The island of Marineford was bleeding out into the ocean.
The catastrophic, bottomless canyon carved by Edward Newgate's bisento had fundamentally altered the geography of the World Government's stronghold. The churning, freezing seawater rushed into the fifty-yard-wide abyss, creating a violent, localized maelstrom that completely severed the retreating Whitebeard Pirates from the furious Marine army.
On the southern side of the chasm, the retreat was a harrowing, agonizing marathon.
Monkey D. Luffy's sandals slapped against the blood-stained permafrost. His breath rattled in his chest, a wet, wheezing sound that spoke of punctured lungs and failing organs. Slung heavily over his shoulder, Portgas D. Ace was practically dead weight, his wrists still bound by the heavy, strength-sapping Seastone shackles.
"Keep running!" Zoro barked, running backward for a few paces to scan the sky for any stray light beams before turning forward again. "Don't look back, Luffy! Just look at the ships!"
"I'm looking!" Luffy choked out, his vision swimming with dark spots.
Sanji flanked them on the right, his black suit in tatters, keeping a watchful eye on the remaining Marine stragglers who had been cut off on their side of the fault line. Most of the infantrymen were too terrified by the Dark King's presence to even raise their rifles, parting like the Red Sea as the pirates ran past.
Silvers Rayleigh brought up the rear. The silver-haired legend walked with long, purposeful strides, his black blade drawn, acting as an impenetrable, moving fortress. He occasionally swatted away a stray cannonball from the Marine side of the chasm with casual, terrifying ease, his Observation Haki forming an absolute dome of protection around the brothers.
But across the abyss, on the northern front, a monster was refusing to let his prey slip away.
Admiral Akainu stood near the sheer, vertical drop of the canyon. The Red Dog was a terrifying sight. The left side of his crisp Marine suit was entirely incinerated, his flesh constantly bubbling and churning as thick, dark red magma dripped onto the bedrock, melting the stone instantly.
"HA... HA..."
He was breathing heavily, his chest heaving as he recovered from Whitebeard's physical throw. He looked past the towering, immovable silhouette of the Emperor standing a few yards away. He looked across the churning water at the backs of Monkey D. Luffy and Portgas D. Ace.
The execution had failed. The physical pursuit had been completely cut off by Whitebeard's tectonic strike.
Akainu's fanatical, obsessive hatred burned hotter than his Devil Fruit. If he could not reach them with his fists, if he could not incinerate them with his magma, he would use the one weapon that had never failed to draw a pirate out of hiding.
Pride.
INHALE.
Akainu stepped forward, standing precariously close to the edge of the chasm. He filled his lungs, drawing upon a massive reserve of Haki to project his voice. He didn't just shout; he made sure his words carried over the roaring wind, over the crashing waves, and over the deafening clashes of the war.
"AND SO, THE GREAT WHITEBEARD PIRATES FLEE WITH THEIR TAILS BETWEEN THEIR LEGS!"
Akainu's voice boomed across the abyss, dripping with a venomous, suffocating malice that sent a shiver down the spines of the retreating commanders.
"BUT I SUPPOSE I SHOULDN'T BE SURPRISED!" Akainu continued, his eyes locked entirely on the shackled figure of the Fire Fist.
"THE CREW IS ONLY REFLECTING THE TRUE NATURE OF THEIR CAPTAIN!"
On the southern side of the chasm, the retreating pirates visibly flinched.
"Ignore him!" Marco the Phoenix yelled, soaring overhead, though his own jaw was clenched tight. "It's an obvious provocation! Don't stop running!"
But Akainu was a master of psychological butchery. He knew exactly where the armor was weakest.
"WHITEBEARD IS NOTHING BUT A LOSER FROM A BYGONE ERA!" Akainu roared, the words striking the air like physical blows.
"HE COWERED IN THE SHADOW OF ROGER HIS ENTIRE LIFE!"
"A FUCKING LOSER!"
"HE NEVER HAD THE GUTS TO CLAIM THE TITLE OF KING, SO HE GATHERED A BUNCH OF PATHETIC FAGGOTS ON A SHIP AND PLAYED 'FATHER' TO PRETEND HE WAS GREAT!"
Luffy felt the sudden, violent shift in the weight on his shoulder.
"AHHH!!!! I'LL KILL HIM!!"
Ace's body, which had been limp and exhausted, suddenly went crazy. The Seastone chains rattled sharply against the ice.
"Ace?" Luffy gasped, stumbling slightly.
"WHAT A TRASH EXISTENCE!" Akainu's voice continued to batter them, twisting the knife deeper.
"AND NOW, HE DIES HERE, SACRIFICING HIS LIFE JUST TO LET A PIECE OF DEMON SPAWN SCURRY AWAY INTO THE NIGHT!"
"A COWARD, DYING A COWARD'S DEATH!"
"SO BE IT!"
The footsteps stopped.
Luffy's boots skidded on the permafrost. He was physically forced to halt because Ace had violently planted his own feet into the ice, completely arresting their forward momentum.
"Ace, what are you doing?!" Luffy panicked, his lungs burning as he tried to pull his brother forward. "We have to go!"
"Hey! Fire Fist! Don't be an idiot!" Zoro barked, spinning around, his eyes widening in sudden alarm.
Ace didn't hear them. He didn't feel the biting cold, and he didn't feel the exhaustion draining his life away. The world had narrowed down to a single, blinding pinpoint of pure, unadulterated rage.
The magma words had found their mark.
Ace slowly stood up straight, slipping off Luffy's shoulder. He turned around, facing the massive chasm. He looked across the abyss, locking eyes with the red-suited Admiral standing on the opposite cliff.
"GRRHNN!"
Ace's face was twisted into a mask of absolute, feral fury. The veins bulged in his neck. His teeth were bared in a snarl that belonged to a cornered beast.
This was his fatal flaw.
It was the same flaw that had made him turn back to fight Bluejam when he was a child. It was the same flaw that had made him hunt Blackbeard across the Grand Line.
He could endure any physical torture, but he would absolutely never, under any circumstances, allow anyone to insult the people he loved!
"ACE! STOP!" Luffy screamed, dropping his stance and grabbing Ace's arm, desperately trying to pull him back.
But Ace's rage gave him a terrifying, unnatural surge of adrenaline. He ripped his arm free from Luffy's grip, the heavy Seastone chains swinging violently.
"TAKE IT BACK!" Ace roared, his voice tearing his throat apart, echoing across the canyon with equal ferocity.
Across the abyss, Admiral Akainu's face split into a dark, victorious smirk.
'Got you!', the Red Dog thought, the magma bubbling violently up his right arm, expanding into a massive, molten fist. The idiot had stopped. The target was stationary. The bait had been swallowed whole.
"TAKE BACK WHAT YOU SAID ABOUT POPS, YOU AKAINU!" Ace screamed, taking a heavy, furious step toward the edge of the chasm, fully intending to throw himself across the gap and tear the Admiral's throat out with his bare, shackled hands.
"HE IS THE GREATEST PIRATE TO EVER LIVE!"
"He is a loser, and so are you!" Akainu yelled back, raising his magma fist, preparing to launch a concentrated, long-range Meigo directly at Ace's exposed chest.
May it be suicidal, but Portgase D. Ace jumped and-
THWACK! BONK!!