"Are you kidding me? Another Marine Admiral is also a Devil Fruit user?!"
"Meteor...meteorite? Could his ability be to summon meteorites?!"
The meteorite was so huge that it could fill the entire inner bay.
If the meteorite were allowed to fall, the Moby Dick would surely be destroyed.
At that time, everyone in the Whitebeard Pirates will be in trouble.
Fleet Admiral Sengoku had anticipated their presence in the inner bay.
Their emergence from the seabed only surprised Sengoku.
He was clearly aware of the capabilities of the admirals, which is why he allowed the Moby Dick to appear in the inner bay.
On the execution platform, Sengoku's eyes narrowed, and he raised the Den Den Mushi and commanded, "Fire!"
The cannons that had been silent on the inner bay shore suddenly roared to life, and black shells were fired at the Moby Dick.
Except for the rear positions, the Whitebeard Pirates were essentially locked down from all angles.
"Dad!" Fire Fist Ace cried out in alarm, his eyes wide with fury.
The captains on the Moby Dick's faces changed drastically as the falling meteorite made them clench their fists.
Marco was incredibly small beneath the meteorite, yet he showed no fear.
The blue flames on its body burned even more intensely, and the phoenix's size expanded by two sizes.
"I'll say it again, how could we let you disturb us so easily? Where is the king! Transform into Flowing Fire!"
The phoenix's massive body began to spin, and blue flames rained down from the sky, forming a fiery shield around the Moby Dick.
The dense barrage of shells struck it as if hitting a thick wall, exploding instantly and failing to reach the Moby Dick.
Marco flapped his wings, spun around, and soared into the sky toward the meteorite.
"Flamewing Sky Drive!"
"Gale Strikes, True Phoenix Seal!"
With a "boom," he kicked through the shockwave from the meteorite, striking its center with a powerful blow.
"Smash it!"
Marco unleashed a powerful burst of advanced Armament Haki, the Sakura, directly damaging the meteorite from within.
The Flowing Cherry Blossom swept wildly into the interior of the meteorite, centered on the point of impact.
The area where the meteorite struck showed a cracking sound as countless tiny, spiderweb-like cracks appeared.
The cracks spread rapidly, crisscrossing and shattering the surface of the meteorite in an instant, causing the fragments to fall helplessly.
As the Ryuo Haki continued to penetrate deeper, violent collapse began to occur inside the meteorite.
The originally incredibly strong and tightly connected structures crumbled and shattered under the impact of this terrifying force.
Large chunks of rock began to peel away and collapse.
The energy core inside the meteorite was also strongly disturbed, triggering a series of chain reactions.
The light flickered intermittently, and every now and then, violent beams of energy shot out from the crack.
"Smash it!!!"
Marco was nearing his limit; catching a falling meteorite head-on was no joke.
That blow just now caused a fracture in his leg; it almost broke off.
Fortunately, the meteorite collapsed under the weight in the next moment.
With a deafening roar, it shattered like a super bomb that had been detonated.
Countless fragments of stone flew out in all directions like raindrops, creating brilliant sparks as they rubbed against the air, illuminating the sky as if it were daytime.
The terrifying power knocked Marco down, and the phoenix's body was pierced by bullet-like shards of rock, leaving it riddled with holes.
Like a bird with broken wings, it fell helplessly from the sky.
However, not a single piece of the debris from the meteorite impact landed on the Moby Dick.
The naval soldiers in the inner bay cheered when they saw Marco's condition.
"General Fujitora! General Fujitora!"
That was Marco the Phoenix, the captain of the Whitebeard Pirates' First Division, yet he was defeated by Admiral Fujitora.
The exhilarating scene swept away their fear of the Whitebeard Pirates.
However, neither Whitebeard nor the division commanders showed any signs of sadness.
The naval soldiers, seeing this, assumed that they were cold-hearted and had no feelings for their own people.
Suddenly, Marco, who had fallen from the sky, opened his eyes. In an instant, the blue flames covered the parts that had been pierced by the stones, and he was restored to his original state.
The Phoenix performed a front flip and spread its wings like a roc, hovering steadily next to the white beard of the Moby Dick.
The blue flames dissipated, revealing Marco's true form.
With his blond hair and somewhat round head, he looks very much like a pineapple head.
His clothes were intact, without a speck of dust, let alone any injuries sustained under the meteorite.
"Brothers, it's time to return the salute to the Navy. Don't let them underestimate us, the Whitebeard Pirates!"
Marco wasn't seriously injured, but he was quite exhausted from facing attacks from Green Bull and Fujitora.
The reason he acted so recklessly was because he didn't want Whitebeard to make a move so quickly.
As the ship's doctor, no one knew Whitebeard's physical condition better than him.
The Whitebeard Pirates didn't know, and they couldn't let the Navy find out beforehand.
"Kill them! Slaughter these dog navy dogs!"
"Let them see the power of the Whitebeard Pirates!"
All the squadron leaders on the Moby Dick, except for Marco, Diamond Jozu, and Vista, were deployed.
Those affiliated pirate crews also arrived at the inner bay, but their path was blocked by Green Bull's trees.
They all jumped off the pirate ship and rushed towards the navy on the driftwood.
For a time, the densely packed driftwood on the sea surface seemed to become their unique waterway.
Using the driftwood, the pirates quickly approached the navy on the inner bay.
However, the navy would not sit idly by and wait for its demise.
The black cannons were already loaded, their muzzles gleaming with a cold metallic luster, and were aimed at the surging pirates.
"fire!!!"
With the commander's order, "Boom! Boom! Boom!" Deafening cannon fire instantly resounded throughout the entire bay.
The shells rained down, carrying intense flames and powerful impacts, exploding into huge white splashes on the sea surface.
The driftwood shattered instantly under the attack of the shells, turning into countless wood chips that flew into the air.
Many pirates were unable to dodge in time and were directly hit by the cannonballs.
Their bodies were instantly torn apart by a powerful force, and their blood sprayed like mist onto the sea, turning the surrounding water a dazzling red.
Some pirates didn't even have time to scream before they were blown to dust by the power of the cannonballs and disappeared into the vast ocean.
But even in the face of such a devastating attack, the pirates' momentum did not diminish in the slightest.
Those pirates who narrowly escaped the cannon fire had even greater rage in their eyes.
They called out the names of their comrades or roared curses at the navy, continuing to bravely advance forward, stepping on the remaining driftwood.
Some pirates leaped and darted across the driftwood, trying to break through the navy's artillery blockade as quickly as possible.
The navy's cannons roared incessantly, each salvo inflicting heavy damage on the pirate fleet on the sea.
Smoke filled the entire bay, and the pungent smell of gunpowder mixed with the stench of blood was nauseating.
The pirates' figures appeared and disappeared amidst the gunfire; some fell, but others kept taking their place.
That fearless and indomitable spirit seemed to completely engulf the entire inner bay.
The waters of the inner bay were gradually stained red with blood, and floating there were not only broken driftwood and the severed limbs of pirates.
The Battle of Marineford and the struggle for control of the Inner Bay have begun!
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