Chapter 45: Clearing the Field
A rumbling sound came from in front of the Marine Headquarters. On the other side of the deep trench, a large bird covered in blue flames rose into the air—it was Marco.
"Marco!"
Whitebeard's roar made Marco stop flying. After deactivating his Devil Fruit ability, tears streamed down his cheeks.
"Everyone in the Whitebeard Pirates, retreat!"
Marco shouted these words as if using all his strength, involuntarily stepping back a few paces.
"Don't let what Pops did for us go to waste. Get to the ship as soon as possible."
Izo turned and rushed toward the port. Everyone now knew that Whitebeard had no chance of leaving.
"Just... abandon Pops like this?"
Fishman Namur spoke with a trembling voice, but no one answered him. When he saw Su Xiao walking toward him from the front, he hesitated for a moment before speaking:
"Doctor Bai Ye, you must have a way, right? Pops' body should still be able to recover. He can come back, can't he?"
Namur looked at Su Xiao with pleading eyes.
"Given the current situation, he's definitely dead."
"..."
Namur stepped back half a pace, his gaze searching around, as if looking for the next glimmer of hope.
On the other side of the deep trench, blood dripped from Blackbeard's hand. Before him stood Whitebeard, on the verge of death.
"Still not dead? What a monster."
Blackbeard pulled a flintlock pistol from his waist and fired a shot at Whitebeard's head.
Bang!
Blood splattered. Whitebeard stood motionless.
"He should... be dead by now, right?"
Shiryu of the Rain wiped the blood from his blade. He had slashed Whitebeard dozens of times, yet the man still hadn't fallen.
"No, he's still alive."
Taylor, a man with bulging muscles all over his body, spoke. As a contractor, he naturally knew whether Whitebeard was alive or dead.
"Still not dead?"
Blackbeard looked at Whitebeard in shock. To see Whitebeard's face, he had to tilt his head up.
"But it doesn't matter. He's done for."
As Blackbeard spoke, he was about to pull the trigger again. Suddenly, he felt a sense of crisis—as if countless guns were aimed at him, a faint stinging sensation all over his body, and a tingling numbness on his scalp.
"What's going on!"
The moment Blackbeard spoke, he felt a pair of eyes looking at him—it was the dying Whitebeard.
"It's definitely not you, Teach. The person Roger was waiting for is definitely not you."
Whitebeard looked down at Blackbeard. At that moment, Blackbeard felt a bone-deep terror.
"Everyone, retreat first..."
Just as Blackbeard was about to turn and flee, he felt a restraining force on his shoulder—a large hand firmly gripping it.
"You bastard, let me go! Something terrifying is coming. Hey, Pops, I'm your son. Are you trying to drag me to death with you?"
Though Blackbeard said this, he pressed the gun against Whitebeard's head and pulled the trigger repeatedly.
Whitebeard stood like a stone statue, unmoving. A blade slashed toward his arm, sinking into flesh. This arm, wrapped in Armament Haki, was difficult to cut through.
"Shiryu, keep going."
Blackbeard saw hope again. Shiryu of the Rain and the others all aimed their attacks at Whitebeard's arm. Soon, the arm was shattered into pieces.
"Nice work. Let's..."
The flesh on Blackbeard's face began to tremble, because Whitebeard's other arm had somehow grabbed his neck.
"Keep going!"
Blackbeard's shout fell, but this time, the momentum of the attacks on Whitebeard's arm was noticeably weaker.
Shiryu of the Rain, Abalo the "Bad King," Catalina the "Crescent Moon Hunter," Vasco the "Big Drunk," and Taylor—all five members of the Blackbeard Pirates had already turned and fled. Four of them were crew members Blackbeard had recruited from Impel Down.
Only Laffitte, Van Augur, Jesus Burgess, and Doc Q—four people—continued attacking Whitebeard's arm. These four were Blackbeard's original crew members. However, compared to the five who had already retreated, their strength was clearly a notch lower.
"You guys, you ran away too readily."
Though Blackbeard was furious, he didn't lose his composure. He had betrayed others before, so when others betrayed him, he wasn't as angry as he had imagined.
"Captain, that feeling is getting more and more terrifying."
Champion Jesus Burgess spoke after punching Whitebeard's head a few times.
"You four, jump into that."
