Alright, here's the next chapter, people.

I'm in a row with the Fanfic traffic stats having returned, and I am also writing some new projects.

Enjoy the chapter.

"We've got to get to the plaza before this gets any worse!"

In the plaza, the marines stood by and could only hear the magma attacks of Akainu slowly pulverizing the people in the bay. They heard chaos and confusion in the countless screams that rang loud and clear in their ears.

Among them were the rising stars Koby and Helmeppo, both from the East Blue rookies who were under the guidance of Garp, were among the marines on the front row, hearing that all and it was clear on their faces that they were not comfortable with those sounds.

"Listen to that," Koby mentioned, uncomfortable, "what the heck do you think is going on in there?!"

"You don't need to see to know." A frozen Helmeppo said, "They can't advance, they can't retreat and now they've got death raining on them from above. Those steel encircling walls are none other than the walls of their caskets."

'their casket?'

From another area in the Plaza, Smoker, and Tashigi were also watching the trap the higher-ups had made in progress, it didn't sit well with the swordswoman.

Smoker noticed it and turned to her, "Keep your feelings in check, Tashigi."

"Yeah! Burn you bastards!"

"Fry!"

"I can smell them already."

"We won this already."

A few hotheaded marines in the background were celebrating this action with too much enthusiasm, with laughter of that kind unsettling the veteran marines.

"That I am, it is those grunts that bother me," Tashigi spoke with a clear glare on her face, "If I hear this for another moment…"

Knowing exactly what she meant by this, Smoker turned his head around and gave one simple glare at the grunts - shutting them up the moment they saw his face. Ending this behavior before it would spread out.

"They don't even know what kind of fighter is among them…" Tashigi spoke to herself as she focused on the walls, "They just don't know."

Up in the scaffold, Sengoku watched how his plan was working, with Whitebeard trapped in the bay alongside his men, this was the perfect opportunity to end it all.

"Our plan is working perfectly so we'll proceed. Fase 2 is the immediate execution of Portgas D. Ace!"

Those who survived the near slaughter of the trap were now trying to get themselves back up, with those who weren't dead, wounded, or severely burned, The Whitebeard Pirates had been given a heavy blow, but that didn't mean they were done.

"We got to go there and stop them!"

"But how? We're completely trapped." One wounded pirate replied as he leaned against his comrade for support.

"No. there's still a way out." A pirate said, "Just look ahead and see."

"The path that Oars made." In front of them was the path leading to Oars's body and directly to the only place where the wall couldn't rise duo Oars blocking it.

"That's where they expect us to go."

Whitebeard didn't like what his sons were about to suggest, he wanted to save Ace but not let his sons die for nothing. But he knew he knew there was no other way right now,

"Bring the wounded to safety!"

*Click!*

The morale of the Legionnaires wasn't, they were regrouping, collecting weapons, and bringing their wounded to safety. Hundreds of fighters gathered around while reminding themselves to stay away from the long guns of the Navy that were in those steel walls.

"Hellfire is going to be enacted."

"Bout fricking time, get those big guns up front."

Preparing themselves for a new assault, the uniformed veterans were watched in astonishment when they were seen bringing out heavy weapons. Especially those who were carrying gas masks.

Whitebeard himself was looking at them with concern in his eyes, but those concerns were put aside, and he watched his sons looking at that path that was bound to be their death sentence.

"Whitebeard!"

Turning to whoever was calling him, it was the blonde woman with the sunglasses named Domino.

"What do you want, lady?"

"Order your men back!" Domino warned, "We're about to start the next assault, count on us."

Hearing that caused Whitebeard to nod, he was about to call out to his commanders before a question popped up.

"Where is Naruto-"

"STRAW HAT!"

Jumping over everyone, Luffy stood out there alone and up front of the pirates as he stared at the only entrance into the plaza, with a look in his eyes…

"Stop him!" Whitebeard ordered, "Don't let the boy get too close!"

Two Raiders intervened quickly by Luffy by the arms and shoulders, trying to hold back the strong rubber boy from going on a frontal attack.

"Let me go! Haven't you heard, they're about to kill Ace!"

"Just wait for a goddamn moment!"

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"

"I don't care! As long as I can Save Ace I don't care! So let me go before I will kick your ass!"

The struggle seemed to have gained the attention of a few cannon crews on top of the walls, with one who had a clear shot, aimed for the rookie pirate and the two Legionnaires.

"FIRE!"

