Chapter 770: An Ending No One Could Have Expected
Sometimes, Ian thought that if only he had learned the Great Serpent card's Amaterasu before his transmigration, it would have been great. Every time he encountered high-beam drivers on the road, he could just blast them with a single Amaterasu!
He would never lose!
But now, Ian felt it wasn't bad either. At least there was a dog on site—a Red Dog! And his Amaterasu 'headlights' just happened to have two of them.
Dual flash!
As Ian and Little Ian floated in midair, charging up their ultimate move, Akainu had just launched a Great Eruption toward Ian in the sky!
In fact, including Kizaru, none of the Marine Admirals could fly. Kizaru could only move in a straight line at light speed because he was a Flash Man. To float and hover in midair like Ian, he would have to use the Six Powers' Moon Step. So Ian held an aerial advantage over the Marine Admirals present. For Akainu to attack him, he had to rely on long-range attacks.
Unfortunately, almost everyone was looking up at Ian because he was floating in the air. So when the blinding light suddenly appeared, every Marine felt as if they had gone blind in that instant!
They barely had time to instinctively lower their heads and cover their eyes when the next second, a colossal force from the sky descended upon them!
The massive flying magma fist from the Great Eruption hadn't even reached Ian when it disintegrated into countless sparks under the immense energy impact.
This time, everyone in front of him was an enemy, so Ian didn't need to worry about the attack area or harming his allies. Everything below was a target. Thus, this Amaterasu eruption was far more thorough than the one during the New Edd War naval battle, even more powerful, directly enveloping the entire sky above Marineford Island. Even Kizaru couldn't escape!
Moreover, this time Ian had a 'wingman'! The Amaterasu unleashed by Little Ian had the same power as Ian's current self, effectively doubling the power.
Years of combat experience saved the lives of Akainu, Kizaru, and Tea Pig, as well as many Marine Vice Admirals who had participated in the New Edd War naval battle. As they covered their eyes, they instinctively used Armament Haki to protect themselves.
But that only kept them from being killed on the spot...
The moment the impact hit, almost everyone had the same reaction: their entire bodies couldn't withstand it and were directly crushed to the ground! The dual flash simultaneously unleashed by Ian and Little Ian caused the energy impact of Amaterasu to be so dense that the simultaneous assault felt like an invisible iron plate pressing down on everyone, pinning them flat!
For ordinary Marine soldiers with weaker strength, the moment they fell, all their bones were crushed into fragments. Even as they lay on the ground, they couldn't stop coughing up black blood, caused by broken bones piercing their internal organs, which were then subjected to immense pressure...
The lethality of this move was simply unstoppable for those with weaker strength! Even if some Marine soldiers had hidden behind cover on the shore, it was useless, because as the impact arrived, those covers—whether steel, wood, or hard rock—all turned to dust under the force!
It was impossible to accurately describe the scene. The ground cracked under the impact and quickly turned into fine gravel. Even the towering walls of Marine Headquarters suffered the same fate. From the angle of the light, the side that received the impact seemed to weather away, with countless grains of sand and tiny fragments scattering with the force of the impact!
Houses, docks, naval warships on the sea—every place that received the baptism of Amaterasu's light looked like this. By the third second of the light's brilliance, the flying sand in the air was already mixed with red blood and shredded flesh...
"Again... this move again!" Akainu, pressed to the ground and grinding against it, coughed up large amounts of blood but gritted his teeth to maintain his Haki defense. He knew that if he let up, he might end up like those ordinary soldiers.
Although he was a Logia and could use elementalization to defend against Ian's attack, he dared not do so. Even elementalization had its limits. He didn't know if, under such dense impact, once he elementalized, he would be scattered by the energy impact and unable to recover... After all, this was an energy impact, not a simple physical attack, and it wouldn't just pass through an elementalized body without causing damage.
At this moment, Akainu's only sensation was like hundreds of elephants frantically stomping on him, with extremely high strength and frequency...
Akainu could barely withstand it, and Kizaru naturally had no problem. But that guy was as slippery as a monkey. The moment he was pressed down, he turned into light and flashed away at his maximum speed, directly hiding in the shadowed areas of Marine Headquarters' fortress, using the fortress's massive volume as cover. At least until the entire fortress turned to ash, he was temporarily safe.
But even so, after hiding in the shadows, Kizaru couldn't help clutching his chest, blood flowing from the corner of his mouth. The instant impact force had penetrated his Haki defense and seeped into his body, making his internal organs churn...
The worst off was undoubtedly Tea Pig. He hadn't participated in the New Edd War naval battle, so he had never experienced the power of Ian's move. Suddenly subjected to such a storm-like impact, he was completely stunned. By the time Ian's Amaterasu was about to end, this guy couldn't hold on and directly passed out!
He was the first Marine Admiral to be directly incapacitated by Ian. The other Marine Vice Admirals were even worse off.
After the fifth second passed, the blinding light in the sky suddenly retracted and disappeared.
