High above the shattered battlefield, Filina sat leisurely on a cloud, legs crossed and golden revolver resting at her side. Her eyes sparkled with amusement as she gazed down at the man below a grizzled Navy vice admiral wielding a long, gleaming blade.
Vice Admiral Burning Mountain looked up with visible frustration. From the very start, this girl had refused to fight him head-on. Instead, she hid behind clouds, hurling bolts of lightning and summoning sudden rainstorms while occasionally taking potshots with her revolver. Each attack forced him to defend awkwardly, his patience stretched thin.
He could use Geppo, the Moonwalk technique, to reach the skies but maintaining it was exhausting, and even then, he couldn't reach the height where her clouds hovered. Worse yet, whenever he tried to retreat from battle, Filina rained down thunder, each bolt sizzling with enough force to make his bones hum. Without Armament Haki reinforcing his body, he would have been roasted alive long ago.
Grinding his teeth, Burning Mountain made a decision. Enough was enough.
He raised his long blade high, his entire body shrouded in hardening Haki, and with a roar, he swung. A massive arc of condensed energy erupted from the blade, slicing upward toward the girl.
Filina, who had been lounging casually, widened her eyes in alarm. The attack tore through the air like a guillotine. She jerked her hands forward, steering the cloud sharply to the side. The blade beam grazed past her, missing by a hair's breadth.
Burning Mountain seized the chance. His boots stomped through the air as he launched himself upward, closing the distance.
"Persistent old man," Filina muttered. With a flick of her wrist, she shifted the air currents around her. A roaring gust spiraled down, battering the vice admiral mid-ascent. His body wobbled in the air, but he pressed on, determination burning in his eyes.
Just as he was about to reach her cloud, Filina stretched out her hand. The surrounding moisture condensed instantly into a cluster of glittering ice spears that shot toward him like arrows.
Burning Mountain swung his sword wildly, shattering most of them, but a few found their mark piercing through his arm and shoulder. He winced but didn't stop. With a final push, he leapt onto the cloud's edge.
For a heartbeat, they stared at each other one exhausted, one smiling.
Then Filina snapped her fingers.
The cloud beneath them dissolved into vapor.
Both plummeted.
The sudden drop caught Burning Mountain completely off guard. He cursed, forcing himself to regain balance midair using Moonwalk again. Filina, however, seemed utterly calm. She fell freely for several seconds, her hair whipping in the wind until another pristine white cloud appeared beneath her, cushioning her fall.
Before the vice admiral could even recover, she was already soaring back into the sky atop her new perch. He fired off two razor-sharp kicks of compressed air, but Filina effortlessly twisted the cloud, dodging both attacks with ease.
Burning Mountain landed heavily on the ground, sweat dripping from his brow. Fighting this girl was torture. He couldn't reach her, couldn't hit her, and every time he thought he had her cornered, she just laughed and drifted away.
He sighed bitterly. "This is ridiculous…"
Filina, meanwhile, wasn't done teasing him. She pulled out her golden revolver, spinning it playfully around her finger before taking aim. Bullets of condensed energy burst from the weapon, forcing Burning Mountain to dodge frantically.
He was panting hard now, his endurance running out. "She's a devil," he muttered under his breath. "A flying, giggling little devil."
Up above, dark clouds began to gather. The air thickened, heavy with static. Filina lowered her revolver and pressed her palms together. Lightning crawled between her fingers as her voice turned cold.
The vice admiral sensed the pressure immediately. His instincts screamed danger. Black Haki flared across his body as he raised his sword again, shouting, "Come on then!"
A crescent of blackened energy flew upward toward the storming sky.
Filina smiled faintly. "Too slow."
Her voice rang clear as thunder. "Thunderclap!"
A blinding bolt tore from the heavens. The world exploded in light and sound. The impact rocked the battlefield, shattering stone and charring the earth. The shockwave blasted outward, sending a gale across the coast.
When the brightness faded, Burning Mountain staggered to his knees, smoke rising from his charred uniform. Haki had saved his life, but barely. His body trembled, nerves screaming in pain.
