Ace's pupils shrank violently as he looked down at the assembled Whitebeard Pirates. "Stop lying!" he screamed. "Stop talking nonsense! You tried to stop me back then, and I..."
"I was the one who told you to go!" Whitebeard barked, cutting Ace off before he could finish. He turned slightly. "I told him to go, didn't I... Marco?"
"That's right! I heard it too," Marco said, looking up at Ace with a solemn expression. "You've had a rough time of it, Ace."
"On these seas, everyone should know exactly what happens to those who lay a hand on one of our own."
"We will never forgive anyone who harms you, Ace!"
"Just you wait. We're coming to save you right now!"
"YEAH!!"
"Prepare yourselves, Marines!"
"YEAH!!"
Even facing the most massive power in the world—the World Government—they didn't show a flicker of fear. This was the Whitebeard Pirates.
The Marine Headquarters? The "Greatest Military Power"? What did it matter? As pirates, they had cast aside the fear of death the moment they set sail. And besides, their "Pops" was Whitebeard!
Several kilometers away on the surface of the sea, Drake, Sabo, and Kenshin watched the scene in silence.
The shock hadn't quite worn off. Just moments ago, Whitebeard's seaquake had nearly claimed their lives. If they hadn't dove deep beneath the surface immediately, they would have been crushed into paste by the pressure of the waves. Only after the tsunami had passed did they feel safe enough to resurface.
Drake felt the impact most deeply. In his previous life, he knew the Gura Gura no Mi was strong, but he hadn't grasped the sheer scale of it. Earthquake power can't kill people? It can only destroy buildings? Seeing it in person changed everything. A casual strike could vibrate the entire ocean; to Whitebeard, a massive island like Marineford was likely just a toy. He could tilt the world whichever way he pleased.
To those who have never witnessed a tectonic shift, the true terror of this power is incomprehensible.
Whitebeard! Only one thought echoed in Drake's mind: the "Strongest Man in the World" was a monster of god-like proportions. If the Marines didn't have Aokiji on their side, Whitebeard's opening move might have wiped them out instantly.
"Drake, I'm worried about Luffy. He..." Sabo looked back over his shoulder.
"Don't worry, Luffy will be fine," Drake said, shaking his head. Right now, the battlefield ahead was their primary focus.
However, Drake felt a twinge of frustration. Looking at the execution platform, his eyes landed on the man in red sitting with his legs crossed in the center of the Admiral's row. It was Akainu. How on earth had he escaped so quickly?
It seemed the Paramount War was breaking out exactly as it was meant to. Is fate really unchangeable?
No, of course it is! Drake shook his head firmly. He glanced at Sabo, who was practically vibrating with suppressed fury, and a smirk touched his lips. This time, the variables have changed.
"Ace..." Sabo whispered, staring at his brother bound in chains and shackles. He looked like he was about to snap.
"Sabo... wait just a bit longer..." Drake warned, catching his arm. This war couldn't be won through brute force alone, not with the Warlords and the Admirals present. Their current group wasn't strong enough to suppress everyone through sheer might. If they charged in blindly, they would get bogged down and surrounded.
To win, they had to strike when the enemy least expected it.
"I know..." Sabo nodded slowly.
RUMBLE...
Suddenly, the sea became turbulent once more. The boundless ocean began to surge as if the entire world were shivering. This was the true resonance of Whitebeard's power.
Feeling the vibration of the world, Drake—who usually didn't crave Fruit powers for himself—couldn't help but feel a pang of desire. He wondered if that "dog system" of his could ever give him the Gura Gura no Mi. Reflecting on how he'd already obtained the Mera Mera and Goro Goro fruits in just a few days, his confidence grew.
I cannot let Blackbeard steal Whitebeard's power! Drake remembered how Teach became a dual-ability user later in the story. If that man got his hands on the earthquake power, he would become a nightmare to deal with.
"Sabo, Kenshin, I have to take care of something. Change into Marine uniforms and blend in with the ranks. Wait for the right moment to strike." Drake pulled out three flight units, and they each strapped them on.
"Got it!" Sabo and Kenshin exchanged a look and nodded heavily. Sabo, in particular, was determined not to let Ace out of his sight. As the Revolutionary second-in-command, he understood that the most efficient way to save Ace was to strike during the chaos of the peak battle.
With the flight units and the Protector, they had a guaranteed escape route. They were here for a rescue, not to solo the entire Marine army.
"Good. I'm moving out." Drake recalled the Protector into his system storage and dove into the sea, switching his flight unit to "Submersion Mode."
Sabo watched Drake vanish beneath the waves, pushed down his complex emotions, and turned to Kenshin. "Let's go."
As the gargantuan tsunami reached the bay, the two of them dove into the water. Drake had already proven to them that they could ignore the sea's curse thanks to the system's tech. Though it defied everything they knew as Fruit users, they had no choice but to trust the reality they had already experienced.
"What... what is that!?"
On the harbor, the Marines stared up at a wall of water that reached for the heavens. It grew larger and more terrifying by the second. Some of the newer recruits felt their legs give out, nearly collapsing in terror. The island felt tiny, a mere pebble about to be swallowed by the ocean's wrath.
"Tsunami!"
"He triggered a seaquake!" Sengoku's face was grim as he watched the roaring wall of water.
Even Garp couldn't help but speak up as he stared at the disaster. "The tremor-man of the Gura Gura no Mi... the Strongest Man in the World, Edward Newgate!"
In that moment, every soul in the harbor was shaken to their core. For the first time, the rank-and-file Marines realized just how vast the world was—and how terrifyingly far they were from the top.