"What... what's going on?! Is Pops unleashing his power again?!"
"No, it's not Pops. He didn't even make a move just now! Is it a natural disaster...?"
Previously, when Whitebeard made his entrance, the Seaquake he caused triggered a tsunami that was enough to flood the entire Marineford. It was only thanks to Kuzan's ability that the effects of the tsunami were neutralized.
Since then, Whitebeard hadn't launched any similar attacks. While Kuzan's power was one reason, another was that Whitebeard's subordinates had already begun their landing operation. If another massive Seaquake was triggered, the Whitebeard Pirates themselves would also suffer heavy casualties.
This was one of the downsides of the Quake-Quake Fruit. Though it has unparalleled destructive power, the shockwaves it produces can also severely affect allies.
The tsunami created by Whitebeard may have had devastating power, but compared to this new tsunami, it was like a child's trick.
King and Shayna simultaneously flew up into the sky, planning to avoid the effects of the tsunami.
"This direction... could Lord Sacred Beast be angry?"
"Doesn't seem like it. If Lord Sacred Beast were truly angry, the impact wouldn't be this ordinary. This looks more like residual shockwaves. And based on Lord Sacred Beast's intentions, once he retrieved what was his, he was planning to return to Wano Country. He never intended to intervene in Mr. Kaido's affairs."
Neither of them was affected by the wave. Although the tsunami looked terrifying, it posed no real threat to them. Kaido had deliberately chosen senior officers capable of flight precisely to deal with unexpected situations like this. As long as they could rise above the wave, no matter how massive the tsunami, it couldn't threaten them.
There were many people down below, but they were either Marines or Whitebeard's crew. Facing these non-allied units, they felt no concern.
Both King and Shayna were people who had climbed out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood. The deaths of unrelated people wouldn't stir any emotion in them. What they were more curious about was—what exactly had happened on Arceus's side.
"That's true. Lord Sacred Beast's power is far beyond this. Wait... is there something on that wave?"
King knew very well that Arceus possessed the power to wipe out a nation with a mere gesture. If he were truly enraged, he wouldn't use something as inefficient as a tsunami to attack.
He originally wanted to see how the Marines would respond to this tsunami, but then he noticed something strange floating on the wave.
"It's a ship, right? With such a massive tsunami, it's not surprising that it swept up some ships. Looks like the warships from the outskirts of Marineford."
"It is a warship, but inside it... aren't those all prisoners? How could there be a warship full of prisoners in a place like this?"
"No idea. But what I do know is, Mr. Kaido probably wants even more fun. Oh right, where did that Queen go?"
Shayna glanced around but didn't see Queen anywhere.
Logically speaking, they were all people in their middle age—everyone should know how to deal with danger by now. So neither King nor Shayna bothered with him; they just ascended on their own to gain more altitude.
Given Queen's personality, he would never put himself in a dangerous situation—unless someone had touched his bananas, or he had a kanabo aimed at his head.
"Queen... oh, there he is. Still jumping around alive and kicking."
Following the direction of King's pointing finger, Shayna spotted Queen in mid-air combat with two giant dragons. Their appearance didn't differ much from ordinary Western dragons, and their size was significantly smaller than Hydrachton's, but they were equipped with laser cannons similar to those of the Pacifistas.
Following behind them were smaller, bipedal, wyvern-like creatures, with standard rotary machine guns mounted on their bodies.
Just like the Pacifistas, they were masterpieces of the Marine Science Unit—biological replicas based on Hydrachton's Lineage Factor. After years of cultivation, they had finally formed an aerial unit.
They were a special unit hidden above the clouds, placed there under Sengoku's orders, waiting for the signal to attack.
But since the battle below had been going smoothly, Sengoku had delayed deploying the unit, planning to send them in only once the pirates began their full retreat in disorder. That plan, however, was disrupted when Kaido suddenly intervened, followed by this massive tsunami.
Before they could even react, Queen had already dove straight into the middle of them—leading to the current aerial dogfight.
"Come! Let me see what you copycats are capable of! You two stay back—I'm going to personally deal with these thieves who stole my work!"
Queen was unleashing his firepower as well, and unusually for him, he actually told Shayna and King not to get involved in his battle.
"Has he lost his mind? He really thinks this is all his invention?"
In Shayna's view, Queen had already become a walking contradiction—he feared the dangers that came with taking the blame, but at the same time thoroughly enjoyed the glory that came with it.
To outsiders, it looked like Queen had seen through the origins of the Marine's wyvern unit and was defending his own work. But as fellow top officers, Shayna and King were fully aware of exactly how capable Queen actually was.
"No, this guy is just making excuses so he doesn't have to take part in any dangerous fights. Those things at most account for thirty percent of his total firepower."
Shayna would just physically attack Queen when she was in a bad mood. But King was different—he enjoyed delivering both psychological and physical blows to Queen, so he understood Queen's thought process very well.
Just from looking at his movements, King could guess almost exactly what was going on. And indeed, as he suspected, Queen was trying to come up with a reasonable excuse to slack off. He was different from King and Shayna; both of them were Lunarians and far stronger, and more valued by Arceus.
Even if the two of them did absolutely nothing during the Summit War, there wouldn't be any consequences when they returned.
Yamato had already been tossed into the fray by Kaido. Kaido wouldn't have the time to pay attention to her for a while, which meant the one in danger now was Queen. To avoid being noticed by Kaido and forced to deal with a troublesome opponent, Queen decided to pick a group of enemies who looked impressive but didn't actually have much substance.
His original target was the Giant Vice Admirals below, whom he considered the easiest opponents to handle. But while he was dodging the tsunami, Queen came up with a new idea and initiated an aerial battle with the flying unit instead.
Queen hoped he could ride out the entire battle like this and return to Wano Country safe and sound. Unfortunately, accidents always happen. Just as he was "valiantly" battling these "knockoffs," the original showed up.
"ROAR!!"
With a thunderous roar, Hydrachton—who had been idling in the sky—suddenly charged toward the wyvern unit. In just one pass, it broke their formation, and then all eight of its heads lashed out simultaneously, biting straight through the neck of a large wyvern
"Roar?"
After that, Hydrachton turned to Queen in confusion. The meaning behind its roar was obvious:
"Why were such weak guys chasing you around?"
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