Chapter 1574 The Admirals Have Clear Division of Labor

Kuzan keenly noticed a hint of barely concealed killing intent flashing in Whitebeard's eyes as he looked towards the city walls.

The target is none other than the future admiral, Artoria, who shines like a beacon of light and sustains the morale of the navy.

Alarm bells rang in Aokiji's mind. He absolutely could not allow Whitebeard to attack the King of Knights. If that shockwave, powerful enough to tear space apart, were to strike the city walls, the consequences would be unimaginable.

"Whitebeard—!"

Aokiji suddenly let out a sharp shout like a cold wind, and he was no longer floating in the air, but his feet were firmly planted on the cold ground.

The next moment, an extreme chill, enough to freeze countless living beings, spread wildly outwards from him like a tidal wave.

Moisture in the air instantly condensed into tiny ice crystals, and the ground beneath Aokiji's feet was covered with a thick layer of solid ice at a visible speed, and this ice layer rapidly expanded forward.

The biting cold current, like a white shockwave of death, swept straight towards the front of the Moby Dick, where the Whitebeard pirates were guarding it.

"It's so cold!"

"I can't move... I can't move!"

The exclamations abruptly ceased. Dozens of pirates at the forefront, without even a moment to react, were instantly covered by a layer of crystal-clear ice, turning into ice sculptures that remained frozen in their forward-charging posture.

The terror and despair on their faces were frozen in that moment forever, and the ice sculptures were truly lifelike.

The chill did not stop spreading; the white ice line, like a greedy venomous snake, quickly climbed up the massive whale-shaped bow of the Moby Dick, threatening to spread onto the deck.

"Kuzan, don't be so smug!" Whitebeard growled angrily. How could he stand by and watch his ship and his sons be frozen in ice?

Whitebeard's enormous fist, wreathed in a ball of vibration, swung forward without hesitation, not at Aokiji, but at the air in front of the bow of the ship.

The atmosphere, like glass, groaned under the strain, and huge cracks appeared out of nowhere. Terrifying, invisible forces of vibration precisely struck the spreading ice layer.

The thick ice layer shattered with a crash, turning into countless sharp ice chunks that flew everywhere around the bow of the Moby Dick, temporarily escaping its fate of being frozen.

Whitebeard's expression was unusually grim. He stared at the dozen or so pirate ice sculptures in front of him, their fists clenched so tightly they cracked, but he dared not launch another large-scale shock attack.

Aokiji's move was extremely ruthless. He didn't intend to kill them with one blow, but rather to use these frozen pirates as hostages.

If Whitebeard were to recklessly unleash a wide-range shockwave, these ice sculptures would inevitably fall to Kuzan, and even if they were thawed, they would be beyond saving.

These people have a chance of survival only if the Aokiji actively removes its abilities or is slowly thawed in warm water.

Kuzan's goal was clear: to delay!

He wanted to let time wear him down; he didn't want a direct, life-or-death battle with Whitebeard, as that would be a huge drain on both sides.

All he needs to do is keep Whitebeard occupied, making him hesitant to act and unable to fully support the main battlefield.

Under the golden light of Artoria, which shone like a beacon of faith, the marines' morale never wavered. They were constantly encouraged, their courage and fighting spirit burning brightly as they launched wave after wave of attacks against the pirates.

"For justice!"

"Drive the pirates back into the sea!"

The naval forces unleashed astonishing fighting power. Shouting in unison, marching with firm steps, and brandishing their weapons, they launched wave after wave of powerful counterattacks against the pirates' positions.

The initiative on the battlefield is shifting towards the navy, and every minute that passes becomes more advantageous for the navy.

After receiving basic medical treatment, the Navy soldiers who retreated to the rear would return to the battlefield, while the pirates, having ventured deep into enemy territory, were running out of manpower and had no other pirate crews to support Whitebeard.

Whitebeard stood at the bow of the ship, sensing the changing atmosphere of the battlefield. He watched his sons retreating step by step, and then glanced at Artoria, who was still shining brightly on the distant city wall. The heaviness in his heart became stronger than ever before.

High in the sky, Borsalino's figure transformed into streaks of golden light, leaving countless dazzling afterimages in the air.

He was engaged in a seemingly easy but actually extremely dangerous aerial battle with Marco, who had transformed into a blue phoenix, and Gajeel, whose body was covered in hard steel and who was roaring and charging around.

"Yo~ How scary~" Kizaru's signature slow and leisurely tone rang out, but he unleashed a series of sharp photon lasers from his hand without hesitation.

Marco, relying on the phoenix's regenerative abilities and extreme speed, constantly evaded and counterattacked, with blue flames and golden flashes colliding repeatedly.

Gajeel, like a humanoid tank, tried to break through Kizaru's light trajectory with his powerful iron dragon body, but Kizaru's speed was too fast, and he often dodged by transforming into his element before the attack was about to hit him, so the two of them couldn't break free for the time being.

Aramaki is doing everything he can to deal with the threat posed by Shiki the Golden Lion's Float-Float Fruit ability. The entire Marineford is suspended in the air because of Shiki's power, which undoubtedly creates great uncertainty for the Navy.

The Float-Float Fruit's power is to make objects defy gravity, while Green Bull's Forest-Forest Fruit contains powerful growth potential. These two completely different forces began a silent and fierce struggle on the huge floating island of Marineford.

The Marineford's originally slow upward trend was abruptly stopped, and it began to slowly but steadily sink towards the sea below.

Green Bull is single-handedly trying to pull the Marine Headquarters back to where it belongs.

Esdeath did not rush to join the melee. She kept her eyes firmly on Shiki the Golden Lion. Her mission was very clear: to prevent Shiki, the most unstable element, from launching any kind of sneak attack.

Further away, in the direction of the Devil's Triangle shrouded in thick fog, faint, chilling sounds of massive water explosions could be heard.

That was Kisame and Kakuzu engaged in a fierce water battle. Although it was not clear, the surging waves and the towering waterspouts showed the intensity of the battle.

Throughout the Marineford battlefield, despite the overwhelming force of the pirate alliance and the emergence of numerous high-end combatants, the admirals of the Marine Headquarters, under the command and radiant support of Fleet Admiral Sengoku and Knight King Artoria, demonstrated textbook-level teamwork and tactical execution.

The admirals and their men performed their duties with clear division of labor, skillfully defusing the fierce offensive of the pirate alliance and gradually seizing the initiative in the war.

The final outcome of this Marineford War seems to be already foreseeable; the defeat and demise of the Whitebeard Pirates is imminent.