Blackbeard pointed to the deep trench not far away. Laffitte and Van Augur exchanged a glance, then stopped attacking Whitebeard and ran toward the trench.
"Bastard, let our captain go!"
Jesus Burgess didn't flee; he continued punching Whitebeard.
Crack, crack...
The ground beneath Blackbeard's feet began to crack. Blinding golden flames surged from within the fissures. At the same time, Sengoku was leading a large group of Marines toward the left side of the port, trying to get as far away from Marine Headquarters as possible.
Boom!
Three spheres of golden flames erupted within Marine Headquarters. The volume of these three golden spheres rapidly expanded, changing from gold to incandescent white.
Blinding Solar Flames surged toward Whitebeard. His expression was very calm.
"This is... where I end."
Whitebeard spoke in a low voice.
"No way! My dream, my ambition—how could it end here!"
Blackbeard locked eyes with Whitebeard. Darkness spread around Blackbeard, swallowing Jesus Burgess and Doc Q into the darkness.
The Solar Flames engulfed Blackbeard. He now desperately wanted to know one thing: who had set him up.
Not only Whitebeard and Blackbeard, but also some Marines who were too slow to escape were swallowed by the Solar Flames.
The three giant fireballs merged together, like a sun falling on Marineford. After enduring multiple devastations, this island finally began to show signs of sinking.
Numerous pirates stood at the outer edge of the port, staring blankly at the aftermath of the Apollo explosion. On the other side of the port was a large group of shaken Marines and Sengoku, trembling with rage.
"Fufufufufu."
Donquixote Doflamingo, standing at the edge of the port, was laughing loudly. Not far from him, Boa Hancock, the "Pirate Empress," silently walked away, her expression clearly saying she didn't know this person.
The Solar Flames gradually dissipated. A crater nearly 1,700 meters in diameter appeared. The crater was semicircular, its interior vitrified by the high heat, with a pool of magma at the bottom. This was what remained of Marine Headquarters.
A figure stood within the crater. Darkness could still be seen surging around him—it was Whitebeard. At his feet lay a charred human figure.
"Zehahahaha! Survived! This kind of flame isn't as scary as I thought."
Blackbeard barely managed to stand up from the ground, holding his breath. There was no oxygen around at all. If he had directly withstood an Apollo made from high-quality materials, Blackbeard might have died. But the characteristics of the Yami Yami no Mi allowed Blackbeard to survive within the Solar Flames. After being engulfed, Blackbeard used his Dark-Dark Fruit ability to absorb the surrounding Solar Flames, creating a small vacuum zone, which allowed him to live.
Sss, sss, sss...
The high temperature scorched the soles of his shoes. Blackbeard looked toward the source of the sound. It was a man holding a long blade, wearing a metal mask on his face.
"Did you... do all this?"
Blackbeard's voice sounded strange, since he couldn't breathe at the moment. It had to be said, Blackbeard wasn't even afraid of death for the sake of his ambition. Even in this situation, he still chose to keep Whitebeard alive.
"An Apollo made from low-quality materials—its power really isn't that great. But with three of them roasting each other, the detonation speed was much faster."
Su Xiao looked around. He had guessed earlier that these three Apollos (low-performance) wouldn't kill Blackbeard and Whitebeard. These materials were "extorted" from Doflamingo. Having them was much better than not, and besides, the main purpose of setting up this explosion was to rack up battle merits.
The gains from this explosion were higher than expected. The Marines killed netted Su Xiao a total of 1,056 battle merits. For comparison, killing Akainu had only earned him 1,900 battle merits.
"To be able to do something like this, you're not part of the Whitebeard Pirates, are you? You bastard... want to become my crewmate?"
Blackbeard's thought process was quite peculiar, actually inviting Su Xiao under these circumstances.
"I refuse."
"Why? Your style is completely different from the Whitebeard Pirates'. Join us, and we'll turn this sea upside down, become the rulers of this ocean."
Blackbeard persisted.
"As for the reason..." Su Xiao pondered for a moment, then said, "You guys are too ugly."
"Huh?"
Blackbeard was stunned, his bewildered expression clearly saying, even if you're brushing me off, at least come up with a plausible excuse.
Su Xiao looked at Whitebeard, who was standing behind Blackbeard. The man... didn't seem to be dead yet.