As he watched Rosinante streak off into light with Raijin Kisuke in tow, Katakuri's face went dark. He understood: Rosinante had sent him away precisely so he wouldn't be caught in a hard position. But what Rosinante didn't realize was that Katakuri had stopped feeling torn about such things ten years ago. The day he watched his own mother kill one of his little brothers before his eyes, that hesitation had died in him for good.
"Gurarara. Looks like we'd best brace ourselves for an even rougher Age of Pirates. Maybe that's for the best. The seas have grown too quiet of late. They could stand a few more waves. Otherwise we'd only be wasting the great pirate era Roger threw open for us." Whitebeard spoke while his gaze lingered on the spot where Rosinante had disappeared.
These days the seas held to a strange sort of balance, the three great powers of the Four Emperors, the Seven Warlords, and the Marines all pressing against one another. But the instant one link in that balance broke, the storm would follow without fail, and the whole ocean would churn into upheaval, perhaps worse upheaval than it had ever known.
...
Somewhere out in the seas of the New World.
"Mamamama, don't waste your strength struggling. Your power really is impressive, and your abilities are no small thing, Enel most of all. If you'd run at the very start, even I would have had trouble holding onto you. A pity you let the chance slip. There's none left for you now." Charlotte Linlin wore that terrible smile of hers.
"You old witch. The Oathblood Guard never abandon their own. Even if I meet end at your hands today, His Majesty will come to avenge us one day. You can sit and wait for him to arrive and take your head." Across from Charlotte Linlin stood Enel and Dark Thorn, both haggard and worn past the point of words.
Over the past ten years Enel's strength had climbed enormously, far enough to reach the level of a Marine Admiral. But the woman before him was Charlotte Linlin, called the monster among monsters, and even with Dark Thorn fighting at his side he was no match for her.
All around them, the rest of the Oathblood Guard, hemmed in by the endless waves of Big Mom's army, were each worn down to nothing. Were it not for the wound-suppression seals keeping them on their feet, every last one of them would already have fallen.
"You old witch, I'm the one you want. Let Enel and the others go, and I'll come with you." At that moment Dark Thorn, standing at Enel's side, spoke up with sudden, hardened resolve.
"Absolutely not," Enel snapped in protest.
"Mamamama, it's far too late to be striking bargains. You've lost any right to set terms. No, let me put it plainer: without your captain, you're nothing but a pack of stray dogs, and stray dogs gave up their bargaining rights long ago. Your fates were sealed the moment all this began." Charlotte Linlin laughed.
At her words, despair sank into Dark Thorn's face.
Dark Thorn was a wielder of the Death-Soul Fruit, while Charlotte Linlin wielded the Soul-Soul Fruit. Linlin had long wanted to study Dark Thorn and her Death-Soul Fruit, hoping to wring an even greater power out of it for herself.
Ten years ago, when they first crossed into the New World, Linlin had feigned goodwill and invited them in, claiming she would give them shelter. She lured them into Totto Land, meaning to net them all in a single stroke and take Dark Thorn for her experiments.
It was only thanks to one of Katakuri's younger sisters, who caught wind of the scheme and quietly warned them, that they readied themselves in time and got away. But the sister who sent that warning was cut down by Charlotte Linlin on the spot.
Afterward they sought refuge under the Whitebeard Pirates and earned their protection, and from then on Linlin never found her opening.
This time Katakuri and the others were due to attend a gathering of the Whitebeard Pirates. Enel and Dark Thorn, as core members of the Oathblood Guard, were meant to go as well. But after the falling-out Enel had had with one of the Whitebeard Pirates the last time, he chose to stay away on this occasion, and Dark Thorn remained behind to keep him company.
No one had imagined that the Big Mom Pirates would somehow get wind of it, muster an elite army, and slip in secret into Whitebeard's own waters to hunt them down.
Was this where it ended? Despair crept slowly through Dark Thorn.
"You say their fates were sealed long ago. Then suppose you tell us exactly what fate it was they were meant for, you old hag." Just then a voice carried in from the distance.
Every Oathblood Guard who heard it felt a jolt of recognition run through them. They lifted their heads, and there, far off, two figures came tearing toward them at blinding speed. The one in the lead was a man they could scarcely believe their eyes were seeing, a man they'd have torn themselves out of their dreams just to glimpse.
"Hey, hey, my eyes aren't tricking me, are they? His Majesty, here? Or have my wounds gotten so bad I've started seeing things?"
"Am I hallucinating too? Why am I seeing His Majesty as well?"
"That's Kisuke behind him. Didn't he go off for help? Did he bring His Majesty back with him?"
"Has His Majesty truly woken at last?" One face after another among the Oathblood Guard filled with disbelief.
"Hard as it is to swallow, there's no mistaking it. The most impossible, most troublesome man of all has shown up, perorin." Perospero said it with his heart sinking like a stone.
"Dragon King Rosinante. How is this possible?" Charlotte Cracker stared at the newcomer, stunned.
Enel and Dark Thorn traded a glance, shock and doubt breaking across both their faces.
"There's no doubt about it, none at all. Our lord has come. The Dragon King is here." Enel's voice rang out, flooded with joy.