The sky above Marineford was laden with clouds that seemed tethered by invisible ropes. None moved. None dared to cover the top of the central platform, where silence already roared louder than the cannons primed for war.
The Marine flags whipped with mechanical aggression. With every gust, they seemed to lash the very justice they represented.
Three platforms stood tall. Soldiers spread across each one. Generals, vice-admirals, Pacifistas. White uniforms, ranks sharp as shark teeth. All positioned to witness—or erase—the most powerful symbol of the Pirate Era.
Ace.
The sound of chains dragging across stone rang like a verdict. Each step echoed like an execution drum.
Garp walked beside him.
Motionless inside. Expressionless. Wordless. Only his eyes, hard as the rock beneath his feet.
The crowd of Marines parted instinctively as he passed. Some merely stared. Others muttered under their breath.
"Finally."
"He'll pay."
"That fire goes out today."
"The world needs to see no one's above the law."
A young recruit in a low-ranking uniform chewed his lower lip.
"I heard he's the Straw Hat's brother. If he falls… the rest follow."
Dry laughs.
"Justice needs blood. And today, it'll pour."
Den Den Mushi cameras were scattered like glass eyes. On towers, at the edges of ships, in the fists of officers. The broadcast had begun. The entire world was watching.
Ace kept his head down. His hair hid his eyes. But his body trembled.
Not from fear.
From effort.
From pride.
The seastone chains gripped his wrists like liquid claws. The heat around him was faint. No fire. Only soul.
The top of the platform awaited.
Sengoku stood tall.
The golden cape rested on his shoulders like a contained storm. His face was a wall of silence.
Garp stopped before him.
No sound.
The two men locked eyes for a second that felt too long for a day of war.
Sengoku gave a slight nod.
Respect. Or gratitude.
Perhaps both.
But Garp didn't respond. He merely released Ace's arm and turned away.
Ace climbed the steps slowly, guided by two soldiers. The weight of captivity wasn't in the shackles, but in the eyes of the world.
Sengoku raised his hand.
Ace was chained between two stone pillars. Behind him, the ocean seemed frozen. The foam still. The wind silent.
In the front line, the Shichibukai took their places.
Gekko Moriah yawned with feigned boredom, his massive body leaning against a spear planted in the ground.
Doflamingo grinned with teeth, his fingers dancing like invisible marionettes.
Mihawk kept his arms crossed, his gaze sharper than the sword strapped to his back.
Kuma didn't move. Light reflected off the closed book in his hands. His opaque lenses hid any thought.
Boa Hancock… was another story.
She swayed her hips lightly, her chin raised too high for someone at a public execution. Her eyes gleamed with silent passion, her fingers clasped over her chest as if holding her own heart.
'Today, he comes.'
She almost spun in place. Her black hair flowed with a practiced motion, as if the wind conspired in her favor.
'Today, the world will see.'
"You're smiling like a bride."
Doflamingo turned his head with a mocking smirk.
"Is it for Ace? Or for… another kind of fire?"
Hancock didn't answer.
Her hand slid to her snake-shaped necklace.
'Riser…'
Merlin, invisible behind her, raised her fingers slowly.
A sharp snap.
The air around the Empress softened like warm mist. A spell to calm the spirit.
Hancock blinked. Her heart slowed.
But the fire in her eyes didn't die.
The young woman in love still lingered behind the Empress of the Seas.
Garp walked away in silence.
Ace kept his head bowed. The seastone chains glowed faintly, pulling his soul downward with the weight of failure.
'He's not coming.'
The wind rose along the platform's edges like an ancient whisper. Ace's eyes were half-closed, but his mind raced.
'I lost.'
A metallic clank echoed. The chains tightened around his wrists. He didn't complain.
'Lost to Blackbeard. And I was handed over… like trash.'
The crowd roared in the distance. Like a sea of specters ready to feed on a D's shame.
'I was the fire… but I let it go out.'
His chest heaved slowly. His body burned inside. Not with flames, but with emptiness.
'Why would he come? Why would Whitebeard come… for me?'
The chains trembled. A Den Den Mushi shifted on its base. The broadcast had reached the world. Nations, kingdoms, revolutionaries, pirates, civilians. All watched.
Ace remained hunched.
'Maybe… this is better.'
Above the platform, three silhouettes stood out like gods watching mortals.
Aokiji adjusted his white coat, his eyes half-closed beneath his visor.
Akainu crossed his arms, his jaw locked, his face impassive as lava about to harden.
Kizaru appeared in a burst of gold. Light particles crackled in the air like inverted solar embers.
"Oooh… looks like I made it just in time."
Akainu turned his head, narrowing his eyes with the same heat a volcano casts on a stream.
"You should've been here hours ago."
Aokiji sighed, crossing one leg over the other.
"You're always late. Even when it's the world that might end."
Kizaru sat between them. Hands in his pockets, expression languid.
"Dimensional traffic, my friends. Light doesn't follow clocks."
Neither laughed.
From above, they watched everything.
The ocean churned with the arrival of allied ships, carrying battalions of Marines. Steel bridges rose, Pacifistas awaited orders. Every structure around the main platform seemed taut, like a rope about to snap.
The broadcast camera focused on the Shichibukai.
Sengoku watched them from a distance, his eyes narrowed.
"Hmph. Two absent."
His voice was low but firm. The officers around him fell silent.
"Marshall D. Teach… and Riser Phenex."
His hand rested on his cape.
"Blackbeard will be stripped of his title. No question."
Sengoku glanced at the tower clock.
Each second was a drumbeat.
Below, Ace didn't move.
Above, the war hadn't yet begun—but everyone knew the first victim was already standing. Shackles, broken spirit, eyes nearly dead.
Aokiji swung his foot lightly in the air.
"Are we all waiting for the same thing?"
Akainu gritted his teeth.
"I just want the order to erase this mistake."
Kizaru gazed at the sky.
"Oooh… but what if the mistake doesn't want to be erased?"
Akainu clenched his fists.
"Then it'll be crushed."
Aokiji looked at the sea.
"Nothing's ever been that simple."
Silence spread between them. A silence heavier than the steel beneath their feet.
Among the Shichibukai, Gekko Moriah scratched his belly.
"This waiting's making me sleepy."
Doflamingo chuckled softly.
"Ace is dressed up like a gift. Who's gonna unwrap him first?"
Hancock didn't hear them. Her eyes were on the sky, where no clouds lingered, but where her heart swore something stirred.
"Riser…"
The word didn't escape.
But Merlin, behind her, heard. Her soul pulsed with the name. The runes around the witch spun slowly, silently. Protection. Focus. Disguise.
"The right moment will come," Merlin murmured, though no one could hear.
Time in Marineford began to bend.
A tremor. A near-imperceptible shift in the air.
Ace raised his eyes.
The sea seemed to pulse.
Anchors clinked.
An officer stumbled on the deck.
Nothing had happened. But everyone felt it.
Garp turned to the ocean.
His jaw tightened.
'You wouldn't come, you old fool… not for me.'
But the sea knew.
The sea always knows.
Atop the tower, the Den Den Mushi blinked.
"Global broadcast active."
Sengoku took a deep breath.
"We begin now."
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