2: Chapter 2 Instead of studying hard, he went to be someone else's son?

In the distance, Whitebeard tightened his grip on his naginata, his eyes grave in a way they had never been before.

The young Admiral standing on the execution platform was exerting a sense of pressure that exceeded the combined might of the entire Marineford!

Karl slowly exhaled a breath of stale air. Feeling the power within him that seemed capable of destroying the world, a satisfied curve tugged at the corner of his mouth.

He casually flicked the seven wolves belt in his hand.

"Snap!"

With just that casual flick, his terrifying, max-level Ryuo Haki instantly surged forth, carving an abyss a kilometer long directly into the ice in the distance!

Seawater rushed in frantically, and countless pirates were swept into the chasm, their screams echoing endlessly.

The Marines and pirates who had originally thought Karl was just being ridiculous now felt a chill run through their limbs.

A casual strike possessed the power to sever the sea.

What kind of monster is this?!

Karl ignored everyone's shock. He turned his head, his cold gaze landing on Ace, who was on the execution platform.

Ace stiffened, cold sweat instantly soaking his back.

He watched helplessly as Karl walked up to him and raised the belt in his hand once more.

"And you!"

Karl's voice was as cold as ice, echoing across the battlefield.

"As the older brother, not only did you fail to set a good example, but you actually took your younger brother and ran away from home!"

"Not studying properly, and running off to be someone else's son? You've completely disgraced Roger!"

"Today, I'm going to whip you too!"

Before he even finished speaking, the belt, imbued with Armament Haki, whistled through the air as it ripped toward Ace!

"How dare you!"

"Don't you dare hurt Ace!"

The Whitebeard Pirates below went completely berserk.

Marco, the First Division Commander, transformed into a phoenix, his body wreathed in azure flames as he charged toward the high platform regardless of the consequences.

"Brat, it is not your place to discipline my son!"

Whitebeard roared, his fists glowing with the white aura of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit as he smashed them into the void!

Crack!

The space across all of Marineford instantly shattered, and a terrifying seismic wave surged toward the execution platform, vowing to blast Karl into a pulp!

At the same time, Akainu from the Marine camp could finally stand it no longer.

"Karl! What do you think this place is? What do you think Marine dignity is!"

"Today, I shall act on behalf of the World Government and burn all of you shameless wretches to ashes!"

Akainu's fists had transformed into two massive waves of lava over ten meters in diameter. The viscous magma, accompanied by the foul stench of sulfur, dyed half the sky in a mix of charred black and dark red.

"Great Eruption!"

The lava tore through the air with a piercing shriek, locking onto Karl's right side.

Meanwhile, the space to his left was shattering madly like a mirror. Whitebeard's naginata slashed through the sky, and the shockwave from the Tremor-Tremor Fruit formed visible white rings, tearing countless pitch-black fissures into space. Carrying the destructive aftermath of a tsunami, it bore down on the high platform like an overwhelming mountain.

Above his head, azure-blue flame wings unfurled. Marco's legs transformed into sharp talons, tearing through the airflow as they dove straight for Karl's throat.

Three forces capable of changing the landscape of the Grand Line completely sealed Karl off in an instant.

"Uncle!"

Luffy lay on the wooden planks, his hands gripping the gaps tightly, his pupils shrunk to the size of pinpricks.

The Sea Stone shackles on Ace's wrists made crisp sounds amidst the violent vibrations. He closed his eyes, the veins on his neck bulging, his body unable to move due to extreme tension.

Karl stood at the center of the storm. His Admiral cape billowed loudly, and the gold buttons reflected a blinding light in the high temperature.

He moved.

He didn't draw his sword, nor did he adopt any defensive stance from the Marine Six Styles. He simply flicked the seven wolves belt in his right hand backward.

"One, two... you're all in such a rush."

Karl's voice was not loud, yet it eerily pierced through the roar of the lava and the sounds of shattering space.

At this moment, his Sage Bones emitted a dull rumble, like an ancient beast awakening within his body. Karl took half a step forward; not even a speck of dust fell from the wooden execution platform beneath his feet, yet the air within a ten-meter radius of him instantly solidified.

"Get lost."

Karl backhanded a horizontal sweep.

"Snap!!"

Dark red Haki lightning raged madly in mid-air. The black belt traced a near-perfect full-moon arc through the sky.

Marco bore the brunt of it.

The moment those wings, made of phoenix flames, touched the belt, they shattered into countless specks of dust with a "crash," just like solid glass.

"Ah!!"

Marco hadn't even seen the trajectory of the belt before his chest took a solid hit.

The Ryou Haki surged through his skin and flesh, exploding directly into his internal organs. His body shuddered, and he turned into a meteor, smashing through the plaza below and leaving behind a bottomless black hole.

Next was Akainu's lava.

That "Great Eruption," capable of melting steel, was split in two by the edge of the belt.

Akainu's expression changed. He forcibly elementalized his body in mid-air to retreat, but the shockwave from the belt still swept across his shoulder.

"Bang!"

Akainu let out a muffled grunt as the magma on half his body was forcibly dispersed. His feet plowed two several-meter-deep trenches into the iron wall at the edge of the execution platform before he barely managed to steady himself. He looked up, his eyes filled with shock.

Whitebeard's shockwave.

That was a force capable of triggering a tsunami, but when it touched the tip of Karl's flick, the shattered space was forcibly "pressed" back by an even more tyrannical and dominant power.

Rumble—

The two forces stalemated in mid-air for less than half a second. Whitebeard's face darkened instantly, his naginata trembling violently. His body involuntarily took a step back, and the thick wooden deck cracked beneath his feet.

In front of the massive screens on the Sabaody Archipelago, tens of thousands of reporters and pirates hung their mouths open, forgetting even to breathe.

"You... you've got to be joking, right?"

A pirate with a bounty over a hundred million trembled all over, his weapon falling to the ground. "One strike... and he repelled Whitebeard, Akainu, and Marco all at once?"

Kid stared fixedly at the screen, his fists clenched tight, making cracking sounds. Dense beads of cold sweat seeped from his forehead. "That guy... where the hell did he pop out from? Since when did the Marines have a monster like that?"

Law said nothing, his fingers trembling slightly beneath his medical gloves. He saw it clearly: the Admiral known as "Karl" hadn't even broken a sweat just now.

On the Marineford plaza.

Fleet Admiral Sengoku had reverted to his normal form, his coat of justice tattered and torn. He glared at Karl's back, roaring in a low voice: "Karl! Do you have any idea what you are doing? This is being broadcast to the whole world! Your mission is to execute Fire Fist Ace, not to go crazy here!"

Karl turned around slowly, shaking the belt—now stained with a bit of black ash—in the air, producing a crisp "snap."

Luffy and Ace both shivered at the same time, their bodies instinctively shrinking backward in unison.

"Sengoku, shut up for a second." Karl shot Sengoku a sidelong glance, his tone as calm as if he were discussing what to have for dinner. "I'm disciplining my own brat; Marine discipline doesn't apply to my family business."

"Family business?!" Sengoku's beard trembled with rage. "This is Marineford! One is the son of the Revolutionary Army's Dragon, and the other is the bloodline of the Pirate King Roger! Execute them now, immediately!"