The Judgment of Absolute Justice

The eyes of the world converged on the words on the Sky Screen. Billions of people held their breath at once.

[Subject of punishment: Marine Admiral Akainu Sakazuki]

[Reason for punishment: Carrying out the slaughter of civilians in the name of absolute justice, disregarding the value of life, and creating an irreparable human tragedy]

[Punishment one: The permanent mark "Slaughterer's Fire" will be applied. A dark red flame mark visible to the naked eye will burn permanently across the surface of his body. All who see the mark will feel the fear and despair of those who died aboard Ohara's evacuation ship]

[Punishment two: The power granted by his belief in "absolute justice" will be stripped away. The power of his Magma-Magma Fruit will decrease by thirty percent for the next seventy-two hours]

Two pillars of dark red light descended from the Sky Screen, piercing the clouds and passing over Marine Headquarters before striking Akainu squarely on both arms.

Akainu's body swayed.

Just once.

He steadied himself and looked down at his arms. Dark red flame marks were spreading across his skin, extending from his wrists all the way to his shoulders like burning chains.

The marks gave off a faint glow, casting countless tiny shadows in the air.

Several Marine soldiers closest to Akainu suddenly clutched their chests, expressions of extreme agony appearing on their faces.

"It's terrifying."

A soldier fell to his knees, his voice trembling.

"I can feel it. Someone's crying, someone's screaming for help. So many people."

"It's the people on the evacuation ship."

Another soldier crouched down, clutching his head in both hands.

"They're burning. They're struggling in the sea. I can feel it."

The fear and despair radiating from Akainu's marks spread outward with him at the center. Everyone who came near him would be afflicted by that aura of death from twenty-two years ago.

Akainu looked down at the soldiers kneeling on the ground, his face devoid of any unnecessary expression.

He turned and walked toward the Fleet Admiral's office, step by step. Marine soldiers moved aside to make way wherever he went, not out of awe, but out of instinctive fear.

No one dared approach him anymore.

From that day on, there would forever be an empty space around Akainu.

Kizaru stood at the other end of the corridor, his sunglasses reflecting the golden light from the Sky Screen. He watched Akainu walk away and, for once, let out a sigh.

"Good grief, things are getting troublesome."

The punishment decreed on the Sky Screen was not over.

The system's voice rang out again, this time in an entirely different tone.

[In view of the severity of the Ohara Incident, the system will grant a compensatory reward to a victim of this incident]

[Reward recipient: Nico Robin]

[Reason for reward: As the sole survivor of Ohara, she endured twenty years of pursuit and loneliness, yet never abandoned her search for the truth of history]

[Reward: The title "Last Archaeologist" will be granted, the awakening potential of the Flower-Flower Fruit will be activated, and a precious document from the Ohara library will be bestowed: the "Burned Poneglyph Translation Fragment"]

A soft blue light descended from the Sky Screen, passed through the roof in Water 7, and enveloped Robin as she stood by the window.

Robin's body trembled slightly.

The blue light carried no hint of hostility. It was as warm as a mother's hand, like Dr. Clover's voice when he spoke of history, like Vice Admiral Saul's dying words telling her to keep living with a smile.

She closed her eyes.

Tears slipped from beneath her closed eyelids.

"Robin."

Nami wrapped an arm around her shoulders, her voice trembling too.

"Look, someone remembers. Someone cares."

Robin said nothing. She merely nodded gently and pressed her right hand to her chest, feeling the power awakening inside her.

The Flower-Flower Fruit's ability underwent a subtle change as the blue light poured into her. She could feel an unprecedented possibility blooming at her fingertips.

But more than the improvement in her ability, it was the fragment from the Ohara library that truly overwhelmed her.

A yellowed page materialized before her in the blue light. The writing on it was Ancient Script, but she could read it.

She could read every word.

Her lips trembled slightly as she scanned the text. More and more tears filled her eyes, but her expression slowly changed.

From sadness to surprise.

From surprise to shock.

From shock to an almost reverent ecstasy.

"This is..."

Her voice shook.

"This is a fragment of the Void Century."

The Sabaody Archipelago.

Luffy watched the image on the Sky Screen of Robin enveloped in blue light, and his clenched fists finally loosened a little.

