The Oris Plaza.

On the deck of the Moby Dick, the real one or otherwise only God knows, Roronoa Zoro lay sprawled, his chest heaving slowly and raggedly. His moss-green hair was slick with sweat, and a few beads had already slid through his cheeks and had fallen on the wooden panelling of the deck.

Clutching the deck with his bare hands, trying to vaguely grasp at it, he moved himself to sit beside the mast, his back resting on it.

He knew that he should get up and fight for his friend's brother, for his friend, but he could not. However much he tried, the most he could get out of his legs was a shaky jerk which just resulted in more pain. At most times, it was numbness over pain, but when pain made it's appearance, he felt like he had a seizure. His muscles felt so. . . Blocky and blobby at the same time, and he could not feel anything. When he tried to lift an arm, his muscles refused to cooperate. His brain would send signals to his arms for them to be raised, but the limpness of the hands just defined about how vain a situation he was stuck in.

Another huge … con of the situation was that his brain seemed to not be working too well for the current requirements. There was just too much information to take in, even though he had known all along what kind of a trap this had been. A few moments after his portal had closed, behemoth-like meteor-hands came swirling through the sky like missiles, and a few had been aimed at the place where he had taken sanctuary in, too.

Then, of course, Roger's great feats. Slicing the meteors like a pair of scissors cutting paper, and his immense imaginary wave of some thing that made his spine cold. Even if it had not been aimed at him, he could still feel it, though not being affected by it itself.

Apart from those, massive icebergs suddenly popped up in abstract places, and bright flashes of light which made him blink more than twice. And yes, the incessant clatter of steel on steel, the noise of war. It rang inside his head as if his brain was the glowing sword, and the noises the hammer and anvil both. Oh, but he had not quite seen the major spectacle yet.

Whitebeard's quakes.

And when he saw one, it caused his brain to go rack, and his head thudded on the floor as he became unconscious.

As Murakumogiri was flung across in a wide arc, it's accumulating power was discharged, it's potential energy exceeding that of any attack used priorly by any Marine in the battle.

Realising the amount of destruction this could make happen, Admiral Aokiji swooped forward to intercept the blow with a freezing technique of his own.

"Ice ball . . .!" grunted Aokiji, as his ice engulfed Whitebeard' quake.

Yet, as the ice covered the entirety of the huge entity known as Whitebeard, that was not the end to the Strongest Man in the World. Even as the ice surrounded his body, aerial fissures appeared on the ice, shattering it into a thousand shards.

But that was not all Newgate would do, for a man had tried to freeze him alive. With a downswing of his sword, he zoomed forward, and impaled Aokiji right where his heart lay.

With that, the Marines once again howled, " He got stabbed with Haki?!!"

" Aokiji is dead?!" Another bellowed, " That's it, we're done for!!!"

If Aokiji was perturbed by the yelling Marines in any way, he did not show it in the slightest, except for the smallest annoyance.

" Please~ Don't go spouting nonsense . . ." Then under his breath, he muttered, " Crap, it seemed a good idea at first…Who knew earthquakes couldn't be frozen. . ."

And then, he was stabbed directly in the chest.

Any normal human would have had an instant transportation to heaven, but Aokiji was not one. His Logia, the Hie Hie no mi, allowed him to turn into a freezing man, and thus he could not die by any standard attack. Any sword or bullet that pierced him would just give way to ice and frost; his body would just transmorph to ice, and back to a human body when the wounds re heal.

The only thing that could kill a person who has eaten a Logia type Devil Fruit was a Haki imbued attack, or the ocean itself. There was yet to find out any other means to do it.

In this case, Whitebeard, one of the Four Emperors of the Sea, ought to have possessed an amazing amount of Haki, though his age and other diseases caused otherwise.

Now, there was no Haki. No haki, and his physical prowess also was slowly starting to decline. Oh, but that just showed how much of a monster he was. The man could crush mountains with a punch being a seventy old man; God alone knows what he could've done in his prime.

Letting his body slice through Murakumogiri, Aokiji jumped against the ground, and used his good technique. "Ice Block Partisan . . .!!!"

But his ice didn't meet with his desired target, for he himself was smashed into icy pieces.

