The wind sliced through Marineford's plaza like invisible blades.
The Marine flags snapped violently against their masts. Every breath felt heavier. Every glance, an unspoken verdict.
Atop the central platform, Sengoku took two steps forward. The golden cape rippled behind him like a storm about to erupt. His gaze pierced through soldiers, Pacifistas, Shichibukai—through the world itself.
"The world needs to know."
His voice reverberated across stone and steel columns, like thunder swallowed by concrete walls.
Ace lifted his face.
The seastone chains dragged his shoulders downward. His disheveled hair fluttered. His half-closed eyes sought no mercy. They merely awaited the blow.
Garp, standing at the platform's edge, clenched his fists against his body. Blood pounded in his ears. 'It shouldn't be like this.'
Sengoku took a deep breath. The global broadcast Den Den Mushi swiveled its eyes, capturing every detail.
"You, watching from across the world… pirates, kings, revolutionaries, civilians…"
The sky, heavy with immobilized clouds, seemed to press down further on everyone's shoulders.
"…you think you understand the threat looming over order."
The cameras focused on Ace.
His golden eyes burned beneath the weight of the words.
"You think he's just another pirate."
The silence thickened like fog.
"Portgas D. Ace… is the son of the greatest criminal the world has ever known."
A murmur rippled through the ranks of soldiers. Shichibukai exchanged glances. Even Mihawk slightly raised his chin.
Doflamingo let out a dry, almost affectionate laugh.
"Of course… what a delicious mess."
Sengoku raised his fist.
"Cursed bloodlines still walk among us."
The Den Den Mushi captured every syllable.
"Gol D. Roger."
The name struck Marineford's heart like a sledgehammer of reality.
"Yes."
Sengoku circled the platform, stepping firmly at its center.
"He carries the blood of the Pirate King. Hidden. Protected. Nurtured by rebellion, by cowardice, by the shadows that still dare to threaten the light of this world."
Ace gritted his teeth. The cold metal of the cuffs clinked.
Garp closed his eyes.
'I should've protected you from all this.'
Hancock ignored everything around her. The only face she saw was Riser's, even though he wasn't there yet. 'He'll come. I know he'll come.'
Sengoku stopped before Ace.
His golden gaze of authority bore into the condemned.
"Portgas D. Ace is, in fact, the biological son of Gol D. Roger."
The roar that followed seemed to split the ground.
Soldiers faltered. Some exchanged glances, as if the revelation were an internal earthquake.
Doflamingo laughed loudly, flailing his arms as if receiving a demonic blessing.
Mihawk watched without emotion. But the black blade in his soul weighed a little heavier.
Ace didn't respond.
But his chest heaved.
The fire he swore had gone out… flickered silently.
'I'm no one's son. I chose to be Whitebeard's son.'
Garp bit down on his pride. 'Forgive me, Ace.'
Sengoku spun on his heels. His face carved like a statue that refused tears.
"And today…"
The Den Den Mushi zoomed in on his clenched fist.
"…this bloodline will vanish forever."
The words fell like a sentence spanning eras.
The wind stopped.
The sea retreated two centimeters.
Time… held its breath.
Ace raised his chin.
The chains groaned.
His gaze pierced the invisible crowds watching from across the oceans.
'I'm not afraid.'
'If my blood dies today… it'll die standing.'
Hancock clutched her chest tightly.
"Riser…"
The name floated soundlessly in the still air.
The clatter of running boots broke the silence.
A Marine tore through the crowd, his face pale with terror, his helmet falling along the way.
"Admiral Sengoku!"
His voice was a shredded thread.
"The Gate of Justice… opened on its own!"
The words exploded like a bomb at Marineford's core.
Sengoku spun, his cape fluttering like a mutilated flag.
"Impossible."
Veins bulged in his neck.
"The Gate of Justice can only be opened manually! No command was given!"
The Den Den Mushi swiveled its eye, trembling.
A dense silence fell over the soldiers, the Shichibukai, the admirals.
Only the sea… only the sea knew what was coming.
The water beyond the wall began to quiver.
First a hum. Then a deep vibration, like the heart of a sleeping titan awakening.
The waves parted.
The colossal Gate—the final bulwark protecting Marineford—now stood open like the jaws of a dead god.
From the veil of mist, they emerged.
Ships.
Dozens.
Sails torn by time, hulls studded with battle scars. Black flags, crossed bones, and the symbol that chilled every heart:
The white mustache.
The shadow of a creature greater than the seas themselves rose on the lead ship's deck.
Edward Newgate.
Whitebeard.
