"You came back," Sakazuki said almost casually, and hundreds of people around the harbor fell silent.
Heat still rolled off his body, magma bubbling across his forearm, but he made no move to begin the confrontation everyone had expected.
Momonga looked from Sakazuki to Zaraki and back again, struggling to make sense of it.
One man stood for Absolute Justice; the other had openly killed a Celestial Dragon and fought the World Government's highest authority.
By now, they should have been tearing the harbor apart, yet Sakazuki simply stood there.
After studying him for a moment, Zaraki reached inside his coat and produced a battered metal flask.
He tossed it over, and Sakazuki caught it with his free hand, prompting the surrounding Marines to fall even quieter.
Sakazuki glanced from the flask to Zaraki, then unscrewed the cap and took a short swallow.
"Still tastes terrible."
He tossed it back, ignoring Zaraki's reminder that he had drunk it anyway.
His gaze passed over the torn clothes, dried blood, and exhaustion Zaraki was making little effort to hide.
"You look like hell. You've made one hell of a mess, too."
"Had a busy day," Zaraki replied as he caught the flask.
At least the accusation sounded more like the Sakazuki everyone knew.
The CP0 leader stepped forward, anger sharpening his voice. "Admiral Sakazuki. War Demon Zaraki has been designated a traitor by direct World Government order. He murdered Saint Charlos in Mary Geoise and violently resisted apprehension."
Sakazuki turned toward him, and the agent continued, "Stand aside. You're obstructing a lawful arrest."
The Admiral held his gaze but addressed Momonga. "Has Headquarters received an authenticated custody directive?"
"Not through the Marine command network," Momonga answered after a brief hesitation. The CP0 agent stiffened, and Sakazuki shifted the cigar between his teeth.
"Less than an hour ago, the World Government officially informed Headquarters that Zaraki was dead," he said evenly. "Now CP0 arrives in Marineford demanding the immediate arrest of that same dead man."
He let his magma-coated hand fall to his side. "I'm not disputing the authority of the Five Elders. But nobody starts a battle inside Marine Headquarters because a masked agent says the orders changed ten minutes ago."
The distinction was deliberate, and he left no room to mistake his instructions.
"Produce the authenticated directive and establish custody properly. Until then, nobody attacks anyone inside this fortress."
The agent accused him of deliberately obstructing CP0, but Sakazuki's expression only hardened.
"I'm preventing Cipher Pol from turning Marine Headquarters into a battlefield before we've even received the revised order. If you dislike the distinction, take it up with the Fleet Admiral."
Several Marines looked close to smiling.
Momonga did smile, though it did nothing to soften the order he called across the harbor.
"First and Third Mobile Units, secure the dock! Nobody fires unless fired upon!"
"YES, SIR!"
Hundreds of Marines moved into disciplined lines around the harbor.
Their rifles were not all trained on CP0 as though the Marines had suddenly declared war on the Government; they were sealing off the area so that neither side could escalate the confrontation without first going through them.
The agents understood perfectly well that Sakazuki was buying time, and he was making no attempt to disguise it.
But opening fire inside Marine Headquarters, with one of its three Admirals standing ten meters away, would turn an arrest into a conflict between the Government's own forces. Neither side wanted to be the first to cross that line.
Sakazuki turned back to Zaraki with a frown. "Did you actually think about what would happen if you came here openly? Sengoku and Garp are probably losing their minds."
"That's why I came openly," Zaraki said, unscrewing his flask. "Besides, it wouldn't be the first time for those two."
He drank, then looked past Sakazuki at the familiar fortress, the uniforms around him, and the enormous word Justice painted across the structure
Something in his expression suggested he was looking at it all for the last time.
"I came back because I still have things to settle here," he said calmly. "This will probably be the last time I walk through Marineford as one of you."
The Marines within earshot grew quiet again. Sakazuki studied him before asking the question no one else had dared to voice.
"What happened to Saint Nusjuro?"
Zaraki stopped drinking.
Several seconds passed before he lowered the flask and answered, "I cut his head off."
Momonga stared at him, Sakazuki's eyes narrowed, and several of the CP0 agents went rigid.
Before anyone could mistake what he meant, Zaraki added, "Then the bastard grew another one."
Even Sakazuki's cigar went still. His startled request for clarification earned a slight roll of Zaraki's shoulder.
"You heard me. I cut him apart badly enough that anyone else would've died several times over, but every time I opened him up, he put himself back together."
His golden eyes sharpened, and a faint smile touched his mouth as he looked directly into Morgans' Visual Den Den Mushi.
"So no, he isn't dead. But he lost."
Across the world, viewers held their breath.
The Government had announced that Nusjuro had executed Zaraki, yet here he was, alive in Marineford and publicly claiming to have beheaded one of the Five Elders—only to watch the man regenerate.
Sakazuki's expression became unreadable. "You realize what you just told the entire world?"
"Yeah. That's the point." Zaraki turned toward Marineford's central plaza and started walking.
Sakazuki watched him for a moment before calling after him, asking where he was going.
Zaraki answered without looking back. "To finish the announcement."
Whispers spread across the dock as he continued toward the plaza.
Behind him, Sakazuki stayed where he was, magma flowing slowly over one arm while CP0 struggled to reconcile its orders with the consequences of enforcing them inside Marine Headquarters.
For the moment, no one moved against Zaraki, and Morgans made certain the world saw every second.