The Pirate World, Marine Headquarters.
The Whitebeard Pirates, the Shichibukai, and countless Marines filled the place with gunsmoke, while the thunder of gunfire and cannon fire echoed without end.
Today was Fire Fist Ace's execution day. To save him, Whitebeard had brought the entire Whitebeard Pirates with him, and Monkey D. Luffy, whose name had shaken the seas, had also come here for his sworn brother Ace.
Akainu of the Marines watched the battered and disheveled Whitebeard Pirates before him. They had rescued Ace and were running away.
He knew that if they did everything in their power to flee, he certainly couldn't stop them. There was another way to keep them here: make them attack him.
In a head-on fight, Fire Fist Ace was no match for him, so Akainu spoke mockingly.
"You rescued Ace and ran away. The Whitebeard Pirates really are a bunch of cowards."
"But that's only natural. Your captain was just a loser from the last era, after all, so it's no surprise his crew turned out like this."
"A loser...?"
Fire Fist Ace suddenly stopped running. The muscles in his cheek twitched, flames rose from his body, and his face turned frighteningly dark. He turned to Akainu. "Take back what you just said!"
The people around them watched the scene. The Whitebeard Pirates were furious, but there was nothing they could do. They couldn't beat Akainu, and Ace, whose strength had already been severely depleted, couldn't possibly beat him either.
Seeing Ace stop, the triumphant smile on Akainu's face grew wider. Not only did he refuse to take back his words, he poured oil on the fire.
"Take it back? Haha, look at your father, Gol D. Roger. Though I shouldn't say it, even I have to admit he deserved the title of 'Pirate King.' Compared to him, Whitebeard is a complete and utter los-er!"
Ace's eyes widened, and the flames on his body burned with reckless abandon. Someone was slandering and insulting the person he respected most right in front of him. Ace couldn't bear it. Even if he knew he couldn't win, he would still fight.
"Akainu!"
He threw a punch wreathed in raging flames, colliding with Akainu's magma-covered right arm, only to be sent flying mercilessly.
"Hmph, just what I wanted. Now let's see who can protect that Straw Hat kid!"
After sending Ace flying with one punch, lava erupted from Akainu's right arm again. But this time, his target was no longer Ace. It was Luffy!
How could Luffy react to Akainu's sudden change of target? Akainu's figure loomed larger and larger in his eyes, and in a daze, he saw a smiling figure step in front of him.
Luffy blinked. Ace, who had been some distance away, was now standing in front of him, his chest pierced through by Akainu's fist!
"Ace!"
The pirates' eyes widened as they stared at Ace, his body pierced by Akainu's punch. Many felt as though a hammer had struck them hard in the chest.
This was especially true of Ace's grandfather, Marine Vice Admiral Iron Fist Garp.
Looking at Ace, his chest pierced through by Akainu, Garp instinctively started forward, walking toward Akainu one step at a time.
Fleet Admiral Sengoku the Buddha's pupils suddenly contracted. Seeing that something was wrong with Garp, he rushed forward and slammed Garp's head hard into the ground, shouting in his ear, "Garp, are you out of your mind? What are you going over there to do?!"
The force drove Garp's head deep into the ground, but Sengoku could still feel a tremendous force pushing back from Garp's head, as though he were struggling to control himself while constantly trying to get back up.
"That's right. Hold me down hard. I'm afraid that if you let go, Akainu's life won't be safe!"
Garp's head trembled constantly as the words came from his mouth one by one, almost through clenched teeth.
The hatred and murderous intent in his eyes were things Sengoku had rarely seen in all their time together.
Hearing this, Sengoku pressed down harder and harder, because he knew Garp was telling the truth. If he let go, Garp really would go over and kill Akainu without hesitation.
He was the only person present who could hold Garp down!
Garp was a Marine hero, the pillar of support for the vast majority of Marines. If Garp were allowed to attack Akainu, the Marines' faith would collapse completely at that moment!
"Oh heavens, Ace's chest was pierced through!"
"With an injury like that, there's no saving him!"
"I'm going to kill Akainu!"
"Idiot, come back! If we could kill him, we would have done it already. Don't throw your life away!"