His trident planted in the wooden deck. His gaze like compressed thunder. His broad chest, scarred, not diminished but magnified.
Each step made the ship creak, as if unworthy of bearing him.
Marineford's silence shattered in a single instant.
Ace's eyes widened.
The cuffs clinked against the stone.
"Father…"
The whisper escaped him like a prayer.
Whitebeard didn't smile.
He merely drove the trident into the deck.
"Ace."
His voice was deep. Ancient. It carried oceans, storms, and forgotten battles.
"You are my son."
The world seemed to sway.
Ace felt his chest tighten. Heat surged up his throat, burning hotter than any flames he'd ever conjured.
'He came.'
'He crossed the Gate.'
'He came… for me.'
Joy struck his chest first—hot, overwhelming. Pride mingled with the relief of not being forgotten.
But the second blow… was crueler.
Worry.
Beyond Whitebeard's figure, Ace saw hundreds of crewmates. Familiar faces. Brothers in battle. Men he respected, laughed with, trusted.
They came.
They all came.
'Because of me.'
The chains creaked.
Blood pounded in his temples.
'If they die… it'll be my fault.'
His hands clenched so tightly the seastone cuffs groaned like cracking glass.
Ace gritted his teeth.
Tears threatened to rise.
But he forced his gaze upward.
Whitebeard pointed at him—not as a prisoner, but as an exiled prince he'd come to reclaim.
"You are my son."
The words drove into Marineford like fiery stakes.
Ace bit his tongue to keep from shouting.
His heart beat like a war drum.
Around them, the Marines mobilized, cocking weapons, barking orders.
But at the world's center, only this moment existed.
Marineford's collective breath caught as Whitebeard's trident struck the ship's deck.
CRAACK.
The sea answered.
The waters trembled first like a faltering heart, then rose.
A colossal tsunami.
The liquid wall surged from the ocean as if the gods had raised their hands to crush Marineford. Tons of water gleamed under the sky's dead light, forming blue-black ramparts ready to swallow the Marine stronghold in a single strike.
The sound was a roar of the cosmos splitting.
Fear erupted in the eyes of ordinary soldiers.
"It's a tsunami!"
"We can't stop this!"
"It's the end!"
The ranks wavered.
The flags fluttered.
The ground vibrated beneath the Marines' feet, as if Marineford itself were screaming.
Mihawk watched the horizon with cold eyes.
"The power of a man who mastered the sea… it wasn't exaggerated."
Doflamingo tilted his head back, laughing.
"What a spectacle… Gurararara!! The whole world will bow to this monster!"
Gekko Moriah's eyes widened, his mouth open in a nervous grin.
"This… is an earthquake that walks!"
Whitebeard planted his feet on the deck, his muscles taut like ancient steel cables.
His laughter echoed across the bay like thunder mocking human frailty.
"GURARARARARA!"
The vibration crossed the sea, the hearts, the walls of Marineford.
The water wall advanced.
Its shadow devoured the sky.
Death came in waves.
Ace's eyes widened, his chest ablaze with pride and terror entwined.
'Father… you're a force of nature.'
The impact was inevitable.
The end seemed inevitable.
But atop the command platform, Kuzan moved.
Admiral Aokiji, with half-closed eyes and his usual relaxed demeanor, raised his hand.
His fingertips glowed with a deep blue.
The air around him crackled with tiny crystals.
A line of cold sliced through the world.
The raging ocean began to freeze.
The ice advanced like an invisible beast, encasing the water wall before it could crash onto Marineford.
A glacial rampart rose.
A complete ring, encircling Marineford, as if the city had been trapped inside an icy crown.
The sea's heat battled the supernatural cold, but the ice prevailed.
The waves, carrying the sentence of destruction, froze.
Locked in time.
Poised, but powerless.
Soft columns of steam rose around the battlefield.
Marineford breathed—barely.
The Den Den Mushi captured it all.
The world watched.
And atop the platform, Ace closed his eyes for a moment.
Grateful there was still hope.
Terrified of the price his brothers were willing to pay.
And, deep down, a new weight emerged.
Because the war… was now inevitable.
📢 Bonus Chapter Available!
Are you following my stories DXD: The Awakening of Phenex, Reincarnation in Smallville, or DXD: Gasper's Awakening?
Then I have a surprise for you!
Support my work on Patreon and gain access to exclusive bonus chapters, behind-the-scenes content, and much more.
Your support means the world to me and helps me keep writing the stories you love.
💖 Support here: patreon.com/22Mirko22
Thank you so much for reading — see you in the next chapter!