The battle began with Akainu's volcanic fury.
"Dai Funka!"
A massive fist of magma erupted from the Admiral's arm, hurtling toward the Blackbeard Pirates with the force of an active volcano. The attack was so intense that the air itself began to burn, creating a corridor of superheated death.
Jesus Burgess stepped forward, his championship muscles bulging as he prepared to meet the Admiral's assault head-on. "Champion's Wrestling: Iron Body Slam!"
He launched himself at the magma fist, believing his raw strength could overcome even an Admiral's power. For a split second, it seemed like he might succeed, his massive frame actually deflected part of the attack.
Then the heat hit him.
Magma at two thousand degrees Celsius began eating through his flesh like acid. Burgess screamed as his championship body became a torch, his wrestling career ending in smoke and agony. He collapsed, still burning, his body twitching as life fled from his ruined form.
"Burgess!" Doc Q wheezed from atop his skeletal horse Stronger. The sickly doctor raised his scythe with trembling hands. "Death comes for all, even Admirals! Reaper's.."
"Ice Age: Thousand Spears."
Aokiji's counterattack came from all directions, a forest of frozen death that left no room for escape. Each spear was sharp enough to pierce steel, cold enough to shatter bone on contact.
Van Augur raised his rifle Senriku, his supernatural marksmanship allowing him to target the ice projectiles with impossible precision.
His bullets shattered dozens of spears, creating brief openings, but there were simply too many. Ice found its mark, punching through his shoulder, then his leg, then his chest.
"Impossible," he gasped, blood freezing as it left his mouth. "My aim is perfect. I never miss, "
The final spear pierced his throat, silencing the world's greatest sniper forever.
Doc Q tried to retreat, but his horse collapsed as ice spears pierced its skeletal frame. The doctor tumbled to the ground, his scythe clattering away as more spears found their mark.
"Captain," he wheezed with his dying breath, "fate... was not... on our side..."
**************************************
Lafayette attempted to take to the air with his strange powers, his cane spinning as he prepared some hypnotic technique. "Hypnosis Wave, "
Akainu's fist caught him mid-flight, magma consuming the corrupt sheriff before his technique could activate. His screams lasted exactly three seconds before the heat vaporized his lungs.
Catarina Devon, one of the most dangerous female pirates in history, tried to use her Mythical Zoan to escape. Her body began shifting, taking on the form of a beautiful woman to confuse her attackers.
"Nine-Tailed Fox Transformation, "
Aokiji's ice caught her mid-change, freezing her partially transformed body into a grotesque statue. The Mythical Zoan's regeneration battled against the Admiral's absolute cold, creating a horrific cycle of freezing and healing until her heart finally gave out.
Avalo Pizarro, the Corrupt King, launched himself at Akainu with royal fury. "I am a king! You cannot.."
His proclamation ended as magma melted through his crown and skull simultaneously.
Vasco Shot stumbled forward, too drunk to properly dodge. "Heavy... Drinker's... Rage..."
The alcohol in his system ignited when it met Akainu's heat, turning him into a human torch from the inside out.
San Juan Wolf, the Colossal Battleship, tried to use his massive size as an advantage. But even giants could burn, and Akainu's magma proved more than capable of bringing down the enormous prisoner.
"Too big," Aokiji observed coldly as ice began forming around the giant's legs. "Too slow."
The combination of magma and ice, fire and frost, created steam explosions that tore the giant apart piece by piece.
In less than three minutes, eight of Blackbeard's crew were dead or dying, their bodies scattered across the plaza like broken toys.
**************************************
"Zehaha... zehaha..." Teach's laugh had become strained, desperate. Shiryu of the Rain stood beside him, the swordsman's blade already drawn, but even the former Head Jailer of Impel Down looked uncertain.
"You think two Admirals are enough to stop me?" Teach snarled, darkness beginning to pour from his body. "I have the power of darkness itself! Black Hole!"
The gravitational pull of his technique was immense, drawing in debris, smoke, even light itself. Akainu and Aokiji found themselves pulled toward the swirling vortex of absolute darkness.
"Meteor Volcano!" Akainu allowed himself to be drawn closer while launching dozens of magma fists into the darkness. The molten projectiles disappeared into the black hole, only to emerge at random angles from the vortex, turning Teach's own technique against him.
Teach barely managed to dodge the redirected attacks, but one grazed his shoulder, searing flesh and drawing a scream of pain.
"Impossible! My darkness should absorb everything!"
Shiryu tried to capitalize on the confusion, his invisible blade seeking Aokiji's throat. "Rain of Death!"
But Aokiji had anticipated the attack. Ice armor formed around his neck just as Shiryu's blade struck, and the resulting clash sent both fighters skidding backward.
"Impressive swordsmanship," Aokiji admitted. "But not impressive enough."
"Absolute Zero."
The Admiral's touch could freeze anything, and as he reached for Shiryu, the very air began to crystallize. The swordsman's blade became brittle with cold, then shattered entirely as ice consumed it.
Shiryu's eyes widened in shock. "My sword... it was forged by the greatest smiths in.."
