Sengoku's feelings were complicated.
Watching the sails of Whitebeard and the others vanish into the sea, the Marine Fleet Admiral—who had always seemed so vigorous—suddenly looked as though he had aged ten years. The light had completely left his eyes.
Akainu's expression, meanwhile, was incomparably grim, his entire body radiating fury with nowhere to go.
That fury unconsciously manifested as flowing magma. Endless heat poured forth, rapidly melting the glaciers within dozens of meters around him.
Amid the firelight and mist, Akainu could not help turning his head and casting a resentful glare at Garen.
"Uh?"
Garen felt rather uncomfortable under that stare. "Admiral Akainu, why are you staring at me like that?"
Another silence followed.
After a long while, Akainu finally forced out a sentence through gritted teeth, his face livid.
"Nothing."
Though he said it was "nothing," the tone in which Akainu spoke made it sound as though Garen owed him five million and had refused to pay it back.
After saying that, Akainu stopped paying Garen any attention, turned around, and left alone.
"What was that about?"
Watching Akainu's retreating back, Garen muttered in confusion.
"He lost the battle himself. What does that have to do with me?"
Hearing Garen's words, Sengoku could not help casting a complicated look at him.
Lost?
Judging from the outcome of the war, Teach had been rescued, some Impel Down prisoners had escaped, and the Whitebeard Pirates had emerged completely unscathed.
The Marines had indeed lost, and they had lost thoroughly.
But they had not lost in battle.
The moment Whitebeard made his move, heaven and earth shook, while the seas and skies churned. He was exceptionally skilled at fighting outnumbered, leaving Sengoku, Garp, Akainu, and the other top Marine powerhouses unable to gain any ground despite their combined assault.
But