Recruit Luffy at the start and build the strongest navy.

Chapter 213 The Escape in Progress...

"Phew~"

Katakuri stood at the edge of the pit, his chest rising and falling slightly.

But he recovered quickly, his gaze lingering on the crater beneath his feet. After a long silence, he suddenly spoke:

"I hope you won't be so weak when we meet again!"

After saying that, Katakuri turned around, glanced at the battlefield, and disappeared in a flash to help the Big Mom Pirates members who were moving closer to his position.

Time is running out for them!!

Meanwhile, the Whitebeard Pirates were also carrying their unconscious comrades, transporting them to their ships that hadn't yet been destroyed.

Marco's gaze sharpened slightly as he looked at Ace before him, and he said softly, "How about you stop bothering me? I don't have time to continue fighting you right now!"

Do you think it's possible?

Ace countered with a question, and crimson flames slowly rose from his body.

"I'm a Marine, you're a pirate. Capturing you is my duty. As long as I'm alive, you won't escape my past!!"

Ace's aura was also not very stable, and his body was covered with claw marks, but his eyes remained incredibly firm.

"Looks like we can't reach an agreement!"

Marco sighed softly.

The next moment, his aura suddenly changed, and his gaze was fixed on Ace like a sharp blade.

"I must say, concentrating the flames to increase their temperature and power is a great idea!"

"but--"

"This will also take a much bigger toll on you. How long can you fight using such flames right now?"

"Like I said before, no matter how long I can fight, as long as I haven't fallen, I will keep fighting!"

Ace spoke in a low voice, his gaze remaining unchanged.

"Since that's the case..."

Marco murmured softly, and the next moment his body was engulfed in phoenix flames. With a flap of his wings, he transformed into a phoenix and charged toward Ace at an incredible speed.

Even though he had suffered great physical damage from Kyle's attack and had been on the battlefield for so long.

However, there is still a significant gap in strength between him and Ace. Even a weakened camel is bigger than a horse, and Ace could not possibly be his match!

"The matter my father gave me is urgent; I don't have time to waste on you here!"

"Let's settle this with one blow, Ace!!"

Marco shouted.

"That's exactly what I wanted!!"

Ace responded loudly as well, and the crimson flames that were wrapped around his body suddenly surged up, becoming incredibly turbulent and enveloping his entire body.

At this moment, Ace was like a small, crimson sun, radiating an incredibly intense light that illuminated a large area around him.

The intense heat from the crimson flames caused the candy layer beneath his feet to melt rapidly, revealing the biscuit layer underneath.

Ace's roar came from the crimson fireball.

"Flame Impact!"

Before he could finish speaking, the fireball that Ace had transformed into rushed toward Marco, who was hurtling toward him.

The distance between the two closed rapidly, and in the blink of an eye, they clashed.

Boom—

A tremendous roar was heard, and yellow, blue, and crimson flames spread outwards, with the resulting aftershocks sweeping across the area in waves.

boom--

After another massive impact, a figure was sent flying from the center, spitting out a mouthful of blood. A deep, bone-revealing gash was clearly visible on his chest, from which blood continued to gush out.

The crimson flames that had been engulfing his body gradually dissipated; it was Ace!

Ace's aura rapidly weakened, his eyes rolled back, and he had clearly lost consciousness.

Finally, after gliding for a while, Ace's body crashed heavily onto the ground in the distance.

The next moment, several sounds rang out around him.

"Vice Admiral Ace!!"

Several marines quickly gathered around Ace, surrounding him while keeping a wary eye on their surroundings.

On the other side, the blue and yellow flames gradually dissipated, revealing Marco's figure.

"hiss!!"

Marco suddenly gasped and looked down slightly, where he saw a charred mark the size of a human head on his chest.

The surface layer of meat is fully cooked, showing a clear difference in color from the surrounding meat.

The next moment, the phoenix flames burst into flames, covering the surface, and the charred mark slowly shrank.

Marco gazed at Ace lying on the ground from afar and spoke softly:

"What a promising kid!"

"His personality is also good. If we weren't enemies, we might become very good friends!"

After saying that, Marco took one last look at Ace before turning and leaving, as he had to continue the task his father had given him.

I don't know how much time passed—

Somewhere on the battlefield, Katakuri shouted:

"Flowing glutinous rice balls!!"

The next moment, countless mochi-like balls suddenly emerged from beneath Katakuri's feet, spreading outwards and enveloping half of the people around him.

But they showed no sign of panic.

Nonsense! They are all members of the Big Mom Pirates. Katakuri brings a sense of oppression to the enemy, but only a sense of security to them.

The glutinous rice ball moved incredibly fast, instantly enveloping all the Big Mom Pirates members gathered around it.

After assessing the situation, Katakuri's expression darkened slightly.

They brought the majority of their pirate crew's forces with them this time, a total of 30,000 men, leaving only a few to guard their territory.

But now, in his perception, there are only a little over two thousand people left. Of these, only a few hundred are still conscious; the rest have lost consciousness, and many of them have extremely weak breaths, as if they might die at any moment...

These are the only survivors of their pirate crew; the rest perished in the war.

War is cruel, a fact Katakuri knew from the very beginning.

But he really didn't expect so many people to die. The only thing that could comfort him was that most of the dead were low-level combatants, with a few mid-to-high-level combatants mixed in. As for his younger brothers and sisters, some were seriously injured, but they didn't die.

As long as his younger siblings are still alive, then there's not a big problem.

The deaths of low-level combatants will cripple their pirate crew, but they won't shake their foundation. With time, they will eventually recover.

With this in mind, Katakuri didn't hesitate any longer and suddenly roared:

"rise!!"

The next moment, the area surrounding the mochi ball suddenly swelled up, and like a surging wave, a giant pillar of mochi ball erupted, sending all the Big Mom Pirates members enveloped in the mochi ball into the sky...