...
[As everyone can see, Ace ultimately failed to escape with his life. However, even until his death, a smile remained on the corners of his mouth—he calmly accepted and faced his fate!]
[Ace felt very fulfilled in his final moments; the answer he had been searching for his whole life had finally been found…]
Linley's voice quietly narrated from the side.
But the war at Marineford did not end with Ace's death. The Marines' morale soared, and they launched a desperate counterattack!
If there was anyone suffering the most on the scene right now, it was undoubtedly Luffy, who had gone through untold hardships yet still failed to save his older brother.
Watching the brother he had just been fighting side by side with collapse in a pool of blood, Luffy still seemed unable to accept this reality even now…
[Looking at his hands stained with Ace's blood, Luffy began to tremble. In the end, Luffy helplessly chose to accept this truth!]
"Aaahhhhh!"
Luffy's cries were heartbreaking. His mentality had completely collapsed. His body had already been on the verge of breaking down, and now his spirit had shattered too.
Memories of Luffy and Ace—the little moments they shared—floated before Luffy's eyes. Among the two of them, there seemed to be another child as well, but that child's figure was pitch black, its facial features completely invisible.
The three of them were laughing and playing together without a care in the world!
At this time, Garp—still pinned to the ground—heard Luffy's cries and saw the cold corpse lying there. Tears and snot poured uncontrollably down his face.
Where was there any Navy Hero? In the end, Garp was just a powerless grandfather who couldn't save either of his two grandsons.
With Ace's death, the Pirate King's bloodline had been completely severed.
"Ace!!!"
"Akainu, you bastard!"
"Revenge for Ace!"
…
The surrounding Whitebeard Pirates, witnessing Ace's fall, all shed tears of blood. Their eyes bulged with rage as they glared at Sakazuki.
Right now, Luffy couldn't hear anyone's voice, couldn't take in anyone's words.
He simply knelt in front of Ace, sobbing nonstop. Even when blood began spilling from his mouth from crying so hard, he showed no sign of stopping!
"A…ce!"
After shouting Ace's name one last time, Luffy's expression froze. The piercing, wretched sound suddenly cut off!
This scene was fully witnessed by Ivankov behind him. With one glance, he could tell that Luffy had reached the absolute limit of grief.
His body and mind had suffered an unprecedented shock.
Just as Ivankov prepared to rush forward to rescue him, surging magma began erupting. Sakazuki, like a rabid dog, still refused to let Luffy go.
Even though he had already killed Ace, even though the Whitebeard Pirates' battle plan had failed, he was still determined to kill Luffy.
To eliminate this bloodline that was even more "dangerous" than Ace's!
Just as Sakazuki's magma fist—every bit as devastating as the one that struck Ace—came smashing down toward Luffy, a blue-green figure instantly flashed in and blocked the attack!
It was none other than the 1st Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, Phoenix Marco!
"I won't let you get away with this any longer. I won't let you kill this kid!"
Marco endured Sakazuki's magma while Jinbe took the opening to carry Luffy away.
Although seeing Ace on the ground felt like a knife twisting in Jinbe's heart, protecting Luffy was the top priority right now!
Seeing Luffy being taken away, Sakazuki panicked. He suddenly exerted force, knocking Marco back several steps, but Marco's body still held firm.
"Jinbe, hurry and get Ace's little brother out of here! The Straw Hat kid's life is Ace's living will. We have to protect him in Ace's place…"
"If anything happens to him too, it will be the eternal shame of the Whitebeard Pirates!"
Marco displayed the full dignity of a 1st Division Commander. With his passionate speech, the pirates who had just been weeping instantly rallied their spirits.
That's right—Ace may have died, but the Straw Hat kid was still alive. They had to protect this little brother in Ace's stead!
…
At this moment, everyone in God Valley turned their gazes toward Garp and toward Dragon, who was currently receiving treatment over there.
Sakazuki's obsession with Luffy, in their eyes, stemmed from Dragon founding the Revolutionary Army and rebelling against those scumbags of the World Government.
"Garp, you really are an interesting guy. Your son became a revolutionary, your two grandsons became pirates, and yet you're a Marine!"
Golden Lion started running his mouth again. Though he understood Garp's position left him powerless, that didn't stop him from looking down on so-called justice.
At this point, Roger exhaled a heavy breath. He had just digested all this information alone, and the process had been quite painful, to say the least.
