-Broadcast-
The footage of the time-space channel did not end. After several moments of empty corridor, a figure appeared once more—another speedster wreathed in golden lightning, racing through the impossible dimension.
At first glance, he appeared identical to the Barry who had just passed through. But subtle differences betrayed the truth: the expression in his eyes, the tension in his movements, the raw desperation in his posture. This was Barry from a different point in time—younger, less experienced.
A novice. A latecomer to the art of temporal manipulation.
-Inside the Time-Space Channel-
This Barry's eyes darted everywhere as he ran, drinking in every detail of the time-space channel with the wonder of someone seeing it for the first time. Each flickering light, each distortion of reality, was utterly new to him.
As his speed increased, fragments of memory manifested around him like ghostly images—scenes from his own life playing out in the temporal flow. A childhood birthday. His first day at the academy. The moment he inherited his father's research. These were not the points in time he sought. He had to go back further, break the balance completely, and save the ones he loved.
Then he saw her.
A young woman with golden hair and a radiant smile materialized in the temporal fragments ahead. Barry's breath caught in his throat. This was it—the exact moment before everything went wrong. If he could just reach this point, if he could stop the murderer before tragedy struck, all the disasters that followed could be prevented.
"Dad..." Barry whispered as he pushed himself faster, lightning crackling more intensely around his form. "I'll help you clear your name. I'll save her. I swear it."
The temporal node grew closer. Just a few more seconds—
Something cold brushed against his back.
Barry glanced over his shoulder and his blood turned to ice.
Countless black specters emerged from the depths of the time-space channel—inhuman shapes wreathed in darkness and malevolent energy. These were the Time Wraiths, guardians of the temporal corridor who existed solely to hunt down those who would break the timeline. Their purpose was absolute: eliminate cheaters who destroyed temporal continuity and correct the mistakes they caused.
The Time Wraiths shrieked with voices like tearing metal, their clawed hands reaching for the young speedster.
"No, no, no!" Panic flooded Barry's system. His inexperience showed immediately—instead of calculating an escape route, he simply ran on pure instinct. Faster. Had to go faster!
The temporal node he'd been aiming for rushed toward him, but the angle was wrong. In his desperation to escape the Time Wraiths, Barry lost control of his trajectory.
He overshot his target.
The world lurched sickeningly as Barry crashed through a different temporal barrier—one leading to an era far earlier than he'd intended. An era that belonged in history textbooks for citizens of the Holy Roman Empire.
"No! Not here!" his mind screamed, but momentum had already carried him too far.
The Time Wraiths' pursuit intensified, their screeching growing deafening as they closed the final distance. Their spectral claws raked across Barry's back, disrupting his connection to the time-space channel.
Reality shattered around him.
One moment, Barry existed in the impossible geometry of the temporal corridor. The next, he was falling through open air above a sun-drenched tropical sea.
The novice Barry was ejected from the time-space channel by the Time Wraiths' attack. He plummeted toward the ocean from a great height, the temporal shock scrambling his thoughts and threatening to render him unconscious.
"Help..." The word barely left his lips before darkness claimed him.
-Unknown Holiday Island, Year 1527-
It was a perfect day for fishing.
Admiral Borsalino sat on the small dock extending from the holiday island's pristine beach, a fishing line dangling lazily in the crystal-blue water. A lit cigar hung from his lips. His Marine coat lay folded beside him. For once, he felt genuinely relaxed.
The Marine Headquarters could handle itself for one afternoon. He'd earned this break.
Then something fell from the sky.
Borsalino's head tilted upward just in time to see a red-clad figure plummeting toward the ocean, unconscious and trailing wisps of golden lightning.
"Ohhh my..." The Admiral sighed heavily, already rising to his feet. "Can't a man fish in peace?"
His body transformed into light, crossing the distance to the falling stranger in an instant. Borsalino materialized beneath the young man, catching him before he could crash into the water. A moment later, both stood back on the dock.
The Admiral laid the stranger down carefully, studying his face with narrowed eyes. Something about this young man felt... familiar. Inexplicably, unnervingly familiar.
That's odd, Borsalino thought, his casual demeanor masking sudden alertness. I've never seen this person before in my life. So why does he feel like someone I know?
