Want to Win?

The two of them slowly walked up behind Chen Ye.

Marco stood at Whitebeard's side, staring at Chen Ye's slender yet exceptionally steady back, his brow deeply furrowed.

He wanted to speak.

But he knew that only one person could speak first now.

"Brat."

At last, that voice as heavy as a mountain rang out behind Chen Ye.

"Why didn't you say anything at the meeting this afternoon?"

His voice was calm, giving no hint of anger or pleasure.

"I don't believe you had no solution."

Just as Marco had expected.

Pops had noticed it too!

That young man, who had remained as calm as an outsider throughout the entire meeting—his silence itself was the greatest anomaly!

The sea wind howled.

Chen Ye did not turn around immediately.

He continued gazing at the distant sea, dyed silver-white by the moonlight.

Why hadn't he spoken?

Because he knew that in that war room, filled with rage and the fires of revenge, any rational plan would have been pale and powerless.

Those commanders blinded by pride and fury, those Heroes who valued honor and dignity above all else—until they smashed themselves bloody against reality, they would never listen to any talk of "taking shortcuts."

What they needed was not a perfect plan.

What they needed was utter despair.

They needed to experience firsthand that passion alone could never shake Marine Headquarters' Steel Fortress, built up over hundreds of years.

Only when everyone woke from their fervor, swallowed by helplessness and despair—

would his plan have a chance of being heard.

And now, the time had come.

Under the two gazes behind him that seemed ready to bore straight through him, Chen Ye slowly turned around.

He raised his head and met those Emperor's Eyes that could make the world tremble.

His expression was so calm that even Marco felt his heart skip a beat.

"Pops."

Chen Ye spoke, his voice crystal clear amid the sea wind.

"Before I tell you my plan."

"I only want to ask you one thing."

He paused. Every word seemed tempered a thousand times, crashing heavily into Whitebeard and Marco's hearts.

"This war..."

"Do you want to win?"

Boom!

Win?

That single word exploded in Whitebeard and Marco's minds like a thunderbolt from the heavens!

Marco's expression instantly froze. His eyes, always carrying a trace of laziness, widened to their fullest.

He opened his mouth, yet Couldn't Speak a Single Word.

They were going to rescue Ace!

They were going to war with the Marines!

They had considered countless possibilities—gruesome sacrifices, Rivers of blood, paying any price to bring Ace back!

But only...

Only the word "win" had never even crossed their minds!

That was Marine Headquarters!

The World Government's most powerful military force!

An absolute fortress guarded by the Three Admirals!

Even Golden Lion, once renowned across the seas, had fallen at Marineford!

They were going there to save someone! They intended to trade lives for lives! They were going to exchange the end of an Old Era for the life of one family member!

Winning was simply a wild dream to them!

Whitebeard's massive body suddenly trembled.

Even after dominating the seas for decades, Chen Ye's words left him deeply shocked!

Of course he wanted to win!

He dreamed of it!

But more than anyone, he understood the Marines' foundations in this war.

To rescue Ace!

He had already made every preparation.

He was prepared to use this battered body, this aging life, to carve a path home for his children.

He had long cast his own life and death aside.

To him, as long as Ace could be saved, that would be victory.

Even if the Whitebeard Pirates fell apart because of it.

Even if he himself slept forever in Marineford.

But now—

this son who had only just joined him, this young man shrouded in mysteries—

had asked him, in a tone as though it were only natural, about a possibility he had never dared consider.

Win?

Chen Ye ignored their shock.

He merely calmly completed his question, word by word.

"Not a Pyrrhic Victory."

"Nor by filling the gap with the lives of countless brothers."

"And certainly not by trading your life for it."

He stared directly into Whitebeard's eyes. His voice suddenly rose, carrying an unwavering conviction.

"I'm asking you, Pops!"

"Do you want to... utterly crush the Marines before the whole world!"

"With every single family member returning home!"

Dead silence.

A dead silence so deep that a falling needle could be heard.

Even the sea wind seemed to freeze at that moment.

Marco felt as if an invisible hand had seized his heart, making it hard even to breathe.

Every family member?

Everyone returning home?

How... how could that be possible?

Even Whitebeard's chest began to heave violently.

Stormy waves surged in his eyes as well.

Anger, shock, doubt, and... a trace of longing forcibly buried in the deepest part of his heart, something even he had never dared touch...

Yes.

Who did not want to win?

Who did not want all their children to return safe and sound?

He, Edward Newgate, had ruled the seas his entire life. When had he ever been afraid?

But time spared no one. He was old, and he was sick.

He no longer had confidence.

So he had chosen the most tragic path, and in his eyes, the only viable one.

To trade his own life for his son's.

But Chen Ye's words were like a key, forcibly stabbing into the deepest part of his heart and prying open the shackles called "accepting fate"!

A long time passed.

A very long time.

The suffocating aura around Whitebeard slowly receded.

He released his grip on Murakumogiri and let out a long, complicated sigh.

That sigh carried both relief and resolve.

He fixed his gaze on Chen Ye's face again. The scrutiny and doubt in his eyes were gone.

In their place was an unprecedented gravity and anticipation.

"Gurararara..."

A low, restrained laugh escaped his throat.

He looked at Chen Ye as though he were an equal.

"Speak."

"What is your plan?"