The Whitebeard Pirates were on the verge of madness over Ace's death. Quite a few even intended to attack Akainu, just like Garp. If the people around them hadn't held them down with all their might, they too would have died horribly.
Luffy, who had been closest and witnessed Ace's death with his own eyes, had already fallen into madness. His grief was so overwhelming that he felt as though his brain were about to split open. Sorrow swallowed his mind in an instant, leaving him frozen where he stood.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. That really is a fatal injury. With this world's level of medical care, there's definitely no saving him."
A soft chuckle drifted over. Everyone's eyes suddenly widened. At some point, three figures had appeared beside Ace and Luffy.
"Han?"
Seeing the somewhat familiar figure at their head, a trace of surprise flashed through Whitebeard's eyes. The person who had suddenly appeared was none other than Han Yu, the owner of the general store he often visited!
"Hey, so this is the world of One Piece? How interesting! These people's body proportions are so strange!"
As soon as they arrived in the world of One Piece, Quicksilver, standing beside Han Yu, looked around curiously.
Every time they traveled to another world, the General Store System converted the appearances of Han Yu and those he brought with him to match the art style of the current world, though their body proportions remained unchanged.
So to Quicksilver and Wanda, the body proportions of the people in the world of One Piece were still strange, their bodies so tall and thin.
Han Yu turned to Wanda beside him. "Wanda, this kid seems to have cried himself into a daze. Help me bring him back to his senses. This will damage his mind."
"Okay."
Wanda nodded. Red light flickered around her slender fingers, and she extended her index finger, sending a thin thread of red light into Luffy's brain. The light gradually returned to his eyes, which had lost their luster from grief and pain.
Luffy asked in confusion, "I... what just happened to me? Did you save me?"
Wanda smiled and nodded.
"You... who are you? Can you save Ace? You can, right? You definitely can, right? I'm begging you, please save Ace!"
Now that Luffy had come to his senses, although he didn't know who Wanda and the others were, the fact that she had brought him back to his senses gave him an idea.
Perhaps they could save Ace!
"Don't worry. Now that I'm here, Ace won't die."
Han Yu stepped forward and patted Luffy on the shoulder with a chuckle.
Then, with a flash of light, a golden Senzu Bean with a strange fragrance appeared in his hand. He flicked it, and the Senzu Bean turned into a streak of light that flew toward Whitebeard.
"I'm going to treat Ace. I don't want anyone disturbing me."
Although Whitebeard still didn't know why Han Yu had appeared here, he wouldn't be foolish enough to ask stupid questions like "Why are you here?" or "Who exactly are you?" at a time like this. After catching the Senzu Bean, he immediately swallowed it.
As soon as the Senzu Bean entered his mouth, it turned into a warm current that surged through his body. A look of shock gradually appeared on Whitebeard's face.
His injuries and stamina were both rapidly recovering!
"Hmph, where did this brat come from? Chattering away here—die!"
Magma erupted from Akainu's arm once more, forming an armored gauntlet around it as he smashed it toward Han Yu with a terrifying heat.
Han Yu, however, stood unmoving.
Just then, a chilling gleam slashed toward Akainu from behind.
One simple, unadorned horizontal slash cut through Akainu's body!
"He said he didn't want anyone disturbing him. Can't you understand that?"
Not only Akainu, but even Fleet Admiral Sengoku, who stood not far away, failed to react. Everyone stared blankly at the man who had suddenly appeared between Akainu and Fire Fist Ace, stunned.
The person who had cut through Akainu's body was none other than Whitebeard, who had been at death's door.
"This bean is amazing. My injuries have all healed, and I'm even stronger than before!"
Whitebeard clenched his fists, feeling the power surging through his body. He had never felt so refreshed, and he even wanted to shout at the top of his lungs.
"You... how is this possible? What did you do?!"
Akainu retreated a considerable distance, his face full of disbelief. Although his body had been cut in two, he could still recover thanks to the Magma-Magma Fruit.
Others might only see the surface, but as an opponent on the same level, Akainu could tell that Whitebeard's body had fully returned to its prime!
There was even a faint sense that he had surpassed it!
"Hmph, fighting is all that matters. Why waste so many words?!"