Even with the Navy hero Garp returning to Marineford, most Marines couldn't see hope anymore.
They saw the towering stone giant formed from the Navy Headquarters, the castle tower itself rampaging across the battlefield, crushing buildings and men alike. That sight alone shattered what faith they had left.
Marineford would be destroyed.
Mary Geoise would be wiped out.
More than forty percent of the Navy had already surrendered. It wasn't cowardice anymore, it was survival. If death was the only other choice, laying down weapons and joining the new navy sounded almost merciful.
After all, people whispered the new navy treated its soldiers better. Higher pay, better benefits, even a few extra vacation days each month.
Time passed, and Marineford's defeat became inevitable.
Under the joint siege of the Universal Government and the Revolutionary Army, the battlefield was quickly stripped down until only two Navy admirals still mattered.
On one side, the second generation of Hell was beating Sengoku into the ground.
On the other, Iron Fist Garp was locked in a brutal fight against the three new admirals.
Battles at this level could last for days and nights. Even as a group, suppressing a monster usually took at least half a day.
Sengoku was already showing fatigue. He couldn't hold much longer before the second generation of Hell beat him into a true Buddha, scarred from head to toe.
And Garp's fight?
It was violent beyond imagination.
Kizaru's Murakumo blade flashed like a living laser.
Akainu's Hell Dog magma fists tore the air apart.
Aokiji's ice saber carved the ground into frozen trenches.
The three Logia users unleashed one dazzling effect after another, light, magma, and ice turning the sky into a nightmare stage.
To endure that, Garp had to keep his entire body coated in Armament Haki.
If he didn't, his flesh would burn under magma, freeze under ice, and be pierced by light.
He even had to keep Armament focused on his pants, because if Sakazuki's magma touched them for even a second, the legendary hero of the Navy would be fighting naked.
"Kuzan," Akainu barked, "lock down his movements!"
In raw destructive power, magma was still the most oppressive. Akainu forced Garp to spend Armament constantly, draining his reserves bit by bit.
As long as Garp was still human, his Haki would eventually run out.
Akainu could feel it too.
Garp's fists were terrifying, one punch felt like it could blow him apart. If Aokiji wasn't controlling Garp's actions and Kizaru wasn't constantly striking at vital points, Akainu knew he wouldn't be able to stand up to that pressure.
He also knew, in his own cold way, there was still a gap between him and the true world class monsters.
Nearby, Dragon watched the clash with absolute focus.
Garp couldn't die.
Kizaru couldn't die.
Akainu couldn't die.
Aokiji couldn't die.
If any one of them fell, Dragon didn't know how this would end.
"Frozen Moment!"
Aokiji's ice snapped shut around Garp, encasing him in several meters of frozen mass.
Garp broke it in half a second.
"Magatama Laser!"
Kizaru's high speed laser barrage was impossible to dodge. Garp could only take it head on, raising an iron fist to protect his eyes while he kept charging toward Aokiji and Akainu.
Because Garp knew the truth.
He couldn't even touch Kizaru's shadow.
So his targets had to be the other two.
Even then, fighting three top tier Logia users at once made his blood boil with frustration. They weren't like Roger, who would clash head on. Their cooperation turned the battlefield into a cage of elements, slowing Garp's advance and stealing his momentum.
Still, one thing gave Garp an opening.
Akainu liked close combat.
So Garp chose him first.
"Hell Dog!!"
Akainu's giant magma fist tore in again, aiming straight for Garp's chest, destructive heat roaring like a volcano.
"I've been waiting for you!"
Garp kicked away Aokiji's freezing strike, blocked Kizaru's light with one hand, and then grabbed Akainu's lava fist with his other hand.
Armament hardened like black steel.
Conqueror's pressure wrapped around it.
He seized that magma fist as if it were just a rope.
Then his knee drove forward with terrifying power.
Akainu spat blood and was thrown backward, ribs cracking, two of them breaking clean.
The entire battlefield saw it.
The new navy.
The second generation of Hell.
Even the Marines who had surrendered.
All of them witnessed the truth.
Garp could withstand all three admirals' attacks, and still hit back hard enough to break bones.
Beckman and Van augur immediately raised their rifles.
If anything went wrong, they would fire.
Van Augur could teleport Beckman into a perfect position for a nasty shot, and he could even attempt to control Garp with the Slow Fruit. People underestimated snipers because they didn't understand timing.
These two did.
