Woo—
A high-pitched horn blast echoed across the sea.
From the Marine Headquarters fleet pursuing from behind, a small black dot emitting thick smoke could vaguely be seen charging forward.
Ahead of it lay the dense fleet of the Golden Lion.
Yet, it seemed as if it hadn't noticed.
It continued to charge forward relentlessly.
At this moment.
Everyone on the Headquarters fleet felt a surge of adrenaline, their eyes turning red.
Countless officers rushed out of their warships.
Some channeling their abilities, others using Geppo, and they charged towards it.
On Garp's warship.
Rear Admiral Keen, as if sensing something, looked towards the rear.
The vast fleet of Headquarters was approaching, and countless warriors were charging towards them.
Keen smiled.
His smile was so brilliant, so resolute.
Whoosh—
Boom! Boom! Boom!.....
Cannonballs rained down, some striking the sea, others hitting the ship's hull.
Fires raged on the deck and in the cabins, thick smoke billowing towards the sky.
The firelight illuminated the faces of the people.
Keen, with his remaining right hand, gripped his long sword and walked towards the bow of the ship.
His severed arm and the wounds piercing his body continued to bleed.
His consciousness was already blurring.
He took a deep breath, his face contorted.
Looking resolutely towards the Golden Lion's fleet ahead:
"Execute! Justice!!!"
He leaped forward, his long sword swinging continuously.
Incoming cannonballs were repeatedly cut in half and fell into the sea.
Until...
It was covered by a dense barrage of cannonballs... and could no longer hold on.
Boom!!!
A severed arm holding a long sword fell into the sea.
But no body was seen...
Charge.
It continued to charge forward.
The warship, engulfed in flames and riddled with injuries, did not stop, still rushing towards the Golden Lion's fleet.
The remaining Marine soldiers, one by one, leaped towards the cannonballs.
Woo—
The deafening horn blast continued without pause, charging forward.
The pirate ships of the Golden Lion's fleet were now within close range.
"Madmen!"
"These madmen!"
"It's crashing into us!"
"Turn the helm!"
"Quick!"
"Quick!!!"
As the warship surged towards them, the captains of the Golden Lion's fleet, in their terror, tried to turn their ships away.
They had initially thought this was the warship's dying struggle, but they never expected them to be aiming for a mutual destruction.
Too insane, even pirates weren't this crazy.
"Turn quickly! Quick!!!"
The captain of a pirate ship directly in front of the warship yelled in panic.
"Too late!"
"Jump into the water!"
The pirate helmsman replied with a look of horror.
The ship was massive; avoiding it quickly was not easy.
Closer.
Even closer.
Woo—
The burning, smoke-billowing warship, under the terrified gaze of the pirates, crashed towards them.
Seconds later...
RUMBLE!!!!
A deafening impact suddenly rang out.
It had collided.
The Marine warship, with such a resolute stance, rammed into the pirate ship.
The bow shattered, wreckage splintered.
Under the immense inertia, the surviving soldiers on the warship were all violently thrown about, their bodies bloody and mangled.
The helmsman of the warship struggled to get up, leaving bloody footprints with each step.
He stumbled towards the ammunition depot.
He pushed open the door to the ammunition depot, and a dense array of cannonballs greeted him.
Garp's warship lacked for nothing, least of all cannonballs...
The helmsman grabbed a cannonball and moved towards the few large cannonballs in the center.
Gathering his strength, he lifted it with difficulty, spitting blood.
"Execute... Justice..."
His entire body ceased to draw breath.
The raised cannonball, propelled by the body's inertia, smashed forward.
Clang—
Boom boom boom boom boom!!!!!
An endless chain reaction of cannonballs detonated instantly.
The entire warship, along with the pirate ship, instantly exploded into a massive fireball that shot into the sky.
Within a radius of several hundred meters... no one survived...
Stunned.
Completely stunned.
The surrounding pirate captains, looking at the colossal fireball, were filled with dread.
