"..."
Faced with the Navy Admiral Sengoku's blatant death threat, Fire Fist Portgas D. Ace—bare-chested, his hands cuffed and chained with Seastone, kneeling atop the fortress that served as the execution platform, his shorts still soaked from the seawater—didn't say a word. He merely shot Sengoku a scornful, contemptuous glance.
"You!"
Sengoku narrowed his eyes slightly. Anger flared in his heart, and he was just about to lose his temper and announce an early execution, but he quickly forced himself to hold back.
"Are you really not afraid to die?"
"Maybe I should just kill you right now, even if it would completely enrage Whitebeard, even if both sides ended up destroying each other?"
As he spoke, Admiral Sengoku instinctively reached for the Navy saber at his waist.
Granted, the sword was merely an ornament worn by the Navy Admiral, with far more decorative than practical value. But if he wanted to, he could still draw it and easily cut off the head of the prisoner before him.
"..."
Yet Portgas D. Ace still didn't respond.
He simply continued kneeling silently on the execution platform, gritting his teeth as he watched Whitebeard, his old man, and the brothers and comrades under his command fighting desperately for him.
Ahead, as the battle lines slowly pushed closer, he saw that almost the entire Whitebeard Pirates' main crew had come. Everyone he knew, and plenty he didn't, had shown up. He'd never imagined they would all come!
And then there was...
His brother, Luffy. For his sake, Luffy had broken into Impel Down, then found that brat who flooded the Navy's headquarters. Now he was even fighting the old man, Garp, in the rear for Ace's sake. He'd already defeated and held off every Warlord of the Sea the Navy had brought in,