Garp’s Entrance.

The two seasoned warriors, gripping their swords till their knuckles turned white, ran towards each other in speeds that would make any normal person blink twice.

Mihawk lunged forward and thrusted Yoru directly at Roger's chest, but he parried it.

Then, the Pirate King delivered a swift riposte and sliced an arc towards Mihawk.

The Shichibukai member raised Yoru for a defensive stance, and Ace collided with his old friend with a sound that vibrated through the entire battlefield.

Subsequently, Roger withdrew his sword and flourished it, and made an incredible feint as if striking at him from the right, aiming at his ribs.

When Mihawk seemed as if he believed it, Roger advanced the attack, executing a sharp imbrocatta with a bucket-load of Advanced Haki striking at him.

Mihawk automatically went into guard position, and Roger's attack made them both engage in a struggle.

Yet in terms of Haki, Roger was plainly unrivalled. Not to mention pure physical strength; The man had had enough power to go head to head with Whitebeard in his prime.

Therefore, as both the swords collided, Ace pressed Yoru with such intensity that Mihawk started to bleed just be cause of the pressing.

As 'Hawkeye' reeled from the impact, Roger used Ace to extend his arm, and successfully envelop the gigantic Yoru.

Now that the Strongest Sword was locked, Roger contracted his leg, and gave a kick to Mihawk right across his stomach.

And all this happened in a matter of seconds, if not less.

Mihawk's leg seemingly faltered, but he regained his balance, as he was priorly kicked in the stomach and was thrown a few dozen paces back.

Wiping the blood that had come out of his mouth due to the kick, he spat out, " Your limbs hold no less punch than you are told to have held, Roger . . .!"

At the same time, Admiral Akainu roared, " It seems as if age has done less than I thought it would to you, Whitebeard…"

Up above the raging battles, in the sky obscured by smoke and fumes which made it look black as night, Marco the Phoenix rode the air like an eagle who knew his way with the winds.

His thoughts were, " Pops n' Roger will take care of the biggies… You just hang in there, Ace ~ I'll be right—"

Even as he swooped down to help rescue his friend, he was shot out of the sky by none other than the Hero of the Marines.

"Pffft! If you snot nosed punks want to get past me, you'll have to do it over my dead body . . .!" Garp of the Fist's face was tight with wrinkles, though mostly because of the irritation he felt at that point. Folding his hands, Garp bellowed towards the upcoming Pirates.

"You never change . . . Always sticking your nose in as sudden as a monkey… But you might as well do it. The pirates now greatly outnumber us, Garp. We have to step in and halve their numbers quickly, before Mihawk and Akainu get defeated."

Sengoku did not tell that to demotivate Garp or any of the Marines ; It was the simple truth. Even Dracule Mihawk or Akainu themselves would not be able to hold out for long. Logic was needed here, not false influence. That would just butter up the Navy for slaughter.

Below the Execution Tower, the Marines raised hopeful shouts while the advancing pirates shouted laments.

"He's finally stepped forward!!!"

"It's the Legendary Marine himself!"

" No! It's Garp! He punched our Marco!"

"Garp the Hero has joined the defensive lines!"

Seeing his allies' nerves being stepped upon, Whitebeard shouted, evidently ignoring the puny Akainu. "Don't let his name put you off, fools! He's just an old man!!"

Noticing that his opponent was ignoring him, Akainu was frustrated.

"You're of the same generation . . . So try to bloody focus on the battle in front of you…!"

Whitebeard turned back with an unsatisfied look, and raised his fist backwards.

As Sakazuki's eyes widened, he kicked off from the ground, and zoomed towards Whitebeard.

As the earthquake landed, Akainu's iron legs started to boil and froth, and turned into an elephantine colossal heel.

When both collided, it caused an uproar as much as Roger's attack on Mihawk did, if not more.

Around the four warriors was empty space, a hundred meters of nothingness because of the fact that if anybody stepped inside, their Threads of Life would snap inevitably.

