"The plan, carried out at the cost of her life, ultimately…"
Knowing full well that she stood no chance against him, Vice Admiral Peach Rabbit, Gion, trembled as she gripped her long blade. She staggered back several steps before her back hit the wall. Her gaze dropped to the floor as she muttered weakly,
"Fa… failed…"
"Heh," Shirogai let out a quiet chuckle. "To willingly walk into a trap like that is worthy of respect. Even though I was the one targeted, I still admire Vice Admiral Tsuru's resolve."
He looked at the mature woman before him. Despite her grief and age, her bearing remained dignified.
"Compared to those Marines who sacrifice others to uphold their own justice," Shirogai continued calmly, "Vice Admiral Tsuru stood on an entirely different level."
He took a step forward.
Her self-sacrifice was enough to stir something even in him, but it was not enough to make him hesitate.
"Wait."
Peach Rabbit slowly straightened herself. Her expression was complicated as she looked at Shirogai. From within her uniform, pressed against her chest, she pulled out a still-warm envelope and handed it to him. Her voice was hoarse.
"Nee-san gave this to me before she died. She said that if you were not assimilated by her sense of justice, I was to give this to you."
Shirogai accepted the envelope and smiled faintly.
"She even prepared for her own failure. Truly deserving of her reputation as the Marine's greatest strategist."
He opened the letter. The handwriting inside was elegant yet firm, refined yet commanding.
---
To Shirogai Yamikuro,
If you are reading this letter, then my plan has failed.
This outcome was already within my expectations. Against a man of immeasurable strength like you, the probability of failure was always high.
Although your beliefs were not forcibly altered, you must have seen fragments of my past and gained some understanding of the Marine.
The Marine is not a truly just organization. This is not only your belief, but one shared by many within its ranks.
However, this world cannot exist without the Marine.
It is rotten, yet not beyond salvation.
Within it still stand individuals who genuinely uphold justice. Though corrupted soil has nurtured twisted forms of justice, it has also allowed true justice to survive.
The Marine still has hope.
Sengoku and Garp saw in you the hope to change the world's balance. I saw in you the hope to change the Marine itself.
I truly wished to succeed, even if it meant sacrificing my life to create a chance for transformation.
Unfortunately, I failed.
Justice where all are born equal. Justice where ordinary people can live in peace.
When I heard those words from you, I regretted that you were not a Marine. At the same time, I was glad that someone shared my beliefs.
What I could not achieve in my lifetime, you may yet accomplish.
If one day you stand at the head of the Marine, the future Marine may finally break free of its shackles and become a true guardian of world order.
I will not live to see that day.
If the Marine ever becomes your enemy, I hope you will show mercy, as you have before.
Many Marines are blinded by the World Government. Their eyes have been covered since birth.
They were deceived.
So were we.
Sengoku and Garp are not as complicit as you may believe. We simply no longer have room to escape.
The world does not belong to the Celestial Dragons, nor to the World Government. It belongs to everyone.
The tragedy is that we saw the truth but lacked the strength to break free.
Those who speak the truth are persecuted. Instead of open rebellion, we chose compromise, protecting what we could.
That choice is both our sin and our burden.
We delay disaster, knowing it will still come.
The Marine's sins belong to this era, but its merit belongs to eternity.
We are executioners who serve tyranny, and guardians who protect the people.
The Marine has never been a destroyer of order.
Just as pirates have never been guardians of it.
This world needs the liberation brought by pirates, and the silent repairs made by the Marine.
If destruction alone could save the world, why did Gol D. Roger surrender himself, using his death to ignite a new era?
One final truth.
The declaration of the ONE PIECE was a plan discussed with Sengoku and Garp long before Roger's execution.
Would you believe it?
Please do not condemn the Marine for its sins. Help this world instead.
The Marine has never been the world's enemy.
The true enemy has always been there.
Tsuru
---
Sizzle.
The letter was tossed into the air and ignited instantly, burning cleanly until only black ash drifted to the ground.
"…Interesting."
Shirogai glanced at Peach Rabbit, who stared at the ashes with reddened eyes.
"The contents were too interesting. I could not leave it behind as a keepsake."
"…I know," she said quietly. "I'm just a little…"
Her voice broke as tears fell onto the plaza floor.
"I'm soft-hearted," Shirogai said calmly, already turning away. "I don't like seeing people cry."
"So I choose not to look."
"You…" Peach Rabbit, Gion glared at his retreating back, her chest heaving in frustration.
Was this what Nee-san meant?
A man capable of changing the world, perhaps even the Marine itself, yet utterly incapable of offering comfort.
Could someone like this truly change the world?
She doubted it deeply.
"We are not meeting again. Goodbye," Shirogai said casually, waving a hand.
Whoosh.
His figure vanished, leaving Peach Rabbit alone with the ashes of her fallen sister.
"Nee-san… you're really gone…"
Her gaze lingered on the blackened remains, her heart heavy with grief.
…
Marineford Plaza.
Five monstrous figures, wreathed in blazing black energy, charged in from different directions.
"Gurarararara! Come on, you filthy monsters!"
A towering old man with a crescent-shaped white mustache roared with laughter as he threw a punch.
Boom!
The air shattered. Tremendous vibrations rippled outward, warping the space itself.
Crack. Crack.
The five figures, their Conqueror's Haki surging violently, collided head-on with the old man.
Sizzle!
The plaza trembled violently, already ruined ground collapsing even further. Black lightning crackled where their Haki clashed.
Rumble!
The clouds above Marineford twisted and broke apart, forming distorted patterns across the sky.
Sizzle!
Under the crushing pressure of five overlapping Conqueror's Haki, the old man was forced back. His own Haki was overwhelmed.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Deep trenches formed beneath his feet as he slid backward. He finally stopped by driving his long blade into the ground.
"Old Man! I'm coming!" Ace roared from afar, flames bursting from his body.
"Ace, stop!" the old man barked, yanking his blade free and glaring at the charging enemies.
"Do you want to disobey your Old Man? Get out of here!"
He did not have even a minute left.
Before he died, he had to buy time for his children to escape.
---