At the bow of the Moby Dick—
The twisted grin on Lucian Thorn's face was crystal-clear even from the execution platform—and it burned into Fleet Admiral Sengoku's eyes.
That grin was laced with cruelty… and a hint of cat-and-mouse mockery.
For reasons he couldn't explain, despite having everything under control, a sudden chill surged up Sengoku's spine, making his back tingle.
'Just nerves?'
'He's just a brat on the brink of death. What tricks could he possibly have left?'
"Still bluffing, even with one foot in the grave!"
Suppressing his unease, Sengoku sneered and delivered an icy verdict to the Whitebeard Pirates below, his voice amplified across the battlefield by Den Den Mushi.
"Who do you think you are? God?!"
"Hahahaha! This guy's gone mad!"
"Still talking about surprises in front of the Fleet Admiral's perfect plan?"
"What a pathetic delusion! This is the end of the line for pirates!"
Laughter erupted from the Marines on both sides of the wall.
From their perspective, Whitebeard had already fallen, and the pirates were trapped in the encirclement wall, left with nothing but death.
Lucian's words were nothing more than the desperate ramblings of a man at death's door.
Even the Whitebeard Pirates looked at him in confusion.
They didn't understand—
What could Lucian possibly mean… in such an utterly hopeless situation?
And yet…
Amid the wave of ridicule and despair—
Lucian moved.
Ignoring every gaze, he calmly lifted his foot and leapt from the towering bow of the Moby Dick!
Thud!
His feet slammed onto the frozen battlefield.
He stood at the center of the entire war!
Under the eyes of the world—
Amid the Marines' sneers and the puzzled stares of his comrades—
Amid everyone's stunned silence—
Lucian placed both hands before his chest in an incomprehensible, intricate hand sign.
"Now then…"
He spoke softly, the curve of his grin growing bolder.
"Get ready."
At the moment his voice fell—
His clasped hands slammed against the ice beneath him!
"It's time, System."
Lucian's mind issued the final command:
"Summon."
『Yes!』
『Temporal Summon—Initiated!』[1]
Immediately—
Behind Lucian, the empty air began to ripple violently like the surface of water.
Everyone instinctively turned their eyes to the black-haired youth at the center of the ice.
And what did they see?
The empty space behind Lucian… without warning… cracked like shattered glass!
Three massive rifts, stretching into the sky and the earth, tore through reality with screeching cries that pierced the ears!
"Wh-What the hell is that?!"
A Marine Vice Admiral pointed at the colossal rifts in space-time, his voice shrill with pure terror.
Sengoku's face went pale in an instant!
The unease in his heart exploded into full-blown panic.
'What… what kind of ability is this?'
'What the hell is that brat trying to do?!'
But before they could even recover from the shock—
The first rift stirred!
A wave of Conqueror's Haki, both familiar and overwhelming, surged out like a tidal wave that threatened to crush the entire world!
And then—
A towering, broad-shouldered figure stepped out from the golden light, holding a familiar naginata in hand.
His body bore no wounds, no signs of age—his eyes were filled with supreme confidence and dominating presence.
He looked around the battlefield, scanning every familiar face—until his eyes locked onto the kneeling, bloodied version of himself.
Then he grinned—
And unleashed a roar that shook the era itself.
"GURARARARARA—!!!"
"Missed me, my sons?!"
"Pops?!"
"Wait—there's TWO Pops?!"
Aside from Marco and the current Whitebeard, every other crew member—Jozu, Vista, and the rest—stood frozen in disbelief.
That face, that weapon, that laugh…
It was their Pops.
But whole. Untouched. In his prime. Radiating unstoppable Haki.
"This… this is impossible!!!"
On the platform, Sengoku screamed in disbelief.
At the same time—
From the second rift, another figure emerged.
Golden-haired, glasses perched on his face, a lazy smile playing on his lips—but his eyes were piercing, sharp enough to see through the world.
His hand rested gently on the hilt at his waist.
That alone released a sword aura so sharp it blanketed the entire battlefield.
Dracule Mihawk's pupils shrank instantly!
Even Kizaru's ever-lewd grin froze on his face.
The man who stepped forth was the Dark King—
Silvers Rayleigh, First Mate to the Pirate King, in his prime.
"Oh my, what a grand stage this is."
"R-Rayleigh?!"
Garp exclaimed in shock. He recognized the man who had once been the Navy's greatest headache!
The Dark King—Silvers Rayleigh!
And he, too, had returned in his prime.
If a peak Whitebeard and a peak Rayleigh weren't already terrifying enough—
Then when the third rift stirred, every heart on the battlefield nearly stopped.
"Hahaha! I smell meat!"
A straw-hatted boy tumbled out of the rift, chomping on a massive chunk of meat, bouncing across the ice like a rubber ball.
Following closely behind—
A green-haired man stepped through, three swords at his waist, a black bandana on his head, and an aura so fierce it felt demonic.
"Lu… Luffy?!"
Garp stared blankly at the new arrival—his grandson.
And the other Luffy on the ice wore a stunned expression.
"Who… are you?!"
Silence.
A deathly silence.
From Sengoku at the top to the lowest-ranked Marine on the ground—
Everyone stood frozen, minds blank.
They saw—
A peak Whitebeard.
A peak Silvers Rayleigh.
A version of Luffy.
And a Roronoa Zoro whose presence nearly rivaled that of Hawk Eyes.
The steel cage—once filled with cannon fire, laser blasts, and screams—fell utterly silent.
The world seemed to hold only those four figures.
And the young man in front of them—
Still smiling.
Lucian Thorn slowly looked up, his eyes passing over the stunned Marines until they locked on Sengoku, whose face had gone ghost white.
His smile grew cold.
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku."
"Are you enjoying my surprise?"
"Well then…"
"Shall we raise some hell?"