*BANG!*

The cannonball fired went straight for the ice block where it was intended to go and -

*BOOM!*

It vaporized the ice and all three persons standing near the explosion were knocked back, in front of the view of everybody to see. Ace was one of them and could only shout:

"LUFFY!"

…

Laying on his back, Luffy's eyes opened as he had been sent a few feet back from where he originally stood. Checking upon himself, he found himself to be spared of any fatal injuries.

"Help…."

The low call for help caused Luffy to turn around and see one of the guys who tried to stop him….where he sat down on his but with one of his legs ripped off while the other was barely hanging, all while he was being comforted by a Raider who was helping him.

"Just breathe, and listen to me."

"My legs, I can't feel them-"

"Shhhh."

The legless Legionairre was soon joined by Haku and Gin, with the experienced medic only able to stare at the wounds for a moment before he then ordered them to carry the man out from the frontline, but what Luffy was able to hear….

"Leg's not savable, need to cut it."

"He already lost one-"

"Or he'll die, go."

That caused a shiver to run over Luffy's back, so much he nearly felt the urge to puke when he saw one of the medics having found the missing leg of the comrade that was beyond saving.

"Fritz, need help?"

Luffy turned to the other side to see that the other guy appeared to look like he was okay, it was the same guy who saved him earlier with Jimbei, as he pulled the mask out of his face to breathe in and out normally.

The man with the strange ears nodded to his comrade and threw some water from the can over his face before he spotted Luffy and walked over to him.

"Kid, you okay?"

Luffy nodded, getting a pat on his shoulder when he saw the man known as Fritz being given a flamethrower with a full tank strapped on his back.

"Don't hate yourself - alright? Just stick with us," Fritz smiled at him, "Rest for a bit, we will take care of this."

"Reiser, let's go."

Luffy watched as this Reiser guy began to put his gas mask back up took the handle of his flamethrower and followed his unit to their designated position, into the thick layers of smoke that they disappeared into.

But then the sight of other members of the Damned seen setting up what looked like harpoon launchers, they were aiming for the walls with some even seen carrying collapsible ladders and explosives in their hands.

"Are my eyes deceiving me?" Ivankov commented, "Are they planning to climb those walls?"

"It appears so," Jimbei said as he observed, "They are preparing to dismantle those guns in the walls, so tell your people to stay out of their sights."

Loud explosions were heard again, thunderous ones, from afar and unseen, they were in the dozens and confused everyone.

"What's that sound?" One pirate shrieked in fear, "Akainu again?"

Jimbei's eyes widened as he recognized that sound, he slowly turned his head back to the ocean and saw what he wished didn't come to…

"They're going to do it."

Off the coast, miles off their sights, multiple dreadnoughts were seen aiming their large cannons at Navy HQ, the flagship was a collier ship that was the previous command of another conflict it thought it earned a retirement from.

The Sea Snake, ready with its officers having visualized their targets, had just gotten the orders it got from the radio link - with a simple code.

'Hellfire.'

"Fire at will."

And in a few moments, several long cannons were aiming for the structure of Marineford.

*BANG!*

Marineford

The cannon operators in and on top of the metal walls were watching the results of their work, with some of the marines having satisfied grins on their faces with what they'd done.

however, their joy ended when they heard loud thunderous noises that sounded like explosions, causing them to look around.

They weren't alone with other marines inside the plaza and were also left wondering what those sounds were, even the Three Admirals.

Kizaru began, "You didn't fire a few too many, didn't you?"

"No, of course not." Akainu narrowed his eyes while looking up, "Must be those damn pirates…"

Aokiji however was more willing to pay attention, and the moment he realized what it was, he went serious.

"Prepare."

"Huh?"

"I hope it isn't what I think it is, but prepare yourself." Aokiji said with ice appearing on his face, "I've seen this before."

"Seen what before?"

The whistling became louder and suddenly then, up in the sky dozens if not hundreds of fiery lights appeared there as they began to descend to Marineford - towards the Plaza.

"What the-"

"EVERYONE!" The person shouting out to everyone was Smoker who warned them all, "TAKE COVER!"

Even with his best efforts to warn the marines the first lights that descended from the sky began to hit the ground and cause immense damage to whatever they touched.

At this point, the Marines were the ones now getting rained with fire, with this being on the same level as fire suddenly spreading around the areas that were hit, causing even more anarchy on the battlefield.

"Get to cover!" a captain yelled before getting blasted away by an exploding shell, with those around him also getting hit, and few even landed in front of the two marines, Koby and Helmeppo.