The young man's eyes fluttered open, consciousness returning gradually. He blinked several times, disoriented, then focused on the figure looming above him.
"Oh my god!" Barry bolted upright, eyes wide with shock. "The first-generation Flash! Wait—is that Cosplay? It's incredibly accurate! No, wait..." Confusion and panic warred across his face. "What year is it? What's the current year in the Sea Circle Calendar?"
Borsalino's eyebrows rose slightly. The young man had definitely hit his head. "Is there something wrong with the year 1527?"
"1527?!" Barry's voice cracked on the number. All color drained from his face. "No. No, no, no. Impossible! That's impossible!"
Before Borsalino could respond, the young man's emotional breakdown triggered his Devil Fruit power. Golden light erupted from Barry's body as he transformed into pure luminescence and vanished—shooting across the ocean like a comet.
Barry desperately needed to return to his own era. He could not remain in this past timeline for long, or temporal forces would begin assimilating him, trapping him in 1527 forever.
Admiral Borsalino stared at the direction where the stranger had disappeared, making no move to pursue. His fishing rod lay forgotten on the dock.
"So..." he murmured to himself, "that young man was also a Natural-type Devil Fruit user. And unless I'm very much mistaken..." His expression grew deadly serious. "He possessed the Pika Pika no Mi (Glint-Glint Fruit)—the exact same power as mine."
Two identical Devil Fruits existing simultaneously in the same time period. That should have been impossible. Devil Fruits were unique—only one of each could exist in the world at any given moment.
Which meant the young man wasn't from this time period at all.
Borsalino's vacation mood evaporated completely. His sixth sense—honed through decades of combat and investigation—screamed that something catastrophic was approaching.
In the Sky Screen footage, Admiral Kizaru retrieved his coat of justice and donned it with grim purpose. His body transformed into golden lightning as he began running across the ocean's surface, racing toward Marine Headquarters at speeds that bent the very air around him.
Whatever was coming, it would require the full attention of the Marines.
-Real World, Marine Headquarters, Present Day-
The contradictory footage left the audience across the Grand Line utterly baffled.
In the Marine war room, dozens of officers sat in stunned silence, trying to make sense of what they'd just witnessed. Why had two Barrys appeared in the time-space channel? And why did Admiral Kizaru seem different in each scene—first knowing the second-generation Flash, then meeting him as a complete stranger?
"This doesn't make any sense," Onigumo muttered, rubbing his temples. "The timeline is contradicting itself."
"Maybe the Sky Screen made an error?" another officer suggested weakly.
"The Sky Screen doesn't make errors," Vice Admiral Tsuru replied, her sharp mind already working through the implications. "If it's showing us contradictions, those contradictions exist for a reason."
Even some of the Marines known for being less intellectually inclined were starting to piece things together. The appearance of speedsters who could travel through time suggested something monumentally dangerous was approaching—and Admiral Kizaru appeared to be a key figure in whatever was coming.
In the present timeline, Borsalino had just returned to Marine Headquarters after escorting scientist Caesar Clown to his new assignment. The Admiral had been looking forward to an afternoon of minimal effort and maximum relaxation—his usual approach to work.
He'd barely settled into an inconspicuous corner of the war room, already planning his excuse to leave early, when the Sky Screen footage about the time-space channel began playing.
Now, every single Marine officer in the room was staring at him.
"Why..." Borsalino's wretched face twisted into an expression of genuine confusion. "Why is the Sky Screen dragging me into this mess? I don't even know how to travel through time! My Devil Fruit doesn't work that way!"
The scrutiny intensified as the footage showed not one, but multiple versions of Admiral Kizaru running through the temporal corridor.
Then came the moment that made the entire room fall into awkward silence.
On the Sky Screen, the naked elderly Borsalino ran through the time-space channel at high speed, his body parts bouncing and swaying with each stride in shocking anatomical detail.
Admiral Kuzan—Aokiji—broke the silence first. His eyes narrowed as he studied the footage, comparing what appeared on screen to his personal knowledge. As someone who regularly enjoyed hot spring baths with fellow Marines, Aokiji had seen most of his colleagues in their natural state.
Including Borsalino.
"That's definitely him," Kuzan announced in his lazy drawl, though his certainty was absolute. "Same body, same..." He gestured vaguely downward. "Same everything. Plus, nobody else in the world could replicate that exact level of wretched aura. This isn't a disguise or an impersonator."
