章節 29: C29 : War of the Best |Part 2|

• [Somewhere on Red Line] {Year : 20.5} •

[96.5%]

Seeing Whitebeard in the transparent screen, Ryu grinned. It looked like he grew stronger and was still the same as the warrior he was in past. His battle intent boiled, wanting to fight him already.

Unknowingly, he began to climb faster and agilely.

[96.8%]

[97.4%]

[98.7%]

[99.8%]

"Oh." When he realized he was closer than ever, Ryu sighed. Using his Observation Haki, he noticed that several World Government Agents were roaming around in their patrols. "Oh well, let's go then..."

[100%]

Jumping onto the Red Line for the very first time, he turned around and admired the scene before disappearing into nothing.

The World Government Agents never noticed him at all.

…

Appearing in middle of the long grass land of Celestial Dragons' territory, Ryu twitched his brows. He looked around and saw the tall and large building where the World Summit normally convened in, it was also where the Five Elders would often meet up and speak of important topics and such.

There was also a larger dome at the other side, as if to 'cleanse' the air for the residents inside. Ryu blankly looked at it and blinked before rolling his eyes. The reason? It didn't even do anything but just show that it was there, not even functioning as a air cleanser!

"Man, to think they viewed themselves as Gods..." Ryu really wanted to shake the person's hand who made the large dome exist. Those Celestial Dragons were truly gullible for believing that it actually worked. He laughed for awhile.

No one was there to see him laugh, since the World Government Agents did not dare to be in the territory of Celestial Dragons.

Having enough of laughing, Ryu began to walk towards the large dome. He sensed a lot of slaves under the ground and frowned. They were currently being beaten into working for them, making them to build or make objects to function.

He looked at a large path that had two moving walkways. They would move when the slaves under them moved, making people who were clueless think that the walkways were functioning with a button given to them.

"'Wow! They have such amazing technology!' They would think." Ryu rolled his eyes. As he neared the large dome, he noticed buildings within it. Several were out of gold, others looked fancy. In short, they were built for snobbish nobles.

Approaching, he finally found people and saw they were in their 'guards' outfit while lazily patrolling. They didn't expect any intruders because 'no one would dare to do so'.

"Hey." Ryu spoke behind them, startling them. Two guards quickly turned around and immediately bowed while looking at the ground.

"World Noble, I apologize for being in your path! We shall leave and punish ourselves!" They promptly left, not even lifting their heads to look at who spoke to them. They thought Ryu was a Celestial Dragon because they were the only living residents in their territory. They didn't even consider a slave as a living resident either.

Ryu was momentarily confused before sighing as the two guards disappeared. But when he resumed walking, he grinned and realized. He could keep doing this...

'Let's find other patrolling guards!' Using his Observation Haki, he found several others and swiftly walked towards them.

Approaching another two-man team of guards, he spoke in a haughty tone. "Hey, you peasants!"

On cue, the two guards were frightened when they heard the haughty voice behind them and turned around while looking at the ground, bowing deeply. "World Noble! We apologize for being in your way, we shall leave for our punishment!"

They promptly left. Ryu nodded, satisfied with their reactions and moved on to the next two-man team of guards.

Few minutes later..

"How dare you?!" Pretending as if he was angered, Ryu shouted in a angry and haughty tone at their backs.

Hearing this, they were frightened out of their wits. "World Noble! We hugely apologize for our disgusting and horrible presences being in your way! We will leave for our punishment!"

Ryu's mouth twitched as they left.

Minutes later...

"Hn!" With a arrogant grunt, Ryu used one of the Uchiha's ego boosting skills.

"World Noble! I apologize for my stupidity and will receive my punishment at the chambers!" As the guard ran off, he had a drool coming out of his wide grin. "Hehe... finally...!"

Ryu was momentarily stupefied to find a masochist guard in Celestial Dragons' territory.

Another minutes...

"Hey." Lazily, Ryu just casually spoke.

"Ah? Who?" Turning, the guard who spoke saw a peerlessly handsome man in his casual clothes not Celestial Dragon's outfit. "..."

"...Well sh*t, that ended so soon..." Ryu muttered as he saw the guard opening his mouth.

"Who actually dares to intru- oh, crap." He recognized him, sweats appearing on his body.

"Do you know who he is?" The other guard asked, confused by his shocked and feared face.

