Sabaody Archipelago.
The triumphant smiles on the citizens' faces vanished, wiped away by Kizaru's death. Even the reporters froze, their cameras lowering slowly. The scene's impact was too immense. A Marine Admiral had been turned to stone before their eyes and then shattered into a million pieces. First the hero Garp, and now Admiral Kizaru. In the span of a single hour, the Marines had lost two of their pillars. This wasn't just a loss for the Marines; it was the beginning of a great upheaval across the seas. Every top-tier fighter was a force that could sway the world's balance.
"Damn it, this has to be fake!" someone in the stunned crowd suddenly screamed, clutching their head in disbelief.
"It's over, another one's dead! How are the Marines so useless?!"
"Hah... what does this have to do with the Marines? It's all the fault of those damned pirates! So-called 'Warlords'... you can't trust any pirate!"
"Bastards! Hancock shot him in the back with a cheap shot!"
"The Marines lost two top fighters, and the Whitebeard Pirates only lost Ace... this is a crushing defeat!"
"Is Leo's crew planning a full-scale massacre?!"
"Holy shit, you don't think Leo intends to wipe out Marineford itself, do you?!"
That last comment sent a new wave of panic through the crowd. Countless citizens held their breath, their terrified eyes fixed on the giant screen, their hearts filled with a growing, nameless dread.
Marineford.
The golden Daibutsu, Sengoku, glared with furious eyes, a low chant emanating from him. "Cut the broadcast signal! Now!" he ordered, his voice a strained growl as he fought to maintain his composure.
As the Fleet Admiral, he had to remain rational. Right now, tens of thousands on Sabaody were watching this live. He didn't need to guess; the consecutive deaths of two Admiral-level fighters would severely shake the people's faith in the Marines. He had to act decisively.
Following Sengoku's command, the broadcast director immediately severed the external signal. The live feed died.
Sabaody Archipelago.
The numerous giant screens all went black simultaneously, emitting a sharp, static whine.
The citizens and reporters were thrown into a frenzy.
"Why? Why cut the feed?!"
"Marineford must be in a state of complete chaos!"
"Damn it! Are we going to see headlines tomorrow about Marineford being wiped off the map?!"
"With Leo's rise, the seas are plunging back into darkness!"
"Can justice truly not overcome evil?!"
The citizens' minds raced with the worst-case scenarios. Panic, pessimism, and anxiety spread like a virus. If their fears were realized and Marineford fell, pirates would run rampant, the world would be thrown back into a new, darker Great Pirate Era, and global chaos would ensue. With this terrifying thought, many citizens faced the black screens, clasped their hands together, closed their eyes, and began to pray. The reporters exchanged a look and then scattered, rushing back to their news agencies to file the story of the century.
Marineford, Main Headquarters Building.
Just as Leo was killing Kizaru, a group of uninvited guests had arrived, skulking in the shadows of the half-destroyed headquarters building, observing the battlefield. Their timing was impeccable—they witnessed Kizaru's petrification and subsequent shattering.
"G-Good grief, Captain! Leo's here too! Shouldn't we, uh, make ourselves scarce?!" Vasco Shot stammered, his drunken eyes widening in fear as he stared at Leo, instinctively shrinking back.
It was that psychopathic killer again! They'd only met once, in the depths of Impel Down, but Leo had left an indelible mark of terror on his soul. He remembered the scene clearly: Leo killing without a second thought. Pirates like Pizarro, Shiryu, World Destroyer Wadatsumi, the Demon Heir... names that made both Marines and pirates tremble. And what did Leo do? He slaughtered them all without a word. If killing those others could be considered taking advantage—Wadatsumi was hibernating, the others were chained—what about Garp? That was a genuine, Admiral-level kill! They hadn't seen it, but they'd heard the Marines' terrified cries. Some of the braver Marines were babbling incoherently.
"Captain, Vasco's right. Let's retreat. If Leo sets his sights on us, our small group is no match for him," Jesus Burgess, the champion who feared nothing, chimed in, his face pale. He'd横行 (rampaged) across the seas for years, but he'd finally met someone truly ruthless. The memory of the carnage in Impel Down's Starvation Hell made him shudder. He could still smell the metallic tang of blood.
Marshall D. Teach, Blackbeard, remained silent, his face a dark storm cloud, his gaze fixed on Whitebeard. He had waited and schemed for over a decade. He was so close! So close! The Tremor-Tremor Fruit was within his grasp. He could see that Whitebeard was on his last legs, running on fumes and sheer willpower. He didn't want to give up this golden opportunity.
"Zehahahaha... My crew, don't worry. We have no grudge with Leo. We've never provoked him. He has no reason to come after us," Blackbeard turned to his crew, forcing a wide grin, comforting them and himself. "Zehahaha... The Marines and the Whitebeard Pirates are finished! Once I get the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, the new era will be mine! Men, let's go make our entrance!"
