CRACK!
The sound of Light's nose shattering echoed sharply.
The False Deity's eyes widened in sheer shock. The impact was catastrophic. Despite his Life Force, the raw, unmitigated physical force of the Fleet Admiral's enraged headbutt sent stars exploding in Light's vision.
Blood violently erupted from his nose and mouth.
SKRRRR!
Light was thrown backward, his boots skidding across the ice.
Zoom!
Before he could even recover his balance, a blinding flash of yellow light materialized directly on his right flank.
The Admiral materialized mid-stride, his shiny black shoe coated in a terrifying, suffocating layer of invisible Armament Haki, traveling at the literal speed of light.
"You took our brother, God." Kizaru stated coldly.
THWACK-KA-BOOOM!!!
Kizaru's kick slammed directly into Light's bruised ribs. The sheer kinetic energy was enough to shatter a battleship.
"KEUH-!"
Three of Light's ribs violently snapped, the sound completely drowned out by the sonic boom of the impact.
Light gasped, a massive spray of blood leaving his lips as he was launched like a ragdoll toward the left.
But the ground beneath his flying trajectory violently exploded into jagged, hyper-dense ice.
GRAB!
The ice-man reached out, grabbing Light by the throat with his bare, frostbite-inducing hand, completely halting his momentum mid-air.
"BREAK FOR ME!" Aokiji roared, slamming Light violently downward, driving the False Deity's back directly into the unyielding permafrost.
"GOD!"
CRASH!
The impact cratered the bedrock.
Aokiji didn't freeze him. The Admiral pulled his right fist back, coating it entirely in black Haki, and delivered a devastating, brutal punch directly into Light's stomach.
"Ao-keuh!"
BOOOOOM!
Light coughed violently, his eyes bulging as his internal organs screamed in agony. The False Deity attempted to use his Force Authority to blast the Admiral away, but his concentration was completely shattered by the sheer, unending barrage of physical trauma.
"FOR ADMIRAL SAKAZUKI!"
Vice Admiral Onigumo descended from the sky, his eight spider-arms wildly slashing.
"Even rabble now... cheh!"
Light smirked and desperately raised his saber, parrying four of the blades from his back, but the sheer volume of attacks was impossible to block. Two of Onigumo's sabers bit deeply into Light's left thigh and shoulder, drawing fresh, crimson blood that stained the white ice.
"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Vice Admiral Doberman screamed, shoving Onigumo aside, charging with his katana, his scarred face twisted in absolute fury.
Doberman didn't aim for the neck. He aimed for the joints, slashing brutally at Light's calves to permanently cripple him.
Light roared, forcing his Conqueror's Haki to explode outward in a desperate, untamed pulse.
The burst of red and black lightning managed to push the Vice Admirals back for a fraction of a second, but it had absolutely zero effect on the apex monsters.
They hadn't gone anywhere.
They had been watching.
Sengoku charged back in, his red streaks more prominent now.
"Buddha's Malice..."
The Fleet Admiral didn't care about his own safety.
"This is enough!" Light finally shouted.
He threw a colossal, Haki-coated punch that bypassed Light's guard entirely, slamming directly into the False Deity's jaw.
BOOM!!!
"...Evil Buddha!"
Light was launched sideways, his body violently skipping across the permafrost. His black coat was shredded to ribbons. His pristine, untouchable image was completely destroyed. He was bleeding profusely from his mouth, his shattered nose, and half a dozen deep lacerations.
"Not even close." Sengoku finished.
"Fu!"
Light pushed himself up onto his hands and knees, spitting a mouthful of blood and a broken tooth onto the ice.
His 20-second Future Sight was completely useless. It was like trying to predict the path of a raindrop inside a hurricane.
What use was seeing when he saw no opportunity.
ZOOM!
CRASH!
'They aren't looking to capture me', Light realized, his mind racing with cold, pragmatic calculation as he barely rolled out of the way of another light-speed heel stomp from Kizaru that shattered the bedrock where his head had just been.
'They are trying to beat me to death?!'
He had forgotten that beneath the coats and the titles, they were humans. And humans, when pushed to the absolute edge of grief and rage, became monsters that no logic could bind.
Currently, Light was in a bloody fight for simple survival.
Far away from the slaughter, anchored near the edge of the frozen bay, the retreating pirate ships were a scene of agonizing, chaotic despair.
The remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates were dragging their wounded aboard the galleons. The air was thick with the sounds of weeping men.
On the deck of the leading ship, Silvers Rayleigh stood silently.
The Dark King had his black blade sheathed. He looked back toward the plaza, his sharp eyes piercing the smoke and ash. He saw the brutal, merciless gang-beating of the False Deity.
He saw the golden flashes of Sengoku, the violent ice storms of Aokiji, and the relentless, physical onslaught of Kizaru.
Rayleigh didn't smile. He didn't frown. He simply watched the boy pay the price for playing god.
"They're going to kill him," Sanji muttered, leaning heavily against the railing, lighting a blood-stained cigarette with trembling hands.
"But..."
Zoro sat on the deck, his swords resting on his lap.
He was covered in bandages, his eyes watching the distant sky and shook his head.
"Well that's a suicidal maniac."
Luffy sat on a wooden crate, his straw hat pulled low over his eyes. His hands were clenched into tight fists on his knees. He heard Zoro but didn't say a word. He just listened to the horrific sounds of the war tearing itself apart in the distance.
"But... Luffy."
...
But the most devastating silence belonged to the man sitting in the center of the deck.
Portgas D. Ace sat on his knees. The Seastone chains were still on his wrists.
Ace's eyes were completely dead. They were wide, unblinking, and entirely devoid of light.
He was staring directly at the towering, headless silhouette of his father standing in the distance.
"Pops..." Ace mumbled, a continuous, broken loop of syllables slipping from his mouth.
"Pops... Pops..."
He was paralyzed.