"Marco~"
Watching the blood-blue rainbow stretching across the sky, Ace reached out, but grasped at empty air.
What should he do?
What could he do?
Ace's eyes were bloodshot. He clenched his fists as flames flickered around him. The ground had melted into magma, and veins bulged across his forehead.
Torn.
Panicked.
Ace's thoughts were a tangled mess.
Should he press on or retreat?
Marco's words thundered through his heart. What should he choose?
Should he fight here?
Or run for his life?
"Pops, Marco, Vista, Jozu."
Tears rolled down his cheeks, only to be burned away by the flames.
Despair and helplessness filled his soul.
He thought back to the time he had spent with everyone. It had been so happy.
"I'll survive, no matter what."
"I'll make sure the Whitebeard Pirates sail on through this era forever."
"My name is Portgas D. Ace. I'm the son of Whitebeard Edward Newgate, and I'll always be a pirate of the Whitebeard Pirates."
He let out a hysterical roar.
It brimmed with unprecedented determination and heart-rending anguish.
Ace had made his choice.
His heart was breaking.
A streak of fire shot into the sky, fleeing like a miserable dog.
Boom!
Marco appeared behind Chaos and struck with a phoenix claw backed by all his strength. Unfortunately, a Golden Longsword materialized out of thin air and blocked the blow. In an instant, Marco, Jozu, and Vista had surrounded him on three sides.
"Ace~"
They felt Ace leaving.
Marco, Jozu, and Vista all felt a sense of relief, along with a swell of comfort.
The three of them had already accepted that they would die. They knew they were no match for the Golden Emperor, but they were still willing to burn everything they had and take a chance. Even if their odds