Chapter 9: Marines vs Pirates
The Emperor staggered, blood seeping through his coat. A rare flicker of pain crossed his face, and Yuji's pulse quickened.
"DON'T LET HIM REACH POPs!"
"YUUUJIIII— YOU MOTHERFUCKER!"
"DIE, YOU BASTARD—!"
Pirates surged like a human tide between them, their bodies forming a living barricade. Yuji's patience snapped.
"I said… STOP. GETTING. IN. MY. WAY."
His blade flashed—"Single Sword Style: Serpent's Descent."
The air itself screamed as his strike coiled like a monstrous snake, its fangs rending flesh, steel, and stone alike. Pirates collapsed in sprays of viscera, their weapons shattered, their screams drowned in the cacophony.
"Ghk—! Hah…! Such… sharpness…!"
"Fucking 'Calamity'… lives up to his name…"
"Shut your filthy mouths."
Yuji decapitated a wounded foe mid-sentence, the head rolling wetly across the ground. He'd repeated this dance all battle: cripple, exploit a weakness, execute.
Yet Whitebeard remained standing—untouchable—and the frustration boiled Yuji's blood.
"Cockroaches. You breed like fucking cockroaches…!"
He rejected Devil Fruits, relying solely on his honed brutality. One-on-one, he'd end any fight instantly. But this? This was a grind.
"RAAAAAGH—!"
A pirate lunged from behind. Yuji spun, index finger piercing the man's skull like a bullet.
"Finger Gun."
His finger tore through the pirate's skull like a bullet, brains splattering across the battlefield. Even beyond the endless horde, a far greater obstacle shackled him—restraint.
"Tch. Can't go all out…!"
The presence of fellow Marines and the hallowed ground of Marineford itself forced his hand. Unleashing his full power here would reduce allies and fortress alike to ash. So he held back, his attacks calculated, contained.
"Soru."
If walls of flesh blocked his path, he'd soar above them, or better yet—
"Rankyaku: Scattering Torrent."
—crush them from above.
A barrage of razor-edged gusts rained down, cleaving pirates into crimson chunks. A temporary path to Whitebeard opened, slick with gore.
"Like hell we'll let you pass—!"
"Eat this, you bastard—!"
A bazooka-wielding pirate fired, joined by another dual-wielding pistols. Yuji bared his teeth.
"Rankyaku: White Thunder."
A single colossal slash atomized the attackers mid-air, their screams drowned in the roar of cutting wind.
"Fuck…! Their numbers are endless…!"
As Yuji landed to regroup, a deafening roar erupted across the battlefield.
"ACE—!!!"
Pirates howled in euphoria. Yuji's gaze snapped upward, where "Fire Fist" Ace now dangled from Luffy's grip.
"Ha! You've just delayed the execution, fools!" Yuji barked, his voice cutting through the chaos.
"Ace still breathes on Marineford soil! Marines—CRUSH THEM!" His command reignited the Navy's fraying resolve.
"Fall back to the ships—!"
Pirates began retreating, but their flight halted abruptly. A tremor shook the earth as Whitebeard's voice boomed:
"Listen well…! This is your captain's FINAL ORDER…!"
"Final…?! Old man, shut your damn mouth—!"
"Don't you fucking jinx us—!"
The moment Whitebeard's final order roared across Marineford, both Marines and pirates froze, a primal understanding slicing through the blood-soaked air.
"WE PART WAYS HERE! EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU… SURVIVE AND RETURN TO THE NEW WORLD!"
The truth crashed like a tidal wave: Whitebeard had always intended to die here.
"Oyajiiiii—!!"
"Come back with us—!"
"Now go, you idiots!"
He refused to call them "sons"—a merciless kindness to spare them hesitation.
"To the shore!"
"RUN! TO THE SHIPS!"
The Whitebeard Pirates began their retreat, Ace rescued, and their father buying time with his life. But two figures in Marine white burned with fury.
"Hah… So even 'Whitebeard'… is just another relic begging to lose…"
"KEHAHAHA! If you're so eager to die, I'll carve it into your fucking bones!"
Sakazuki—and the Marine's "Calamity," Yuji, stepped forward.
"…A 'relic'…?" Whitebeard's voice rumbled like crumbling mountains.
"Aye. Roger broke you. Denied you the throne. Now you'll die a failure… You'll be remembered forever as a loser."
"SHUT YOUR MOUTH—!"
Ace's scream tore raw from his throat, Akainu's words spearing his heart.
"Decades wasted playing 'family' with trash. Stabbed by a traitor… dying to clean up the mess. Pathetic."
"HE GAVE US A HOME—!"
"A 'home'? For rats to lick each other's wounds?"
"YOU KNOW NOTHING! WHITEBEARD SHAPED THIS ERA—!"
Ace's fists ignited, hellfire warring with magma. Logic screamed 'RUN' Whitebeard's sacrifice demanded it. But pride roared louder.
"THIS ERA… BEARS WHITEBEARD'S NAME!"
"Tch. Must be nice… being loved by your brats." Yuji's blade gleamed as he circled the Emperor. "Wish mine'd worship me like that."
"Then show some FUCKING RESPECT… YUJI!"
"KEHA! I'll let him die slow… out of 'respect'."
The clash of "abilities" between Ace and Sakazuki was nothing short of cataclysmic. Fire and magma collided, their raw, destructive forces tearing through the air. The difference between them wasn't a matter of experience or age, it was a fundamental disparity in the nature of their powers.
Fire, no matter how fierce, could not overcome the overwhelming, consuming force of magma.
"The reason I'm so pissed off right now… it's all because of you, Whitebeard!" Sakazuki growled, his voice dripping with venom.
"Guh… Ooooh…!" Whitebeard grunted, his massive frame trembling under the relentless assault.
The air itself seemed to scream as Sakazuki's techniques—Rankyaku, Shigan, and the Haki-infused blade of Yuji—carved into Whitebeard's body. Each strike was precise, brutal, and unrelenting.
"Nguuu…!" Whitebeard groaned, his voice strained but defiant.
"Kehaha! Guess it's time to finish this…!" Yuji cackled, his blade gleaming with deadly intent.
"I'll never let you brothers escape. Mark my words…!" Sakazuki snarled, his eyes locked on Ace and Luffy.
Yuji drove his sword deep into Whitebeard's thigh, using the momentum to propel himself forward. At the same time, Sakazuki raised his magma-coated fist, aiming it at Luffy, who was barely standing, his strength all but spent.
"Maximum Output: Rokuogan!" Sakazuki roared, his fist surging with molten power.
"Nun…!!" Whitebeard's voice was a mix of pain and defiance.
The full force of Yuji's ultimate Rokushiki technique slammed into Whitebeard's body, while Sakazuki's magma fist tore through Ace's torso.
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