Translator: PapaSmurf0700
"To preserve peace on the seas! To protect justice in this world!" Fleet Admiral Sengoku's voice boomed across the plaza, amplified for the entire world to hear. "We will not shrink from this challenge, even if it means all-out war with the Whitebeard Pirates!"
He stood over the kneeling figure of Portgas D. Ace, effectively passing a death sentence in front of a global audience.
Ace strained against his chains, his face contorted with rage. "You will not slander my father's name!"
To the ignorant masses watching, Sengoku's words sounded reasonable, righteous even. But Ace knew the truth. He felt the venom, the calculated malice dripping from every syllable.
"Ace, that's enough," a calm voice cut through his anger. It was Marco, the First Division Commander. He stood on the deck of the Moby Dick, arms crossed, his expression unreadable. "Stop talking."
He looked toward the execution platform, his gaze steady. "Pops already told us everything. About your real father."
"What?" Ace stared, stunned into silence.
Marco's mind drifted back to a conversation before they set sail. A message delivered by Sabo, on behalf of Bai Ye, the Priest. "[Perhaps you truly love each of your sons equally, Whitebeard-san, but that doesn't grant you the right to hide the truth. In this matter, above all others, they deserve to know who they are fighting for.]"
It was after that warning that Whitebeard had gathered his commanders and revealed Ace's heritage. It not only explained the World Government's unprecedented move to execute him publicly but also gave every man in the crew a choice. A chance to back out.
Not one of them did.
Marco's voice rang out, clear and defiant, a proclamation for all his brothers present. "So what if he's the Pirate King's son?!" he shouted. "Every single one of us was an outcast! Hated and unwanted by the world before we found a home on this ship!"
The words hit Ace like a physical blow. A tremor ran through him, and the hard fury in his eyes softened, replaced by a flicker of disbelief.
A brilliant blue flame erupted around Marco's body. The power of his Mythical Zoan fruit, the Phoenix, flared to life. His arms transformed into wings of azure fire. With a powerful downstroke, he launched himself into the sky, a blazing comet soaring toward the heart of the enemy's formation.
He faced Ace, the hundred thousand Marines, and the entire world, and he roared: "The day Pops called you 'son' was the day you became one of us! A brother to the Whitebeard Pirates!"
His voice echoed across the bay. "We are coming to get you, Ace! We will bring you home!"
The flames around him exploded outward, forming the silhouette of a massive, glorious phoenix hanging in the sky. Below, a unified war cry rose from the decks of the Whitebeard fleet.
"That's right, Ace! You're one of ours!"
"We won't let them lay a hand on our brother!"
"You think your Navy uniforms scare us? You've picked a fight with the wrong family!"
From his chair among the Admirals, Akainu let out a cold snort. "A gathering of pirate scum. You can all die here together."
On the execution platform, a faint, strategic smile touched Sengoku's lips. His goal had been achieved. After the Straw Hat's vice-captain, Bai Ye, had so masterfully twisted the narrative of this war, Sengoku knew he had to seize it back. This was the first step. By revealing Ace's lineage, he had reintroduced a simple, powerful narrative: the monster's bloodline must be purged. Roger's crimes were legendary. Fear was a weapon, and he had just aimed it squarely at Whitebeard.
Now, with the pirates roaring their defiance instead of defending themselves, it would cast doubt on the "Whitebeard Government" that the Priest had so cleverly proposed. Sure, maybe Whitebeard doesn't deal in slaves, the world would think, but can a kingdom of lawless brutes truly offer better order than the World Government? It was a cornerstone of Sengoku's own conviction.
At this moment, he was confident. Not even the cunning Bai Ye could spin this.
Sengoku raised the Den Den Mushi to his lips again. "All Marines! Listen up!" he commanded. "The vile blood of the Pirate King ends today! Not one of you will take a single step back! On your shoulders rests the justice of the entire world!"
"SIR!" a hundred thousand voices roared as one. Their morale surged, their ranks closing the massive fissure Whitebeard had torn in the plaza moments before.
The war was on the brink of erupting.
But then, a single voice, followed by a growing murmur, turned into a collective gasp of astonishment.
"Look! In the sky! What is that?!"
The broadcast snails tilted their heads upward, and the world saw something impossible. A gateway of light had opened in the clear blue sky. From it, a colossal warship, of a design never before seen, emerged slowly, casting a shadow over the battlefield.
"Is that... a ship?"
"A ship that flies?!"
"Am I dreaming?"
As a stunned silence fell over Marineford, the dome atop the strange vessel slid open. Several figures appeared on its deck. At the very front, standing on the lion-headed prow, was a young man in a familiar straw hat. He looked directly at Ace on the distant platform.
He crouched down, took a deep breath that seemed to pull in all the air around him, and unleashed a cry that shattered the silence, a roar that echoed across Marineford and through every Den Den Mushi on the planet.
"ACCCCCCCCEEEEEEEEE!!!"
Recognition dawned on a million faces at once.
"The Straw Hat kid! It's the Straw Hat Pirates!"
"That horned raccoon-dog! That's their doctor, Chopper! Bounty: 30 million!"
"And the kid next to him! They say he's the ship's spirit incarnate, Merry! 30 million!"
"The pervert in the speedo—Cyborg Franky! The man who holds the plans of Pluton! 70 million!"
"Who's the afro skeleton?!"
"I know that mask! It's Sogeking! The one who shot down the World Government flag! 80 million!"
"The navigator, 'Cat Burglar' Nami! 90 million!"
"And there... the ones that got them labeled the 'Half-Emperor Crew'..."
"'Demon Child' Nico Robin! 100 million!"
"'Black Leg' Sanji! 270 million!"
"'Pirate Hunter' Roronoa Zoro! 350 million!"
"And him... the man standing behind Straw Hat. The one who exposed the government's slave trade to the world. 'The Priest,' Bai Ye! 660 million!"
"And the captain! The absolute madman who destroyed the auction house and declared war on the world! 'Straw Hat' Monkey D. Luffy! Bounty: 666 Million!"
Amidst the roaring tide of shock and disbelief, the Straw Hat Pirates, with a combined bounty of over 2.4 billion, had arrived.