Diamond Jozu had elbowed Aokiji right in his ribs, and the impact caused the Admiral to be shattered into shards of ice.

Jozu declared defiantly, " Pops, let me handle this. . . You go on!"

Hearing Jozu speak, Whitebeard muttered a 'Yes' and continued forward towards his second division commander, as if nothing had happened.

Further ahead, Luffy continued to ravage, and was slowly progressing towards Ace. His stamina was draining; draining like the hole in the sink. He could not keep it up muck longer. But still, his willpower and determination and perseverance was what kept him going.

He would not return without his brother, nor die, for that matter.

Suddenly, a male Vice-Admiral with flowing hair tied in a topknot, swooped past him, striking him. Grunting, Luffy's head smashed into the gravel in the ground.

As he woke up, Strawhat Luffy whirled his legs in the air, getting up dramatically.

By the time Luffy was ready to glance here and there to locate his enemy, the Vice-Admiral was up in the air, already ready to slash Luffy into chunks of meat.

But before the Vice-Admiral could slice the pirate, another high ranking Marine obliterated Strawhat Luffy. He was wearing a leopard mask, which had two flying tendrils flying about as he zoomed in to use one of the Rokushiki techniques on Luffy.

"Shigan."

Luffy's eyes widened in shock, and his pupils dilated, as he realised what had happened. After flying backwards for what seemed a mile, luffy landed, and breathed in hard.

Pant. Pant.

He could look elsewhere and focus on other thing another than his balance and injuries, another attack landed.

A yellow-white bright but thin beam of light, no thicker than a thumb, pierced him right in the middle of his stomach. It was Kizaru. Again.

"It's going to take more than bravery or tenacity, Strawhat Luffy… You lack the proper tools… Sheer guts alone won't get you anywhere, at least in this field."

His dress, striped with yellow and inlaid with black, was a contrast to the gloomy environment of the battlefield. On top of that, he was wearing sunglasses, and his mouth quirked in a strange way when he spoke. None said that he wasn't queer in his ways, but none also had enough dare to actually say it.

As Kizaru towered over the beaten Luffy, Luffy was out of energy. Completely drained of it.

His eyes appeared as meek as a puppy's and there was not presence enough of stamina to move a muscle.

Already enough damage was dealt, but Kizaru would not stop with that. Rather, he could not. The boy had immense potential; he could become as strong as any Navy Captain, if left alone, or might become even stronger. Also accompanied by the fact that he was the son of the huge nuisance the revolutionary Dragon, Kizaru without hesitation kicked luffy again, with use of his Devil Fruit.

Another flash of light, and Luffy flew backwards.

Before Kizaru could teleport himself behind Luffy to oppress him again, Luffy landed on Whitebeard's chest.

With a thumping sound, Whitebeard caught hold of Luffy before he could slide down from his stomach. Holding him by his legs, Whitebeard gave a start. "Brother of Ace!"

Before Shirohige could do anything otherwise, Kizaru started to speak.

" great Whitebeard to make such an error in judgement. . . Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

For a man of your stature to do something so reckless. You let your emotions get the better of you when you let this pile of garbage lead, when you have Gold Roger himself. Why even Marco of the Healing Phoenix, or Vista of the Dual Flower Sword Style would be miles better than a child who does not even know what Haki is."

Suddenly, a voice boomed over the Admiral. " Who said the kid was leading the pirates?"

As Kizaru turned, his glasses shattered. He was being overwhelmed by the might of Roger, by the magnificence of the Pirate King. There was nothing he could do; it was at this moment, that he found out how truly defenceless he was against Roger. Yet he was an admiral; he had to have some capability to harm him.

As Kizaru glanced at Roger, even as he was a head taller than him, Roger's aura still was able to penetrate his willpower, pricking holes in it like a needle in a paper.

But Kizaru was an Admiral, and he wasn't one for nothing. He instantly teleported to another place nearby, as Roger's sword sliced through the air where his head had been.

Nevertheless, when Kizaru resurfaced, he looked around for Roger, but couldn't find him anywhere. Suddenly, he felt the crackle. It was like electricity, only more thick, and more raw power.

"Kamusari."