You need my Power Data?
Whitebeard's golden-flamed eyes narrowed slightly. He could sense that the word "data" Chen Ye had mentioned was far more than a simple display of energy.
The commanding presence with which he Reigned Over the World did not diminish in the slightest, yet his voice was as steady as bedrock beneath the sea.
"How do I give it to you?"
This was precisely the final door Chen Ye had been waiting to open for his ultimate plan.
Facing the scrutiny that could shatter the minds of any powerful man, not only did he show no fear, but an almost fanatical smile appeared on his face.
"The power that passively leaks out is too weak and too chaotic."
Chen Ye's voice remained calm, but every word was like a stone dropped into a deep pool, sending ripples spreading outward.
"If I want to raise the level of analysis enough to open the Space-Time Door in the shortest time possible, then what I need is the most concentrated, purest power—the power that best represents you at your peak!"
"And that kind of power..."
He paused, raised his eyes, and slowly spoke the condition that was enough to make Brother Marco's soul leave his body.
"It can only be born in battle!"
Boom!
Brother Marco's mind crashed completely in that instant.
Battle?
With whom?
With Pops?
The moment that thought surfaced, he crushed it with all his strength!
Impossible!
This kid was insane! He was absolutely insane!
"Chen Ye! Do you even know what you're saying?!"
Brother Marco could no longer remain silent. He rushed forward, wanting to pull Chen Ye behind him, his voice turning shrill with extreme shock.
"That's Pops!
He's the World's Strongest Man!
You want him to attack you?
Even though Pops is old and seriously ill now!
He's still absolutely not someone you can fight against!
Have you lost your mind?
Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"
Yet Chen Ye's expression and gaze were unusually resolute.
He did not even turn to look at Brother Marco. All his attention was fixed on the silent, mountain-like man before him.
He knew Whitebeard understood.
Whitebeard's silence was the best proof.
"Brother Marco, you're wrong."
Chen Ye's voice remained calm, yet it carried an unquestionable determination.
"I'm not trying to die."
I only want to use this opportunity
"To see how far I still am from the strongest fighting force on these seas!"
He turned to look at the anxious Brother Marco, then shifted his gaze back to Whitebeard. His voice suddenly rose, brimming with soaring Fighting Spirit!
"If we want to win this war and save Ace, this is a step we must take!"
"So, Pops!"
"So I need you to attack me without holding anything back, in the strongest state you can currently reach! Under the pressure of life and death, I need to analyze, absorb, and replicate the power you possess—the power capable of shaking the entire world!"
"Especially..."
Chen Ye's eyes became incomparably fervent.
"The power of your Tremor-Tremor Fruit!"
"Use it as much as you want in the attacks that follow! Let that power capable of destroying everything become the core of my analysis!"
Every word landed with force!
Brother Marco was completely stunned. His mouth hung open, yet he could not say a single word.
He looked at Chen Ye's young yet steadfast face and suddenly found him utterly unfamiliar.
Was this still that somewhat shy newcomer who had first come aboard?
This was clearly a madman who dared face a lion head-on, even challenge it!
And even more frightening than the madman was Whitebeard's reaction.
He was not angry.
Within those profound eyes, the emotions churning there shifted from initial scrutiny to astonishment, then from astonishment into a trace of... indescribable admiration.
Looking at the tiny figure before him, he seemed to see himself from decades ago—the same reckless youth who had dared challenge everything.
Chen Ye gave no one else time to react.
He suddenly stepped forward, his entire presence rising to its peak in that instant.
He straightened his back and, facing the legendary Sea Emperor before him, shouted with all the strength in his body, gambling everything on that cry!
"So come on, Pops!"
"Right here!"
"Fight me!"
Dead silence.
Even the sound of the wind vanished from the deck.
Brother Marco stood frozen in place like a stone statue.
Challenge Whitebeard?
In the decades since the Whitebeard Pirates had been founded, this was something that had never happened—and something no one had ever dared imagine!
Yet amid that dead silence.
"Guh..."
A low sound, as though squeezed from the depths of his throat, shattered the stillness.
Whitebeard slowly, slowly lowered his head.
He looked at Chen Ye. The astonishment and admiration in his clouded eyes faded away completely, replaced by an unprecedented gleam known as "passion"!
"Gurarara..."
"Gurararara..."
The laughter rose from low to high, from restrained to uninhibited, until it became wild laughter capable of shaking heaven and earth!
"Gurarararararararara!"
Rumble—!
The terrifying laughter turned into a tangible shockwave. The Seawater around the Moby Dick was forcibly pressed into a massive depression before violently rebounding, raising monstrous waves!
Brother Marco was blasted back again and again by the shockwave, staring in horror at Pops as he laughed uproariously.
He was back!
Edward Newgate—the man who had once looked down upon the world, regarded all things as nothing, and possessed boundless pride—seemed to have truly returned at that moment!
"Interesting!"
"Far too interesting! Gurarararara!"
Whitebeard stretched out his massive hand, yanked Murakumogiri from the deck in a single motion, and rested it on his shoulder. His enormous body trembled faintly with extreme excitement.
"I've ruled these seas for decades and taken in countless sons, but this is still the first time!"
"The first time one of my sons has dared stand before me and ask me to go all out!"
He lowered his head, his immense shadow completely engulfing Chen Ye. The flames burning in his eyes seemed ready to ignite Chen Ye!
"Good!"
"As expected of my son!"
Whitebeard bared his teeth in a grin filled with the primal wildness and joy that belonged to the strong.
"Since you've said so!"
"Then I'll grant your wish!"
The instant his words fell, an indescribably terrifying aura erupted from Whitebeard!
It was Conqueror's Haki.
It was the purest Fighting Spirit released by a King who had ruled the seas for decades in response to a challenger!
The air froze in that instant.
Before you continue