It wasn't just John Giant who was shocked. All the Vice Admirals standing behind Akira, including Gion, and many officers in the plaza stared in horror at the figure kneeling on both knees.
They weren't shocked that Akira had awakened Conqueror's Haki. They were shocked that he had used it alone to make John Giant, a Vice Admiral, drop to his knees on the spot, utterly unable to resist.
What mattered most was that Akira's Conqueror's Haki hadn't affected anyone else present. It had targeted John Giant alone.
After a brief silence, the crowd suddenly grew restless, and voices broke out one after another.
"What happened? Why did Vice Admiral John suddenly kneel?"
"Didn't you hear? Conqueror's Haki! Lord Akira released his Conqueror's Haki!"
"What is Conqueror's Haki?"
"Conqueror's Haki is the quality of a king, possessed by only one person in a million. It's an innate ability! Most importantly, it can't be trained—you can only strengthen it by improving your own power!"
"Even if Conqueror's Haki is the quality of a king, possessed by only one person in a million, it shouldn't be able to make Vice Admiral John completely helpless!"
"There's only one truth!"
"Lord Akira's strength is probably approaching that of an Admiral—and he may even have surpassed one."
Akira paid no heed to the shock around him. He continued walking toward John Giant at an unhurried pace.
With every step Akira took, the weight of the mountain pressing down on John Giant grew heavier. John couldn't fight it at all, and his massive frame sank lower as Akira approached.
When Akira reached him, John could hold on no longer. With a thud, he fell flat on his face, his whole body pressed against the ground.
Even so, the pressure bearing down on him didn't ease in the slightest.
As he hit the ground, several cracks immediately split across the surface, spreading in every direction.
Seeing the cracks beneath John Giant, the Vice Admirals following Akira widened their eyes. The soldiers in the plaza had to scramble out of the way as the fissures spread toward their feet.
"Conqueror's Haki cracked the ground!"
Gion looked down at the cracks spreading toward her feet, then raised her head toward the figure standing before John Giant. Her face was filled with disbelief.
"Conqueror's Haki can't be trained. It only grows stronger as one's own strength increases!" Strawberry's expression turned fervent, and his voice carried a note of excitement. "The fact that Lord Akira can crack the ground with his Conqueror's Haki is proof enough that his strength may have surpassed an Admiral's!"
Standing before John Giant, Akira said nothing. He calmly regarded the Giant Vice Admiral in front of him. Though John's entire body was pressed against the ground, his immense size meant that Akira, who stood less than six feet tall, could only meet his gaze at eye level.
"You're staking the name of the Marines' Absolute Justice?"
Akira watched John Giant for a moment, then suddenly looked up and laughed. "Vice Admiral John, aren't you even a little curious why you, a member of the Giant race, grew up at Marine Headquarters?"
John Giant struggled to lift his head, only to find himself seemingly stuck to the ground, unable to raise it. He managed to speak with difficulty. "Akira, you're a Headquarters Vice Admiral, yet you started a mutiny to seize the Marshal's position. You... you have no right to talk to me about justice."
"Looks like you really aren't curious."
Akira shook his head with a smile, then took one decisive step forward.
Buzz—
As Akira's foot came down, a low vibration rippled through the air once more, and the Conqueror's Haki that the system had raised to its peak burst forth.
The next instant, the ground collapsed with a bang. John Giant, on that patch of ground, dropped with it until he was level with the surface.
"Not bad."
Akira narrowed his eyes as he looked at the figure embedded in the ground, thoroughly satisfied with his Conqueror's Haki at its peak.
John Giant's appearance hadn't required him to step in. He had stopped Strawberry and the others because he wanted to test just how overbearing the Conqueror's Haki the system had just raised to its peak could be.
Of course, using his Conqueror's Haki to subdue John Giant was no more than a warm-up for him. The power of Conqueror's Haki at its peak went far beyond that.
Just then,
a flash of light shot up from the residential quarters, traced an arc through the night sky, and plunged straight down into Marineford Plaza.
As the light vanished, Sakazuki and Borsalino stood side by side behind Akira, the two Admirals having arrived together.
"Admiral Sakazuki!"
"Admiral Borsalino!"
The moment the two Admirals appeared, the crowd erupted into another commotion. Many pinned their last hope on them and shouted excitedly.
But just as they began to think the two Admirals had come to stop Akira, Sakazuki stepped forward, faced him, and raised his hand in salute. "Marshal Akira, Sakazuki reporting for duty!"
Sakazuki's arrival instantly silenced Marineford Plaza.
Despair flashed in the eyes of the soldiers and officers who had been waiting expectantly. Even Sakazuki, the Admiral who upheld Absolute Justice to the letter, had pledged his loyalty to Akira. What reason did they have left to hope?
Borsalino, standing beside Sakazuki, didn't lag behind. He raised his hand in salute as well.
Akira turned to them and smiled, then strode forward without hesitation.
Sakazuki and Borsalino hurried to follow.
Gion, Momonga, and the other Vice Admirals quickly gathered themselves and followed close behind.
After the brief interruption caused by John Giant and the timely arrival of the two Admirals, not another sound of dissent rose from the tens of thousands of soldiers gathered in the plaza. They stood ramrod straight, watching Akira ascend the steps and take his place on the platform.
From atop the platform, Akira looked down and swept his gaze across the plaza. Then, with all eyes on him, he stepped forward.
"Everyone, attention!"
As Akira took that step, Sakazuki, standing below the platform, immediately turned to face him and raised his hand in salute. His voice rang out: "Salute the Headquarters Marshal!"
Whoosh—
Tens of thousands of people in the plaza took a synchronized step forward, then looked up toward the platform and shouted as one: "Loyalty!"
Their unified voices rang above Marineford, gathering into a mighty torrent that continued to echo beneath the night sky.
In the meeting hall of the Headquarters Building, Sengoku and Zephyr stood by the window, gazing into the distance at the young Marshal on the plaza platform. Feeling the fervor and drive in the air, they sighed in unison. "It's good to be young."
Before their words had faded, their expressions suddenly changed. They looked up together toward the sea beyond Marineford's walls.
On the water beyond the walls, a figure rode a bicycle toward Marineford beneath the moonlight, unhurried. As he moved forward, the sea before him, once rippling blue, froze at astonishing speed.
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