Chapter 330: The Six Calamities Assemble, Descending from the Heavens!

Chapter 330: The Six Calamities Assemble, Descending from the Heavens!

"Explanation? What explanation? Mihawk, the Whitebeard Pirates are an obstacle that must be removed. As a Warlord, do your duty!"

"I will do my duty, provided you haven't deceived me," Mihawk said coldly. "If you broke our agreement first, then I'm out. Where is Shane, as you promised?"

"When did I promise such a thing?" Kong asked, confused. "I promised you a great swordsman to fight, I never said it would be Shane!"

"Vista the Flower Sword, bounty 1.023 billion Berries, the Fifth Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, and one of the few great swordsmen on the seas today! Is such an opponent not worthy of your Black Blade?"

Hmm? Mihawk was taken aback. He was immediately annoyed. Did this old fool really not know who he wanted to fight? This was clearly a word game under the guise of secrecy! But the other party's reasoning was impeccable; technically, they hadn't broken the agreement.

Mihawk hung up the phone with a grim face. He looked up and scanned the battlefield, quickly locking onto the dual-wielding swordsman, Vista, who was fighting a Marine Vice Admiral.

Vista seemed to sense his gaze. He turned and met Mihawk's eyes across the battlefield, then broke into a delighted laugh. In the next moment, Vista increased his power, sending the Vice Admiral flying with a terrifying wave of sword energy, and charged straight towards him!

"This is the first time we've met, isn't it? That look… am I being treated as prey?!" Vista laughed wildly as he charged, his twin swords creating a storm of rose-petal-like sword energy. "But who's hunting whom is yet to be decided! Hey, Hawk-Eye Mihawk, bring it on! I've wanted to test your swordsmanship for a long time!"

Mihawk's face was expressionless as his right hand rested on the hilt of the Black Blade Yoru on his back. "Fine," he said, slowly drawing the blade, which glinted with a cold light. "Since that man is nowhere to be found, I'll warm up with you." He had a lot of pent-up frustration to release!

As soon as the words left his mouth, the two clashed violently!

CLANG!!!

The Black Blade and the twin swords collided, sending sparks flying. Terrifying sword energy shockwaves rippled outwards, instantly tearing countless gashes in the ground for dozens of meters around!

"Kishishishishi, it's been a long time since I've seen a duel between swordsmen of this caliber…" Moria clicked his tongue in admiration, then looked greedily at the distant descendant of Oars. "No time to waste, I should go find my prey too!"

He took a step forward, then suddenly sensed something wrong and looked up—

A bolt of blue fire descended from the sky. Marco the Phoenix landed, kicking him squarely in the face!

"Hey, hey, where are you looking, Gecko Moria?" Marco said with a grin. "Your opponent is me."

"Don't get in my way!" Moria staggered back from the kick, roaring in frustration. "Brick Bat!"

SWISH SWISH SWISH!

His shadow split into countless small bats that transformed into sharp spears, stabbing at Marco from all directions. But Marco dodged them all with ease. Occasionally, one would hit, piercing his chest, but in the next instant, with a flash of blue flame, his body would be restored.

"Tsk," Moria scowled. "Annoying ability, annoying pineapple head!" The regenerative ability of the Mythical Zoan Phoenix… it's truly the best in the world. So jealous!

At the same time, the ten Pacifistas also joined the fray. The Pirate Empress Boa Hancock and another Warlord charged out from the deck. This Warlord was a user of the Rhinoceros-Rhinoceros Fruit, a Zoan type, named "Raging Rhino" Akshan. He had become a Warlord late last year, taking Enel's place.

"Hawk-Eye Mihawk, Gecko Moria, the Pirate Empress, and this rookie… did Fleet Admiral Kong only summon four Warlords?" a Marine Captain frowned.

"Can't be helped. There are only six Warlords in total now. Blame that man for killing so many of them. It takes time to find suitable replacements for pirates of that caliber," a Marine Rear Admiral said, biting his cigar. "As for the other two who didn't come, they both have deep ties to Whitebeard. If we called them, they'd probably turn on us, right? So we just didn't notify them."

That makes sense, the Captain realized. The two missing Warlords were Jinbe, whose relationship with Whitebeard went without saying, and Weevil, who had only recently joined the Warlords. His last name was also Newgate, and many at Headquarters suspected he was Whitebeard's illegitimate son. Apparently, when he was first recommended to become a Warlord, Admiral Aokiji and Mr. Garp had strongly opposed it. It was only after Fleet Admiral Kong took over Marineford that Weevil's status as a Warlord was finalized.

Looking around, on the vast battlefield paved with hard wood, the war had entered a fever pitch. Both sides had about fifty thousand troops, and they were now locked in a chaotic melee. At a glance, it was quite a spectacle!

Sigh. But I still feel that without one Admiral, it's going to be tough to take down the Whitebeard Pirates. If Admiral Aokiji were still here, this battle would surely be over quickly…

Just as the Marine Captain was lamenting this, a faint sound came from the distant sea.

CRACK CRACK!

With a continuous roar, a path of ice dozens of meters wide froze across the sea, and a tall figure with his hands behind his back sped towards them on the ice.

Hmm? The massive commotion instantly drew the attention of everyone on the battlefield.

"Hey, is that…?!" Many of the Marines fighting looked up. When they saw who it was, they were overjoyed and erupted in cheers.

"It's Admiral Aokiji! It's Mr. Kuzan!"

