Woooo——
A piercing whistle echoed across the sea.
From the rear, the approaching Marine Headquarters fleet could faintly make out a small black dot billowing with smoke, charging straight ahead.
And in front of it—was the densely packed Golden Lion fleet.
But it acted as if it didn't see them at all.
It just kept charging forward.
At that moment—
Everyone aboard the Headquarters fleet felt their blood boil, their eyes reddened.
Countless officers leapt from their warships.
Some activated their abilities, others stepped into the air with Geppo, all rushing toward it.
...
On Garp's warship—
Rear Admiral Keane, as if sensing something, turned to look behind.
There, the massive Headquarters fleet was closing in, with countless soldiers charging forward.
Keane started to smile.
That smile was so bright—so resolute.
Whoosh——
Boom! Boom! Boom! .....
Shells rained down constantly—some smashed into the sea, others slammed into the hull.
Flames engulfed the deck and cabin, thick smoke billowing into the sky.
The firelight illuminated everyone's faces.
Keane, with only his right hand remaining, gripped his longsword and walked toward the bow.
His severed arm and the wounds that pierced his body were still bleeding profusely.
His consciousness had already begun to blur.
He took a deep breath, face twisted in pain.
Resolutely, he stared ahead at the Golden Lion fleet:
"Execute! Justice!!"
He sprang forward, slashing his sword furiously.
The incoming shells were cleaved one after another and fell into the sea.
Until...
They were buried beneath a dense barrage of cannon fire... and could no longer hold out.
Boom!!!
A severed arm, still clutching the longsword, fell into the sea.
But no body was seen...
Still charging.
Always charging forward.
The warship, engulfed in flames and riddled with wounds, did not stop. It continued charging at the Golden Lion fleet.
The remaining Marine soldiers leapt one after another into the path of cannon fire.
Woooo——
The massive whistle blew continuously as they charged forward.
The pirate ships of the Golden Lion fleet were now right in front of them.
"Madmen!"
"They're all madmen!"
"They're crashing into us!"
"Turn the rudder!"
"Hurry!"
"Faster!!!"
As the warship closed in, the captains of the Golden Lion fleet finally panicked and tried to steer away.
They thought it was just the warship's dying struggle—never expecting they were determined to perish together.
Too insane. Not even pirates were this insane.
"Turn! Now!!!"
The captain of a pirate ship directly in front screamed in terror.
"It's too late!"
"Jump overboard!"
The pirate at the helm responded in fear.
Their ship was massive—there was no way to evade quickly.
Closer.
Even closer.
Woooo——
The burning, smoke-filled Marine warship, under the terrified gazes of the pirates, rammed forward.
A few seconds later...
BOOOOOM!!!!!!
A deafening crash erupted.
Impact.
The Marine warship, with unwavering resolve, crashed straight into the pirate ship.
The bow shattered, debris flying.
Under the enormous inertia, the remaining Marines aboard were crushed, blood splattering, their flesh mangled.
The helmsman of the warship struggled to his feet, leaving bloody footprints with each step.
He staggered toward the ammunition storage.
Pushing open the door—rows upon rows of cannonballs filled his vision.
Garp's warship was never short on cannonballs...
The helmsman grabbed one and walked toward several massive shells at the center.
With the last of his strength, he raised his hand, blood pouring from his mouth.
"Execute... justice....."
And with that, his life completely faded.
The cannonball in his hand, carried by his falling momentum, flew forward.
Clank——
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!!!!
A massive chain reaction—countless cannonballs exploded at once.
The entire Marine warship, along with the pirate ship, instantly became a blazing fireball soaring into the sky.
Within several hundred meters around them... no one survived...
Stunned.
Completely stunned.
The surrounding pirate captains stared at the fireball, hearts gripped with dread.
"Madmen."
"The Marines are all madmen."
"This..."
"This..."
For the first time, doubt crept into their hearts.
If all Marines were this crazy... could they really win?
The long-famous pirate captains suddenly remembered what that shrill whistle had always meant.
Back when they first set sail—
Whenever that piercing whistle sounded, whether or not they'd finished looting, they would retreat and flee.
Because that meant... the Marines were coming...
"Captain, look!"
"What?!"
In the distant sky, countless small black dots were leaping through the air, heading straight toward them.