"Madmen."
"Marines are all madmen."
"This..."
"This..."
At the same time, for the first time, they felt a sense of doubt.
If all Marines were this insane, could they truly win?
The long-renowned pirate captains seemed to recall what that high-pitched horn blast represented.
It was from when they first set sail.
When the high-pitched horn blast sounded, whether they had finished looting or not, they would retreat and flee.
Because it meant... the Marines were here...
"Captain, look!"
"What!"
In the distance, countless small black dots were leaping and charging towards them.
As the pirate captains, using their spyglasses to see the faces of those small black dots, a cold sweat broke out on their foreheads.
He beckoned to a subordinate and whispered instructions.
"Tell the helmsman to retreat cautiously, don't let them discover us!"
After speaking, he picked up his spyglass again and observed nervously.
As the small black dots drew closer, the fluttering cloaks of justice came into view.
Sword energy and abilities rained down like a torrent.
Striking the Golden Lion's fleet.
Some of the powerful pirate captains in the Golden Lion's fleet also drew their swords or used their abilities to counterattack.
big/
At the moment Whitebeard died, everyone in the entire sea felt a deadly crisis.
Especially on the Marines' side, it was even more severe, a primal instinctual fear.
Rumble Rumble!!!!!!!!!
As a deafening roar, as if from ancient times, erupted.
The entire world seemed to invert, the sea covered the sky, and dark clouds condensed on the ground.
Giant islands, emerging from nowhere, were smashed down.
This was not an illusion; in Whitebeard's final awakened strike.
The sky and sea inverted and twisted, countless islands were uprooted and hurled into this sea.
The entire sea trembled, as if twisted by rules, the inverted sky appearing so bizarre yet rational.
Moments later, the inverted sky and sea twisted back, returning to a normal world.
The immense shock force caused the sea to crack and collapse like the earth.
Countless crisscrossing sea surfaces turned into deep chasms. In this instant, both Marines and pirates suffered heavy losses.
Rumble Rumble!!!!!!!
Heaven and earth trembled, and the tremors subsided after a long time.
The entire Smoker Sea had completely lost all islands and all signs of life.
Only the fleets of pirates and Marines struggled here...
--------------
The Smoker Sea Battle broke out in July, Marine Year 1490.
Participants included more than half of the prominent pirates and Marines on the seas.
The Golden Lion's fleet was more than half destroyed.
The Roger Pirates suffered nearly half their casualties.
The Big Mom Pirates' Charlotte Linlin lost several of her children in battle.
The Whitebeard Pirates were completely wiped out, with only Marco surviving.
The Great Pirate "Whitebeard" Edward Newgate was killed.
On the Marine side.
Admiral Zephyr was severely injured and resigned his position as Admiral, transferring to the Marine Academy as Chief Instructor.
Vice Admiral Sakazuki was severely injured and remained unconscious.
Admiral Sengoku was severely injured and his whereabouts were unknown.
Vice Admiral Garp and Fleet Admiral Kong sustained minor injuries and returned to Headquarters to preside over the situation.
Marine Headquarters warships suffered nearly half their losses.
Post-battle statistics indicated twenty-three thousand seven hundred and forty-seven soldiers killed in action.
A hero monument hundreds of meters high was erected in the plaza of Marineford.
Years after the Smoker Sea Battle, the sea entered a period of eerie calm...
--------------
Six months after the Smoker Sea Battle...
Marine Year 1491, Marine Headquarters Hospital.
Sakazuki, who had been in a coma for half a year, suddenly opened his eyes.
An ancient, wild aura erupted from him, sweeping through the entire Marine Headquarters, and then instantly retracted.
At this moment, Sakazuki seemed to have undergone a transformation.
Crack!
A sound like thunderclap from a clear sky erupted.
Enel burst through the window and looked at Sakazuki with surprise.
Sakazuki looked at the young man whose aura had grown even stronger, a hint of praise in his eyes, and his lips curled.