But... the greatest loss in Marine Headquarters' history had already been sealed. Thousands of Marine soldiers gathered at the port plaza were dead. One Marine Admiral and a full eight Marine Vice Admirals were severely injured and unconscious. Even Akainu, the Fleet Admiral, was pressed into the ground. Countless buildings and houses on Marineford Island were destroyed. The sturdy fortress that had been a symbol of the Marines since its establishment was now only half remaining. The other half had vanished into ash at a tilted angle, as if someone had sliced it off diagonally with a blade.
Many concrete surfaces on the island were also cracked. A sea breeze blew, raising countless clouds of dust. Many Marine families who had hidden in their houses when the battle began were now nearly buried by sand. When they struggled to stand up, besides coughing loudly, they stared blankly at the unrecognizable Marineford...
Ian's attacks were becoming more and more terrifying. Acting in crowded places like this would inevitably cause massive casualties. The same was true for the other Emperors, which was why those at the Emperor level rarely took action themselves.
Ian didn't want to kill so many people either, but there was no choice. Akainu had made his move, so Ian had to fight back.
Now, the Five Elders' fears had come true. Due to Akainu's tough stance and stubbornness, Marine Headquarters was not only half destroyed but also suffered heavy soldier casualties.
In the sky, Ian slowly lowered his hands holding the sword. Little Ian dissipated bit by bit beside him. Ian saw that before dissipating, his expression was still that naive look, and the earlier "biu" seemed to linger in his ears, making Ian chuckle.
Descending from the sky, Ian also felt a sense of emptiness. The Amaterasu move was extremely lethal, but its only drawback was that it consumed all Psychic Power at once. This feeling of being drained was certainly unpleasant. Ian was already considering whether to let Little Ian release this move exclusively in the future.
Ian landed right where Akainu was. Looking at Akainu lying in the sand pit, Ian extended a foot and flipped him over.
At this moment, Akainu wasn't dead yet, but his condition was far from good. Because he hadn't elementalized, the spots where Ian had cut off his hands were bare. After being flipped over, Akainu began gasping heavily, blood flowing from his nose and mouth. He glared hatefully at Ian and struggled to stand up.
This time, Akainu's injuries were even more severe than during the New Edd War naval battle. But as the pillar of the Marines, Akainu had an abnormal physique, so he naturally wouldn't die.
Noticing that Ian's little clone had disappeared, he suddenly elementalized. This time, he directly burned off his Fleet Admiral uniform, baring his upper body, revealing large tattoos on his skin. But these tattoos flashed and were quickly covered by rolling black smoke and dark red flowing magma.
Using magma to reform his fists, Akainu said nothing and charged at Ian again!
His desire to kill Ian had become an obsession! He hadn't even considered whether he, already severely injured, could still defeat Ian...
Realizing this, Ian shook his head slightly while a deep chill appeared in his eyes. Facing Akainu's scorching hot fists, Ian swung his sword to meet them!
Clang! The right hand's Thousand Cherry Blossoms, coated in Armament Haki, slashed against Akainu's incoming fist with its hard black blade. In a flash, the left hand's Black Wing Demon stabbed toward Akainu's right chest!
Akainu originally intended to use Haki to endure it, but Ian had never planned to stab him with the sword. A burst of violent heat suddenly erupted from the Black Wing Demon's blade. The winding Black Dragon Wave followed the blade and bit directly into Akainu's body.
The next moment, under Akainu's stunned gaze, half of his body was directly devoured by the Black Dragon Wave, which exceeded the temperature of his magma. The Black Dragon Wave flew out, leaving Akainu standing with half his body missing.
This happened so fast that Kizaru, who had just stepped out of the shadows, only saw the two clash once, and then a writhing black dragon flew out from behind Akainu.
Kizaru stared blankly at Akainu's missing half. Akainu was also stunned. At that moment, his body suddenly trembled slightly.
A black sword pierced through his heart, the tip emerging from his back.
Ian had directly stabbed Akainu through the heart with Thousand Cherry Blossoms!
"You... you..." Akainu trembled, looking down at the sword embedded in his chest, his face full of disbelief.
"The Marines still need to preserve a spark..." Ian maintained his grip on the sword, whispering in Akainu's ear. "In your hands, I'm afraid you'll squander it all. And I'm tired of this endless, relentless entanglement... So, step down from the position of Fleet Admiral."
"No... I, I am the Fleet Admiral!" As Akainu used his last strength to say these words, Ian pulled the Thousand Cherry Blossoms blade out of his chest.
Staggering, Akainu's half-missing body fell with a thud, no longer moving.
To the end, Akainu's eyes were wide open, unable to believe that he, the Marine Fleet Admiral, had died here at Marine Headquarters...
In the distance, Kizaru no longer wore his usual inscrutable smile. His mouth hung open as he stared blankly at Ian standing before Akainu's corpse.
Dead!? Akainu was actually dead!?
Probably, before the battle began, no one could have imagined such an ending...