Ice claimed him before he could finish, turning the former Head Jailer into a frozen statue that toppled and shattered on the plaza stones.
Teach found himself alone, facing two Admirals whose power seemed to have no limit.
"Liberation!" he screamed, releasing everything his darkness had absorbed back outward in a massive explosion of debris and energy.
The attack was devastating, tearing up huge chunks of the plaza and forcing both Admirals to retreat momentarily. For a brief instant, it seemed like Teach might have gained an advantage.
Then golden light began to fill the air, and everything changed.
**************************************
"You should be dead."
The voice came from above. Sengoku descended from his position atop Whitebeard's corpse, his form beginning to shift and expand. Golden light blazed from his skin as the Buddha transformation activated, but this was different from before.
This wasn't just the Hito Hito no Mi Model: Buddha.
This was something far more ancient.
Teach looked up at the approaching Fleet Admiral and felt something he hadn't experienced in years: genuine terror.
Sengoku's golden form was wreathed in an aura that seemed to push back against the very concept of darkness. Where his light touched, shadows fled. Where his presence extended, the Yami Yami no Mi's power faltered and weakened.
"What... what is that?" Teach whispered, his darkness flickering like a candle in a hurricane.
"Divine Judgment," Sengoku said, his voice carrying harmonics that seemed to resonate in the bones of everyone present. "The natural enemy of all that is evil, corrupt, and dark."
Teach tried to summon more darkness, pouring everything he had into one final assault. "Dark World!"
The technique should have plunged the entire battlefield into absolute darkness, creating a realm where only he could see, where only he could act. Instead, his power met Sengoku's divine light and simply... ceased.
"This is impossible!" Teach snarled, sweat pouring down his face as he strained against the Fleet Admiral's overwhelming presence. "Logia fruits can't be countered! I absorbed the strongest.."
"You absorbed nothing but your own damnation."
Sengoku's golden palm descended with the weight of divine retribution. When it struck Teach's chest, there was no explosion, no dramatic clash of powers.
There was only light, and the gradual dissolution of everything that opposed it.
"Please," Teach gasped, his body beginning to break apart at the molecular level. "I can be useful to the Government. I delivered Ace to you. I started this war for your benefit. We can make a deal.."
"There are no deals with those who embrace absolute evil," Sengoku replied, his divine aura intensifying. "Your darkness sought to consume everything, but every shadow needs light to exist. And I am the light that burns away the darkness."
Marshall D. Teach, the man who had killed his crewmate for the Yami Yami no Mi, who had orchestrated the War of Marineford, who had dreamed of standing atop the world, began to scream as his very existence was negated by Sengoku's judgment.
"The age of darkness ends here," Sengoku declared as Teach's form crumbled to ash and was scattered by the wind.
Silence returned to the battlefield, but only briefly.
Sengoku stood in the center of a circle of ash and bodies that had once been the Blackbeard Pirates, his golden aura slowly fading as he returned to human form. Around him, Marines stared in awe and terror at what their Fleet Admiral had just accomplished.
But the Fleet Admiral's expression showed no satisfaction, only grim determination.
"Attention all forces," Sengoku commanded, his voice carrying to every corner of Marineford. "The Blackbeard threat has been eliminated, but our work is not finished."
He gestured toward the scattered remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates, the broken men who knelt weeping over their captain's corpse, the wounded who could barely stand, the few who still showed defiance in their eyes.
"These pirates came here to challenge the Marine's authority. They brought war to our doorstep. They cannot be allowed to leave and spread word of their rebellion to others."
Marco, still shackled and under Kizaru's watch, looked up with dawning horror. "You can't... the war is over. We pose no threat.."
"You pose the greatest threat of all," Sengoku replied coldly. "The threat of inspiration. The threat that others might follow your example."
He raised his voice again, addressing the entire Marine force.
"Kill them all. Leave no survivors. Let it be known that this is the fate of all who would stand against justice."
The order sent shockwaves through both sides. Even some Marines looked uncertain about executing wounded, defeated enemies. But orders were orders, and Marines were trained to obey.
Vice Admiral Doberman drew his sword. "You heard the Fleet Admiral. No quarter."
Squads of Marines began advancing on the surviving pirates, weapons raised. Some of the Whitebeard Pirates tried to run, others prepared for one final, hopeless battle.
Then, cutting through the sound of approaching doom, came the shrill whistle of a ship's horn.
A Marine communications officer came running across the plaza, his face pale with shock. "Fleet Admiral! Urgent report from the perimeter!"
Sengoku turned with mild irritation. "What is it?"
"Sir, the Red Force has been spotted approaching Marineford! Shanks and the Red Hair Pirates are.."
The officer's words were cut off as another ship's horn echoed across the waters, this one deeper, more resonant. Then another. And another.
On the horizon, silhouettes were becoming visible through the smoke and mist.
Sengoku's eyes narrowed as he recognized the approaching vessels. The war he thought was ending was about to become something far more complicated.
"Red Hair Shanks," he muttered, his jaw tightening. "So you've finally arrived."