Wrapping Up

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

On the other side of the battlefield, the piercing sound of metal colliding rang out incessantly.

Jeno's heavy frame moved through the ruined artillery positions like an enraged iron-clad bear. His thick Mechanical Exoskeleton was now covered in a dense web of white slash marks and deep dents, with several exposed hydraulic pipes hissing as they vented white steam.

"Too slow! A fool like you, who only knows how to swing around a hunk of iron, couldn't even touch a corner of my clothes!"

The Marine Commodore transformed into a blur, stepping with Soru to weave frantically around Jeno. His saber was coated in Armament Haki, and every flash left a blinding spark against Jeno's exoskeleton armor.

"Stop buzzing in my ears like a fly!"

Jeno let out a roar, swinging the Hydraulic War Hammer—a weapon modified from a warship's main cannon—and swept it out brutally, aiming for the opponent's afterimage.

The heavy hammer smashed through a stone pillar with terrifying wind pressure, but it only struck air. The Commodore had already leaped into the air with extreme agility, looking down at the stiff-moving Jeno from above.

"Rankyaku: White Storm!"

The Commodore kicked his right leg fiercely in mid-air, sending a sharp vacuum slash wave straight toward the blind spot of Jeno's unarmored neck.

"Don't even think about it!"

Jeno reacted with lightning speed, his broad shoulders sinking as he forcibly braced his back against the thickest Black Steel plating to meet the strike.

"Boom!"

The slash wave slammed heavily into the steel plate, the massive impact causing Jeno's tall body to stagger, nearly forcing him to one knee. He let out a muffled grunt, a trace of blood spilling from the corner of his mouth, but he stubbornly withstood the blow.

"You're still not down? Just how thick is your hide, you monster!"

The Commodore gritted his teeth, a flash of disbelief in his eyes. His pride-and-joy Rokushiki combos were like scraping steel when used against this mechanical madman; the man's ability to withstand damage was even more perverse than those with Zoan-type powers!

"I spend every single day living alongside steel!"

Jeno spat out a mouthful of blood, refusing to retreat as he hoisted the war hammer once more, his mechanical arms emitting a rough roar. "As long as your blade can't cut through my bones, I'll eventually smash you into a pulp with one hammer!"

The Commodore's face turned grim, and he prepared to condense Armament Haki at his fingertips, attempting to use Shigan to forcibly pierce through Jeno's vulnerable joints.

Just as his feet touched the ground.

A manic, orange-red flame swept in from his side without warning, acting like a wall of fire that cut off his path of attack toward Jeno.

The Commodore was shocked, hurriedly stepping with Soru to retreat violently.

As the smoke and fire dissipated, a deep blue tailcoat fluttered gently in the wind.

Sabo adjusted his top hat, holding an Alloy Staff in one hand, and stepped steadily to block the path in front of Jeno.

"Good work, Mechanic," Sabo said without looking back. "You performed the task of tanking the damage excellently; leave the rest to me."

"Tch, don't steal my spotlight, Vice-Captain."

Though Jeno complained, his tense muscles finally relaxed. He simply planted the heavy hydraulic hammer into the ground and took deep, ragged breaths. Against a commander with such high mobility, his bulky equipment was indeed at a disadvantage.

"You weren't supposed to be dealing with Vice Admiral Momonga?!"

The Commodore looked at the suddenly appearing Sabo, extreme horror flashing in the depths of his eyes. If this Vice-Captain was here, then didn't that mean Vice Admiral Momonga had already...

Sabo ignored his shock.

He curled the index and middle fingers of his right hand into a claw, and deep, pitch-black Haki instantly coated them. After his life-and-death struggle with Vice Admiral Momonga, his mastery of Haki had touched upon a brand-new threshold, and now was the perfect time to strike while the iron was hot.

"Dragon Claw."

Sabo's figure erupted instantly, his speed even faster than the Commodore's Soru.

The Commodore raised his saber in a rush to block, but the Dragon Claw, coated in formidable Armament Haki, crushed his blade like dry wood and slammed forcefully into his chest.

"Bang!"

Accompanied by the dull sound of breaking bones, the Commodore didn't even have time to scream before he was sent flying like a ragdoll, crashing heavily into the ruins and losing consciousness on the spot.

With the fall of this last commander, the battle on the fortress heights finally neared its end.

And in the very center of this ruin.

Ace stood quietly at the edge of a massive crater.

Beneath his feet lay the charred, deeply unconscious former Marine Admiral Zephyr. This old man, who had spent his entire life fighting for justice, had a chest that rose and fell with extremely weak breaths. Without intervention, the high-level Ryuo and Vermilion Bird Divine Fire that had seeped into his marrow would have caused his internal organs to fail within hours.

Ace looked down at this legend of the old era.

He slowly crouched down and extended his right hand. A cluster of gentle, crimson-gold Vermilion Bird Divine Fire ignited silently in his palm.

Without a moment's hesitation, he placed his burning palm onto Zephyr's mangled, bloodied chest.

"Sss—"

The Divine Fire instantly sank into Zephyr's body. That endless, surging life force quickly enveloped the damaged organs and arm, forcibly pulling his fatal internal injuries back from the brink of death. While it wasn't enough to wake him immediately, it at least saved his life and his arm.

Ace withdrew his hand, looking at Zephyr's aged and resolute face, his deep eyes devoid of any ripples.

"Counting the time, you haven't completely devolved into that madman who wants to blow up the New World yet."

Ace's voice sounded low in the cold wind, audible only to himself. "Since you aren't completely insane, keep this life and continue to watch over the real scum. Consider it a favor to that old man Garp, so he doesn't have to be stuck in the middle."

Ace stood up straight, his dark red trench coat flapping in the smoke.

He turned his head and looked toward the main road leading from the fortress to the harbor.

At that location, thousands of Marine Headquarters soldiers who had just received the distress signal were leveling their muskets, surging toward the high ground like a black tide.

"Protect Instructor Zephyr!"

"We absolutely cannot let these pirates escape!"

The earth-shaking shouts of battle rang through the sky.

Sabo, Leona, and Jeno gripped their weapons tightly, preparing to face this final breakout battle.

"Ignore them."

Ace's steady voice echoed across the battlefield.

He strode to the edge of the high ground, looking down from above at the massive Marine force surging toward them like a swarm of ants.

Ace did not draw his blade, nor did he employ Divine Fire.

He simply stood there, and from those deep, pitch-black eyes, a terrifying will belonging to a natural-born king erupted like a bursting tsunami!

An invisible yet unimaginably heavy wave of Conqueror's Haki instantly centered on him, crushing down without reservation across the entire high ground and the path below.

The air solidified in an instant.

This kingly aura, tempered by blood and fierce combat, was even more profound and irresistible than it had been at Loguetown!

"Thump... thump..."

The thousands of Marine soldiers who had been charging wildly with their muskets felt as if their brains had been struck by a heavy club, their eyes instantly rolling back. No matter how rigorous their training had been, under the crushing weight of this absolute aura, they collapsed to the ground in droves, like harvested Maze.

In less than ten seconds.

Across the mountains and plains, not a single Marine soldier remained standing. The once-raucous battlefield fell into a deathly, absolute silence.

Conqueror's Haki field clear.

Ace withdrew his aura and turned around, his gaze sweeping over his crew members, who were covered in blood yet brimming with fighting spirit.

"This trial ends here. Well done! Now, grab the spoils and get on the ship."

Ace took steady strides, stepping over the ruins and the unconscious Marines as he headed toward the perimeter.

"Next stop: find a quiet deserted island and give our ship an upgrade."