One Piece: Surrounded at Marineford? Just kidding!

Chapter 572: A Familiar Person!

Although they understood the implications, the Knights of God still made the first move.

Qilin Gom Saint was the first to move.

At the same time, two members of the Order of the Gods attacked Whitebeard from the front and back.

The remaining few did not attempt a direct assault.

They turned and quickly bypassed them. They didn't want to confront Whitebeard and Rocks head-on; instead, they wanted to surround and attack Shanks, whom they were more familiar with!

The killing intent on the battlefield instantly surged.

Rocks didn't even bother to lift his eyelids.

He simply grinned, revealing a contemptuous smile.

"Trying to gain the upper hand through teamwork?"

His voice wasn't loud, but it sounded like metal rubbing against metal.

The next instant, his feet suddenly sank.

boom!

Conqueror's Haki and Armament Haki were simultaneously unleashed from his body.

It doesn't scatter.

It means to smash it down.

Black and red arcs of electricity exploded wildly along the ruins beneath their feet, shooting out inch by inch through the rubble, broken walls, cracks, and shattered street surface. The air tightened abruptly, then exploded with a deafening roar, as if struck by a heavy hammer. The two knights who rushed forward the fastest didn't even touch the hem of Lox's clothes before being violently sent flying by that overwhelming force.

One of them had his chest armor shatter on the spot, and his whole body arched up in mid-air, spitting out a mouthful of blood high in the air.

The other person fared even worse.

He had only leaped halfway when his limbs were completely thrown off balance by the overwhelming power of Conqueror's Haki. He flew sideways like a tattered rag doll, his back slamming heavily into a broken wall. The rocks exploded instantly, and the dust and smoke billowed up, burying him completely in the blink of an eye.

The deafening roar echoed through the streets.

Several members of the Knights of God who were about to walk around froze for a moment.

They clearly didn't expect that Rocks wouldn't even bother to get into a fighting stance; he simply unleashed his domineering aura and utterly crippled the two men charging at the front.

But Qilin Gom Saint did not retreat.

The gray figure managed to stay steady amidst the black and red arcs of electricity, his shoes dragging along the gravel with a series of ear-piercing screeching sounds. The next second, he lunged forward again, his short blade flashing upwards, aiming straight for Rocks's ribs.

This is even more sinister.

It's also faster.

Krox didn't even bother to pick up his weapon.

He simply tilted his shoulder slightly and threw out his right fist.

boom!

The moment they made contact, Qilin Gom Saint's entire forearm went numb from the shock.

Qilin Qilin Gom Saint said in disbelief: How is this possible!

How could your strength be so great!

Before he could dissipate the force, Lockes' body had already taken half a step forward.

Immediately following was an elbow strike.

Boom!

That elbow slammed into Qilin Gom's face.

Qilin Gom Saint was like someone who had been hit head-on by a giant cannon, flying backward and crashing through a stone building that had collapsed halfway.

Lox flicked his wrist, his breathing remaining perfectly steady.

The outcome of this attack was completely straightforward.

A clear gap in strength.

For someone of Qilin Gom Saint's caliber, exchanging blows with him might be effective against others, but against him, it would only be like offering your face up.

On the other side, Whitebeard also moved.

The two members of the Divine Knights appeared in front of them almost simultaneously.

The two used their strange abilities to lock the same line from front to back, trying to completely disrupt the Whitebeard's sword-wielding rhythm.

Whitebeard simply took a step forward.

The surrounding air trembled. Then, Murakumogiri swept out horizontally.

The shockwave arrived even before the blade moved.

The two members of the Order of the Gods both changed their expressions.

They weren't unfamiliar with the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit.

But seeing it face to face is still a different story.

It was an unstoppable force; when the white-bearded man swept his blade across, not even the air in front of him was allowed to remain intact.

The two men in front of them were swept back by the slash, and the street beneath their feet exploded, with rubble flying everywhere.

But there is a third person.

The man had been hiding in a blind spot to the right rear of the white-bearded man, waiting for the opening after the slash. Seeing the two men in front of him swept aside, he sprang up and lunged out from behind the collapsed wall, the tip of his blade aimed straight for the back of the white-bearded man's neck.

The timing was perfect.

But the white-bearded man didn't even turn his head.

He swung his knife backhand.

