In the residential district of Marineford, in the courtyard before the entrance to a detached villa.
Sengoku and Zephyr sat beneath a sun umbrella. A cup of tea sat before each of them, and it was clear from the tea that neither had taken a sip.
"Zephyr, there's something I've always wondered about."
After a period of silence, each harboring his own thoughts, Sengoku spoke first. His expression grave, he said, "I don't believe you supported Akira so resolutely just because you trusted him to capture the pirates who attacked the training ship back then. There must have been another reason."
"You haven't changed, Sengoku." Zephyr nodded. He picked up his teacup and took a sip, then calmly said, "Three years ago, while I was recovering at home, Akira came by every few days to chat with me. He saw how disappointed I was in the Marines at the time, so he told me he'd glimpsed part of the future. He said that one day, the pirate responsible for attacking the training ship would become one of the new Shichibukai!"
"And I would lose all hope in the Marines because of it, then leave with Ain and Binz to establish the Neo Marines."
Sengoku's expression shifted. He asked tentatively, "You believed him?"
"Of course I didn't!" Zephyr shook his head, then continued, "He knew I wouldn't believe him, so he told me something else. He said that in three years, Shanks, captain of the Red Hair Pirates, would rise to prominence in the New World and become an Emperor of the Sea alongside Edward Newgate, Charlotte Linlin, and Kaido. He told me to wait and see! He also said that before becoming a Yonko, Shanks would set foot on Elbaf and subdue Prince Loki of the Giant Kingdom!"
Sengoku shot to his feet and stared at Zephyr in disbelief. "He told you that three years ago?"
Zephyr nodded. "Those weren't the only things. Everything he saw of the future three years ago has now come to pass. Shanks rose to prominence in the New World and became one of the Yonko, while Prince Loki of the Giant Kingdom was imprisoned in the Underworld."
As he spoke, Zephyr turned to Sengoku and said gravely, "If you were in my place, would you keep doubting Akira, or believe that he really can see part of the future?"
"I chose the latter. That's why I no longer had any hopes for the Marines!"
"I can understand that you couldn't capture the pirate who attacked the training ship. It doesn't mean you didn't try. But you actually let a pirate who killed so many young officers become one of the new Shichibukai, all in the name of maintaining a balance of power! What right do the Marines have to speak of justice after that?"
Sengoku opened his mouth to respond, but in the end, he had no strength to refute him.
Although it hadn't happened yet, Akira had predicted three years ago that Shanks, captain of the Red Hair Pirates, would become one of the Four Emperors of the New World, and that Prince Loki would meet his current fate. That was enough to show Akira wasn't making empty threats. Someday in the future, the pirate who killed the trainees aboard the training ship might truly become one of the new Shichibukai.
Of course, discussing those things wasn't the most important matter right now.
What mattered was that Akira could see so far into the future!
Sengoku couldn't imagine how Akira had done it. He knew that Observation Haki, when mastered to the highest level, could reveal glimpses of the future, but it had its limits. No one had ever seen so far ahead. Yet Akira had not only foreseen events three years later, three years ago—he had also seen an even more distant future.
Most importantly, the emergence of a new Shichibukai meant that something had happened to a former member, or that one had betrayed the Marines.
"Rumble—"
Suddenly, a deafening explosion erupted without warning from the direction of the Headquarters Building. A terrifying shock wave swept through the air, making the ground tremble beneath them despite the great distance.
Before either man could react, a cloud of red-and-black flames shot into the sky from the entrance of the Headquarters Building with world-ending force. It pierced the clouds high above and formed a vast vortex. At a glance, it looked as if the sky itself had been punched through. Sengoku and Zephyr instinctively sprang to their feet, then cried out in unison:
"A Conqueror's Haki clash!"
"Damn it, Garp's back!"
At the same time.
In front of the Headquarters Building, Akira stepped forward sharply, having released his Conqueror's Haki to oppose Garp's after Garp had attacked without warning.
With a booming thud, an even more immense, devastating shock wave burst from beneath his feet and surged outward. Its unstoppable force suppressed the Conqueror's Haki Garp had unleashed.
"How is that possible?!"
Garp's expression turned to shock as his Conqueror's Haki was instantly suppressed. He looked up at Akira. "So you've been hiding your strength all these years! You even managed to fool me!"
As he spoke, Garp stepped forward too, refusing to back down, and unleashed his Conqueror's Haki without reservation.
As their Conqueror's Haki clashed wildly once more, the ground beneath them immediately split into countless cracks, like a giant spiderweb. The immense, invisible pressure crushed the earth, causing the fractured ground to burst apart inch by inch before rapidly collapsing.
Even Gion couldn't help being driven backward again and again by the clash of their Conqueror's Haki. The frenzied shock waves whipped at her cape, leaving her looking thoroughly disheveled.
But she couldn't spare a thought for her appearance. If Garp kept fighting Akira, the Headquarters Building behind her—and even all of Marineford—might be destroyed.
"Mr. Garp, Lord Akira, please stop! You're going to destroy Marineford!"
At the same time.
At Akira's home, Sakazuki had stayed by his mother's side without resting, weighed down by years of guilt toward her. He spun around, then stared in shock at the pillar of flaming clouds shooting skyward in the direction of the Headquarters Building. "Garp's back!" he shouted to Borsalino, who sat beside him in his usual half-asleep state.
"A Conqueror's Haki clash. How frightening~"
Borsalino glanced up at the terrifying cloud of flames connecting heaven and earth outside, then slowly stood. "Stay here with Mother. I'll go take a look!"
Before the words had even left his mouth, he vanished in a flash of light.
When he arrived on the roof of the Headquarters Building, Kuzan appeared beside him in a flash.
Borsalino didn't look at Kuzan. His usual lazy demeanor gone, he stared in disbelief at the two figures facing each other on the ground and exclaimed, "Lord Marshal Akira actually suppressed Mr. Garp's Conqueror's Haki?"
Kuzan spoke with an equally serious expression. "He fooled every one of us."
The Holy Land of Mary Geoise, Flower Chamber.
In a tranquil garden where butterflies fluttered, a figure suddenly appeared. The figure looked up, revealing a pair of dark red, rippling eyes that gazed toward Marineford, the Marine Headquarters.
As those rippling eyes saw the cloud of flames rising into the sky over Marineford, a disbelieving voice rang out through the Flower Chamber. "No, this is impossible!"
A maid hurried into the garden at the sound and dropped to one knee before the figure, trembling with fear. "Lord Im."
"Go!"
"Tell Gunko of the Knights of God to head to Marine Headquarters at once, at the fastest speed. I want to know who unleashed that Conqueror's Haki!"
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