Both stood there in utter shock at how the situation had turned around, from them hearing their adversaries getting hit by Admiral Akainu's attacks on those inside the bay to now watching their fellow marines being bombarded and taking out scores of marines left and right who were either consumed by the explosions or the fires that were started afterward.

"This…this is madness!?" Helmepp yelled out in disbelief at what he was witnessing, "What is even happening?"

Koby was too petrified to even give a proper response, but then when he heard something whistling close to his direction-

*Gasp!*

"ICE AGE!"

Right in front of the pink-haired marine, an ice wall appeared out of thin air inside of it something was caught right on time that was merely a few inches away from the young man - and what was in it was enough to scare the young Koby to his bits.

Inside were several fired shells that failed to explode due to them being frozen, with some only barely touching the ground and caught just in time.

Unable to breathe, Koby felt himself fall to the ground after he escaped a horrible death by chance, just when in front of him Admiral Aokiji landed.

The Ice Admiral looked around and assessed the damage, thinking it was already the worst - he couldn't be more wrong when he watched a larger amount of those same shells coming out from the dark clouds.

Only they weren't coming for the Plaza but instead were going directly for the area behind the scaffold, and there the true carnage erupted.

The Navy HQ building and the town surrounding it were put ablaze, with fires imploding all across the area houses exploding to mere pieces and whole neighborhoods vanishing up. All that merely survived Whitebeard's destructive tremors were being wiped out with a single barrage.

A barrage of the Hellfire initiative, something the mostly laid-back Admiral had witnessed in the Elemental War, how this had been used in the last year of the war and left a path of destruction.

With that destruction having reached Marineford now.

The shelling happened to stop only moments after it started, ending the barrage with a sight to be beholden.

From inside the bay, those who watched the carnage were themselves left shocked, even those who are the most senior pirates of the Whitebeard Pirates were surprised by the amount of destruction that was enacted on the marines, even forgetting the position they were in.

"Marineford is burning…" Some pirate on a block of ice uttered in amazement to his friends, "It is burning…in a blink of an eye…"

Even the commanders of the Whitebeard Pirate Divisions were unable to verbalize what they had just seen. The view of Marineford burning right there got some to pause for a moment to comprehend the scale of violence that had just been released.

For even those who had heard or read about this Hellfire attack like Marco, it was a big pill to swallow to know this attack had perhaps caused more damage to the Marines in mere moments than what they'd been doing this entire fight.

"What…is this?" Squard, who stood next, was paled white at what he saw in front of him, "What just happened?"

"Hellfire."

The older pirate turned confused to the pineapple-haired doctor in confusion, "Hellfire?"

"I heard of it but never have seen it. It was a strategy used during the Elemental War in the last year of its intensity." Marco tried to explain, even while watching the damage from a far distance, he could see it was bad, "I do not know how to explain it properly by detail, but imagine it like a Buster Call."

"A Buster Call? Impossible!" Squard was in denial listening to this, "That's impossible."

"Squard…"

That voice came from Whitebeard himself, who stood only a few meters away as he stared at the burning state of Marineford.

"Pops?"

Whitebeard only gave a small but firm response.

"What you saw is an eye for an eye response…"

*Bang!*

*Pop!* *Pop!* *Pop!*

Then the loud sound of gunfire erupted and it came from the iron walls that surrounded the bay. With more guns going off by the second, the fighting had resumed in an unexpected place.

"They've infiltrated the walls!"

Using grappling hooks and climbing gear, the legionnaires did the impossible and managed to penetrate the steel defenses, with more men pouring into the holes created by blasts that disabled the mounted cannons inside, allowing these men to enter and engage the marines in close combat with the sound of pistol fire and rifles.

But also some flamethrower operators were seen climbing into the holes of entrances, with one Reiser seen preparing his assault inside the batteries with little to no qualm on doing against them what they tried on them earlier…

Watching from the sidelines were Luffy, Ivankov, and Jimbei also taken back by the brutality that was being unleashed by their allies.

"I…I heard those boys in the Elemental War went through something horrific, but this is just…"

"Insensible?" Jimbei guessed, "Is that the word you were looking for?"

Ivankov nodded and swallowed, "Yes…kinda like that."

"Jimbei…"

"Hm?" The Fishman turned to the boy, "What you need?"

Luffy stood there with his fists gripped as he turned to the giant blue man and asked.

"I need a favor!"

