Multiverse Gourmet Hunter

Marco had no intention of wasting more time trading words with Kizaru.

He beat his wings hard, and the blue flames surrounding his body suddenly surged. In an instant, he became a streak of blue light and shot straight toward the Admiral at astonishing speed.

As he flew, Marco’s body rapidly transformed into his full phoenix form, his entire body engulfed in ghostly blue flames.

Kizaru responded with a flash of golden light from his fingertip.

Another beam shot forward and pierced straight through Marco, blasting several holes through his body.

Yet as the blue flames surged across him, the injuries healed almost instantly. The attack failed to cause any lasting damage whatsoever.

"A phoenix, huh? What a shame."

High above the battlefield, Haruto stared at Marco’s transformed body and clicked his tongue, genuine regret appearing on his face.

As far as Haruto was concerned, a phoenix would undoubtedly qualify as an extremely high-level ingredient.

A creature capable of being reborn from fire had to possess an enormous amount of life energy within its flesh and blood. Its flavor would almost certainly be unlike anything else in existence.

Unfortunately, the one in front of him was not an actual phoenix.

Marco was simply a human who had eaten the Phoenix Devil Fruit.

A Devil Fruit user and a genuine mythical beast were two completely different things.

Haruto had absolutely no interest in eating another person.

Marco, who was still racing toward Kizaru, suddenly shivered for no apparent reason.

A strange chill ran down his back.

He frowned and instinctively glanced around, but when he noticed nothing unusual, he dismissed it as his imagination and immediately refocused.

Right now, only one thing mattered.

He had to stop Kizaru from getting anywhere near Pops.

In the blink of an eye, Marco reached him.

His wings folded inward as he shifted into his hybrid form, and his right leg, coated in Armament Haki, whipped toward Kizaru’s chest with tremendous force.

Kizaru immediately raised an arm and blocked the kick.

"Ooh... looks like that one worked."

He spoke with an oddly serious expression.

"Quit lying."

Marco glared at him irritably.

He could tell perfectly well that the kick had barely affected Kizaru at all.

The two remained locked against each other in midair for a brief moment before Kizaru suddenly transformed into brilliant golden light and shot backward, as though Marco’s kick had finally overwhelmed him.

He flew across the battlefield at tremendous speed and slammed straight into one of Marineford’s stone structures.

Boom—!!

A deafening explosion shook the fortress.

The building Kizaru had crashed into collapsed in a cloud of dust and shattered stone.

Marine soldiers nearby erupted into shocked cries, panic spreading across their faces.

Haruto watched from above before finally bursting out laughing.

"You really committed to the performance, Admiral Kizaru."

He shook his head, thoroughly amused.

Kizaru was made of light.

If he had genuinely wanted to avoid Marco’s kick, Marco probably would not even have touched his clothes.

And even without dodging, Kizaru had already blocked the attack cleanly. There was no reason for him to be sent flying that dramatically.

As for that explosion?

There was no chance the impact alone had caused it.

Kizaru had obviously used his own Glint-Glint Fruit ability to blow the building apart and make the whole thing look more impressive.

In other words, Kizaru had simply used Marco’s attack as an opportunity to prove that he had, indeed, made an effort—only to be stopped by Whitebeard’s First Division Commander.

At the same time, he now had a perfectly reasonable excuse to return to the Marine defensive line instead of charging straight at Whitebeard.

It was very much Kizaru’s style.

Still smiling, Haruto looked away and focused on the center of the battlefield again.

By then, Kizaru had already reappeared in front of the Marine forces without so much as a scratch.

The nearby soldiers immediately relaxed.

The clash between Kizaru and Marco had ultimately been little more than a brief episode in the larger war.

The real fighting was only beginning.

Whitebeard’s advance was still being held back by the Marine defensive line, and eventually "Diamond" Jozu grew impatient.

He intended to tear open a path himself.

With a low growl, his entire right arm transformed into diamond.

Then he drove his fist into the frozen bay with monstrous force.