"Great! Even though Admiral Kizaru isn't here, Admiral Aokiji is back!"

"With three Admirals gathered, the Whitebeard Pirates won't last long!"

However, the cheers had barely faded when Aokiji suddenly accelerated. Under everyone's stunned gazes, he flew over the Marine fleet and delivered a vicious kick to the back of Greenbull, who was fighting Whitebeard!

BOOM!!!

The kick was fast and brutal. Caught off guard, Greenbull screamed and was sent flying hundreds of meters before he finally stopped.

Who? Who attacked me?! Greenbull stumbled to regain his balance and looked up in rage. When he saw who it was, he cried out, "Kuzan?! Why is it you?! Have you lost your mind?!" What's wrong with this guy? Even if he left the Marines, he shouldn't be attacking his former colleagues, right?!

"Sorry, Aramaki," Aokiji landed beside Whitebeard, pushing up his sunglasses. He said calmly, "Didn't you know? I'm now a top officer of the Curtain Call Adventurers."

The entire battlefield fell silent. The joy on the faces of many Marines froze. The commanders of the Whitebeard Pirates stared wide-eyed, stunned.

Hah? Did we hear that right? How did this former Marine Admiral just introduce himself? —A top officer of the Curtain Call? He's become a subordinate of that man named Shane?!!

"GURARARARARA!" Whitebeard was the first to recover, laughing heartily and grinning at Aokiji. "Hey, what's this? It seems I've lived too long. To think I'd see the day a Marine Admiral joins the pirates!" Back in the day, Roger had boasted that he almost got Garp to join his crew. Just missed it by a hair. But he hadn't succeeded! But today was different. He was actually seeing it happen!

"Correction, old man Whitebeard. The Curtain Call are not pirates. And I simply chose the right path," Aokiji said, casually putting his hands in his pockets and exhaling a breath of cold air. "Forget it, there's no reasoning with you. More importantly…" He glanced at the grim-faced Akainu in the distance and smiled. "Sakazuki, it's been over a month. We meet again."

"KUZAN!!!" Akainu roared in fury. "And here I was defending you in front of Fleet Admiral Kong! So you bastard really have fallen so low as to join the Curtain Call!" Traitor! You deserve to die!

With a roar, his magma left arm swelled to several times its size, and a terrifying torrent of magma rushed towards Aokiji! "Great Eruption!"

"Ara ara, still as hot-tempered as ever…" Aokiji calmly raised his hand. A massive wall of ice instantly rose from the ground. Magma and ice collided, creating a cloud of white steam, and both dissipated.

"Don't try to steal my opponent, ice brat!" Whitebeard frowned. "Answer me! Since you've joined the Curtain Call, why are you here? Shane sent you? Didn't I make it clear over the phone that the Whitebeard Pirates don't need his help!" He glanced into the distance, then slammed his Murakumogiri into the ground, unleashing the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit again.

CRACK!

A terrifying shockwave spread out, instantly sending the furious Greenbull, who was charging back, and the surrounding Marines flying.

"See that?" Whitebeard snorted. In his opinion, this new, young Marine Admiral had developed his fruit ability well, but his fundamentals were still lacking! In terms of Haki strength and physical skills, there was a significant gap between them! That was why he could constantly knock Greenbull back with his ability, fighting two against one without losing ground!

"Is that so?" Aokiji clashed fists with Akainu again, and as they separated and landed back where they started, he said flatly, "It's getting boring to keep being stubborn, old man. Marine Headquarters has deployed its full force. Your crew can hold them off for a while, no problem. But do you really know better than I do who will win in the end?"

"Speaking of which, you relic of the old era, you've lived enough, so you don't care if you die. But are you going to drag all your sons down with you to be buried here?"

Whitebeard's pupils shrank. Then he laughed in anger. "You have a lot of nerve, Kuzan brat! Are you trying to lecture me?!"

"Just stating facts. If you don't understand, I can say it in my captain's words," Aokiji didn't even look at Whitebeard, grinning. "The New World is now run by the Curtain Call. Whether you agree or not doesn't matter. How this war is fought, and to what extent…"

"…is for us to decide!"

BOOM!!!!

The moment Aokiji's words fell, a deafening explosion came from the distant horizon! A black-and-red bolt of lightning tore through the clouds, blotting out the sun and bathing the entire battlefield in a blood-red light.

"Wh-what is that?!" countless Marines looked up in terror.

In the next instant, a colossal black ship burst from the sea of clouds! Surrounded by black-and-red lightning, it descended from the heavens! The silver wolf figurehead looked down on the earth, and on the fluttering white flag was the symbol of two crossed swords piercing a seagull, the symbol of the Marines!

"Th-th-the Curtain Call?!!" A newly promoted Marine Vice Admiral broke out in a cold sweat, screaming. "There's no mistake! That flag, there's no mistake! It's the Curtain Call's flagship, the Curtain Call!!!!"

"Finally here," Aokiji looked up at the scene and chuckled. Using the force of a punch to propel an entire ship through the air… he had only seen that old man do it before. As expected, the captain could do it too.

RUMBLE!

Before the giant ship had even fully landed, six figures with overwhelming auras leaped from the deck! The black-haired young man in the lead, his black coat flapping, laughed wildly as he let his body crash into the center of the battlefield like a meteor! The hard wooden ground instantly collapsed into a hundred-meter-wide crater!

When the dust settled, he slowly straightened up, casually brushing back his windblown black hair. Under the gaze of countless shocked or terrified eyes, h