"Wha... what is that? A thundercloud?"
All the pirates on the Moby Dick looked up at the sky, watching the giant black shadow at the edge of their vision getting bigger and bigger.
This time, even Marco, Jozu, and Vista had cold sweat on their foreheads.
Teach's throat bobbed, and he couldn't help but swallow.
"Zehahaha, what a reckless old man. Is he trying to destroy the world?"
The air currents in the world became more and more frantic. The sea within a radius of dozens of kilometers rose and fell violently, making the Moby Dick shake.
When the massive black shadow above fully revealed its form, casting a huge shadow over the sea for dozens of kilometers, more than ten pirates on the deck couldn't control their legs and fell to the ground in fear.
"An... an island, it's not a thundercloud, it's an island! It's an island!"
Golden Lion grinned. He had a cigar in his mouth and looked at Whitebeard, who had walked out of the captain's quarters. "Newgate, I want to discuss something with you. But before that, let's see how much strength you have left."
With that, to the shocked, terrified, and despairing gazes of everyone, he moved to the side, letting the small island, which was several thousand meters in diameter, fall directly onto the Moby Dick below.
In an instant, as the island fell, the air trembled and hummed. The air was squeezed down, and the pressure pushed the seawater around the Moby Dick away, forming a giant basin in the sea for dozens of kilometers.
Clang!Clang!
The crisp sound of metal hitting the deck woke the pirates, who were lost in fear and despair. They all turned their heads.
Whitebeard's face, from beginning to end, held an expression of not being moved even if a mountain were to collapse in front of him. With a smile on his face, he leaned on his giant naginata and walked directly under the falling island.
"Pops!" "Pops!"
The pirates felt like they had found their pillar. They immediately calmed down and looked at Whitebeard with a fanatical gaze, like he was a god, as he slowly bent his arm and made an elbowing motion.
That's right!
As long as their pops was here, no matter what difficulties or powerful enemies they faced, they would never be a match for the Whitebeard Pirates.
Because their pops was Whitebeard! The strongest man in the world!
"Gurara-ra-ra! Shiki, the Moby Dick doesn't welcome you. Isn't it better to just stay on your sky island and wait to die?"
Whitebeard bent his thick right arm, clenched his right fist, and punched the air above.
Boom!
Along with the crisp sound of glass shattering, visible cracks appeared in the air where Whitebeard's right fist had struck.
Tiny cracks grew and spread like a spiderweb, instantly covering thousands of meters of the sky.
The entire sky above them seemed unable to withstand Whitebeard's punch and was shattered by it.
Looking at the rapidly cracking air and sky below, Golden Lion's smile grew wider.
"You're so heartless, Newgate. We were once comrades fighting side by side."
As soon as he finished speaking, the cracking air below finally reached its limit.
With a crisp explosion, a massive shockwave, like a volcanic eruption, shot out of the exploding air, piercing through hundreds of meters of the sky, crushing the air. Like a heavenly sword, it pierced through the falling island in front of the pirates' shocked gazes, inch by inch.
Thick layers of rock and soil were torn apart and shredded with a destructive force.
The thousand-meter-long layer of rock and earth cracked, and with a series of dense explosions, the massive island that was falling from ten thousand meters high was split in two by Whitebeard's punch. It turned into two giant pieces of the island, which fell slantwise to the two sides of the Moby Dick.
With a series of deafening explosions, millions of tons of seawater exploded, and waves hundreds of meters high were raised, tossing the Moby Dick high up.
In this violent rocking, the gazes of Whitebeard and Golden Lion met through the splashing seawater.
Suddenly!
The deck under Whitebeard's feet shattered with a loud bang. His burly body shot up, and he raised his right hand, gripping his giant naginata, and slashed at the similarly diving Golden Lion.
Golden Lion raised his right leg high, and Haki swirled around the blade of his sword, carrying an endless, sharp aura. It collided with Whitebeard's giant naginata.
Clang!
Amidst the earth-shattering explosion, a violent shockwave roared in all directions. The massive Moby Dick was blown back continuously. A terrifying, high-level Armament Haki was released, turning the surrounding air into a thick paste.
The pirates on the deck were thrown all over the place and couldn't stand straight.
"Pops!" Marco shouted.
"Look at the sky!" Thatch exclaimed.
Everyone looked up and saw that the thick clouds above the clashing duo's heads were split in the middle. The entire sky seemed to have been cut in half by their single clash.