The ice shattered instantly.

Cracks exploded outward from Jozu’s fist, spreading across the surface in both directions.

He dug his hands into the fractured ice, every muscle in his body bulging as he pulled upward.

With a roar, Jozu ripped an enormous slab of ice free from the frozen bay.

The chunk was practically the size of Marineford’s main fortress building, towering above him like a small mountain.

Jozu twisted his body and hurled it forward with both arms.

The massive block of ice blotted out the sky as it flew toward the execution platform with terrifying momentum.

Many of the Marines below went pale.

If something that enormous landed among them, there would not be enough left of the soldiers underneath to recognize.

Faced with an attack capable of completely overturning the front line, Akainu—who had remained seated beneath the execution platform until now—finally frowned in annoyance.

"Honestly. Everyone keeps abandoning their posts."

His gaze briefly shifted toward Kizaru and Aokiji, both of whom had entered the battlefield, launched an attack or two, and then returned to watching the situation.

Akainu clearly disapproved.

"If all of us charge forward, who’s supposed to protect the execution platform?"

"Who protects the Marines’ justice?"

The moment he finished speaking, his entire right arm transformed into boiling red magma.

A scorching wave of heat rolled outward, distorting the air around him.

The magma rapidly expanded until it formed a colossal fist large enough to dominate the sky.

Akainu thrust it forward at the incoming iceberg.

"Great Eruption!"

The gigantic magma fist collided head-on with the mountain of ice like a volcanic blast.

There was no prolonged struggle.

The instant the ice met the magma, the force of the impact shattered it apart, while the unbearable heat immediately began melting what remained.

Within moments, the enormous mass of ice had been completely vaporized.

Only clouds of white steam remained drifting through the air.

But Akainu’s attack did not stop there.

The magma fist continued upward without losing momentum.

And its trajectory was aimed directly at Haruto.

"Tch!"

Haruto’s expression sharpened instantly.

The surrounding temperature rose dramatically as the enormous magma fist rushed toward him.

One glance was enough to make something perfectly clear.

Akainu had aimed that attack at him on purpose.

Unlike Kizaru, who had approached him cautiously and at least tried to persuade him to leave, Akainu followed Absolute Justice.

From the beginning, he apparently had no intention of tolerating an unknown variable hovering above the battlefield.

If possible, he would rather erase Haruto outright.

Fortunately, Charizard reacted just as quickly.

Its enormous wings beat violently, throwing its body sideways with Haruto still on its back.

The magma fist tore past them by a narrow margin.

Scorching heat brushed across the edge of Haruto’s clothes, while the air itself crackled from the temperature.

Below the execution platform, Akainu watched Haruto evade the attack.

His expression shifted slightly, but he made no attempt to follow up.

His real target remained Whitebeard.

That last strike had simply been a convenient opportunity to test—and perhaps eliminate—an obstacle along the way.

Since it had failed, there was no need to waste further effort.

The enormous magma fist finally lost its forward momentum and exploded.

Countless chunks of molten rock scattered across the sky like a rain of volcanic bombs, falling toward the pirate ships trapped inside the bay.

Explosions and screams followed one after another.

One pirate ship took a direct hit and immediately burst into flames, its wooden hull splintering apart beneath the impact.

Another chunk of magma hurtled straight toward Whitebeard.

Whitebeard merely tightened his grip on Murakumogiri and casually raised the blade.

The volcanic projectile struck the naginata and exploded into a wave of heat.

Whitebeard did not move so much as half a step.

"Go light candles on a birthday cake, magma brat."

Whitebeard raised his eyes toward the execution platform, his mocking voice carrying clearly through the thunder of cannon fire and battle.

Akainu heard every word.

"Hmph."

He gave a cold snort, murderous intent gathering in his eyes as he answered without backing down.

"Don’t like the extravagant funeral we prepared for you, Whitebeard?"

For a moment, the air between the two seemed to freeze.

The already murderous atmosphere hanging over Marineford grew even heavier.

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