The Plaza

The artillery barrage caused a lot of casualties on the Marines' side, with hundreds if not thousands having been taken out or wounded by the short but intense shelling or the fires that spread out across the area.

The three Admirals had their own opinions on what they had just experienced, with Kizaru being the first to speak.

"Well, looks like little Naruto is not playing anymore. Using a war tactic like that on us? I'm impressed."

"That proves more about how much of a danger he and his band are to the world," Akainu said, his expression unchanged, "They should've been taken care of years ago."

Aokiji didn't say a word as he was too busy looking around at how the marines were trying to regroup and surprisingly leaving the wounded on the ground to fend on their own, with severely wounded men left to the ground while their weapons were being picked up instead.

"Call the medics!"

"Ignore that order!" Akainu shouted out, stating, "We are about to execute Fire Fist Ace, so we cannot waste our time."

"You can't be serious."

Then the magma man gave a reply so cold, that even Aokiji's powers could not compete "They signed up for this, that is when you need to achieve in the name of Absolute Justice."

That comment made every marine who wasn't a fanatic, turn their stomach, this included Smoker, Hina, and Tashigi.

But before any more could be discussed, gunfire erupted from inside the walls, causing the three Admirals to turn their attention to the steel wall.

Then a hatchet opened and coming out was a marine who fell out from it with bullet holes through his coat, with peaking out from the hatchet being one of the Damned holding a shotgun and looking around.

"The wall's infiltrated by the filth, I am not taking any chances."

This only got Akainu to then summon from his hands enough magma that he was preparing to launch at the wall and turn it into a burning trap.

"Wait! We still have-"

Akainu did not listen as he shot a large amount of magma against the wall. He didn't care that he would kill everyone in it, marine or not.

Out of nowhere, a yellow and orange flash appeared in front of Akainu's magma fist and it stopped it by slamming right into it with a lot of energy focused on his hand…

That energy was weirdly shaped like a blue orb…

*BOOM!*

Whatever that power was it collided with the magma fist and imploded, making the impact so strong that the earth shook as if Whitebeard had carried out another attack, with the shockwave being enough to alert everyone within range.

…

Even from inside the bay, the shock could be felt, some men barely standing while Whitebeard didn't need to guess much what just happened.

"About time." Whitebeard commented, some relief in his voice, "Took him long enough to get that power up."

"Yeah…he's back up alright…" Marco agreed as he could see the lights from within the plaza.

…

With the smoke having not cleared from the plaza, many marines still had their eye on the new target, the first enemy to have entered the plaza.

In front of the large body of Little Oars Jr, stood the center of attention.

He was shrouded in bright flames that covered his entire body, from head to toe, with black markings everywhere, and the chakra cloth changed shape to resemble a full-length haori. Naruto stood in front of everyone. The only thing that had not changed was his blue eyes, which had not changed, but that did not reassure the enemies who did not know this form of him yet.

"I was wondering when I would see that power of yours." It did not seem to give more scare to Akainu who sternly commented, "Mind explaining why you just now decided to use it?"

Naruto said nothing as he just stood there, eyeing every marine that was in front of him. Some of them he saw fear and some he saw hatred.

Yet he replied simply:

"Took me a while."

The standing marines found no relief hearing those words coming from the blond, with some visibly taking a few steps backward to try and avoid him at all cost, while those of the stronger kind like the vice admirals were preparing for a full-on confrontation.

Sengoku himself watched in silence while Garp was the same.

Ace's expression was silent but could also be seen as shocked at this development before he noticed something happening behind his friend and had noticed something.

The shooting had ended, and coming from the smoke appeared figures that were alarming to look at, men in trenchcoats and boots, with helmets and menacing gas masks and armed with rifles, shotguns, and flamethrowers that were just used to clear the structure that was a line of defense for the Navy.

Joining their captain by his side, the members of the Damned, looked unafraid, unbothered, and stared at their enemies with their hands on the trigger, with the flamethrower operator even spraying a minuscule amount of liquid fire to the ground to scare those who watched at them in fear.

"Took your time, Reiser."

"My apologies, captain." The man with the flamethrower spoke through the gas mask, "We had to clear the wall from enemy presence…." A small pause came from him before stating, "Firefly Company is at your service."

With the first legionnaires having entered the plaza, Naruto then shouted out to the actual first person to have infiltrated the plaza.

"Oars! Get up!"

Confused at first, the response came fast.

"I'm… Sorry… Naruto… Had….to… rest."