Murakumo-giri slashed in a semi-circular arc, and before the blade even truly struck, the entire stone path beneath the man's feet was shaken and overturned. The next instant, the blade light and the shockwave swept over simultaneously, and the attacking knight, along with his sword and the ground beneath his feet, were brutally knocked down.

Boom!

The ground was torn open by this single strike, creating a long, deep rift.

The knight tumbled out at the edge of the chasm, his chest armor shattered, and his internal organs suffered severe damage. It was as if he had been dragged into a mini-earthquake.

Whitebeard tucked in his Murakumo-giri sword, his shoulders trembled slightly, and a few snowflakes still clung to his beard.

"Gulalalalala".

He burst into laughter.

"Is that all you've got? You dare to surround me?"

The surviving giant warriors around them were all stunned.

They were just being brutally beaten by the Knights of God.

But now, the situation has been brought to a standstill by these two old monsters.

After a brief silence, the giant warriors immediately sprang into action.

"Drag him out!"

Some people even used heavy guns to pry open the collapsed wall and pull out their tribesmen who were only half-exposed.

"Those who can still stand, follow me!"

"Reclaim the path for the children!"

The shouts instantly merged into one.

The situation on the battlefield turned around in an instant!

Im's double stood on a high place, his face extremely grim.

The situation on the battlefield is unfavorable to them!

Meanwhile, in the center of the battlefield, Rocks was already walking forward, stepping on the rubble.

His Conqueror's Haki was emanating more and more intensely!

The knights who had been knocked back barely managed to get up when he gave them a chill down their spines.

Lox looked at the members of the Knights of God with disdain in his eyes.

"Those shoddy goods from God Valley are still useless after all these years."

He raised his chin and looked up.

"Im, you're such a piece of junk, it'd be the same no matter how many people you replace."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a fiery monster engulfed in green flames suddenly leaped out of the abandoned house on the side.

The white-bearded man didn't even turn his whole body around.

He retracted his left fist and then unleashed a powerful punch.

The air in front of the fist instantly cracked into a white streak.

boom!

The upper body of the fiery monster was shattered by this punch.

The remaining upper half of the corpse, wreathed in green flames, flew horizontally and slammed into the enemy ranks at the back. Two members of the Divine Knights, who were trying to regain their footing, had no time to dodge and were instantly knocked to the ground.

The white-bearded man slowly withdrew his fist, without taking even half a step back.

He looked at the chaotic enemy formation ahead and laughed even louder.

"Gurararararara! That's more like it!"

Unlike the other two, Shanks never swung his sword at the henchmen who were already being overwhelmed.

Even when several members of the Knights of God tried to circle around and force him to make a move, he simply stood still.

He did not look at the knights who had come around him.

He didn't even look at Im's double on the high place.

He simply raised his eyes and gazed into the deepest part of the snow curtain.

Because his real rival is coming.

A sword aura arrived first.

Even though they were separated by most of the battlefield, a powerful sense of oppression could still be felt.

Shanks' Conqueror's Haki had already met the attack.

The intangible and the intangible collided with a deafening roar.

The air was still for a moment.

Immediately afterwards, a violent gust of air exploded out from between the two forces. Snowflakes were forcibly swept into the air, and sparks were pulled in as well. White snow dust and crimson sparks intertwined in mid-air, forming a clear barrier across the center of the battlefield, impassable to both sides.

A member of the Knights of God who was trying to take advantage of the chaos to get closer to Shanks had only taken half a step when the opposing air currents ripped a long, thin gash across his face.

His expression changed drastically, and he abruptly stepped back.

It wasn't Shanks who drew his sword.

Rather, he simply couldn't get close enough to them.

Shanks remained remarkably calm!

He was all too familiar with that sword pressure.

This isn't the first time I've felt this way.

But this time, everything is different from before.

Because his left arm came back.

Because of this knife, this time I can hold it with both hands.

Because he had been waiting for this moment for far too long.

The snow in the distance suddenly cracked open once more.

It didn't explode.

Instead, it was cut neatly.

A straight line of snow stretched from the depths of the storm, as if someone had wielded a sword, cleaving a path through the swirling snow. Snow curtains billowed high on either side, only to be pulverized into countless tiny white fragments by the remaining force of the sword's strike. Within that clear path, there was no sound, only the dull thud of boots on the hard snow.

step.

step.

Getting closer.

Shanks' eyes finally moved.

The corner of his mouth twitched slightly.

Then, he slowly began to speak.

"Has it finally arrived?"