As if sensing that Roger's emotions had finally stabilized, little Shanks reached out his hand, wanting to play with him. This action made Roger laugh quite heartily.
"Hey! Rayleigh, Scopper—come look at this! This little guy seems to really like me. Looks like I'm pretty popular with kids, huh!"
"Hahahaha!"
Seeing Shanks taking a liking to him, Roger swept away his earlier gloom and began showing off his personal charm to everyone one by one.
Although Shamrock hadn't interacted much with Roger, Shanks had—and Roger just wanted all the pirates and Marines present to know!
He wasn't the super-villain the rumors made him out to be. There were still kids who liked him.
Watching Roger clown around, the Roger Pirates along with Shakky and Gloriosa were all amused by him. The other big shots simply looked on speechlessly.
They hadn't known Roger for just a day or two. This man could be extremely serious at times… and extremely childish at others.
"Damn pirates!"
Saint Garling watched Roger parading around holding his own son, feeling like his lungs were about to explode with rage. This was simply too damn humiliating.
With Roger acting so smug like this, anyone who didn't know better might actually think the child was Roger's son.
The grudge of having his son stolen, the hatred of having his wife taken—both crimes committed by the Roger Pirates. Right now, Saint Garling truly wanted to find a tofu block and smash his head against it.
"Hm? Where did Kaido and Linlin go?!"
Just as Roger was fooling around, Golden Lion suddenly realized something. He quickly turned and looked around, but the two troublemakers were nowhere to be seen on the scene.
Rocks had actually noticed their disappearance long ago. Earlier, Linlin had quietly ridden Zeus toward the rear forest, and Kaido had stealthily followed after her.
Even before that, when Rayleigh went to rescue Shakky—these things seemed unnoticed by anyone, but in truth, Rocks had seen it all!
However, although Rocks knew, he wouldn't ask questions. His wife and child had returned to his side; there was nothing left for him to worry about.
…
"Such an outrageous thing actually exists in this world… I never imagined we'd encounter an opportunity like this!"
At this moment, deep inside the Celestial Dragons' No. 1 Prize Warehouse.
While everyone's attention was drawn to the light screen above the central plaza, two small figures strolled in as if no one were around, swaggering straight into this heavily guarded place.
"What a once-in-a-lifetime chance!"
Little Ivankov stared at the Devil Fruit with strange patterns in his hand, his eyes gleaming with excitement.
Beside him, young Kuma silently gripped another fruit, his expression grave yet tinged with confusion.
"Even though we can't tell which is which… as long as we eat them—"
"BOOM!!"
Before the words were finished, the wall shattered explosively!
A massive hand burst in with terrifying momentum, instantly pinning Ivankov hard against the wall.
Amid the swirling dust and smoke, Charlotte Linlin's towering figure slowly emerged.
"Mamama— that was close!"
Big Mom suppressed Ivankov with one hand while deftly snatching the Devil Fruit from his grasp with the other.
Her greedy gaze immediately shifted to the one in Kuma's palm: "That one… hand it over too!"
"Eat it quick!!" Ivankov shouted hoarsely while restrained.
Though Kuma didn't fully understand, he didn't hesitate—he bit down. The Paw-Paw Fruit's juices burst between his lips and teeth.
"Fine, fine. Since it's already eaten, there's nothing to be done."
Big Mom clicked her tongue in displeasure, then proudly raised her trophy.
"At least we got the Fish-Fish Fruit! I'll take it back for Katakuri… my pirate crew could really use a powerful fighter like this!"
Just as she reveled in her victory, a ferocious figure had already silently risen from the shadows behind her.
"Hand it over!"
"BOOM!!!"
Kaido's full-powered kanabo strike came whistling through the air and crashed down with devastating force!
Even the so-called "Steel Balloon" Big Mom was momentarily dazed by this sudden, unprepared blow.
The precious fruit flew into the air. Strangely, it seemed to be calling out to Kaido in some fateful way.
Without the slightest hesitation, Kaido leaped up and swallowed the Fish-Fish Fruit whole!
"Mmm…"
"This packs a punch! What a kick to the taste!"
"Uooohhh!!"
Only now did Big Mom, knocked to the ground, fully regain her senses.
Struggling to lift her head, she saw Kaido savoring the last bit of fruit pulp with an intoxicated look.
The Fish-Fish Fruit she had placed such high hopes on had vanished forever into his stomach.
...