Little Oars Jr started to raise his body from the ground again, making everybody who thought he died awestruck at the giant blood-covered green man's resurgence.

"How is little Oars Jr still alive?! Did nobody check his pulse?"

"Screw that! Why is Uzumaki covered in flames!?"

"Get away from Ace." Oars looked to where Ace was, trying to reach for him even in his weakened state, "I'm gonna… save you!"

"Oars!" Ace said, frozen from shock.

"I won't… die until… I save you." Oars said as he meant it to the bone.

"Oars NOOO!" Ace yelled.

"OPEN FIRE!"

The Marines took no chances and began shooting at the Oars, with rifles and cannons they tried to take down the giant guy.

"Kill the monster!"

Naruto slammed his foot into the ground and caused a massive crack that reached the marines, with the ground exploding underneath them, taking out all the marines in front of him.

Kizaru stepped forward and pointed his finger at Oars

"We've dealt with enough setbacks, we need to get this execution on the road. A headshot seems appropriate. Quick, easy, and 100% effective."

Naruto started running for Kizaru with his right hand turning into a fist as he ran to the lightning admiral.

Kizaru smiled at Naruto "Sorry kid, but now it's not the time."

*CLASH!*

Before Naruto could land a punch on the yellow suit-wearing marine, Aokiji appeared in front of him and stopped his attack with his leg. Two powers clashing hard with the amount of energy released that it could be felt from a short distance.

Aokiji and Naruto happened to stare at each other, and with no words exchanged, the two parted with great distance.

"Naruto, you will not pass through me easily."

Naruto stepped back as he now stood up against 3 admirals. He now was forced to see how Kizaru's finger was glowing more and more.

"Say goodnight, big guy.."

Then a massive stream of water erupted from the ocean and went miles high, catching everybody's attention, and when it crashed down in front of Naruto and the 3 Admirals, there was a person in that water.

Landing on both feet and covered in seawater, it was Luffy, holding on to nothing but a ship mast he managed to find and breathing hard from exhaustion, the fact he was there was enough for many to be surprised.

"LUFFY!"

Ace's single shout did everything to set the mood in motion, with the soaked Straw Hat captain starting to look up, he found himself standing in front of the 3 Admirals, with a look in his eye that was anything but his normal self.

"I see." an impressed Aokiji spoke, "So you found a way up."

Luffy didn't respond but gave a glare to all three of them.

"You've done quite well Son of Dragon, you're standing tall now." A hostile Akainu complimented.

"Ah youth, so much fire," Kizaru added, sounding like it was meant to be amusing.

Still no response, Luff focused on nothing else then on the admirals

"Hey! Some of the Foreign Legion are already inside the plaza, and Ace's brother; Straw Hat Luffy."

Whitebeard smiled at this, "Well done brats…"

More people happened to join in from the smoke, it being Chōji, Shikamaru, and Haku who jumped up next to their captain.

"Hey Naruto, don't go anywhere else without leaving us there."

Naruto said nothing as he kept focused on Luffy's standoff with the 3 admirals, even his men were impressed.

"Damn, that kid's nuts but got balls, I give him that."

"I do respect your tenacity kid but it's not enough," Akainu told Luffy, although it sounded like an insult.

"That right," Aokiji agreed, "it's a fluke you got this far and you're too green to go any further."

"Whatever gives you the idea you can defeat us?" Kizaru asked the young rookie, "Well, maybe with Uzumaki's help but even that is a longshot."

Naruto then saw Luffy's gaze directed at the scaffold, basically ignoring the 3 Admirals and looking straight at his brother.

"Back off…" Luffy began, he jumped in the air, spinning around the mast before throwing it at them with a shout of anger, "YOU'RE NOT GONNA KILL ACE!"

'Kurama, how long?'

'In your current state? I can give you half an hour max, use it wisely.'

"GET READY TO MOVE EVERYONE, WE'RE CHARGING STRAIGHT INTO THE PLAZA!"

Whitebeard's order could be heard as they started their final push into the last line of defense.

Luffy screamed his chords out as Aokiji stopped the mast and turned it into ice with one hand, throwing it back at Luffy.

"GUM GUM… STOMP GATLING!"

Without care given anymore, Luffy began stomping the frozen mast with his feet against the admirals, with chunks of ice flying at the three strongest Marines that were on the battlefield, with no effect on them at all.

But even then, this brazen attack did leave an impression on the admirals - one that was a big deal to them.

Hope you all liked it, leave a review and follow it.

Stay healthy and stay tuned.

Good night