Filina blew a curl of hair from her face and holstered her revolver. "Hehe, you lost, mister. Eli and the others already finished their battles. I'm done playing. Bye-bye~"
Before he could respond, she and her cloud drifted gracefully into the distance, leaving the vice admiral slumped on the ground, helpless and humiliated.
Filina didn't return to Eli immediately. Instead, she guided her cloud toward Fiona, Simon, and Chiyo, who were regrouping nearby. Gion, the Navy officer Simon had fought earlier, had already been released and was sitting quietly in defeat.
Moments later, Borsalino (Kizaru) appeared, flashing across the battlefield in a beam of light. His usual lazy smirk was gone, replaced by rare seriousness. His eyes lingered on the fallen body of Sakazuki (Akainu) the once-fearsome admiral, now broken and bleeding.
He turned to Eli Winters. "Eli… my boy, could you spare Sakazuki's life?"
Eli stood with his arms crossed, expression cold. "Admiral Borsalino. Your Navy started this war. Now that you've lost, you beg for mercy?"
Borsalino scratched his head awkwardly, forcing a thin smile. "Well, that's true, but… if Sakazuki dies here, the Navy and the World Government won't take it lightly. That won't be good for anyone."
Eli glanced down at the dying admiral, whose breathing had slowed to a rasp. "He won't live," he said simply.
He wasn't exaggerating. When Eli had cleaved Akainu in half, the violent spatial energy had destroyed the man's organs completely. Even if Borsalino dragged him back to Marineford this instant, no doctor could save him. From the start, Eli had never intended to spare him.
Borsalino exhaled slowly, looking at the charred, motionless form of his comrade. Despite Akainu's flaws, they had fought side by side for decades. Seeing him fall filled the admiral with a hollow, bitter ache.
"Then…" he said quietly, "may I at least take his body home?"
Eli nodded. "You can. But first, there's something I need to do."
Borsalino frowned in confusion as Eli knelt beside the corpse, pulling several ordinary fruits from his storage space. With a wave of his hand, a translucent field of spatial energy enveloped Akainu's remains.
Moments later, Akainu's last breath left his body. One of the fruits began to twist and shimmer, transforming into a crimson fruit marked with swirling patterns.
Borsalino's eyes widened. "That's… the Magma-Magma Fruit. You you can extract Devil Fruits?"
Eli stood, catching the newly reborn fruit as it floated toward his hand. His tone was casual, almost amused. "Difficult? Not really."
He handed the body over to Borsalino. "He's yours. Do what you will."
Then he turned away, striding toward Fiona and the others, leaving Borsalino frozen in disbelief.
Eli rejoined his crew, ignoring the tense stares of the remaining Navy soldiers. His gaze softened as he took in the bruises, burns, and exhaustion etched across his comrades' faces. Yet beneath all that, he saw strength growth. They had fought, bled, and survived.
A proud smile spread across his lips. "Ha! We did it again," he said, laughing heartily.
The laughter spread like wildfire. Big Pan threw back his head and roared with joy, while Fiona leaned against Simon, grinning despite her wounds. Chiyo even managed a small smile, her feathers flickering faintly with blue light.
Across the field, silence fell among the surviving Marines. For them, this was no victory. The death of an admiral the fall of a pillar of justice was unthinkable. Their world had shifted, and for the first time, fear crept into their hearts.
Moments later, Borsalino returned, his expression unreadable. He stood before Eli once more and said quietly, "The joint operation between the Navy and the World Government has failed. But mark my words neither will forgive this. They will come for you again."
Eli's smile didn't fade. "They can try."
Borsalino studied him for a long moment, eyes deep as the sea. Then, without another word, he turned away and led the weary soldiers toward their ship.
As the engines roared to life, the Marine warship began its retreat, shrinking into the golden horizon. The losses were catastrophic not in numbers, but in meaning. A single admiral's death was enough to shake the foundation of the Navy itself.
Watching them go, Eli turned to his crew. "Let's head out," he said lightly. "They'll send stronger enemies next time. But hey if we can't beat them, we can always run."
The crew burst into laughter.
Eli summoned the Silver Dragon, its sleek frame gleaming beneath the sunset. Together, they boarded, and the ship sailed into the burning horizon toward whatever wild adventure awaited them next.
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