"You newbie! He's the Solitary Pirate, Ryu! The man suspected to be stronger than the Strongest Man of the World title holder! The very man who has over a billion bounty on his head! The very same man who actually ridiculed the World Nobles and even blatantly so!"

"..." Ryu smugly looked at the sky, feeling his nose going longer, before it went crashing down when the other guard added.

"Huh? Isn't he also the man who will give us a lot of benefits if we capture him and give him to the Celestial Dragons who has their desires for his body?" The other guard scrutinized him, before looking at between of Ryu's legs. He tilted his head and nodded slightly. "I think I can finally understand why they have weird tastes for him..."

"..." Ryu smacked their heads down, splattering their brains on the ground. "That was anticlimactic."

He shrugged and shouted in a loud voice for everyone on Red Line to hear. This way was more funnier, and no one would actually suspect him because no one knew that he, the Solitary Pirate, was actually in their territory. Not even IM could sense his presence if desired to.

"Such filth on my way back! Who dares to not clean it?!"

Ryu then promptly left the scene when he sensed several men quickly approaching the source of loud and arrogant voice. He even saw several slaves carrying buckets and washcloths among them...

He just walked as he watched the livestream screen floating in his eyes.

The war already began, dead bodies were starting to increase by fives. There was also tall and frozen water that blocked any exits from the Marineford, and the battlefield was occurring on the frozen water of coast bay. The five Shichibukai already moved to their targets, the captains of Whitebeard Pirates.

Dracule Mihawk took on three of Division Commanders, already using his Yoru. Though he was using Yoru, he focused on using solely basics so that he could learn how to control his newfound strength.

Bartholomew Kuma just shot off rays of doom with his fingers and mouth, shooting them at the bundles of pirates surging forth. After shooting off the rays of doom, he paused and rose his right hand upwards, a small transparent paw bomb appeared, enlarging while he stood.

Donquixote Doflamingo flied around the Marineford, using strings he sent off, connecting the tall and frozen water that acted like a large circulating walls over the Marineford. Using his String String Fruit, he controlled countless pirates into killing their comrades ruthlessly, not even caring if they were women. He even used dead Marine's Elite and Famed Officers, attacking only the pirates. The living people were outraged at such actions, he was insulting the dead but they could only be helpless at the Shichibukai. Doflamingo donned a serious face, but often showed a cruel smile.

Boa Hancock allowed her thick and long snake, Salome, to carry her, slithering around the war. She simply sent off arrows of her Love Love Fruit, turning the men and women into stone statues. She didn't even care if the Marine's Officers were in the range either, on the contrary, it satisfied her anger of the threats that the higher-ups of Marines blatantly sent to her often. She met up with two Division Commanders of Whitebeard Pirates, she scrutinized them before attacking them. Hancock didn't really care if she killed them either.

Gecko Moriah was simply enraged as he looked at the dead corpses of Marine's Elite and Famed Officers moving about. His men was being stolen and used by Doflamingo... HIS men! The dead corpses was all his, Moriah would often angrily shout at the thief whenever he stole. In the end, he could only use the shadows to empower himself and kill off the nobodies of opposing faction. He was secretly afraid of attacking a captain of the Whitebeard Pirates, though he wouldn't say so.

The three Admirals sat in their chairs. Admiral Aojiki having just spent a bit of his energy for that large usage of his Ice Ice Fruit, lazily sat on his chair while looking around. Admiral Akainu's stoic face did not change the slightest even when seeing the men of Whitebeard Pirates often dying. Admiral Kizaru would often comment on several noteworthy battles to no one in particular.

Fleet Admiral Sengoku peered through his glasses, looking serious and prepared for any attacks on the execution stand.

Vice Admirals involved themselves in the war, killing the pirates that dared to stop the execution of accursed bloodline holder. They focused on the stronger pirates, leaving the weaker pirates for others to deal with.

Vice Admiral Garp stood aside, not moving. He didn't really like to massacre anyways. He decided to stand in the way of people who would approach the execution stand, beating them up and killing them if needed.

Portgas D. Ace looked at the war with despaired face. Many of people were dying. All because of him. Even if the Marines were the enemies of Pirates, they still had families, people who were awaiting their return... And he was the reason why they wouldn't. He helplessly looked at the execution stand he was on, not wanting to watch any further.

