So-Called Loyalty and Righteousness

His heart jolted. When Ace turned around, he saw a figure clad entirely in black, standing there as the very world around them warped completely, making the two of them feel as though they had been abandoned by the world.

Within that empty void, only those sapphire-blue eyes looked down upon the insects before them, carrying a hint of mockery.

A god!

A word Ace had always scoffed at—yet today, in the presence behind him, he saw a bearing that perfectly matched the term.

"Who are you? How could you..."

"Ace! Calm down. Uchiha Hanazuki, Dragon asked me to convey his greetings to you."

Removing his top hat, Sabo gave a slight bow. His eyes were lowered as he quietly awaited the other man's decision, though his thoughts were in turmoil and he could not calm himself.

For decades, challengers had emerged endlessly against those who stood atop the seas. Quite a few supernovas who had made names for themselves in the New World had even challenged the Four Emperors.

Yet after all those decades, aside from the newly ascended Red-Haired Shanks, the figures standing at the pinnacle of the seas were still those same four.

Among them, the most mysterious one—and the being the Navy regarded as the strongest enemy in all of history—Uchiha Hanazuki, moved as unpredictably as a ghost, impossible to guard against.

And now that he had truly appeared before him, Sabo did not know what to say.

More precisely, he did not know whether his own life remained in his hands. It was as though a casual glance from that figure would reduce his frail body to ashes and dust.

"Don't be so nervous. When Garp carried you away, I saw you from afar once. The freckles on your face really resemble those of your