NEW Marines Headquarters, Hope Island.
This island, which should have been filled with hope and ideals, was now shrouded in a heavy, oppressive atmosphere.
The sky was thick with dark clouds.
The sea wind howled past, whipping up countless whitecaps that crashed against the reefs along the shore with deep rumbles, like mournful wails.
The entire island was incomparably solemn.
All flags had been lowered to half-mast.
All the Marines wore black formal uniforms and stood on either side of the plaza with their heads bowed in silence.
At the very center of the plaza,
two coffins had been laid out.
They contained the bodies of Garp and Kuzan.
The story began half an hour earlier.
The moment Koby returned to Hope Island with the two mangled bodies and the Mermaid Kingdom's letter of condemnation,
the entire NEW Marines force was shaken.
The instant Sengoku received the news, he rushed to the harbor.
When he saw the two bodies lying on stretchers, already covered by white sheets,
he froze completely.
"Garp... Kuzan..."
His voice was hoarse and trembling.
With shaking hands, he lifted the white sheets.
Garp's once-stern face had lost all color, his body covered in gruesome wounds. The enormous penetrating wound in Kuzan's chest was even more horrifying.
"How... how could this happen..."
Sengoku's hands clenched into fists, veins bulging as he punched a hundred-meter trench into the sea.
"Bastard! Bastard!!! That bastard Shirahoshi!!!"
He let out a heart-wrenching roar filled with grief and fury.
Tsuru slowly walked over and gently placed a hand on Sengoku's shoulder.
"Sengoku..." Her voice was equally hoarse.
"I'm going! I'm going to kill her! I'm going to avenge Garp and Kuzan!!!"
Sengoku suddenly turned around, his eyes bloodshot like an enraged lion's.
"I'm gathering everyone! I'll make the Mermaid Kingdom pay for