Ryu shrugged at this. He himself had massacred people, though they were bad, they still had families too. He had gotten used to taking their lives away, so he didn't care and only killed them if they were considered enemies or evil from his views.

He grinned when he finally stood in front of the Celestial Dragons' dome. Ryu was going to rack up a huge ruckus one way or another, even involving the Five Elders!

Taking a step onto the 'holy bridge to heavens', Ryu walked towards the closed gates.

• [Marineford, near Red Line] •

Right before the war began...

"Gurarara! You just hang in there for a bit, my son...!"

"OLD MAN!!!" Ace shouted out loud, through his tears. He was both glad and saddened. Glad that they came for him, but saddened that the war would still happen and death was looming over all of them.

"Gurararara!" Whitebeard laughed at his face, but internally, he was shocked and saddened at the condition of Ace's body. Even though his body was wrapped in bandages, his body no longer showed lean muscles or radiated power... just skin and bones. Remembering the reports of Ace's final moves, Whitebeard's face darkened as he crouched slightly. "Let us begin our rescue... our war..."

He slowly moved his left fist to his right shoulder, his right hand holding Murakumogiri, his bisento, horizontally.

Air tensed up around the Marineford, Marine's Elite and Famed Officers couldn't breathe for awhile. The Royal Shichibukai tensed their bodies, but didn't move. The Admirals glared at him, predicting what he was going to do. The Fleet Admiral just stood, his darkened face looking down at him.

Whitebeard's left hand moved and looked slow but in reality it was fast. Moving his left hand horizontally and turning a full 360°, he muttered. "Spiraling Tsunami...!"

Suddenly, spatial cracks appeared around Whitebeard's tall and muscular body. They crumbled away into dust when they appeared.

*RUMBLE*

*WOOOSH*

The whole Marineford shook, the ocean crashed against it as the water itself rose slowly. The ocean then moved in a circular path of Marineford, rising even higher when more water pushed against the Headquarters of Marine.

"...No..." A Marine Officer muttered, seeing walls of water rising and looming over Marineford fully.

Seeing some already giving up, the captains of Whitebeard Pirates smirked. This wasn't even half of his full power, and yet they were already wetting themselves... literally.

"Gurararara!" Whitebeard's deep laughter boomed out, snapping them out of their thoughts and daze.

Admiral Aojiki disappeared from his chair and reappeared in midair, in center of the spiraling tsunami. He rose both of his arms towards them. "Ice Age!"

Sharp rays made out of ice shot out from his hands, shooting towards the tall and circular tsunami, freezing it as they touched the water. As the ice froze the water, it also spread in the coast bay, setting up a battlefield.

Seeing the desired effect, Admiral Aojiki lazily returned to his chair and sat. "Ahh... so tired..."

"Gurarara!" Having expected such actions, Whitebeard simply laughed as he shouted. "Let us rescue our family!"

"YEAH!!!" The pirates surged forth and jumped off their respective ships onto the frozen coast bay, charging towards the Marine's Elite and Famed Officers.

First death came, a Marine Officer with a cut on his chest, his ruptured heart in the path. More deaths came from the Marines faction but several pirates also began to die. Even though such massacre was horrifying for the people watching the livestream, the pirates and marines were used to such sights.

Whitebeard's face showed a stoic face as the first son of his died. He took a step and boomed when he jumped off his Moby Dick ship. Holding Murakumogiri horizontally, he swung it when he trembled the blade at inhuman speed. "Quake Distortion!"

*HOONG*

Cracks followed the spear's blade's trajectory, and a transparent white arc projectile propelled forth.

*POOT* xN

Victims of the Quake Slash had their bodies trembling into blood mist.

The Admirals who had been looking carefree, suddenly widened their eyes at this. They had assumed that his body was aging away and that he had a disease, so they thought his casualness a facade. They bolted upright and frowned. That attack just now, was actually a move that should've caused the tall and muscular man to spurt blood yet he didn't.

"It seems that Whitebeard has grown stronger... how is that possible?" Admiral Akainu's right arm boiled and slowly emitted lava. His teeth gritted. "Does that mean his sickness was simply a facade to keep us off his back...?!"

"Hmm..." Admiral Aojiki just stared at the Strongest Man in the World's body and was surprised to see that it looked even tougher... "No, something happened and he recovered."

