moby Dick—
The Black Demon Blade shrieked toward them at impossible speed. Every Whitebeard pirate watching felt a chill crawl down their spines.
"Don't you dare underestimate the Whitebeard Pirates!!!"
Diamond Jozu shouted, rushing forward to intercept.
But a broad hand gripped his shoulder.
A towering figure stepped forward and leapt from the prow of the ship.
"You cocky little Marine..."
Whitebeard's eyes gleamed with fury and frost. His brilliant golden hair whipped in the wind, and his white captain's coat billowed with power.
He gripped his massive naginata, now glowing with a soft white aura...
And swung with full force.
"I'm Whitebeard, you brat!!"
With a roar like rolling thunder, his blade met the oncoming Enma in midair!
It was as if time froze under the weight of that strike. Everything slowed.
The demon blade shrieked and quaked, locked in place midair, its edge pulsing with black-red Haki, trembling violently.
Whitebeard's eyes narrowed—his forearm bulged with muscle and veins as he bore down harder.
The white glow on his naginata surged outward.
Like glass shattering, the very air splintered with fine white fractures.
A deep, ominous tremor erupted outward—growing into a thunderous roar in an instant.
The ocean and land shook violently, the sea boiling with monstrous bubbles. The entire ocean seemed to fall into madness!
Marco's heart pounded as he looked on. Without hesitation, he hoisted Oden onto his back and, with burning blue wings, soared into the sky.
The ocean exploded in layers—
Towering waves stacked upon each other, roaring like furious dragons, crashing toward the island.
The scale felt apocalyptic.
A towering tsunami, like a collapsing galaxy, slammed into the desolate island, sweeping away everything in its path.
Massive reefs, dense forests, even rolling mountain ridges—all crushed into splinters beneath the wrath of nature.
The entire island quaked, groaning under the strain as thousand-meter-long fissures split open the earth.
Aboard the Moby Dick, the pirates stood in stunned silence, watching the island crumble and sink into a flooded wasteland.
High in the sky, Marco—barely outside the tsunami's range—clutched Oden, his face pale and trembling as he muttered:
"Pops... is furious..."
Upon the surging sea—
Whitebeard stood at the prow, eyes narrowed as he reached for the hovering demon blade.
But just as he touched it—he grasped nothing.
Under some unseen force, Enma shot back toward the island.
Marco and the others' expressions darkened.
Could it be... that guy isn't dead!?
That Marine is a Devil Fruit user—he should be powerless in seawater!
A three-meter-wide black sphere burst from the churning sea.
The dense Armament Haki peeled away, revealing its sleek, silvery metallic surface.
The orb opened like a pod, twisted, and reformed into a streamlined silver hoverboard—revealing two figures within.
The metallic board soared into the sky at blinding speed.
Darren stood tall, one arm wrapped around Toki's slender waist, his defiant gaze sweeping across the sea toward the Moby Dick.
He erupted into arrogant laughter:
"Whitebeard Pirates... that's it?"
As his voice faded, and every Whitebeard pirate's face twisted in furious rage, the hoverboard burst into speed and vanished into the clouds.
The black Enma trailed behind like a loyal shadow.
Marco gritted his teeth, trying to give chase, but the pain and fatigue struck like a collapsing mountain.
The aftermath of that blow...
He was reaching his limit.
Whitebeard's voice rumbled darkly.
His face was clouded with fury. Veins bulged on his hand still clutching the naginata.
Even if Marco could catch up—
"Take Oden back first."
Marco cursed under his breath.
"Oden, how are you holding up?"
He turned to check on the man on his back.
But Oden gave no response.
He stared blankly at the horizon where the Marine had disappeared, as if his soul had gone.
But it felt like something irreplaceable had been taken from him.
And that something...