"Robin got a reward too."

"Yeah."

Zoro leaned against the wall, a bottle of liquor in his hand.

"This livestream is annoying, but at least it did a decent job with Robin."

Luffy didn't answer. He looked up at the Sky Screen, too many complicated things churning in his eyes.

There was worry for Ace, anger at Teach, hatred for Akainu, and heartache over what Robin had been through.

But in the end, all those emotions settled into a simple, pure resolve.

"Zoro."

"Yeah?"

"We have to get stronger. A hundred times, a thousand times stronger than we are now."

Zoro glanced at him and downed the last of the liquor in his bottle.

"No kidding."

The image on the Sky Screen changed again. The special segment on Ohara had come to an end, but the system didn't give the world much time to catch its breath.

New words were already taking shape in the golden light.

[One of the Marines' hidden crimes has been presented]

[Attention: Under the terms of Fleet Admiral Sengoku's punishment, the Marines' ten greatest hidden crimes will be revealed one by one over the next ten days]

[The next crime will be broadcast automatically in twenty-four hours]

[Now, returning to the main ranking: the Ten Great War Criminals—Fleet Admiral Sengoku, seventh among them—has already been judged]

[The Ten Great War Criminals ranking continues]

[Sixth place will soon be revealed]

Hearts around the world leaped into throats again.

They hadn't even finished digesting what happened with Sengoku, and already someone new was coming.

At Marine Headquarters, everyone's eyes darted between the Sky Screen and one another. A tense sense of an approaching storm filled the air.

Who would be sixth?

Would it be another Marine?

Could it be one of the Three Admirals?

Could it be someone even higher up?

Golden characters appeared stroke by stroke on the Sky Screen.

Lin Qi yawned in the tavern, his fingers dancing across the keyboard. The Ohara story had gotten him a little worked up, and he still hadn't completely calmed down, but as a veteran One Piece fan, he knew what to arrange next.

"Places six through four have to go to the people who really stirred things up on the battlefield."

He typed in the name for sixth place, a hint of anticipation at the corner of his mouth.

"This guy's performance in the Paramount War was the best supporting act of the whole thing. Without his crazy moves, the war wouldn't have played out like that."

He pressed Enter.

The words on the Sky Screen appeared in full.

[Ten Great War Criminals, sixth place]

[Shichibukai, Pirate Empress, Boa Hancock]

The world fell silent for half a second, then erupted.

"The Empress? How could it be the Empress?"

"Isn't the Pirate Empress the most beautiful woman in the world? How did she become a war criminal?"

"The one from Amazon Lily? She actually took part in the Paramount War?"

The soldiers in Marine Plaza looked at one another. Many of them blushed at the mere mention of the Empress.

But the question that immediately followed on the Sky Screen made everyone's expression change.

[Question: During the Paramount War, what did the Shichibukai Boa Hancock secretly do while serving as an allied force on the Marines' side]

[A. Assassinated a Marine officer on the battlefield]

[B. Used her Shichibukai status as cover to help Monkey D. Luffy infiltrate Marineford]

[C. Petrified soldiers on both sides of the battlefield, creating chaos]

[D. All of the above]

In the East Blue tavern, Lin Qi looked at the data linking Luffy and Boa Hancock on his screen, thoroughly amused.

"This Empress was absolutely unhinged over Luffy. Going undercover in the enemy camp to help her secret crush fight her own side—isn't that just Infernal Affairs in an ancient setting?"

He popped another peanut into his mouth.

"Come to think of it, does that count as being a war criminal? She's obviously just love-struck."

On Amazon Lily Island, Boa Hancock sat in her palace with her legs crossed and her chin raised slightly, looking up at the Sky Screen from her trademark haughty angle.

"Luffy."

She spoke only that one name, and a tenderness appeared on her face that even she didn't notice.

"This livestream mentioned Luffy's name. I am very displeased."

Sandersonia, the Kuja Pirates' vice captain, stood beside her, unsure how to respond.

"Elder Sister, it said you were a war criminal."

"It doesn't matter."

Boa Hancock turned over and buried her face in the cushion on the snake-shaped armrest.

"As long as Luffy doesn't hate me, that's enough."

The countdown on the Sky Screen had already begun.