"Yes~. The~re was al~so re~ports of the Solitary Pirate meet~ing White~beard too~..." Admiral Kizaru added, spitting the words of 'Solitary Pirate' as if it was venomous. When the other two Admirals heard that, they remembered and became even more grimmer.

It meant that the Solitary Pirate, Ryu, probably had the ability to restore and even make someone stronger.

"Gurarara! What's wrong, Admiral brats?!" Whitebeard chuckled at their grim looks from the distance. He looked around with his eyes only and saw that only very few received injuries on his crew and only two sons of his died. 'I will not forget this, Sengoku brat... and Teach...!'

Outwardly he was smiling as his teeth gritted, inwardly, his blood boiled angrily at Marshal D. Teach. He swore that he would grab him and spank him to the hell of hell with his Murakumogiri, in other words, kill him.

Whitebeard took steps, approaching the execution stand on the scaffold as his sons killed anyone in the way. The three Admirals glared down at him. It seemed that they were going to join soon.

*PEW* x4

"Piercing Spears!" A cold voice interrupted as four thick spears made out of strings solely came towards Whitebeard. As it rapidly approached, it suddenly turned black and glowed red. Seeing this, the Admirals were momentarily surprised.

*Shiin~* x4

Doflamingo's cold face gave a small cruel grin when he used the Piercing Spears, it was one of the new moves he created.

"Delayed Armament Haki!" Fleet Admiral Sengoku was also surprised as he muttered what Doflamingo had just done. Delayed Armament Haki was a skill where using Armament Haki on their projectile attacks would appear eventually, even if they were not connected with the projectiles. Such skill required intensive training and high mentality. Even he, the Fleet Admiral of Marine, took a long while to obtain it, yet Doflamingo obtained it within few years.

"Hoh..." Whitebeard simply smirked and rose Murakumogiri, the bisento trembling as he did. "First Release!"

*BOOM*

The Murakumogiri suddenly exploded its aura and white lightning crackled around it, Whitebeard swung it towards the four Piercing Spears.

"€¡£¥° ?%#* ¿!*%¥" Indistinguishable words were spoken from his mouth, no one could understand it.

*Crack* x4

As if punching four spatial cracks, they appeared in front of the four Piercing Spears' path and disappeared. But it didn't stop there as another four spatial cracks appeared directly behind Doflamingo, who immediately sensed it.

*Crack* x4

*PEW~*

"Sh*t!" He quickly dodged the four Piercing Spears, allowing it pierce the people who were in its way and the ground. Doflamingo glared at Whitebeard before going upwards with his strings.

He waved his right hand that turned into white claw with his strings tangling it. Doflamingo clad his claw with Armament Haki before shouting out.

"Eagle's Grapple!" Doflamingo's right and black claw made a crutching move with a eagle-like caw before disappearing, but Whitebeard instinctively jumped backwards.

*BOOM*

Four deep cuts appeared where he had been at, looking as if a giant eagle had actually did try crutching him with its large claws.

"...This man has grown stronger..." Admiral Akainu frowned at this. It seemed that his plans of kicking out the Shichibukais from his system of justice was going to be more difficult. Doflamingo originally was weaker but now, he was stronger and could potentially hold his ground against Admiral Akainu, which was what he was afraid of.

Whitebeard was surprised for a second but he still didn't view Doflamingo as a strong opponent for him. "Gurara! You've grown stronger... perhaps 'he' was the reason?"

Not caring if his words angered him, Whitebeard resumed to walking in a straight path towards his cuffed son on the execution stand. Doflamingo was indeed angered but controlled himself as he learned a big lesson before.

He nearly lost everything just due to his emotions. Doflamingo moved to attack Whitebeard again, but three captains of Whitebeard Pirates blocked him.

"Don't think we're going to let you keep attacking Pops, eh!" With blue flames emitting out of his upper torso, Marco stated.

"Hm." Two swords in each of his hands, Vista nodded his head as he stood in his battle stance.

"..." Diamond eroding his right side of body, Jozu silently glared at Doflamingo.

"Move, you f*cking peasants!" Not caring about his image, Doflamingo waved both of his hands upward and downward, strings coming out his fingers. "Puppets' Strife!"

Strings that came out of his fingers, immediately moved and latched onto the three captains of Whitebeard Pirates.