With that, Blackbeard turned, ready to make his grand appearance. But the moment he lifted his foot, Burgess and the others' expressions changed dramatically. They grabbed him and yanked him back into the shadows.
Blackbeard's face immediately twisted in anger. "What are you doing?! If you don't even have the guts for this, how do you expect to follow me?!"
Burgess shook his head frantically. "Captain, look over there!"
Puzzled, Blackbeard turned his head. The next second, his pupils constricted to pinpricks. In his field of vision, Leo had appeared near the battlefield where Whitebeard and Akainu were fighting.
Catarina Devon, the Crescent Moon Hunter, smacked her forehead in sudden realization. "Captain, I just remembered! Leo seems to have the same... ability as you."
"What?!" Blackbeard frowned, confused.
Catarina Devon quickly recounted what she had witnessed in Impel Down's Level 6. Vasco Shot chimed in beside her, their stories matching perfectly.
"YOU IDIOTS! Why didn't you tell me something this important sooner?!" Blackbeard roared, his face purpling with rage.
"Captain, how were we supposed to know Leo would come to Marineford?" Vasco Shot retorted, scratching his head helplessly.
"Damn it!" Blackbeard clenched his fists, his expression shifting unpredictably as he stared at Leo. If what they said was true, then there was no doubt—Leo was here for the Tremor-Tremor Fruit.
"Let's go!!" After a long moment of internal struggle, Blackbeard spat out the words with immense reluctance and turned to leave.
Burgess and the others let out a collective sigh of relief, patting their chests as if a great weight had been lifted, and hurried after him. The Tremor-Tremor Fruit was powerful, but you had to be alive to enjoy it. Trying to take something from Leo was a suicide mission!
And so, Blackbeard, who had arrived at Marineford with grand ambitions, slunk away with his tail between his legs.
Waters off Marineford, in the thick fog.
From two different directions, two ships arrived late to the party.
On the Marine warship, the Commander-in-Chief of the World Government forces, Sengoku's predecessor, Kong, stood tall and imposing alongside Soma Z, a member of the revered God's Knights. After receiving Sengoku's urgent call, the Five Elder Stars had dispatched them immediately. Flanking them were the Admiral candidates, Momousagi and Chaton. Behind them stood hundreds of elite Cipher Pol agents, all masters of the Rokushiki martial arts.
As a member of the God's Knights, Soma Z normally wouldn't stoop to such a mission, but these were exceptional circumstances.
"Increase speed!!" Kong commanded, his arms crossed, his voice a low rumble. The scenes his Observation Haki was picking up were extremely dire.
The other ship was, naturally, the flagship of the Red Hair Pirates, the Red Force.
"We're too late," Shanks muttered, his brow furrowed as his own Haki painted a picture of the carnage. All he could sense was endless slaughter and death. The bay was a river of blood, a mountain of corpses. The sheer, terrifying killing intent and the horrifying scene made even his heart shudder. This war was more brutal than he had imagined.
"Shanks, we have company," Benn Beckman said, a rare look of gravity on his face as he stared into the mist.
Two powerful auras were approaching, not bothering to conceal themselves.
"Captain, it must be Marine reinforcements. Maybe we should leave," Lucky Roo suggested, frowning, the piece of meat in his hand suddenly seeming less appetizing. Even though Shanks was an Emperor, charging blindly into a war where everyone had blood in their eyes could backfire. It might not stop the war, but instead escalate it into a three-way battle.
Shanks shook his head, his gaze firm as he stared at the mist ahead. "If this war continues, it will only lead to more meaningless casualties! It has to end now!"
"Full speed ahead!" Shanks commanded in his capacity as captain.
Hearing this, Limejuice didn't hesitate. The Red Force cut through the waves, speeding towards the devastated Marineford.
Back at the Central Battlefield.
After successfully retrieving the Glint-Glint Fruit, Leo didn't pause for a second. He teleported away with Nami, Hancock, and Robin, delivering them safely back to their ship before instantly returning to Marineford. This time, he appeared in the area where Whitebeard and Akainu were fighting.
The Whitebeard before him was a mirror of his canonical end—a horrific, barely standing testament to pain and endurance. If not for the fact that his sons hadn't fully escaped, he would have likely collapsed already.
The moment they sensed Leo's return, Sengoku and Aokiji broke off and rushed towards his location.
"Gurarararara... My sons, move faster! Get out of Marineford!!" Even with death breathing down his neck, Whitebeard's spirit was unbroken. His fists, coated in shimmering vibration spheres, slammed into Akainu again and again, forcing the Admiral to vomit blood. Unfortunately, the tenacious dog just wouldn't die.
