Inside the Hall of Authority, the restraint vanished the moment Sengoku left.
"That bastard!"
Saturn slammed his palm against the armrest, cracking the wood. "He storms into this hall, threatens us with Garp, and walks away carrying our written concession. What's left of our authority?"
The other Elders wore equally dark expressions. Only Mars remained seated.
"There's no point breaking openly with Marine Headquarters over a matter that's already settled."
"Settled?" Saturn snapped. "You mean Zaraki?"
"He's almost certainly dead." Mars lifted his teacup. "Everything we know says his powers come from a Devil Fruit. He took Kaido's attack, fell into a boiling sea, and went under. Cipher Pol units already in the region searched through the night and found no trace."
The absence of a corpse didn't trouble him.
No injured ability user could have survived those waters, and the current had likely carried what remained far beyond where they were looking.
"A dead genius no longer matters," he continued. "Sengoku's threat was made in anger. Let him hold the Marines' strength together for us a little longer."
His voice lowered. "He won't be holding it forever."
Mars rose and walked to the tall window overlooking the cloud-covered Holy Land.
"The chamber beneath Mary Geoise is nearly ready. The final key has been found, and the work around the power of the gods is almost complete."
The words shifted the mood in the hall.
The anger on the other Elders' faces gave way to anticipation.
"Once the last piece is in place," Marss said, "the balance of the sea won't matter. Marine Headquarters, the Emperors, the Warlords—all of them become relics in the past."
Saturn slowly sat back down.
"You're right." His gaze hardened. "There's no reason to risk the foundation of the plan over a dead brat and an old Marine who'll soon lose his place in the age."
Nusjuro rested one hand on the hilt of the Shodai Kitetsu.
"Let Sengoku carry that list back to his servants of justice. As for Garp... when the time comes, I'll deal with him myself."
Silence returned to the hall, and beneath it, five cold intentions waited.
...
Three days after the Dressrosa incident, the Polar Tang moved through deep water beyond the Marine search grid.
Law had used the broken seabed under Dressrosa and the colder lower current to hide the submarine's sonar signature until they were well outside the patrol radius.
By the time Cipher Pol widened its search, the Heart Pirates were already on the route toward Kuraigana.
Inside the training room, the air smelled of steel, sweat, and machine oil.
"Mr. Zaraki, we're coming up on the marked waters," Bepo called through the intercom. "There's an uninhabited reef above us and a larger island a few miles ahead."
Zaraki opened his eyes.
He sat cross-legged on the floor in nothing but a loose pair of shorts, his chest and shoulder still wrapped in Law's bandages, sweat running down his skin and pooling beneath him.
Nozarashi rested beside his knee in its sealed form.
Three days earlier, not long after Law stabilized his injuries, the system had issued a long-term objective.
[Long-term Training Objective: Complete 10,000 focused sword swings while maintaining control of Nozarashi.]
[Completion reward: Final template synchronization.]
The timing had been obvious.
After Doflamingo, the system had displayed: [Current Zaraki Kenpachi template synchronization: 99.8%.]
Only 0.2 percent remained, and Zaraki had spent nearly every waking hour on it.
Law had forbidden him from releasing Nozarashi inside the submarine, and even Zaraki understood that splitting the Polar Tang open beneath the New World would be stupid.
So every swing had been physically complete—proper stance, his full weight behind it, focused intent—but the blade's Reiatsu stayed sealed.
The system rejected anything lazy.
A careless swing didn't count.
A distracted one didn't count. I
f his form slipped because of the pain, that didn't count either. It was why ten thousand swings had taken three days, even for him.
He rose and wrapped both hands around Nozarashi's hilt.
9,997.
The sealed blade cut through the air with a low hum.
9,998.
Pain pulled through his ribs, but his stance didn't change.
9,999.
Zaraki drew one final breath.
For the last swing he gathered his whole body into the motion, not letting a single thread of Reiatsu leak past the steel.
His foot settled, his hips turned, his shoulders followed, and Nozarashi came down in one clean arc.
Hum—!
The air shook around the blade, and the metal walls answered with a low resonance.
A mechanical voice sounded inside his mind.
[Long-term Training Objective completed.]
[Focused sword swings: 10,000/10,000.]
[Template synchronization increased by 0.2%.]
[Zaraki Kenpachi template synchronization: 100%.]
For the first time since the system had appeared, Zaraki forgot to breathe.
Then another message followed.
[Full template synchronization achieved.]
[Zanpakutō resonance function unlocked: Nozarashi Stabilization.]
[The host may now establish stable communication with Nozarashi's spirit and begin controlling the amount of Reiatsu consumed during release.]
The sealed blade trembled in his hands.
A low, hungry sound rolled through the room. It didn't come from the steel—it came from somewhere behind Zaraki's ribs.
The lights flickered.
Pressure spilled from Nozarashi before he could force it back down, and the training room walls groaned as warning lamps flashed red along the ceiling.
No rivets broke. No water came in. But the Polar Tang's alarm began screaming!
Outside the room, footsteps erupted.
"Captain!" Bepo shouted through the intercom. "The pressure's climbing!"
Zaraki's pupils narrowed. He could feel Nozarashi pulling at him, trying to drag his consciousness somewhere deeper while its Reiatsu searched for room to breathe.
If he let that release happen inside the submarine, Law's warning would be the least of their problems.
He turned toward the speaker. "Law!"
The door slid open and Trafalgar Law stepped in, Kikoku already drawn, his expression murderous.
"What did you do?"
"Nothing yet."
"That's not reassuring!"
The hull groaned again.
Zaraki tightened both hands around Nozarashi. "You said there's an empty reef above us."
Law understood immediately and raised one hand.
"ROOM."
A blue sphere expanded through the submarine and reached toward the shallow water above.
"Do not release that thing until you're outside."
Zaraki grinned. "No promises."
Law's expression darkened. "Shambles."
The training room vanished.
Cold wind struck Zaraki's face. In the next instant he stood on a barren reef beneath the open sky, seawater crashing against black stone around him while the Polar Tang stayed safely below.
Nozarashi's sealed blade screamed in his hands.
And somewhere beyond the edge of his vision, a woman's rough, amused voice finally spoke clearly.
'Took you long enough.'