Even the trio in the sky, still raining thunder, couldn't help being drawn toward the fight. Their hands itched, ready to drop lightning pillars and iron rain onto Garp.
Shana added her own kind of cruelty.
With a smile, she used her raccoon fruit power to shape a few leaves into the likeness of familiar Navy officers, Tsuru, Zephyr, Momosagi, Tokikake, and others.
Then she made them act as cheerleaders.
They shouted support for the three new admirals, and hurled insults at Garp, calling him a lackey of the Celestial Dragons, a traitor to the D clan, a domestic violence father who beat his son, a heartless commander who fought without caring how many men died.
Pure mental warfare.
Even Dragon's eye twitched when he heard it.
If this kept going, it wouldn't just ruin Garp, it would poison the Monkey family name for generations.
Garp's face turned blue.
The worst part was the stage.
Why did they have to scream this nonsense in front of his good friends like Tsuru and Zephyr?
Even though Garp knew those figures were fake, just Shana's ability, the Marines and revolutionaries watching couldn't help believing the "testimony" from those so called cheerleaders.
Akainu didn't let Garp chain another strike.
He immediately pulled away, putting distance between them.
At this point, close combat was still too dangerous. So Akainu shifted the same way Kizaru and Aokiji did, changing from a magma warrior into a magma mage.
The moment Akainu and Aokiji widened the gap, the bombardment began.
Lasers.
Ice.
Magma fists.
Lightning pillars.
Wind blades.
Stone mountains.
Rain needles.
Sword pressure.
Sniper bullets.
Continuous attacks hammered down on Iron Fist Garp from every direction.
Dragon even saw dozens of bear paw shaped compressed air cannons and pink hormone hearts flying in.
His gaze snapped toward several of his own commanders, and inside his chest, he almost screamed.
Brother, I'm calling you brother, stop joining the fun.
That's my dad.
I'm still trying to keep this stubborn old idiot alive.
A mushroom cloud rose.
Dragon stared at the explosion site, dread tightening his throat.
Had Garp actually been killed in that bombardment?
On the other side, watching his best friend get bombed, Sengoku's focus cracked for an instant. It was only one heartbeat, one defensive flaw, but against the second generation of Hell, that was enough.
He was hit again and again.
Golden light shattered.
The Buddha form was forced out.
Sengoku fell into the ruins with blood spilling from his mouth.
-------------
Sengoku crashed into the ruins, swallowed by thick smoke and flying debris.
A terrified Marine officer rushed into the haze from the side, moving on instinct more than courage.
"Ahaha! I've got Sengoku's head!"
Bullet's laughter thundered across the rubble. He didn't even spare the officer a glance. With their Observation Haki, how could Sengoku possibly escape?
"Zehahahaha, Bullet!" Teach shouted immediately. "The Great Buddha Fruit is a powerful mythical beast ability! Don't kill him yet!"
Teach's greed was almost visible.
A Devil Fruit that strong could not be wasted. It had to be recycled.
He wanted another powerful pet. If he could get a mythical beast pet and fuse it with his Swallow Fruit in battle, his combat strength would climb again. But Brook would never hand him a mythical beast fruit like the Great Buddha, so Teach had to hunt one himself.
If he earned enough merit, maybe he could secure a mythical beast fruit in the future.
Of course, that only mattered if Brook actually had a stock of them.
"What's going on?" Osiris frowned, his voice turning sharp. "Why can't I sense Sengoku anymore? Is he dead?"
His Observation Haki couldn't find Sengoku's aura at all.
Hades's expression cooled instantly. A faint red light flashed in his eyes as his future sight activated.
"Humph. A Marine officer is trying to rescue him."
Hades saw the outcome ahead of time. Someone inside the smoke was blocking all sound, isolating even Observation Haki, and slipping away with Sengoku.
"Trying to save him?" Osiris snarled. "No way!"
Osiris and Kanna shifted into full beast form and snapped their massive dragon wings outward. A storm of wind detonated from their bodies, tearing through the battlefield and blasting the smoke away in an instant.
There.
A Marine officer was supporting Sengoku, escaping quickly through the ruins without making a single sound, stepping lightly across broken stone as if the world itself had been muted.
Bullet and Hel surged forward with murderous intent, determined to crush both of them.
"Rosinante, go first," Sengoku said, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth. His eyes were steady despite the damage. "I can't leave."
Golden light flared again.