Akainu gave as good as he got, responding with searing magma fists. "Whitebeard, once I've killed you, your precious sons will be fish in a barrel!!" he snarled through gritted teeth, his entire body radiating killing intent.
"Sakazuki, do you think killing me will solve everything?" Whitebeard looked at Akainu with an impassive expression and shook his head. "Sakazuki, haven't you realized it yet?! Garp is dead. Kizaru is dead. The man Roger spoke of has appeared."
Akainu's pupils constricted sharply, Roger's final words flashing in his mind.
"Whitebeard, shut your mouth!" Akainu hissed coldly.
Whitebeard paid him no mind, continuing as if to himself. "Men die. Bloodlines end. But the will that is passed down... it exists forever. One day, someone will challenge this world. What you fear will eventually come to pass."
At this, Whitebeard grinned and roared with his final breath, his voice echoing across the world for the last time: "THE ONE PIECE... IS REAL!!!"
"WHITEBEARD, YOU DIE NOW!!!"
"Meteor Volcano!"
Hearing those final, world-shaking words, Akainu went berserk, unleashing his ultimate technique.
"GO TO HELL!!"
"Akainu, you can piss off for now!!"
At that moment, Leo's figure materialized. He delivered a powerful kick that sent Akainu flying hundreds of meters away.
Whitebeard used Murakumogiri to prop up his massive frame, his expression unreadable as he looked at the man who had appeared before him.
"You've come to finish me?" Whitebeard said, his voice calm. He could feel the killing intent emanating from Leo.
"Afraid so. Your Tremor-Tremor Fruit is just too tempting for me to pass up," Leo said with a shrug. "So, you'll have to die."
Leo's eyes turned sharp. The Seven Star Sword left its scabbard.
A flash of light cut through the air.
Whitebeard slowly closed his eyes.
A sudden gust of wind blew, catching his tattered cape and sending it fluttering into the distance, just like his life, forever gone.
And so, at 72 years old, the man who had dominated the seas for decades, the man who made Marines and pirates alike tremble in fear, the Strongest Man in the World, Edward Newgate, had fallen.
The moment Whitebeard died, Leo used a cloud wall to block all lines of sight and immediately retrieved the Tremor-Tremor Fruit. Without a second's delay, he teleported away. His Observation Haki had detected several powerful auras locking onto him—not just Sengoku, Akainu, and Aokiji, but several others. Four of these auras were, without a doubt, on par with a Marine Admiral.
The instant Leo vanished, a blood-red flying slash screamed through the space he had just occupied. It cleaved through the central Marine headquarters building and continued out to sea with undiminished force.
BOOM!!!
The island shook. The entire edge of Marineford where the slash hit crumbled and sank into the ocean, taking countless Marines and the few remaining Whitebeard pirates with it.
Leo's killing of Whitebeard and the arrival of the crimson slash happened in the blink of an eye. By the time the Whitebeard Pirates processed it, it was too late.
"No... Pops!!"
"Pops is dead!!"
"Bastards! It was Leo! Leo killed Pops!!"
"Why?! Why would he do that?!"
For a moment, the entire Whitebeard Pirate crew was plunged into utter despair, weeping and crying out in anguish.
The terrifying, unexpected slash then grabbed everyone's attention. Marines and grieving pirates alike turned to look in the direction from which it had come.
The Red Hair Pirates had made their landing.
Shanks led the way, his senior officers fanning out on either side of him. They stood in a line, a small but impossibly formidable force. Despite their few numbers, they erupted with a colossal, dominating pressure that instantly blanketed the entire battlefield.
"It's Shanks! One of the Four Emperors!"
"Damn it, why is he here?!"
"Are they reinforcements for the Whitebeard Pirates?!"
"Don't panic! We have backup too! Commander-in-Chief Kong is here, and Momousagi and Chaton!"
The Marines buzzed with anxious chatter at the arrival of the two new forces.
Sengoku, Akainu, and Aokiji, having regrouped, shared a complex look at Whitebeard's fallen form before quickly moving to confront the new arrivals at the edge of the bay.
Kong's face was dark as thunder as he surveyed the ravaged remains of Marineford. His gaze then shifted to a wary one as he looked at Red-Haired Shanks nearby.
Shanks swept his cold eyes across the battlefield, his voice filled with an undeniable, kingly authority. "Whitebeard and Ace are dead. I have come here to put an end to this war!"
His words echoed in the sudden silence. "I ask you all to give me face... and cease this meaningless slaughter!"
He paused, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword, Gryphon. His crew behind him tensed, their collective will a palpable force.
"Of course," Shanks added, his voice dropping to a dangerous, challenging tone, "if there's anyone here who hasn't had their fill of fighting yet... then we will be your opponents."
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T/N :
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