The pirate captain raised his telescope. A cold sweat broke across his forehead when he saw their faces.
He waved over his subordinates and whispered orders:
"Tell the helmsman to quietly retreat backward—make sure no one notices!"
Then he picked up his telescope again, anxiously observing.
As the black dots drew closer, the Justice cloaks fluttering behind them came into view.
Sword auras and abilities rained down from above like a storm.
Bombarding the Golden Lion fleet.
Some powerful pirate captains in the Golden Lion fleet fought back with sword strikes and abilities.
Above the BIGMOM pirate ship, several hundred meters in the sky—
Enel silently conjured one lightning spear after another.
Firing them downward.
Below, Katakuri's powerful Observation Haki seemed to predict the landing points of the spears.
Every time, he used his powers in advance to block them.
Enel's formidable Observation Haki was also closely watching Katakuri.
Lightning wasn't something you could dodge just by sensing where it would strike...
He let out a cold snort...
And Enel's speed at conjuring spears increased.
In the distance, the Headquarters fleet was also closing in on the BIGMOM Pirates.
...
———
The seventh day of the Great Naval Battle at Skegli.
Under the relentless bombardment of the Headquarters fleet's firepower, nearly half of the Golden Lion fleet had been annihilated.
The surviving pirates fled toward the area where the Golden Lion was.
As for the BIGMOM Pirates, they were completely surrounded by Marine warships—unable to break through.
Because they had so many ability users aboard, they managed to hold a standoff with the Marines.
However, Enel seized several openings to fire off thunder spears, killing a number of pirates.
Judging by the fury on the face of the Mochi-Mochi Fruit user at the front of the ship, some of those killed must have held important positions.
On the other side of the battlefield—
The Marines had temporarily gathered on the molten battlefield formed by Sakazuki.
The ones most severely injured were Sakazuki and Zephyr.
There wasn't a single unscathed spot on their bodies.
One had gone all-out against Whitebeard, and the other had fought Roger to the death.
The two of them were devouring Sea Kings like mad, using Seimei Kikan to recover their strength.
Nearby, also bearing multiple injuries and looking somewhat battered, were Sengoku, Garp, and Fleet Admiral Kong.
They gazed toward the distant Oro Jackson, discussing their next course of action:
"Whitebeard's presence has grown incredibly weak."
"Death could come at any moment."
"Now we just have to deal with the Golden Lion, Roger, and Charlotte Linlin."
Fleet Admiral Kong thought for a moment, then spoke:
"Sengoku, you go stall Charlotte Linlin."
"Garp, you hold off the Golden Lion."
"Zephyr, you take on Rayleigh."
"Sakazuki, you deal with that Frank."
"I'll go kill Roger."
Everyone nodded. Kong narrowed his eyes at the direction of the Oro Jackson.
Battles between top-tier powerhouses were not something easily resolved in a short time.
But now that Roger was gravely injured, if he could be taken down... even at the cost of half a life, it would be worth it.
...
On the Oro Jackson.
The unconscious Whitebeard suddenly opened his eyes.
Looking around—Roger's ship, huh...
He turned his head and saw Marco napping beside him.
A faint smile tugged at the corner of his lips.
He reached out, intending to pat Marco on the head, but hesitated, not wanting to wake him.
Slowly, he lowered his hand and unplugged the IV stuck in his body.
He picked up the naginata on the table and quietly walked out.
Pushing open the cabin door, he looked at the people on the ship:
"Gurararara... Roger, Shiki, Linlin."
Roger, Shiki, and Charlotte Linlin fell silent as they looked at Whitebeard. They all knew this was his final flare before death...
Roger was silent for a moment, then spoke first:
"Newgate."
Whitebeard grinned broadly, his hearty voice ringing out:
"Gurararara."
"Don't worry about it, Roger."
"My journey just ends here."
"But..."
"I'm really sorry."
"For dragging you all into this."
He looked around at everyone, as if he wanted to etch the faces of these friends into his heart.
The ship fell silent for a while.
Then behind Whitebeard came Marco's voice, thick with sobs:
"Pops!!!"
No one knew when Marco had woken up. He rushed out and crashed into Whitebeard's chest, crying uncontrollably.
Whitebeard wrapped his massive arms around Marco and gently stroked his head.