When the smoke from his leg dissipated, Akainu grumbled, " Destroying the city with every move you make . . ."

Whitebeard actually smiled as he replied, " As I said… Try and protect it if you can then . . .!"

Up above, kneeling with shackles on both arms and legs alike, Portgas. D. Ace was heartbroken. What was he supposed to think now? He had lived his whole life, the wholly of it hating his father. He had never liked Roger, and the most prime of all reasons was that he had abandoned him, and he had let his mother die by selfishly acting as if dying himself but then hiding somewhere for the past two decades.

And now he had come to save him, his son.

If Roger took it as an act of asking forgiveness and one of love and protection, Ace did not.

In his eyes, Roger was still eccentrically self-centred, and he believed that he had come to Marineford with the aim of some other personal benefit.

Nobody liked Roger. In the towns that he had grown up in, his fellow 'friends' used to bully him, commenting on how bad a scum Ace's father was.

'Do you know how much trouble pirates are causing in the world right now? It's all because of that Gold Roger.'

'It would have been much better if he had never been born…'

'The biggest piece of trash the world has ever seen. Don't you forget it!"

Those were just some of the rude things that had been aimed at him. Oh, he had reacted, at first. He had even taken a pole and had started beating all those who spoke bad of his father.

Though when he learned more, his thoughts were slowly being changed. Time and tidings caused his brain to work differently, and he took on a different approach to Roger.

Over time, he had even many times tried to question the purpose of his life, and it had been none other than his 'gramps' the Vice-Admiral Garp who had talked him out of his sadder times.

Down near the iron walls, Buggy. D. Clown, one pirate whose goofy attitude had once caused him to be a part of the Pirate King's crew itself, was slowly unfreezing from being turned into a giant ice block by Aokiji. Akainu's magma hands and the natural heat of the island caused the ice to melt rapidly, and Buggy was able to come back to life without losing it. Yet his clothes were still wet as water, and his teeth chattered like a vibrating tuning fork.

At first, his temples bulged with frustration and anger at the Marines, as he shouted, " Damn you Marines…! Don't you think this is all gonna end here!"

Though after that, when he heard his fellow followers talking about the ongoing status of the battle, his heart skipped a beat.

His Captain was back. He had not died.

Buggy ignored all the other prison mates and started to run towards Roger, his arms flailing wildly as he sprinted.

Near the Execution Tower, Mihawk's pants were slowly decreasing to become normal breaths.

What should he do? In strength, power, Haki, in all three Roger was miles above him.

They were probably equal in speed, if it came to that. The only thing Mihawk was negligibly better in was skills, the simple beauty of swordsmanship.

Realising that also did no good to him; He was still screwed up when it came to that. Mihawk in vain did realise that after having a title for more than a decade, stripping him of it made him frustrated. He now burned inside with a desire to once again become the Strongest, but he showed nothing on the outside. His face was a mask of serenity as always, except for rare occasions.

Just to work out his sword for a while, to get his arms started, he threw a slice. It was almost casual, at least for him, but that arc of an attack carried with it the power to demolish entire buildings with ease.

Roger realised what he was doing, and decided to play along with him for awhile.

As the crescent slice of Haki flew towards him, he inlaid Ace with a load of Armament and deflected the attack as easy a a man catching a ball.

While on this dual Roger was certainly winning, dis certainty enveloped the fight between Whitebeard and Akainu.

The Yonko, who formerly seemed to be winning, now suddenly clutched his ribs, and started to retch.

With a deep guttural sound, he retched blood which flew out of his mouth and landed on the ground. His mighty knees apparently seemed to buckle, but he would not fall so easily. He used Murakumogiri as a support to stand with pride, but his eyes were still dark with suffering.

"So even you cannot escape the effects of old age . . . Whitebeard!!!" Snarled Akainu, viewing this as an opportunity to strike.