Sengoku transformed back into the Buddha and forcibly threw his adopted son away, then dropped back into the Marine crowd, throwing himself into the chaos.
Hel's blue flame wings beat as she closed in, her voice dripping with mockery.
"Humph. You really think you can run? Old thief Sengoku, we've already figured out your true identity."
"That man is your adopted son, Donquixote Rocinante. Calm Fruit user. Doflamingo's little brother. A former Celestial Dragon. Navy Lieutenant Colonel, code name Corazon."
Hel smiled wider, eyes bright with cruelty.
"But you let a former Celestial Dragon call you Father. What, do you want to become a Celestial Dragon too?"
She didn't know why Sengoku had adopted Rocinante, but it didn't feel like coincidence.
After all, the Donquixote family's withdrawal from the Celestial Dragons and their retreat into the North Blue had caused enormous uproar in Mary Geoise. Sengoku had been a naval admiral then. There was no reason he wouldn't know.
One of an admiral's duties was protecting the Celestial Dragons. That meant knowing their names, their houses, their scandals.
And the notice that the Donquixote family of four had abandoned Celestial Dragon status, no longer enjoying world noble privilege, had absolutely reached the Navy's highest ranks.
Which meant the Navy no longer had to obey anything from the Donquixote household.
Sengoku didn't bother explaining.
He saw Hel rush forward alone, breaking formation out of arrogance, and a cold thought flashed through him.
If he could forcibly capture Brook's daughter here, even for an instant, it would change everything.
"Buddha Shockwave!"
Golden force erupted from his palm, a devastating wave aimed straight at Hel.
In that same heartbeat, Hel answered without fear.
"Immortal Phoenix Seal!"
In her human beast form, she released a violent blue flame shockwave that slammed directly into Sengoku's golden blast.
"I'm not afraid of you!"
Her face was lit with pure fighting spirit. Sengoku was stronger, she knew that, but that only made it better.
Hel believed in her own Haki.
To surpass herself, again and again, by colliding with someone stronger.
The two shockwaves collided and exploded instantly, and the blast hurled them both backward. Sengoku's attempt to seize her failed completely.
And that one exchange cost him the only breathing room he had left.
The second generation of Hell surged back in, surrounding Sengoku once more. This time, Bullet and Hades struck with far more brutal intent, no restraint, no patience.
They didn't want to waste another second.
They had to finish here and move to Mary Geoise.
Injured and exhausted, Sengoku was beaten again, with no chance to fight back. Even the Buddha form began to crack and bleed, and he could barely maintain the golden form.
Within the Marine ranks, Black Dragon Ryugi and Katakuri finally broke through after crushing hundreds of Marines and captains. They captured Rocinante, the Calm Fruit user, and clamped seastone cuffs on him.
Nearby, All veteran vice admirals who had been crippled by Akainu, Kizaru, and Aokiji were also handcuffed and dragged down.
On the other side, under Dragon's tense gaze, Garp was still alive.
He stepped out of the thick smoke with several new scars across his body. Part of his hair had been burned away, and a thin line of blood ran from the corner of his mouth.
Dragon couldn't take it anymore.
He rushed forward again, ignoring every stare, and tried to force Garp to surrender one more time.
"Old man! Stop resisting!" Dragon shouted, rage and fear twisting his face. "Sengoku can't hold on anymore. The Navy is completely defeated. If you keep acting like this, more Marines will die!"
He could already feel Akainu's naked killing intent. If this continued, it would become real slaughter. There would be casualties.
Dragon's voice dropped, turning darker.
"If you don't surrender, I'll kill all the Navy Vice Admirals, Bogart, everyone!"
It was a threat, nothing more, but he meant it enough for it to cut.
Those captives weren't in his hands, but if Dragon chose to kill them, the second generation of Hell wouldn't hold him too accountable. And right now, he only needed one thing.
To make Garp stop.
Then Sengoku let out a roar, unwilling to the end.
But it was over.
Under the continuous assault of so many monsters, the naval admiral finally collapsed with a heavy crash. Hel and Bullet struck together and broke his left leg.
Hades's blow blasted Sengoku's glasses away, leaving him with swollen panda eyes.
Teach raked three terrifying claw marks down Sengoku's right face, from forehead through the right eye and into his cheek.
Kanna and Osiris hammered his head until it was covered in giant bumps. Most of his afro and beard were chopped away.
The Buddha of the Navy lay battered and miserable.
And Marineford felt the moment he fell.
.....
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