Chapter 974: The Only One He Couldn't Face Was His Past Self. "First match!"
Scarlet's voice rang out again:
"Monkey D. Luffy versus Marco."
"Please enter the ring."
"Coming!"
Luffy leaped up excitedly and landed firmly in the ring, which looked as good as new.
Marco silently straightened his collar, then walked into the ring one step at a time.
Azure flames quietly kindled around him.
He stood at one end of the ring, his expression cold and his hands in his pockets, watching the boy across from him eagerly limbering up his wrists.
Inside him, the gloom he had suppressed for two whole years slowly began to surge.
Marineford, two years ago.
He had replayed the events of that day countless times over the past two years.
He remembered Pops standing beneath the Execution Platform, taking on three of the world's mightiest fighters all by himself.
He remembered Pops covered in blood, yet still standing tall.
That memory didn't torment him.
Because he was the ship's doctor.
He knew better than anyone that Pops's body had long since deteriorated beyond repair.
All those old wounds accumulated over the years, that heart on the verge of stopping, those bodily functions that required massive doses of medicine to sustain.
The day Pops went to Marineford, he had never intended to return.
It had been the funeral of the century, prepared for him by Ross.
And Pops had gone with a smile.
A former holder of the title World's Strongest hadn't died a pitiful death in a sickbed, but had fallen gloriously in battle before countless mighty fighters.
That was the death Pops had chosen for himself.
Marco could accept that.
In fact, deep down, he even felt a trace of relief that he refused to admit to himself.
At least Pops