In the New World, on Punk Hazard,
two warships slowly arrived at the island, then for some unknown reason hurriedly withdrew,
leaving only two figures behind.
One red, one blue, standing face to face.
Both wore Marine coats, hands in their pockets, staring each other down.
"Though we are fellow Marines, I will not yield the Fleet Admiral position to you."
Sakazuki slowly lifted his head. There was not the slightest hesitation on his stern face.
He looked toward the man opposite him, the one wrapped in cold frost, the curly-haired man competing with him for the position of Fleet Admiral.
Kuzan's expression, however, was strange.
He had no killing intent at all.
"What is with that look? Do not think that just because I know how you feel, I will go easy on you in battle, Kuzan!"
Sakazuki's face darkened, because he could clearly see Kuzan's indifference.
But to his surprise,
after a moment of silence,
Kuzan merely waved a hand and exhaled a freezing breath.
"You win, Sakazuki."
"Nani??!!"
Sakazuki's eyes widened in disbelief. The magma fist that had already begun to billow with smoke seemed to stop flowing.
"What do you mean by that?!!"
"Are you looking down on me?!!"
Kuzan shook his head. After standing there in thought for a moment, he walked toward the edge of Punk Hazard,
then reached a hand into the sea.
"Ice Age."
Crack crack crack crack...
Countless layers of ice rapidly formed, spreading outward from Kuzan's hand and expanding in all directions.
The two warships that had not yet gotten very far were frozen solid in an instant, turning into ice sculptures trapped on the sea.
After freezing the surrounding hundred miles into ice, Kuzan finally walked back with a gloomy face.
Sakazuki had naturally noticed everything. His brows were tightly furrowed as he stared at Kuzan.
"What are you doing?"
Kuzan removed the coat from his back, folded it neatly, and laid it on the ground.
Only then did he slowly speak.
"The ice will probably thaw in ten days. Sakazuki, I need you to do me a favor."
Hearing that, Sakazuki frowned. A few drops of sweat appeared on his face.
"The only witnesses have been frozen by me. You can tell the world that you and I fought for ten days and ten nights, and that I lost.
Broken in spirit, unwilling to serve under you, I left the Navy."
"Nani?!!"
Sakazuki was utterly confused.
"You came here not because you wanted the Fleet Admiral's seat, but because you wanted me to help stage this little act for you?"
"Yeah. That is right."
Kuzan scratched his head and slowly raised it.
But there was none of his usual laziness or detached calm in his eyes now.
There was only seriousness.
"Back then, I really did want to become Fleet Admiral, because I also had a justice I wanted to uphold.
But on the way here, I gradually realized something. Do you know what it was?"
"What?"
"That becoming Fleet Admiral would not let me uphold justice anyway. And it would not save this runaway era."
The moment he heard that, Sakazuki's eyes widened.
Kuzan did not care about his reaction. He simply continued.
"For a very long time, my drive to become stronger was to defeat Ozz Dotor. That was why I kept growing stronger, until I became a Marine Admiral.
But later I understood something. Even if I became Fleet Admiral, there would still be very little I could truly do."
"Because of the World Government's orders, or because of concern for the lives of comrades, or because of maintaining the bigger picture and stability...
I could not oppose anything Ozz Dotor did. I could only watch that guy toy with everything."
"So I am done being a Marine!!!"
"I will use my own way to do everything I can to stop the consequences of Ozz Dotor's reckless actions!!!"
Sakazuki stood frozen.
Kuzan left. He left the Admiral's coat behind and rode away on his bicycle.
Sakazuki did not stop him.
Because he felt that Kuzan was right.
This was simply a different path of justice.
"It has long been said that Aokiji bears a deep hatred toward Black Spear..."
"So he would rather leave the Navy than stop Ozz Dotor's lawless behavior?"
Akainu picked up the Admiral's coat. Then molten magma blazed in his hand.
An enormous flood of magma instantly turned half of Punk Hazard into a sea of fire, crimson light glowing everywhere.
"If that is the case, then I will play along with your act."
Based on Sakazuki's own testimony, along with the evidence of Punk Hazard's half-ice, half-fire environment, the news quickly spread across the world:
"Former Marine Admiral Aokiji has left the Navy after losing the fight for Fleet Admiral."
...
And during that exact period, when the Navy's top combat power was not stationed at Marineford,
an uninvited ship approached Marineford.
"Enemy attack!!!"
"That is Straw Hat Luffy!!!"
"The pirate rookie who made such a splash during the Summit War!!!"
"Why has he come back to Marineford at a time like this?!!!"
"Sink them!!!"
Some Marines shouted, ready to blast the ship apart.
But an officer quickly stopped them.
"Wait!!!"
"All hands, do not act recklessly!!!"
The officer held a telescope in his hand, cold sweat pouring down his face as he shouted his order to the soldiers.
"Why???"
"What is happening?!!"
But the officer did not answer. His pupils trembled and his teeth clenched.
"There is no mistake. That old man standing at the bow..."
"He is King Dotor Gick, the man mentioned in the Navy's secret meetings!!!"
"Absolutely do not engage!!!"
He was a veteran who had participated in the Summit War.
Though he had not been strong enough to stay conscious when that Conqueror's Haki tore across the entire sea, he knew exactly what the name Ozz Dotor represented thanks to the earlier part of the war and what a Vice Admiral later explained to him.
And so, under the constant clicking of cameras from newspaper reporters who had followed them all the way here, old Gick narrowed his eyes, clasped his hands behind his back, and hopped down from the warship, accompanied by black-suited Haki users.
He slowly made his way toward the interior of Marineford, with Monkey D. Luffy beside him.
The camera shutters clicked nonstop, but old Gick remained composed throughout,
displaying exactly what it meant to have the bearing of a king.
"Go on, kid."
"Oh!!! Thanks, old man!!!"
As the bell rang out, Luffy raised one arm toward the cameras.
"3D2Y."
The news spread across the seas.
The story of King Gick and Straw Hat Luffy spread throughout the whole world.
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The tides are shifting, and secrets linger in the dark... Step into the shadows early on P@treon, where the next chapter awaits before the world sees it.
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