The pitch-black shroud draped over Edward Newgate's standing corpse rippled like stagnant water. A suffocating pressure settled over the central plaza, heavy with ozone, blood, and scorched iron.
Slowly, the black cloth was pulled back.
Marshall D. Teach emerged from the shadow, his chest heaving with adrenaline. Blood still ran from Teach's mouth after Whitebeard's final strike, but his eyes burned with triumph.
Teach raised his left hand. The dark aura of the Yami Yami no Mi flared outward, casting long shadows across the stone floor. Then, with a wide grin, he raised his right hand.
A pale, spherical bubble cracked into existence around his right fist. The unmistakable signature of the Gura Gura no Mi.
Teach threw his right arm forward. The air shattered like glass, and a violent shockwave detonated across the clearing. The remnants of Marineford's central headquarters buckled, stone towers shearing in half and crashing into the harbor in a cascading roar of dust.
"Zehahaha! Zehahahaha!" Teach's roar tore through the sound of falling masonry. "Darkness in one hand! The power to destroy the world in the other! They're both mine now!"
Fear swept through the battlefield.
"Two Devil Fruit powers...?" Vice Admiral Dalmatian tightened his grip on his saber. "That should have killed him."
High on the shattered execution platform, Fleet Admiral Sengoku stared at Teach's raised fists. "He stole Newgate's power... How?"
Draped in a heavy Marine coat behind the Red Hair line, Tenjin watched through blurring eyes as cool water was continuously applied to his blistered neck by the trembling medics. Every Devil Fruit encyclopedia and Marine record said the same thing: one person, one power. A second fruit meant death. Yet Teach stood there laughing with both hands raised.
As Teach boasted, turning his wild laughter toward the heavens, a fresh surge of rage burned through Tenjin's chest.
It wasn't just the unnatural impossibility of the act. It was the man holding the power.
Teach had set the tragedy in motion. He had murdered Thatch, defeated Ace, and handed him to the World Government to buy a Warlord title. Then he had used the war as cover to break into Impel Down, recruit monsters, and arrive at Marineford only when Whitebeard was already dying. Now he was parading the old man's stolen power like a prize. Ace was dead because of this parasite's scheming.
"You... bastard..." Tenjin gritted out, his voice a dry rasp.
A surge of hatred overrode the excruciating pain radiating from his scorched torso. Tenjin dug his blood-caked fingers into the cracked stone, forcing his burnt elbows to lock. He tried to drag his weight upward, determined to tear into Teach with his bare teeth if he had to.
"Captain! Stop! Your skin is torn to the flesh!" a medic screamed in panic, reaching out to hold him back.
Tenjin ignored the voice, forcing his knees underneath his body. But the moment he applied pressure, his raw leg muscles seized violently. The severe magma burns from Akainu's attack tore open afresh beneath his bandages, bright red blood soaking through the white cotton. Tenjin's vision turned instantly black, his body collapsing back onto the cold cobblestones with a heavy thud, his lungs gasping for air.
Boa Hancock immediately stepped over him, placing a gentle yet firm hand on his uninjured upper arm to pin him down, her eyes flashing with furious concern. "Lie still, Tenjinl! You will kill yourself!"
Before Teach could unleash another destructive wave across the plaza, a solitary figure moved past the collapsing Marine line.
Shanks stepped forward into the wide open stretch of ruined stone between Teach and the Admirals. His sword, Gryphon, remained unsheathed in his right hand, its steel gleaming beneath the smoke-choked sky. His demeanor carried none of Tenjin's blind rage; it was cold, precise, and weighed down by immense pressure.
"Teach," Shanks said, his voice quiet yet carrying clearly over the crackle of burning wood.
Teach's grin faltered as he looked toward Shanks. The pale quake aura around his fist flickered slightly as he registered the Emperor's presence.
"If you intend to unleash more destruction here," Shanks stated calmly, his dark eyes locking onto Teach with terrifying focus, "then you and your crew will face us next."
Behind Shanks, Benn Beckman smoothly cocked his rifle, Lucky Roux took a step forward, and the senior officers of the Red Hair Pirates spread out into combat positions.
Teach chuckled nervously, taking a slow step back into the shadow of his crew. He had just gained the Gura Gura no Mi, but his body was still battered from Whitebeard's final assault, and his fresh Level 6 recruits were not ready for an immediate, full-scale battle against a fresh Yonko crew.
"Zehahaha..." Teach muttered, sweeping his dark cloak around himself. "A face-off with the Red Hair Pirates? Not today, Shanks... I've gotten what I came for. It's not time for our clash just yet."
With that, Teach turned his back, leading the Blackbeard Pirates toward the rear ruins to make their escape.
Shanks did not pursue. Instead, he turned his body to face the entire central plaza, his gaze sweeping over the blood-soaked Marines, the frozen Admirals, and the fleeing Whitebeard commanders.
He raised his voice, a command born of iron willpower echoing off the shattered cliffs of Marineford.
"To all Marines! To all pirates!" Shanks declared, his Conqueror's Haki rippling gently through the air. "If anyone still wishes to fight... if anyone still hungers for blood... then step forward! We will be your opponents!"
Silence descended upon the battlefield.
Akainu gritted his teeth, his magma-laden arm bubbling furiously, yet he did not advance. Kizaru let the light gathering at his fingertips fade, while Aokiji slowly exhaled a frost-laden breath and made no move to continue.
Lying in the dust, Tenjin stared up at the grey sky, a bitter, rancid taste filling his mouth.
The Navy's objective had already been met. Ace was dead. Whitebeard was dead. Yet the Admirals and senior officers had continued to butcher fleeing men, pushing the slaughter past all reason until a pirate, an Emperor of the Sea had to step onto their fortress to force the Marines to act with basic humanity. For the first time, the words Absolute Justice sounded rotten.
High above, Fleet Admiral Sengoku closed his eyes, letting out a heavy breath that carried the weight of an era's end.
"I will take full responsibility for this..." Sengoku proclaimed, his voice echoing across the silent plaza. "The war... is over!"
Around Tenjin, nobody celebrated. Koby remained on his knees behind Grus, staring at the place where Akainu's fist would have killed him. Hancock's hand stayed locked around Tenjin's arm, as though she expected him to rise and attack Teach the moment she relaxed. Even the surviving pirates did not cheer. They gathered their wounded, carried their dead, and withdrew beneath the watch of the Red Hair Pirates.
Across Marineford, rifles lowered. Swords returned to their sheaths. The cannons fell silent. For the first time since Whitebeard entered the bay, Tenjin could hear the wounded breathing.
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