Chapter 213 - Chapter 215

As the hour of the execution approached, the war started to escalate in brutality by a large margin.

"PUSH THROUGH!"

"DON'T LET THEM NEAR!"

The Whitebeard pirates pushed from one side while the Marine forces pushed from the other. And, independent from those were the Straw hats. Their ship stood untouched on the battlefield while the crew pushed through the horde of soldiers by themselves. They had no help from the Whitebeard pirates, so it was a miracle that they had lasted this long. Or, it could be for the fact that Ginrummy sat on their ship, clearly stating that anyone getting in their way would have to deal with her. The big players on the Marine side couldn't afford to deal with that, so they let the Straw hats be for now. A vice-admiral was all they could spare. Aokiji only interrupted before because he and Doberman had a close friendship.

"Men! Begin the execution!" Sengoku said loud enough for his voice to echo to the nearest Whitebeard commander.

"PUSH! SAVE ACE!" The commanders showed their desperation now more than ever. They swung their swords with ferocity and fired their guns with bloody accuracy. Yet, they were so far out that they couldn't do anything no matter how they tried.

"MY SON SHALL NOT DIE THIS DAY!" Whitebeard dropped his weapon and got into stance to use his fruit. His hands folded inwards, and in one powerful motion, stretched them wide and with that sent one world-destroyingly powerful force towards the platform in one last effort to destroy it.

"The old fool is getting desperate," Bradley stood up and raised his hand against the incoming attack. As if an invisible shield stood in its way, Whitebeards attack lost all momentum and crashed into this invisible wall and dissipated.

"Say goodbye to your captain, Ace," Sengoku said and signalled the execution to start. The two executioners placed their weapons in position above Ace's head. In just one moment, two loud thud sounds were heard, but it didn't belong to Ace.

"Made it just in time." Behind Ace, standing proudly and unafraid was Kenshin, the most supreme swordsman in the world.

"Kenshin!" Sengoku turned serious in the blink of an eye and jumped at the commander. Without any hesitation, Kenshin plunged his sword into the platform and the entire thing erupted in a massive explosion that created a big smokescreen blocking everyone from seeing what was going on inside it.

Inside the smoke, where the platform had stood, Garp and Sengoku stood facing Kenshin that held onto Ace. "I am gonna assume you are not letting me pass." He said calmly. His eyes scanned the surroundings carefully.

"You're not leaving here alive, Kenshin. Give up the boy!" Sengoku had clad most of his body in haki. Garp stood calmly and assessed the situation.

"Then I'm going through you." Kenshin took off in a burst of speed that broke apart the ground. His speed surprised the two old marines. It took but a second for Kenshin to leave the smoke cloud with the two in tow. In only a few seconds they had crossed half the battlefield and caused massive damage in the meantime. Aokiji's ice stood no chance against their punches, so there were hundreds of holes in the ice where Garp and Sengoku had struck with either their feet or fist.

"MEN! USE EVERYTHING WE HAVE, DO NOT LET THEM LEAVE!" Aokiji took up the temporary leader position. They now needed to do everything they could to not let Whitebeard escape successfully.

"Luffy, look! Someone saved Ace, let's leave!" Sanji yelled, trying to get his captain's attention. Zoro that was absorbed in his fighting heard his yelling and quickly grabbed Luffy by the collar as he was right next to him. "We need to leave now!" He dragged Luffy forcefully away from the marines.

The chase between Garp, Sengoku and Kenshin ended when Kenshin used his famous dimensional step and practically teleported away from them. Though, it was just a speed so fast that it could easily be mistaken for pure teleportation. The two old marines could not follow the commanders any longer and lost sight of him. That was until they saw him standing beside Whitebeard on the Moby dick.

"That was quite satisfying. They were still a lot slower than I thought. But, as entertainment, they did fine." Kenshin said and let go of Ace.

"Ace, I'm glad you're safe!" Whitebeard bowed down and proceeded to use his fruit to destroy the cuffs he has on. "And, you, Kenshin. I appreciate your help, but what are you doing here?"

"The captain couldn't bear to see the boy die. So, he asked me to swing by."

"Thank you! Marco, call a retreat! All that matters now is getting away safely. We did not come here for any more slaughter than necessary."

"RETREAT! PULL BACK, WE'RE LEAVING!" Marco's command sounded out across the battlefield and the Whitebeard alliance stopped celebrating the successful rescue and focused on pulling back while defending against the charging marines.

"Do not allow them to leave!" Kizaru appeared behind a large group of pirates and ended their lives in a couple of seconds. "Charge! Kill them all!" He shot another laser and more screams of pain and death rang out from the retreating pirates.

"Time to settle a score!" Kizaru turned to light and disappeared from view.

Across the battlefield, Aokiji was murdering pirates in mass. His ice spread far while he stood with his hands in his pockets and watched them all freeze to death. He watched with sympathy, but this was the fate they chose when going into this war. He looked around as he suddenly felt a feeling of unrest. "What's going on?"

"Look who it is... Snowflake, how have you been?" A feminine and elegant voice sounded out behind him and despite being ice, Aokiji's body froze up when he heard it. He knew exactly who this was.

"Copy cat... I've been good, you?" He turned around and faced, Cal Shekar, one of the Gotei commanders and someone he had fought more times than he could be bothered remembering.

"I've been good. Certainly better than you." Cal said cheekily.

"Always with that competitiveness. How many times have I told you to drop it? It's no fun fighting you if you keep score."

"That's only because you're losing, Snowflake. What is the score? Twenty-one wins for me and two for you, was it?"

"Well, only because I'm not trying that hard to win..." Their casual conversation didn't reflect the seriousness in the atmosphere around them. Most marines around had fainted thanks to Cal's mighty aura. You needed to be at least of Admiral rank to combat it head-on.

"Ready to give me my twenty-second win?" Cal placed a hand on her sword and smiled.

"Not a chance. This time I'm gonna try a little harder." They both disappeared and a clash broke out that immediately destroyed this part of the battlefield. This fight gave way for powerful emotions within themselves. Despite not truly comprehending it, a bond had since long ago been created between them. That is what happens when you gain an eternal rival.

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End