With a tender gaze at the child in his arms, he seemed to recall something... family.
Then he turned to Roger and said:
"Roger, I'll be counting on you to take care of this child Marco from now on."
Marco's eyes, red from crying, looked up at Whitebeard:
"Pops..."
Whitebeard patted Marco's head and gently set him down.
Looking at everyone, he beamed brightly:
"Everyone, I'll be going ahead."
With that, he stabbed his naginata into the deck with a "thud" and walked toward the bow.
Roger, Shiki, and Linlin all closed their eyes in silence, unwilling to watch.
"Newgate..." x3
Whitebeard stepped onto the bow, glanced at the five figures on the distant magma landmass, and smiled:
"Marines."
He took a deep breath. His entire body turned red as his muscles swelled.
Steam rose from his whole being.
Power surged to his fingertips. He raised both hands over his head and brought them down.
It was as if something in the air was pulling at his arms, making them struggle to descend.
"Aaaaahhhhh!!!!"
Whitebeard's face twisted in pain as he roared, his arm muscles seemingly tearing apart bit by bit, and his hands finally pulled down to his waist.
As his hands moved from above his head to his waist, his body froze.
The redness in his body faded, the steam gradually dissipated, and all life left him.
But the corner of his mouth still curled up, like that crescent-shaped mustache.
His eyes gazed far into the distance...
At the moment Whitebeard died, everyone in the entire sea felt an overwhelming sense of crisis.
Especially the Marines—it was an instinctual fear, embedded deep in their biology.
BOOMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!
With an ancient-sounding explosion, thunder rumbled through the heavens.
The entire world seemed to turn upside down. The sea blocked out the sky. Dark clouds gathered close to the ground.
One after another, massive islands rose from unknown places and slammed down.
This was no illusion. Under Whitebeard's final awakening strike before death—
The sky and sea reversed and twisted, countless islands were ripped up and hurled into this sea.
The entire sea trembled, as if the laws of reality had warped. The inverted sky felt eerie—yet disturbingly logical.
Moments later, the reversed sky and sea twisted back into their original state, returning to normal.
The immense shockwaves shattered the sea like cracked earth.
Countless intersecting swaths of ocean turned into abyssal craters. In that instant, both the Marines and the pirates suffered devastating losses.
BOOMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!
Heaven and earth trembled endlessly.
The entire Skegli Sea had no more islands, no more signs of life.
Only the fleets of pirates and Marines continued to struggle in agony...
In July of Sea Circle Calendar Year 1490, the Great Naval Battle of Skegli broke out.
Participants included most of the top forces of both the pirates and the Marines.
The Golden Lion's fleet was almost entirely destroyed.
The Roger Pirates suffered nearly fifty percent casualties.
Several of Charlotte Linlin's children in the Big Mom Pirates died in battle.
Only Marco survived from the Whitebeard Pirates. The rest were wiped out.
The great pirate "Whitebeard" Edward Newgate died in battle.
On the Marine side—
Admiral Zephyr was gravely injured. He resigned his position and transferred to the Naval Academy as Chief Instructor.
Vice Admiral Sakazuki was seriously wounded and fell into a coma.
Admiral Sengoku was heavily injured and went missing.
Vice Admiral Garp and Fleet Admiral Kong suffered only minor injuries. They returned to headquarters to take charge of the situation.
Nearly half of the main headquarters fleet was lost.
Post-battle statistics show 23,747 soldiers died in action.
A massive monument was erected in the plaza of Marineford, hundreds of meters high, honoring the fallen.
For several years following the Great Naval Battle of Skegli, the seas entered a strange era of silence...
...
Half a year after the Great Naval Battle of Skegli...
In Sea Circle Calendar Year 1491, Marine Headquarters Hospital.
Sakazuki, who had been in a coma for half a year, suddenly opened his eyes wide.
A wild and ancient aura erupted from his body, sweeping across all of Marine Headquarters—then instantly receded.
At that moment, Sakazuki seemed to have undergone some kind of metamorphosis.
CRACK!
The sound of thunder boomed out of nowhere.
Enel smashed through the window, his face alight with joy as he looked at Sakazuki.
Sakazuki, seeing the boy whose aura had grown even stronger, gave a small smile and a hint of praise at the corner of his lips.
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