Chapter 266: Reinforcements for Impel Down

A moment later, the entire Marine Headquarters was covered in blood-colored bats, and aside from the officers possessing Haki, the rest of the ordinary pirates under Whitebeard were all nearly wiped out.

With a boom, the giant Little Oars Jr. of the Whitebeard Pirates, who had originally been charging at the very front, was also completely reduced to a dried corpse under the devouring of the blood bats; the entire battlefield was left with only a few hundred officers and division commanders of the Whitebeard Pirates.

As for the ground of Marine Headquarters, it was strewn with withered corpses, looking both eerie and terrifying.

Seeing such a horrific scene, even Fleet Admiral Sengoku felt a chill in his heart; it wasn't as if he, as Fleet Admiral, hadn't ordered massacres before, but those were carried out by artillery bombardment or Buster Call attacks.

To personally slaughter tens of thousands of people without changing one's expression—it is estimated that in the entire Marine, only a guy like Akainu could do it.

"Damn it, Pops... what do we do! That Vampire Devil Fruit user is simply too terrifying."

Marco tangled with Kizaru for a moment before retreating; now that the fodder on Whitebeard's side was nearly wiped out, the battle situation could be described as completely one-sided.

Don't think that fodder seems meaningless; in reality, aside from Logia users, there are few people in the One Piece World who can be immune to bullets. As for using Haki or techniques like Iron Body—that also consumes stamina.

Otherwise, why would a guy like Kaido need subordinates? To fight the Whitebeard Pirates, why would the Marine need to gather an army of 100,000? And why would Whitebeard need to bring tens of thousands of pirates to attack Marine Headquarters?

The reason is simple: these cannon fodder are used to exhaust the opponent's elite stamina! Once Haki and stamina are consumed too much, one will definitely be at a disadvantage in a battle between peers.

As for the Conqueror's Haki used to clear out small fry, it also consumes stamina and Haki! Moreover, the larger the range and the stronger the effect, the greater the consumption.

Unless one is willing to consume a large amount of stamina and Haki, neither the pirates of the New World nor the elites of Marine Headquarters are so easily knocked down by Conqueror's Haki. But if one really consumes a large amount of stamina and Haki, then the enemy's goal has been achieved.

Whitebeard also furrowed his brows, unleashing a fierce Tremor-Tremor strike that forced Akainu back a few steps, his heart sinking as he looked at the current situation.

Although he knew this battle was ominous and that the Marine surpassed the Whitebeard Pirates in both strength and the advantages of time and location, Whitebeard truly had not expected to encounter such a thorny Vampire Fruit user just as the battle began.

However, things had reached this point, and Whitebeard had no room to retreat!

"Gurarararara! It seems the situation is truly dire this time! But... I won't give up so easily!!"

Despite being in a desperate situation, Whitebeard's fighting spirit was ignited once again, and the subordinates of the Whitebeard Pirates also erupted with a life-or-death fighting power under these desperate circumstances.

For a time, these people actually forced the three Marine Admirals to retreat step by step. Although this burst of power could not last long, if they really managed to open a path to Ace, it was hard to say whether they might actually be able to rescue him.

After all, the main purpose of this execution was Ace, the son of the Pirate King; dealing with the Whitebeard Pirates was just incidental—at Whitebeard's age, even if the Marine didn't take action, he would likely die of old age in two or three years. But Fire Fist Ace, possessing the Flame-Flame Fruit and Conqueror's Haki, and being the son of Roger, was the true heart-worry of the Marine.

Once Ace was rescued, given his current age and potential, he would be a master at the Admiral/Emperor level in a few years. Coupled with his hatred for the Marine, the Marine would likely be in a state of utter chaos by then.

"We cannot retreat any further! Beat the Whitebeard Pirates back! Also, there is no need to use the 'shut the door to catch the dog' plan anymore; bring out all the Pacifistas!"

Standing on the high platform, Sengoku issued orders in a rigid manner. Uchiha Feiyu stood to the side with his arms crossed, looking as if he had no intention of taking action, and Sengoku glanced at him without saying anything more.

After all, Uchiha Feiyu had just finished off Jozu, one of the top-tier powerhouses of the Whitebeard Pirates, and wiped out their fodder. If he were to take action again, this war would simply become his personal show, and the Marine needed to save face too!

