One Piece: The user of the Nen-Nen Fruit, who overturned the sea.

Sengoku stood on the execution platform, looking down at the straw-hatted boy who had fought his way from Impel Down to Marine Headquarters.

His eyes turned cold.

Two newly arrived executioners stood on the execution platform, their long swords raised once more, the tips aimed at Ace's nape.

Luffy looked up at the two swords.

He didn't have time.

"stop--!!!"

Luffy flipped in the air, kicking his rubber legs at the two executioners.

But in that very instant—

The Warring States period began.

He clasped his hands together, and his body swelled and deformed in an instant.

Golden light surged from his body, and he transformed into a gigantic golden Buddha.

The Buddha statue is over ten meters tall, its golden body majestic and solemn, and its enormous palm slams down towards Luffy.

"You brat!!!"

The Buddha, an incarnation of the Warring States period, struck down with a single palm.

The giant golden hand was bigger than Luffy himself, and the force of the palm made the surrounding air explode.

Luffy had no time to dodge in mid-air and was hit squarely by that palm strike.

"Rubber, rubber—balloon!!!"

At the last moment, Luffy took a deep breath, and his body swelled into a sphere.

A giant golden hand slammed onto his swollen body, the elasticity of the rubber dissipating some of the impact.

But the impact was still too great. Luffy was sent flying and crashed into the edge of the execution platform, leaving a human-shaped dent in the stone slab.

But Luffy didn't let go.

His rubber fingers were still caught in the cracks in the stone at the edge of the execution platform, and he was hanging precariously from the edge.

Blood spilled from the corner of his mouth, and his body trembled violently from the enormous impact.

"I...haven't..."

Luffy gritted his teeth, exerted force with his arms, and pulled himself back onto the execution platform.

He stood on the execution platform, before the giant Buddha, an embodiment of the Warring States period.

His body was covered in wounds—wounds from Impel Down, wounds from the battlefield, and the fresh wound from being slapped by the Buddha—layer upon layer, the blood staining his clothes red.

But he stood on the execution platform.

He stood in front of Ace.

"Ace—!!!"

Luffy grinned, a smile brighter than ever before.

But the Buddha's hand from the Warring States period had already been raised again.

This time, Luffy has no room to dodge.

The execution platform is only so big, and Ace is right behind Luffy, so he can't hide.

If that palm strike lands, Luffy and Ace will both be smashed into mincemeat.

"Straw Hat Boy - It's Over!!!"

The palm of the giant Buddha from the Warring States period crashed down.

However, at this moment, the execution platform could not withstand the enormous force and emitted a piercing, twisting sound.

The stone pillars began to break, the stone slabs began to crumble, and the entire execution platform began to disintegrate and collapse from the middle.

Luffy and Ace thus escaped Sengoku's attack.

He and Ace fell together from the execution platform, which was tens of meters high.

At the moment they fell, Luffy's body reacted instinctively.

He took a deep breath, and in an instant, his body expanded into a sphere, tightly enveloping Ace above his rubber body.

Ace was pinned down by Luffy, his wrists still bound by sea stone chains.

He looked at that face so close to his, a face full of scars yet still grinning at him.

"Luffy...you idiot..."

Ace cried.

Luffy did not answer.

He simply shielded Ace with his body, and the two of them fell together from the collapsed execution platform, crashing to the ground below.

.................................................. ..................................

The rumble of the collapsing execution platform had not yet subsided when, on the other side, the battle between Whitebeard and Akainu had reached its climax.

Akainu stomped on the blade of Whitebeard's Murakumogiri, his magma-like right foot hissing and burning against the blade.

Akainu looked up and glanced sideways at the white-bearded man, a cold smile playing on his lips.

"Old man, that's enough."

Whitebeard raised his head and looked at the admiral who had stepped on his weapon.

Instead, the corners of his mouth turned up.

"Is it your turn to lecture this old man now?"

"Ignorant of one's own limitations."

The power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit began to gather on Whitebeard's right fist.

The translucent vibrating ball spun rapidly on the knuckles, distorting and deforming the surrounding air, producing a muffled buzzing sound.

Akainu was equally unwilling to be outdone. His right arm was completely transformed into magma, with dark red magma churning and boiling on his fist. The temperature was so high that even the ice beneath his feet began to melt and smoke.

The magma fist was also covered with a layer of jet-black Armament Haki, and with this double enhancement, the power of this punch was enough to melt a mountain.

"Magma Fist!!!"

"Shock Punch!!!"

The two fists collided violently in mid-air.

Magma and vibration.

High temperature and impact.

Dark red and translucent.

Two completely different forces are locked in a fierce struggle at the point of collision.

The magma wanted to melt and vibrate, while the vibrations wanted to shatter the magma; neither could prevail over the other.

Then--

"boom--!!!"

The point of impact exploded.

The shockwave spread wildly in all directions from the two people as the center.

A large section of the ice surface was overturned, with ice shards and lava fragments flying through the air.

The nearest warships were tilted by the shockwave, and the soldiers on board were thrown about.

The smoke dissipated.

Akainu took two steps back.

His white beard remained completely still.

"Is that all you've got?"

Whitebeard's voice was filled with undisguised sarcasm. He reached out and grasped the hilt of the Murakumogiri that Akainu had stepped on, and pulled the naginata back out.

The blade still bore traces of lava burning, but he didn't care at all.

"Lava brat, what did you just say to my son? That I betrayed them?"

Whitebeard walked step by step toward Akainu.

Each step on the ice created a crack, and each step carried a suffocating sense of oppression.

"My greatest pride in this life is these sons."

Who do you think you are, to presume to sow discord?

Akainu steadied himself, his face so dark it could drip water.

His magma fist condensed again, this time the magma was even hotter than before, and its color changed from dark red to a dazzling bright white.

"Meteor Volcano!!!"

Akainu unleashed both fists simultaneously, his magma fists exploding in mid-air, transforming into dozens of magma meteors that hurtled towards Whitebeard.

Each meteor trailed black smoke, turning the sky a dark red.

The white-bearded man neither dodged nor avoided the attack.

He thrust the naginata to his side, clenched his fists, and simultaneously pounded the air on both sides.

"Snap—!!!"

The sound of the atmosphere breaking apart was louder than ever before.

The shockwave spread spherically from the white beard, and the magma meteors that collided with it all exploded in mid-air.

It turned into countless tiny magma fragments scattered on the ice surface, hissing and burning out countless small holes.

The white-bearded man emerged from the lava debris unharmed.

He stomped his right foot on the ground and charged towards Akainu.

Murakumogiri spun in his hand, the blade imbued with the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, and he slashed at Akainu's neck.