"The sky... it's split!"
Swoosh! Swoosh!
Two figures landed, one after the other, on the swaying bow of the Moby Dick, facing each other.
Whitebeard and Golden Lion just stared at each other. A tense and oppressive atmosphere filled the air, making everyone on the ship tense up.
Just as Marco and the others were about to gang up on Golden Lion, Whitebeard slammed his naginata onto the deck with a loud thump. He then grinned, revealing his white teeth, and laughed out loud.
"Gurara-ra-ra! Gurara-ra-ra!"
Golden Lion, who was almost half his height, also grinned and laughed out loud.
"Zehahaha! Zehahahaha!"
Loud and maniacal laughter echoed one after another, making Marco and the others look at each other.
This scene was all too familiar.
"Phew, are they not fighting anymore?" Marco wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and breathed a sigh of relief.
"If I had the choice, I'd rather face Kaido than a madman like Golden Lion," Jozu said, looking at the dozen or so almost imperceptible black dots that had appeared in the sky.
Those were islands floating ten thousand meters high in the sky.
"Anyway, let's have a banquet. I think they need some sake," Vista said, putting his swords back into their scabbards.
Teach scratched his head and suddenly said, "By the way, Thatch and Ace..."
"Damn it! I almost forgot about them! Go see where they are!" Marco's expression changed, and he ran to the railing.
A dozen minutes later.
Whitebeard and Golden Lion sat across from each other, with some food and sake placed on the deck in front of them.
Not far away, Thatch and Ace, who had swallowed a lot of seawater, were pulled out of the water. A few graceful female nurses were treating the two unconscious men.
"It's been seventeen years since you escaped from Impel Down, hasn't it? What made you suddenly decide to come out to the sea? I thought you were dead, Shiki."
Whitebeard picked up a large bowl of sake, drank most of it in one go, and looked at Golden Lion, who was sitting cross-legged across from him. His eyes fell on the two famous swords that were serving as his legs.
It was truly difficult for Golden Lion to sit cross-legged after losing his legs.
Golden Lion took the cigar out of his mouth, flicked it with his finger, and sparks flew. The burning cigar turned into ashes and scattered in the wind. He grabbed a jar of sake in front of him, tilted his head back, and poured it into his mouth.
Gulp, gulp.
His throat bobbed up and down as the spicy alcohol flowed into Golden Lion's stomach. A rare look of desolation appeared in his eyes.
"Rose died," he said, putting down the sake jar.
"Rose..." Whitebeard's hand, which was holding the food, stopped in mid-air. An image of a three-eyed girl with tattered clothes, a bomb collar around her neck, but a beautiful face, appeared in his mind.
That was a long time ago.
So much time had passed that the face of the owner of the name Golden Lion had just said had become very blurry in his mind.
He frowned, put down the food, and looked at Golden Lion.
"When did this happen?"
"A dozen days ago, her Vivre Card burned out." Golden Lion picked up another jar of sake.
Whitebeard was silent for a while, then said in a deep voice, "How did she die?"
Bang!
Golden Lion, who was tilting his head back to drink, stopped abruptly. The sake jar in his hand shattered with a loud bang, drawing the attention of the nearby pirates.
Golden Lion clenched his fist and pounded on the deck below.
"The Marines. The Marines killed her. The leader was Zephyr."
"Zephyr?" Whitebeard's expression changed, and he sighed. "An old rival. It's not a shame for Rose to have died at his hands."
Then, he looked at Golden Lion. "So you're here to avenge her?"
"No, I'm not that sentimental."
Golden Lion shook his head. He pulled out a cigar from his pocket and lit it again, a cruel smile appearing on his face.
"Rose's death was just a reminder that if I don't do something, our era will be completely over."
"Our era is long gone, and it's inevitable. A new era has arrived, and the future belongs to the young." Whitebeard looked at Marco, Ace, and the others, his eyes filled with love.
"Are you giving up, Newgate?" Golden Lion exhaled a puff of smoke.
"I've never given up, but I'm just a normal man. Time won't stop for me, and it won't stop for you, either."
Looking at Golden Lion, who had only been despondent for a brief moment before regaining the familiar, heroic aura of a leader, Whitebeard sighed inwardly and asked, "So what are you planning to do? Cause a ruckus in Marineford like you did twenty years ago, or go after Zephyr?"