In any case, the Marine already had victory in their grasp, and the fact that this Blood Demon was not taking action was more in line with Fleet Admiral Sengoku's wishes.

As for Uchiha Feiyu, although he had the heart to wipe out the Marine as well, he did not want to be besieged by several of the top-tier powerhouses on the sea who were still in perfect condition. Therefore, letting the elites of the Whitebeard Pirates exhaust the stamina of the three Admirals and cause them some injuries was exactly what he wanted.

After the fodder of the Whitebeard Pirates were all dead, facing the unprotected Whitebeard Pirates, the confident Marine high command did not use those ordinary Marines to exhaust the strength of Whitebeard and his officers. Instead, to reduce casualties, they chose to fight king against king and general against general.

In this way, the Marine's casualties were negligible, which would not affect Uchiha Feiyu's harvesting later.

With Sengoku's order, a large number of Pacifistas appeared on the battlefield. Although these Pacifistas were clumsy, they possessed strength comparable to pirates with bounties of over 100 million Belly due to their beam attacks and formidable physiques, making them an absolute fresh force.

Under the siege of the Pacifistas, the burst of power from the Whitebeard Pirates was immediately suppressed. As time ticked by, the entire Whitebeard Pirates were gradually forced into a desperate situation.

Uchiha Feiyu slowly lowered his eyelids, his fingers moving slightly. At this moment, the ground of Marine Headquarters was already a river of blood, and the blood covering the ground suddenly squirmed slightly.

Just at this moment, a warship suddenly appeared in the distance, and on the deck of the warship, a certain brat wearing a straw hat was waving his arms:

"Ace!! I've come to save you!!"

After saying this, the Straw Hat boy's arms suddenly stretched out, grabbed onto the ice, and he pulled the pirate ship over as he flew across.

Although Uchiha Feiyu had thoroughly slaughtered Impel Down, he had not touched the people on Level 5.5; mainly because that group was hiding quite deeply at the time and their numbers were small, and Uchiha Feiyu was waiting to feast on the Marine Headquarters, so he hadn't searched for them carefully.

After he finished killing everyone, the prisoners on Level 5.5 felt something was wrong, and when they ran out, they discovered that the entire Impel Down had turned into a land of death.

These prisoners didn't know what had happened, but they knew this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—in fact, they didn't dare stay in Impel Down either. With such a major incident, the Marine and the World Government would definitely search the entire Impel Down thoroughly, and those on Level 5.5 might not be able to stay hidden.

The warships outside Impel Down were still perfectly fine. Uchiha Feiyu had only killed all the people but hadn't touched these ships and equipment, so these people could directly take a ship and leave.

However, due to the whirlpool currents, there were only two paths to take when leaving Impel Down: one was to Enies Lobby, and the other was to Marine Headquarters. Enies Lobby had suffered a Buster Call a while ago, and the Gates of Justice that controlled the currents of Enies Lobby had long since been destroyed, so the only path left was Marine Headquarters.

Coupled with the fact that Luffy and Jinbe were preparing to come and rescue Ace, this group of prisoners from Level 5.5, led by the Newkama King, all charged toward Marine Headquarters.

"The situation of the Whitebeard Pirates doesn't look optimistic! I feel that with our strength, there is no way to turn the tide of defeat!"

The Newkama King Ivankov looked at the Whitebeard Pirates, who were heavily besieged by the Marine and at their wit's end, and a distressed expression immediately appeared on his face. In this situation, if his group went up there, wouldn't they just be throwing their lives away?

If it weren't for the fact that Luffy was the son of Dragon, Ivankov would have really wanted to take the group of prisoners and bolt. Even if they were chased by the fleet sent out by Marine Headquarters, that would still have a higher survival rate than charging head-on into Marine Headquarters!

Unfortunately, it was too late to regret it now, and trying to bypass Marine Headquarters wasn't an easy task. One must know that the coastal defense cannons at Marine Headquarters were completely different from the cannons on ordinary warships, not to mention that the current Marine Headquarters was teeming with powerhouses, making it very difficult to escape.

The pirates on the ship weren't fools; they naturally saw that the situation was bad. However, since they dared to go out to sea as pirates, they naturally each possessed a spirit of blood and courage.

After Luffy pulled the ship onto the ice, most of them took out their weapons without hesitation and charged along the ice. For a moment, the few hundred pirates actually erupted with quite a bit of momentum.

