One Piece: Bai Ye Deputy Captain of the Straw Hats

Translator: PapaSmurf0700

With four of the giant Vice-Admirals locked in combat with the Straw Hats, four more remained on the field. But this time, the rest of Luffy's crew didn't need to move. At that very moment, the ground began to tremble. The legendary Whitebeard Pirates had finally arrived on the front lines.

Chopper's monster form was a spectacle of power, allowing him to stand eye-to-eye with a ten-meter-tall giant. But among the Whitebeard allies was a warrior so immense that even the Navy's giants had to crane their necks to see his face. With long hair, demonic horns, and protruding fangs, he was a true titan.

"Ace is my brother!" his voice boomed across the plaza, a sound like grinding continents. "I will NOT let him die!"

He swung a colossal blade, and with a single, devastating impact, he sent a giant Vice-Admiral crashing to the ground. In some battles, absolute power is the only thing that matters.

"That must be a descendant of the ancient demon, Oars," Vice-Admiral Doberman said, his scarred face grim. "A being of that size defies all common sense, even for the giant race."

Behind the towering warrior, the Whitebeard commanders roared their approval.

"GO, LITTLE OARS! GO!"

"Tear it down, Oars! Smash through that iron wall and forge us a path to the bay!"

"You can do it, Little Oars!"

Hearing the cheers of his comrades, Little Oars Jr. let out a defiant roar of his own. He fixed his gaze on the execution platform, his voice filled with desperate resolve. "Ace! I'm coming to save you right now!"

But from high above, Ace could only watch in horror. "Oars, no! Stop! Your size makes you the perfect target! Don't come any closer!"

As if to prove his words, every cannon on the high walls and every Marine battalion turned their weapons toward the single, massive figure. There was no need to aim.

"A pity for you," Bai Ye chuckled from the Straw Hats' position. "Those shots won't be landing today. We have a rather potent weapon we've yet to reveal."

He turned his head. "Franky! Now!"

"OOOOOW! IT'S MY TIME TO SHINE!" Franky screamed, striking his classic pose as he slammed a button on his arm. "Sunshine Merry—Interception Guidance System, ACTIVATE!"

High above, the airborne Sunshine Merry began to transform. With a symphony of mechanical whirs and clicks, dozens of gun barrels emerged from hidden compartments beneath its deck. Without a single person manning them, they unleashed a storm of fire. Countless bullets streamed into the sky, creating a metal screen that intercepted every cannonball and projectile aimed at Little Oars.

Clang! Clang! Boom!

Within seconds, the threat was completely neutralized.

"WOOOW! Showing the world the power of the Merry feels SO GOOD!" Franky yelled, striking another pose. "SUUUUUPER!" He felt so ecstatic he could have chugged a whole barrel of cola. Using the blueprints of the ancient weapon Pluton and the genius notes of his master, Tom, Franky had turned their ship into a war machine of absolute power.

"That must be the cyborg, Franky," Vice-Admiral Jonathan of the G-8 fortress murmured, watching the spectacle. "To build such a vessel… he's a man the World Government must eliminate at all costs. A bounty of 70 million doesn't even begin to cover the threat he poses." He couldn't believe these were the same rookies he had encountered once before, now single-handedly altering the course of the world's greatest war.

With the cannon fire nullified, Little Oars Jr. was free to unleash his full might. He became a walking catastrophe, his immense body suppressing the remaining giant Vice-Admirals and scattering entire platoons of Marines. Suddenly, the path forward for Luffy and his allies was clear.

-----

"Hey, Straw Hats!" a Whitebeard commander shouted from behind them. "Stand aside! Once Oars is done, he'll break through the encirclement wall for us!"

But Luffy wasn't listening. He stared up at the towering steel wall that separated the outer plaza from the inner bay. "That thing?" he said, his voice deceptively calm. "Zoro. Take it down."

Zoro's lips curled into a grin. "Yeah. No problem."

He walked past the stunned Whitebeard Pirates, coming to a stop before the colossal barrier. He drew the black blade, Shusui, from his waist and settled into a low stance, holding the sword across his chest. A deep, invisible pressure began to emanate from him as he coated his arm and the blade in a thick layer of Armament Haki.

But it didn't stop there. Another, more sinister energy began to swirl around the black blade—a demonic aura, drawn from the cursed sword itself.

"Neither god nor ghost," Zoro chanted, his voice a low monotone. "Neither human nor heaven. Not of kind, not of justice."

As he spoke, those watching felt a chill run down their spines. It was as if a phantom figure, an ancient demon of war - Asura, had manifested behind him.

"Born into an age of chaos," he declared, "we shall cut through this mortal coil!"

He slashed forward.

"Ittoryu: Asura: Makyusen!" (One Sword Style: Demon's Aura: Dark Sky!)

Two intersecting arcs of pure destructive energy, one black with Haki, the other violet with demonic power, flew from his blade. The terrifying cross-shaped slash, imbued with Zoro's indomitable will, struck the iron wall head-on.

BOOOOM!

The ground shook as if from an earthquake. The massive wall shattered, sending rubble and debris flying, kicking up a blinding cloud of smoke and dust.

"You have... you have got to be kidding me," the Whitebeard commander who had just spoken stammered, staring wide-eyed at the impossible sight. Where a moment ago stood an impenetrable fortress wall, there was now a gaping hole.

"Fufufufu! The kid can't be more than twenty, and he wields power like that," Doflamingo cackled with glee from the Warlords' position. "What an absolute monster! Fufufufu!" He turned his head to the swordsman beside him. "Hawkeye. Looks like you have a new target to watch."

Mihawk remained impassive. "My target has always been Whitebeard. But I don't mind a little warm-up before the main event."

"All of you, get ready!" Vice-Admiral Onigumo snarled, his gaze fixed on the breach. "They cannot be allowed one step further! If you respond passively, you know the consequences!"

The time for observation was over. As the Straw Hat Pirates stepped through the ruined wall and into the inner bay, they came face-to-face with Marineford's third, and deadliest, line of defense: The Seven Warlords of the Sea.