Vane's knuckles vibrated with the white cracks of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit as he readied a double-fist strike.

"I won't let you unleash that power!"

Garp flung off his cloak and launched from the flagship, crossing fifty meters in an instant with Soru and Geppo combined.

"Still so sure of yourself, old man?" Vane's tone never rose. He met Iron Fist Garp head-on, swinging the quake-charged punch. The atmosphere split, and the surrounding sea rippled like glass.

Garp's strike clipped Vane's golden breastplate instead of his head. The impact drove Vimana a full meter downward and rattled Vane's ribs, but he held firm.

"Not even a dent…" Garp hissed, surprised by both the armor and Vane's body. He drew back for another blow, yet Vane had already drifted higher.

Beneath them the ocean shuddered—no longer a mere ripple but a rattling seabed. All three Marine war-ships rocked violently.

"A seaquake," Sengoku muttered. "Exactly Whitebeard's technique."

Cracks of fear spread through the lower-rank soldiers; even veteran officers clutched the rails. Peach Rabbit's cloak still hung in Tsuru's grasp, its weight growing with each tremor.

Akainu growled, "Kuzan, do it!"

Aokiji shook his head. "Not yet. My ice can't cover that radius until the waves close in."

From every horizon, towering walls of water converged, forming a shrinking ring with the fleet at its heart. Only half a dozen Marines could stand unaided now.

High above, Vane raised a hand. A thirty-meter ice sphere materialized in the clouds and plummeted toward the center ship.

"All hands abandon ship!" Sengoku shouted. Those who could still move grabbed comrades and sprang into the air with Geppo, but panic had already frozen many in place.

The ice boulder struck like a meteor. Sengoku's vessel shattered; the shock wave rolled the other two hulls, timbers splintering as masts snapped.

Aokiji landed on the churned surface. "Ice Age!"

Freezing vapor spread, but the tsunami's radius dwarfed even his power. Waves engulfed the scattered admirals, burying Devil Fruit users beneath tons of saltwater.

From Vimana's throne Vane watched unblinking. To a being who commands oceans, ordinary men register little more than ants on a storm-tossed deck.

Satisfied, he banked toward the Thousand King, leaving only rumbling water and the distant crackle of spreading ice.

Below, the Marines fought to keep their heads above the raging blue, and Peach Rabbit's fate remained in the hands of the man who had just shaken the sea itself.

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Read ahead of WN on patreon.com/Zphyr_