Newkama Land was located on Level 5.5 of Impel Down, and basically, those who could be pulled in were prisoners from the fifth level of Impel Down, with bounties of at least 50 million.

This kind of strength was enough to be a Colonel in the Marine Headquarters; they were an absolute fresh force. However, at this time, Marine Headquarters was truly teeming with powerhouses. Before this group could even charge off the ice, Kizaru, who was flying in the sky, had already used Yasakani no Magatama to blast a large group away.

"I can't let you guys pass easily... if Ace is really rescued, that would be bad."

Kizaru said unhurriedly with a smile on his face. However, it was unknown if this person was an actor; although his attacks looked fierce and sent a group of people tumbling, he didn't cause much damage.

"Don't block the way! Monkey-face uncle! Gum-Gum Rocket!"

Although he shouted with great momentum and the punch he threw was very fierce, Luffy, who did not yet understand Haki, clearly could not cause any damage to a Logia user capable of elementalization. After a flurry of punches, his greatest achievement was probably the "monkey-face uncle" comment that made Kizaru's old face wrinkle into a ball.

However, he didn't continue to attack. Marco, who had been tangling with Kizaru, saw him leave and had already flown toward Ace's execution platform. Although Sengoku and Garp were guarding the platform, if Marco really flew over, Kizaru, as a Marine Admiral, would lose face.

So, with a flash of golden light, an obscene old face appeared once again in front of Marco, who had already flown close to the execution platform.

"Damn guy, get out of the way!"

"Recognize reality, Marco. The Whitebeard Pirates are finished this time!"

Indeed, even with the fresh force from Impel Down, the situation on the battlefield was clear at a glance; the Marine had already occupied an overwhelming advantage.

Standing on the execution platform, Uchiha Feiyu looked at the scene before him, a cold smile appearing at the corner of his mouth:

"Since it's going to end, let me add some fuel to the fire for these guys!"

The blood permeating the entire Marine Headquarters turned into a faint blood mist and began to drift slowly. The blood that had originally been transformed by Uchiha Feiyu's blood bats was clearly not something ordinary.

It was just that the battlefield was in chaos, and neither side participating in the battle took this situation to heart.

However, the situation quickly took a sharp turn for the worse; the eyes of the Whitebeard Pirates, who were permeated by the blood mist, gradually began to glow with a blood-red light.

Subsequently, these pirates of the Whitebeard Pirates suddenly saw their strength greatly increase, becoming incomparably fierce and brave, erupting with terrifying power; for a time, they actually forced the Marine to retreat step by step, and a large number of Marine officers were caught off guard and were directly taken out by the executives of the Whitebeard Pirates.

"Near-death outburst?! No, that's not right, the strength of these Whitebeard Pirates has truly become stronger!"

A Marine Vice Admiral thrust a sword into a pirate's chest, directly shattering the pirate's heart, yet the pirate before him curled his lips, revealing a crazed smile, and swept his Haki-imbued scimitar horizontally, hacking off the Marine Vice Admiral's head; he then reached out, pulled out the weapon from his chest, and this fatal injury was almost completely healed in just over ten seconds.

Not only that, many pirates who had already fallen to the ground and should have been dead long ago now stood up shakily, and soon raised their blades to slaughter the Marine.

The faces of the Marine were full of confusion, completely unaware of what was happening; how had the Whitebeard Pirates suddenly become so abstract?

Standing on the execution platform, Uchiha Feiyu felt the red light in his eyes flicker vaguely, while he secretly pondered in his heart:

"The potential of the Vampire Fruit is not enough! There is no way to unfold the true Dead River, so I can only substitute it like this."

"But thanks to this execution, the footage is being broadcast almost all over the world... otherwise, my Faith Power would not have grown so fast, and the power of the Vampire Fruit would not have increased this much."

The terrifying might displayed by the Vampire Fruit, the horrific scene of tens of thousands of pirates being wiped out within ten-odd minutes, left a deep impression on everyone who watched the live broadcast.

Humans are always visual animals; in the eyes of many ordinary people, Uchiha Feiyu is definitely a more terrifying demon king than any Marine Admiral or Great Pirate, and from this point of view, their guess is quite reasonable.

It was precisely by borrowing the surging Faith Power that Uchiha Feiyu finally developed the Vampire Fruit to its limit, gaining the ultimate move, Dead River—even if it was only a degraded, incomplete version.

(End of this chapter)