The air on the Marine ship instantly solidified.
"White...Whitebeard!!" The Marineford Lieutenant's binoculars slipped from his hand, hitting the deck with a crisp sound.
His face turned pale at a visible speed, and his lips trembled uncontrollably.
"Why...why is Whitebeard on a Marine shipping route...?"
Meanwhile, Gern, whether it was his imagination or not, suddenly felt the sea wind turn sharp, stinging his cheeks.
The mountain-like figure in the distance, merely standing casually, seemed to press the weight of the entire sea onto his chest.
"All hands, battle stations!" The Marineford Lieutenant suddenly screamed hysterically, his voice sharp and distorted.
"Contact headquarters immediately! Use the red emergency communication channel!
We might be facing one of the strongest people in the world after the Rocks era, "Whitebeard" Edward Newgate!!"
In an instant, the deck exploded into chaos.
Marine soldiers scurried around like headless chickens; some knocked over ammunition boxes, sending brass bullets rolling everywhere on the deck.
A communicator stumbled towards the cabin, tripping over his own feet.
"Gern Warrant Officer, please return to your post!" The Lieutenant looked at the man before him, who was about to be promoted to Marineford, with a long blade wrapped in white cloth on his back. His Adam's apple bobbed up and down, and the back of his uniform was completely soaked with cold sweat.
"That's a monster that can cause tsunamis! Gern Warrant Officer!!"
Hearing the Lieutenant's voice, Gern shifted his gaze, turning his head slightly.
He saw that the performance of this Marineford elite at this moment was in stark contrast to the West Blue soldiers who had seen them off at the port three days ago.
He suddenly remembered Branch Chief Asahi's snot- and tear-streaked face.
Heh, at this moment, the difference between the two was not great.
"Distance 1.5 nautical miles!" The soldier on the lookout post's voice trembled, "The target shows no signs of accelerating!"
"Gern Warrant Officer, please..."
The voice in his ears slowly faded, and Gern's pupils, which were focused on the distance, suddenly contracted to pinpricks.
His right hand instinctively rose to grip the hilt of black blade eight desolations.
At this moment, his vision was filled only with that mountain-like figure.
Whitebeard stood casually at the bow, his white cloak flapping in the sea wind, not even looking at the Marine ship where Gern was...
"Whitebeard..." Gern suddenly found himself trembling. It wasn't fear; it was a sense of excitement.
black blade eight desolations had already been drawn from his back, and vibration particles on his right hand instinctively began to condense...
"I actually want to experience the world's strongest..." Gern's mouth twisted into a stiff arc, and cold sweat trickled down his temples to his jaw.
"Attack!!" As Gern laughed aloud, just then, a pulsation suddenly came from black blade eight desolations.
"Clang!" A clear sword hum cut through the chaos, bringing a moment of clarity.
Gern looked down at the trembling blade; the blood frozen by fear suddenly began to boil again, and his trembling fingers suddenly tightened.
The deck beneath his feet trembled slightly, and for a moment, all the Marines watching Gern instinctively stepped back, because they clearly felt a "vibration."
"Gern Warrant Officer! Are you crazy?!" The Lieutenant's heartbreaking warning became distant, and all he could hear was his own increasingly loud heartbeat.
Not far away, on Whitebeard's ship.
As Whitebeard's first son, the young pineapple-headed Marco, also noticed the Marine ship where Gern was.
"Pops, I told you from the beginning, don't take the Marine's route."
"Gurararara!" Hearing Marco's words, Whitebeard couldn't help but laugh.
"But we're already here! Sengoku and Garp can't possibly be here, right!"
"Pops, you..." Marco pursed his lips. Although he knew Whitebeard wanted to find his "son," it was also possible to avoid unnecessary trouble.
"Alright!" Whitebeard, who had a family, actually enjoyed Marco's nagging; it made him very happy.
"Marco, I will..." Whitebeard hadn't finished speaking.
Suddenly, his powerful Observation Haki detected an unusual fighting spirit, one that was entirely directed at him.
So he grabbed Murakumogiri, turned sharply, and stared in the direction of the Marine ship, or rather, stared at Gern standing at the bow of the Marine ship!!
"Pops..."
"Marco, there's a very interesting fellow on the Marine ship over there!" Whitebeard grinned, then laughed loudly.
"Gurarara! How dare you release such an aura at me, then don't hide it anymore!!!"
On the Marine ship's side.
When Whitebeard finally looked directly at them, Gern felt electricity shoot up his spine to the top of his head.
It wasn't the fear of being targeted by a beast, but a shiver of excitement.
He suddenly understood why moths fly into flames.
"Whitebeard!!!" Gern's roar tore through the sea wind.
The bandages on black blade eight desolations suddenly disintegrated on their own, and grayish-white fragments floated in the air like a swarm of death butterflies, each edge flickering with vibrating arcs of electricity capable of cutting space.
"Gurararara..." Whitebeard's booming laugh pierced through the waves, "Marine brat, stand firm!"
He casually swung his right arm, and the entire sea trembled with it, followed by a "crack" sound.
The air in front of him was like a giant glass dome unable to bear the immense pressure, with spiderweb-like cracks spreading across it!
The air quake wave, like an invisible energy entity, crushed the air and slammed violently towards the Marine ship where Gern was!
Wherever it passed, the sea surface was forcibly pressed down and torn by an invisible force, forming a briefly existing trajectory.
The "normal vibration wave impact," which was rarely used even during the Marineford War, was nothing more than a flick of a finger for the current Whitebeard.
Gern's pupils contracted sharply, and his left fist, condensing vibration particles, clenched tightly, the vibration particles emitting a buzzing shriek between his fingers.
When his arm traced an arc identical to Whitebeard's, everyone paused in astonishment.
The moment the two shockwaves collided, the world lost its sound.
"Crack, boom!!" The two forces of vibration collided in mid-air, and in the instant space twisted, the atmosphere was completely sucked dry!
The vacuum explosion's shockwave created a hundred-meter-diameter crater in the sea, which was then filled by surging seawater the next second, kicking up a downpour.
Watching Gern's vibration particles neutralize the air quake he caused, Whitebeard raised an eyebrow, and Murakumogiri heavily struck the deck.
"Oh? Marines also have a brat who can vibrate?"
Standing at the bow, the young Marco's pupils trembled violently, his mouth slightly agape, completely speechless.
He stared intently at Gern's left arm, which glowed with the faint light of vibration particles.
"No, that's impossible?!" Marco's voice was dry and hoarse, his young worldview shocked and impacted.
"Isn't that Pops's ability?! How can he possess it!"