Golden Lion grabbed a piece of meat, put it in his mouth, and chewed. "No, no, no. This time, it won't be a small commotion like that. I'm going to start a war, a huge war like the Battle of Edd War, which happened twenty years ago!"
A cruel smile slowly spread across his face without restraint. Golden Lion spread his arms and laughed out loud.
"Zehahaha, Newgate, don't you think this world is too boring? The sea is too calm. There's none of that passionate feeling from back then! It's time to give those foolish do-gooders, and those pigs living in the clouds, a grand performance, just like in God Valley thirty-three years ago."
"Step one: make the Marines know who the true masters of this sea are. Eliminate all Marine forces in the New World, destroy all the Marine bases that are everywhere, and make the Marines get out of the New World!"
"Step two: attack Marineford and destroy the Marine Headquarters, which symbolizes justice. Broadcast the execution of Sengoku to the entire world, just like they publicly executed Roger."
"Step three: march on Mariejois on the Red Line and trample those pigs underfoot just like thirty-three years ago, crushing their bubble helmets and their heads."
A glimmer of bloodlust appeared in Golden Lion's eyes, and a terrifying aura gradually revived from his aged body. Streaks of black and red lightning spread across the sky above the Moby Dick, like the branches of an ancient tree.
"What a terrifying aura... That's Conqueror's Haki!"
Under the release of this terrifying aura, Marco, Jozu, and the others all had grim expressions. They watched as the pirates around them foamed at the mouth and fell to the deck with their eyes rolled back.
Not only that, but the terrifying aura even caused physical damage, shaking the deck and the railings of the Moby Dick so hard that cracks appeared.
"You can't do it. You're too old," Whitebeard said, shaking his head. "You won't even live to see the second step happen. You'll die."
"That's why I came to you, Newgate!"
The Lion stood up and spread his arms. His golden hair fluttered in the wind, which was not there.
"Zehahaha, Newgate, let's form an alliance. Let's turn this boring world upside down, just like thirty-three years ago!"
Whitebeard was silent.
In the distance, Marco watched them with a tense body.
After a long silence, and with the expectant look in Golden Lion's eyes, Whitebeard slowly shook his head.
"I'm sorry, Shiki, I won't form an alliance with you."
"Why?!" Golden Lion's eyes narrowed. "Do you still have hope for this messed-up world? Or do you think that the Marines, those lackeys who clean up after the Celestial Dragons, can maintain peace and justice in the world? Don't be naive! This era is even more disgusting than it was thirty-three years ago."
Seeing that Whitebeard wasn't speaking, Golden Lion seemed to have thought of something. He sneered and glanced at Marco and the others, jeering, "That's right. It's these sons of yours that are holding you back. This long game of playing house has worn down your fighting spirit. You're no longer the dashing Edward Newgate you used to be. Zehahahaha, zehahahaha, I was wrong about you!"
"Shut up! Golden Lion! You can't insult Pops!"
Jozu clenched his fist and was about to charge at him, but Marco stopped him with his hand.
Whitebeard stood up and looked down at the mocking Golden Lion. "Don't just talk, Shiki. You know me. I won't form an alliance with you. Not in the past, not now, and not ever. Leave. I'll pretend you were never here."
"Newgate!"
Golden Lion seemed insulted. His furious Conqueror's Haki pressed down on Whitebeard, making the atmosphere on the Moby Dick extremely tense and heavy.
The atmosphere on the deck was like a powder keg filled with dynamite, ready to explode at any moment.
All the pirates watched Whitebeard and Golden Lion with trepidation.
But Whitebeard's tall body stood motionless under the impact of Golden Lion's Conqueror's Haki. He didn't even release his own Haki, just standing there quietly like a statue.
After a long, long time, the storm-like Conqueror's Haki on Golden Lion's body subsided, and he took a deep look at Whitebeard.
"You haven't changed at all, Newgate."
With that, he bent down, picked up a jar of sake from the deck, opened it, and took a few gulps. He then turned around in a stylish manner, and his body floated straight up, stopping in mid-air.
"An alliance isn't necessary. Just at least, see me off." He grinned and threw the sake jar in his hand to Whitebeard. "Regardless of winning or losing, this time, I'll use my own way to settle things with this world."
With that, without waiting for Whitebeard to reply, he flew up quickly, ascending into the sky, and disappeared from Marco and the others' sight in an instant.
Whitebeard reached out and caught the sake jar that was falling from the sky. Under Marco's worried gaze, he tilted his head back and drank it all.
(End of Chapter)
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