The air was deathly silent, broken only by the sails snapping loudly in the sea wind.
Yamakaji and Gion both wore complicated expressions. They had been stopped cold by the pirate's final comparison.
From the Marines' standpoint, Zaraki was undoubtedly the winner. But from the perspective of a warrior, Ace's refusal to give up was genuinely worthy of respect.
Zaraki, however, acted as if he had not heard any of it.
He did not even look at the pirate at first. He merely stood up slowly and patted away dust from his trouser leg that was not there, his gaze passing over everyone before turning toward the sea that led to the throne of the world's strongest.
"Winner?"
He finally spoke, his voice lazy, as if he had just heard some boring joke.
"Only the weak care about winning or losing in other people's eyes."
The pirate froze, the mockery in his eyes stiffening on his face.
Zaraki finally lowered his head. For the first time, those bottomless eyes looked directly at him. There was no anger in them, no killing intent, only an indifference that made the pirate feel cold from the marrow of his bones.
"The respect and recognition you're talking about is nothing more than something handed down from above. Whitebeard accepted him because he could afford to. That doesn't make Ace stronger. It only means the old man had the strength to tolerate his will."
"As for me..."
Zaraki spread his mouth into a chilling smile, one filled with undisguised hunger.
"I'm going there to cut him... or be cut down by him."
That single sentence exploded in everyone's mind like a thunderclap.
Gion's hand clenched hard around Konpira.
Yamakaji sucked in a sharp breath, feeling a chill crawl up his spine.
This man was completely insane.
The Whitebeard Pirates crewman instantly lost every trace of color in his face, replaced by the terror of someone who had seen a ghost.
He thought Ace's story would shake this Marine monster, but he had never imagined that the family and glory he was so proud of were nothing more than a path toward a greater battle in the other man's eyes.
"You... you... monster..."
His lips trembled, and he could not form a complete sentence.
"Take him away."
Zaraki waved a hand again. This time, even the faint trace of amusement in his tone had disappeared, leaving only an unquestionable order.
The two Marine soldiers snapped back to themselves as if waking from a dream. Not daring to hesitate, they immediately lifted the pirate, who had already lost his spirit, and dragged him toward the temporary brig below deck.
"No... don't... Pops... Pops will..."
"Have our coordinates been sent to the Whitebeard Pirates?" Zaraki asked flatly.
The helmsman jolted and quickly answered loudly, "Report, Special Envoy! As you ordered, after Commander Atmos regained consciousness, he used his own Den Den Mushi to send a brief signal to the Moby Dick. Our heading and current coordinates were transmitted before the line was cut."
"Good."
Zaraki nodded in satisfaction.
"Full speed ahead."
"But Zaraki!"
Yamakaji could no longer hold back. He stepped forward, his voice strained.
"That's the same as sailing our ship straight into their cannon fire!"
"Cannon fire?"
Zaraki turned his head and glanced at him.
"No. That isn't cannon fire."
The corner of his mouth lifted again, and a kind of madness burned in his eyes.
"That's an invitation to the banquet."
The warship moved again, cutting through the waves as it charged without hesitation toward the depths of the New World, toward that forbidden sea ruled by the strongest man in the world.
No one spoke again.
Gion silently wiped down her Konpira, the cold gleam of the blade reflecting the equally cold battle intent in her eyes.
At some point, Smoker had also come out of the gravity room. He stood silently by the rail with two cigars clenched in his mouth, letting the thick smoke cover his face.
The sea wind grew stronger and stronger, filling the air with the salty scent of an approaching storm.
No one knew how much time passed before the lookout Marine's trembling voice spread across the entire warship through the Den Den Mushi.
"A-Ahead! Three o'clock! We've found... found a fleet!"
"Masts! Too many masts to count! And... and there's one... one huge pirate ship shaped like a whale!"
They had arrived.
Zaraki slowly walked to the bow, letting the fierce wind whip the cloak marked Justice across his back.
His Observation Haki spread outward across the waves, stretching toward the dark horizon.
He could "see" it.
At the end of his sight, on the dark, cloud-covered horizon, a black shadow like a moving island stood silently upon the sea.
And atop that shadow, a terrifying presence that seemed capable of crushing the entire world was slowly awakening.
The atmosphere on the deck was as heavy as the sea before a storm.
The Moby Dick.
Aboard this legendary whale-shaped ship, a silent pressure now lingered in the air.
Ace leaned against the rail, the sea wind blowing through the black hair on his forehead, but it could not blow away the knot between his brows.
The warmth of the Whitebeard Pirates truly was a sense of belonging he had never experienced before. But the battle with Zaraki, the memory of being crushed by pure violence, was like a thorn buried deep in his heart.
He had grown stronger.
But that man would only grow stronger too.
"Gurararara... Ace, still thinking about that Marine brat?"
Whitebeard's bold voice came from behind him.
The old man sat on his enormous personal throne, holding a gourd of liquor nearly as tall as Ace himself.
Ace did not turn around, but that pressure and concern made the air across the entire deck stir.
Ace clenched his fist and said in a low voice, "Pops... I just..."
"Zehahahahaha!"
An extremely abrupt and unpleasant laugh interrupted Ace.
Teach, the burly man with missing teeth, was holding a spyglass, his face full of unconcealed excitement. He strode over from the bow and shouted loudly.
"Pops! Commander Marco! Everyone! News! Huge news!"
"What are you making all that noise for, Teach?"
First Division Commander Marco lazily lifted his eyelids, though his gaze remained sharper than usual after Atmos's earlier cut-off signal.
"Did you pick up some gold or something?"
"This is worth way more than gold! Zehahahahaha!"
Teach spread his signature wide grin and slammed the spyglass against the rail.
"It's Commander Atmos's ship! Commander Atmos is back!"
The news instantly stirred the deck. Some pirates looked relieved, while others rushed toward the rail with worry still written across their faces.
"Atmos is back?"
"Great! I knew that guy had a tough life!"
From that distance, with sea haze blurring the two silhouettes together, it almost looked as if Atmos's vessel was leading a Marine warship back toward the Moby Dick.
Teach's next sentence fell into the crowd like a spark tossed into oil, instantly igniting the tension in another direction.
He pointed toward the distant horizon and announced in an excited voice, "And that's not all! There's a Marine warship with him! Maybe Commander Atmos dragged back that War Demon brat as a gift! Zehahahahaha!"
"What?!"
"Seriously?!"
"Nice work, Atmos!"
Cheers and whistles rose one after another.
The pirates surged toward the rail, fighting to look into the distance.
The oppressive atmosphere loosened for a moment, replaced by the rising excitement of a victory they desperately wanted to believe in.
Only Ace, the moment he heard those words, looked as if he had been struck by lightning.
His face froze.
'Impossible...'
'That guy... captured by Atmos?'
He understood Zaraki's terror better than anyone. That was not power a human being should possess.
Atmos was strong, yes, but against that man...
Ace's heart began pounding uncontrollably, and a powerful unease seized him.
"Move! Bring me a spyglass!"
"I want to see too! I want to see what that War Demon looks like when he's all beaten up!"
As the distance closed, the silhouettes of the ships gradually became clear even without a spyglass.
However, the cheers they expected did not continue.
The initial noise, as the two vessels grew larger and larger in their vision, gradually turned into whispers, and finally, into deathly silence.
Everyone's eyes froze on that stretch of sea.