He still planned to make a big splash during the Summit War, so there was no way he could let Whitebeard die early.
Although Sanders was telling the truth, to the Whitebeard Pirates, his words came across as pure provocation!
This was their revered father figure, their "Old Man"!
To challenge Whitebeard was tantamount to threatening their very lives.
The division commanders glared furiously at Sanders, their eyes ablaze with anger.
If it weren't for Whitebeard holding them back, they would've already attacked as one, tearing Sanders to pieces and throwing him into the sea to feed the fish!
Hearing Sanders' outrageously arrogant remarks, even Whitebeard himself froze momentarily.
"Kid, do you realize what you're saying?" Whitebeard's cold voice reverberated across the Moby Dick.
With a single motion, he ripped out the IV tubes attached to his body and unsheathed Murakumogiri without hesitation, swinging it fiercely at Sanders.
Anyone who could stand atop the sea as a ruler wasn't someone with a good temper.
Whitebeard's kindness was reserved solely for his family.
"Do you understand who I am? I'm Whitebeard!"
Murakumogiri sliced through the air with immense force, the wind pressure alone threatening to cleave Sanders in two.
Sanders' eyes narrowed.
He raised his left leg, coated in Armament Haki, and blocked the attack.
Boom!
The sound of metal colliding with stone rang out.
Crack!
The impact from their clash sent shockwaves rippling through the ship, splintering parts of the Moby Dick's railing.
As soon as their weapons collided, Sanders felt a strange vibrating force traveling through Murakumogiri's blade.
It was as though the force was trying to dissolve and break through his Armament Haki.
This was the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit!
His thoughts raced.
Sanders activated the full awakened abilities of his mythical Zoan Fish-Fish Fruit, Azure Dragon form.
To harness the powers that could stir tsunamis and shake the earth—he wasn't going to miss such an opportunity.
"I wasn't lying, Whitebeard!" Sanders said with a smirk.
"How much of your peak strength can you even bring out now?"
"Or rather, how long can you even maintain your full power in a fight?"
He didn't doubt Whitebeard could still unleash his peak strength, but a body riddled with old injuries, reliant on IVs to keep functioning—how long could that strength last?
"Hmph, kid!"
"You're welcome to find out for yourself!" Whitebeard snorted coldly, his piercing gaze fixed on Sanders.
Previously, he had admired this young man who had defected from the Marines.
But now, the boy's arrogance was fanning the flames of his anger.
Whitebeard was eager to teach this young upstart a lesson, to show him that he was far from being a relic of the past!
"Alright!"
"Then let's find out!"
Sanders tilted his head back, looking up at the towering figure of Whitebeard.
His face betrayed no fear, only an unrelenting fighting spirit.
The world's strongest man, Edward Newgate—Whitebeard!
Sanders was eager to experience the full force of his might.
Retracting his raised left leg, Sanders began to float upward into the air.
Amid the puzzled expressions of everyone present, he drifted over to the sea.
"Come on, Whitebeard!"
The division commanders of the Whitebeard Pirates wore grim expressions.
What was Sanders implying?
Did he expect their father to fight him out at sea?
Whitebeard didn't have the ability to fly!
"Sanders, you bastard!"
"Is this how you challenge our father?"
Marco, who had just been rescued from the sea, was furious as he witnessed the scene before him.
Getting punched into the sea hadn't made him this angry.
After all, while Sanders' punch had left his head spinning, if they had been on land instead of over the ocean, he wouldn't have lost the ability to fight back so easily.
But now...
This man, hailed as the "Fifth Emperor of the Seas," was actually stooping so low as to fight their father at sea.
It was utterly disgraceful, a complete lack of honor befitting a strong warrior!
The other division commanders didn't hesitate to voice their outrage.
"Sanders, you're shameless!"
"Challenging our father at sea? That's an insult to the name of pirates!"
"Let's all attack this despicable bastard together!"
But Whitebeard narrowed his eyes, staying calm as he observed Sanders.
He didn't believe that someone bold enough to fight Kaido in the Beast Pirates' territory would resort to such petty tricks.
Sure enough, just as Marco was about to speak again, Sanders lightly tapped his foot on the ocean's surface.
In an instant, the power of the Ice-Ice Fruit was unleashed.
"Ice Age!"
Under everyone's astonished gaze, the once-rolling waves of the sea froze solid in an instant.
The frozen surface stretched for dozens of miles, turning the tumultuous ocean into a vast expanse of land.
Marco swallowed the words he was about to say.
His mouth hung open in disbelief as he stared at the scene before him.
Freezing dozens of miles of sea?!
What kind of power was this?
Sanders wasn't supposed to be a Lightning-Logia user?
Why did this feel so similar to the power of Marine Admiral Aokiji?
"The ocean is frozen?!"
Flower Sword Vista exclaimed, dumbfounded.
"What's going on?"
"Isn't he supposed to have the Lightning Fruit? How does he have the power of Admiral Aokiji?" Saatchi muttered, beads of cold sweat forming on his forehead.
Behind them, a rugged, burly man with dense hair and a few missing teeth widened his eyes.
Two Devil Fruit abilities?
Marshall D. Teach's mind was in turmoil as he roared internally.
How could Sanders possess the power of two Devil Fruits?!
And not just that!
Marine Admiral Aokiji was still alive and well!
How on earth had Sanders acquired his power?!
Whitebeard looked at the frozen sea, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes—though only briefly.
As someone who had dominated the seas for decades, he had witnessed countless bizarre phenomena.
While it was shocking that Sanders, the lightning kid, possessed two Devil Fruit abilities, to Whitebeard, it was nothing more than a curiosity.
"So this is the confidence behind your challenge, Sanders?" Whitebeard asked calmly.
Even knowing Sanders had two Devil Fruit powers, his expression didn't waver in the slightest.
Sanders merely smiled without answering, gesturing for Whitebeard to proceed.
Whitebeard stepped onto the ship's railing and leapt down toward Sanders.
With a powerful kick, he launched himself like an arrow from a bow, closing the distance in an instant.
"Kid, you'll need more than this to defeat me!"
"I am Whitebeard!"
With Armament Haki coating his Murakumogiri, the blade exuded a towering aura.
An invisible, transparent shockwave surrounded its tip as Whitebeard swung it down with immense force.
Whoosh!
Armament Haki surged across Sanders' arms as he stepped forward, eyes gleaming with excitement.
This time, Sanders didn't use any Devil Fruit abilities.
Instead, he met Whitebeard's strike head-on, relying solely on his physical strength and mastery of Armament Haki.
He wanted to see just how far his raw strength and Haki alone could take him against the world's strongest man.
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T/N:
Access 30 chapters in advance on my P@treon: p@treon.com/OneFic
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