The room erupted in whispers and poorly suppressed snickers.
Borsalino's face achieved a fascinating shade of red. "Could we perhaps focus on more relevant matters?!"
"What are you all staring at?" Admiral Sakazuki's voice cut through the noise like volcanic fury. The man's expression had darkened dangerously. Despite their differences in philosophy, he and Borsalino had been classmates at the Marine Academy—there was comradeship between them, whether either acknowledged it openly or not.
Seeing his colleague subjected to such humiliating scrutiny ignited Sakazuki's temper. "Enough! All of you have the same anatomy! This isn't the issue we should be discussing!" His fist slammed against the table, leaving a scorched handprint. "Stop wasting time on juvenile observations and figure out what the Sky Screen footage actually means! Why does the second-generation Flash appear twice?!"
The room sobered immediately under Admiral Akainu's rebuke. He was right—the real mystery wasn't Borsalino's physiology, but the temporal contradictions the Sky Screen had revealed.
Why had Barry appeared in different versions? What did the conflicting timelines signify?
While the other officers murmured theories and speculation, Borsalino remained silent, his mind working through the puzzle with surprising speed. As someone potentially at the center of these temporal events, he had more motivation than anyone to understand what was happening.
After several minutes of intense thought, the pieces finally clicked together.
"I believe I understand." Borsalino rose from his seat, his usual casual demeanor replaced by uncharacteristic seriousness. He needed to prove to his colleagues that he hadn't been hiding additional abilities—that this temporal nonsense was as new to him as it was to everyone else.
All eyes turned to the Admiral.
"The contradiction isn't difficult to explain once you consider multiple timelines," Borsalino began, moving to stand beside the projected Sky Screen image. "The first speedster that Kozuki Momonosuke encountered in the time-space channel—that must have been Barry arriving in the year 1527 for the first time. The two people chasing him came from a point further in the future."
He gestured at the frozen image showing three speedsters in pursuit. "This Barry must have caused some catastrophic outcome during his stay in 1527—something bad enough to require temporal correction. The future versions of myself and this second Flash were forced to chase him down and stop whatever he did wrong."
Murmurs of understanding rippled through the assembled officers.
"But Admiral Kizaru," Vice Admiral Doberman interjected, "if the speedster can cause changes to the timeline, doesn't that mean the future becomes unpredictable? How can we prepare for threats we can't foresee?"
"We can't," Borsalino admitted grimly. "That's precisely what makes temporal interference so dangerous."
Another officer raised their hand. "But how did you acquire the ability to travel through time? Is it an awakened power of the Pika Pika no Mi?"
Borsalino felt every eye in the room focus on him with renewed intensity. He could practically hear their thoughts: The old man's been holding out on us. He's had this power all along and never mentioned it.
"Although my maximum speed approaches the speed of light," Borsalino said slowly and clearly, "I have never been able to travel through time. Not once. Not ever. It's simply not something I can do." He met their skeptical gazes evenly. "You can stare at me all you want—that won't change the truth."
The explanation felt weak even to his own ears. The officers' expressions ranged from doubtful to outright disbelieving.
Most of the Marines didn't buy it for a second. Admiral Kizaru was infamous for his laziness and cunning nature. Of course he would hide powerful abilities to avoid extra work. This was probably just another one of his schemes—acting ignorant while secretly possessing reality-breaking powers.
Vice Admiral Tsuru's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "If you don't currently possess this ability, Borsalino, then perhaps you acquire it in the future. The Sky Screen shows events from multiple time periods—including ones that haven't occurred yet for us."
That observation sent a chill through the room.
If Admiral Kizaru would eventually gain the power to manipulate time itself, what else might change? What other abilities or catastrophes awaited them in the years ahead?
Borsalino sank back into his seat with a heavy sigh. His relaxing afternoon was thoroughly ruined, and somehow, he'd become the center of a temporal mystery he didn't understand and didn't want any part of.
"This is so troublesome..." he muttered, though no one paid attention to his complaint.
On the Sky Screen, the footage continued, promising more revelations about the twisted timelines and the consequences of interfering with the past.
The Marines watched with mounting dread, wondering what other impossible truths would be unveiled.