The crowd parted before Zaraki, though not out of simple respect.
Fear had entered those faces now, mixed with curiosity, disbelief, and something far more complicated from Marines who had spent years watching him fight beneath the same flag.
Zaraki had walked this route through Marineford countless times.
As Headquarters' special envoy, the man known as the War Demon, he had crossed it beneath admiration, irritation, and occasional outright disbelief.
As the troublesome brat Garp had personally vouched for, he had spent enough time around the fortress to know every major road, tower, and training ground by sight.
Today, however, the familiar path felt different.
The World Government had publicly declared him dead.
CP0 had entered Marineford to arrest him.
And Zaraki had just announced to the entire world that one of the Five Elders could regenerate from decapitation.
There was no returning to normal after that.
His steps remained even despite the weakness still buried deep inside his body.
Creation Rebirth had repaired enough physical damage to keep him alive and moving, but it had not restored the Reiatsu consumed by Nozarashi or erased the exhaustion left by his prolonged duel with Nusjuro.
Even the Strength of a Hundred Seal was considerably dimmer than before.
He could still fight if necessary.
He simply had no interest in wasting what remained on opponents who did not matter.
Eventually, Zaraki stopped before one of Marineford's most recognizable landmarks.
The Ox Bell.
The ancient bell carried a tradition older than most of the Marines gathered in the plaza.
Eight tolls were used to bid farewell to the old year, followed by another eight to welcome the new.
Sixteen rings in total.
An ending followed by a beginning.
Zaraki looked up at the bell.
Understanding slowly spread through the nearby Marines.
"What is he doing?"
"He isn't seriously going to—"
"The Ox Bell?"
"You can't just ring that whenever you feel like it!"
Sakazuki had followed at a distance with Momonga and several senior officers.
Even he frowned when he realized what Zaraki intended to do.
Zaraki ignored all of them.
He stepped beneath the tower and wrapped both hands around the enormous wooden striker.
The movement sent pain through muscles that Creation Rebirth had only recently repaired, but he tightened his grip anyway.
Then he swung.
DOOOONG—!!
The first toll rolled across Marineford, deep enough to be felt through the stone underfoot as it spread beyond the fortress and across the surrounding bay.
Every whisper died.
Zaraki drew the striker back and swung again.
DOOOONG—!!
The second toll followed.
Then the third.
The fourth.
The fifth.
Around the plaza, Marines gradually began counting with each strike.
Six.
Seven.
Eight.
The first sequence ended.
Traditionally, those eight tolls marked a farewell to what had passed.
Zaraki paused for only a heartbeat before swinging again.
DOOOONG—!!
Nine.
The second sequence had begun.
Ten.
Eleven.
By the twelfth toll, even those unfamiliar with the tradition understood that Zaraki was not mourning and had no intention of celebrating some Marine victory.
He was taking an old ritual and turning it into something else entirely.
A declaration.
Thirteen.
Fourteen.
Fifteen.
Then the striker came forward one final time.
DOOOONG—!!
Sixteen.
The last toll rolled across Marineford and lingered in the air long after the striker had fallen still.
Across the world, Morgans' broadcast carried both the sound and the image of Zaraki standing beneath the bell. The first eight tolls had closed something, while the next eight had opened something else.
Whether Zaraki had any authority to declare an era ended no longer mattered.
The message had already gone out.
The world could decide for itself what it meant.
Zaraki released the striker and let his hands fall to his sides.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then another presence entered the plaza.
There was no theatrical explosion announcing the arrival, nor was one necessary.
A Government vessel had entered Marineford's outer harbor during the final tolls, coming directly from the blockade outside Headquarters after word spread that Zaraki had returned alive.
By the time the sixteenth bell faded, an elderly blond man in white robes stood atop the execution platform overlooking the plaza.
Saint Shepherd Ju Peter.
One of the Five Elders.
The same man who had personally delayed Sengoku and Garp's fleet only a short time earlier.
The temperature did not change, yet the atmosphere across Marineford shifted at once.
Thousands of Marines instinctively stiffened, while Sakazuki's expression darkened.
Ju Peter looked down at Zaraki.
Neither spoke for a long moment.
Then the Elder's voice carried across the plaza.
"What an entertaining spectacle."
Zaraki raised his head.
Ju Peter's gaze moved toward the Ox Bell.
"Sixteen tolls."
His expression remained distant.
"You imagine yourself important enough to announce the beginning of a new era?"
Zaraki shrugged.
"Apparently important enough that one Elder chased me halfway across the sea and another came all the way here to complain about a bell."
A dangerous silence followed.
Momonga briefly closed his eyes.
'He really can't help himself.'
Ju Peter's expression hardened.
"You murdered a World Noble, raised your weapon against the supreme authority of the World Government, fled lawful judgment, and now return to Marine Headquarters only to use one of its most sacred symbols to mock the order that created it."
His voice lowered.
"Enough."
Zaraki's right hand shifted closer to Nozarashi.
Sakazuki noticed.
So did Ju Peter.
The Elder slowly stepped forward.
"Your performance ends here."
Pressure rolled through Marineford.
There was nothing mysterious about it and no impossible force descending from some higher plane.
It was Haki, killing intent, and the simple psychological terror of one of the Five Elders standing personally inside Marine Headquarters with every intention of enforcing the World Government's authority.
Several weaker Marines lost color in their faces.
Others instinctively backed away.
Zaraki remained still.
His golden eyes sharpened.
Then Ju Peter began to transform.
His body expanded as his human shape rapidly distorted, giving way to the monstrous form of a gigantic Sandworm rising above the execution platform.
Its maw opened.
The air across Marineford began to move.
At first, it was only a breeze.
Then the pull strengthened.
Loose papers lifted from the ground, dust raced toward the execution platform, and unsecured weapons began sliding across the stone.
Several Marines shouted as the suction intensified enough to drag men forward.
Zaraki's coat snapped violently behind him.
Ju Peter's enormous maw opened wider, and the vacuum grew stronger still.
Stone cracked beneath boots as Marines struggled to hold their ground.
This was no longer an arrest.
The attack was threatening everyone in the plaza.
Sakazuki's expression changed.
Magma erupted across his arm.
"Enough."
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