The Son Pays for the Father's Debt

Marine Headquarters, Marineford.

Viewed from the sky below.

It was a massive crescent-shaped island.

A ring of defenses had been built along the island's edge with hard stone.

It was covered in enormous gun emplacements.

On the vast sea beyond the defensive ring, huge Marine warships lay anchored, numbering more than fifty in total.

Inside the defensive ring was an enormous plaza.

At this moment, the plaza was already packed with soldiers.

Led by officers of every rank, the soldiers formed orderly, massive formations.

Though their numbers were immense, not a single stray sound could be heard.

They resembled a silent sea of blue and white.

These were the finest Marines selected from naval branches across the world and every major sea.

Their total number reached one hundred thousand!

Standing at the very front of these hundred thousand elite soldiers were five figures of differing heights, their auras steady, wild, or indifferent.

Unlike the Marines behind them, who upheld justice.

These five were notorious pirates known throughout the world.

Allies of the World Government, recognized by it and granted legal rights to plunder the seas—the Seven Warlords of the Sea!

"Heavenly Demon," Donquixote Doflamingo!

"Pirate Empress," Boa Hancock!

"Hawk-Eye," Dracule Mihawk!

"Tyrant," Bartholomew Kuma!

"Moonlight," Moria!

"Fuffuffuffu, this tense and oppressive atmosphere is getting me a little excited. Fuffuffuffu!"

Doflamingo stood with his shirt open, an irreverent, strange grin on his face.

"Hehshishishi, I love war! Whether it's the Whitebeard Pirates or the Marines, the more of them that die, the better! That way, I'll have more shadows to make zombie soldiers!"

The huge, bloated Moria paid no attention whatsoever to the ugly expressions of the Marine officers beneath him, freely spouting such unpleasant words.

Bartholomew Kuma, built like a mountain, stood silently to one side with a Bible in his arms.

Hawk-Eye Mihawk stood with his arms folded, a massive black blade sheathed across his back.

Empress Hancock sat elegantly and lazily against the coiled body of a colorful giant snake.

"I wonder how Luffy is doing now."

A trace of concern flickered deep within Hancock's eyes.

Behind the gathered crowd stood the towering execution platform.

Directly beneath it, three tall men slowly approached, their powerful auras as fierce as a storm.

They were the highest combat power of Marine Headquarters—the three Marine Admirals!

Though there were only three of them, they were like anchors holding the Marines steady, greatly bolstering the morale of the hundred thousand elite soldiers in the plaza.

From left to right, they were:

Marine Headquarters Admiral Kizaru, Borsalino!

Marine Headquarters Admiral Akainu, Sakazuki!

Marine Headquarters Admiral Aokiji, Kuzan!

This was the world's strongest bastion of justice!

When Ace, escorted by two Marines, slowly ascended the towering execution platform.

Countless curious and scrutinizing gazes in Marineford's plaza converged upon him.

"So that's Fire Fist Ace, the Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates?"

"That's right! That young man is the spark that set off this massive war—Fire Fist Ace!"

Clatter.

Heavy iron chains fell to the ground and were fastened to the execution platform.

Ace's hands were bound behind his back in Sea-Prism Stone handcuffs as he knelt facing the sea.

His eyes were lowered and hollow, and no one knew what he was thinking.

Then, a deep, aged voice sounded beside Ace.

"Fire Fist Ace! State your father's name!"

Sengoku's deep voice carried through the amplifiers across the plaza before the execution platform, allowing everyone below to hear it clearly.

And that was not all.

This execution of Fire Fist Ace would also be broadcast live through Image Transponder Snails to many places around the world.

When Sengoku asked this sudden question, countless people in Marineford's plaza were filled with confusion.

"Why would Fleet Admiral Sengoku ask such a question at a time like this?"

"Isn't Fire Fist Ace Whitebeard's son?"

"Idiot! Aren't all the pirates in the Whitebeard Pirates sons Whitebeard took in?"

On the execution platform, Ace's body trembled slightly.

After a moment of silence, he answered flatly, "My old man is Whitebeard."

"No!"

Before his words had even faded, Sengoku forcefully refuted him.

"It's Whitebeard! My old man can only be Whitebeard! No one else!"

Ace suddenly became extraordinarily agitated.

"No!!"

Sengoku continued to refute him in a deep voice.

Holding an Amplifier Transponder Snail in his hand, he spoke slowly and heavily.

"Back then, we went to every length and searched that island from top to bottom."

"Because we had heard that it might contain that man's offspring."

"Based on the scant intelligence CP9 obtained, and the slightest possibility."

"We searched every newborn child, every unborn child, and their mothers."

"Yet we still found nothing!"

Sengoku's huge, deep voice was broadcast through the Image Transponder Snails to every corner of the world.

It also stirred people's curiosity.

Who was Fire Fist Ace's biological father?

Who exactly was the man Sengoku spoke of?

As Sengoku continued, Ace, kneeling on the execution platform, clenched his teeth as a trace of pain surfaced in his eyes.

"No wonder... your birth was bought with your mother's life. It could be said that it was the product of every possible effort..."

"She deceived our eyes, and the eyes of everyone in the entire world!"

"In the South Blue, there is a small island called Baterilla. Your mother's name was Portgas D. Rouge."

"That woman went far beyond anything we could have imagined."

"Her fierce desire to protect her child drove her to do something ordinary people could never accomplish."

"She spent twenty months carrying the child in her womb."

"When that child was born, she was exhausted to death and died on the spot!"

Crack, crack, crack.

Ace clenched his fists until they cracked, his fingertips digging deep into his palms, piercing the skin and drawing blood.

Sengoku took a deep breath and raised his voice toward the eyes of the entire world fixed upon him.

"One year and three months after your father's death, a child who inherited the world's most evil bloodline was born! That child was you!"

"Your father was the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger!!"

Silence.

As Sengoku's final words fell.

Whether in Marineford's plaza or across the world, countless viewers watching the broadcast fell into deathly silence.

For a long, long time.

Then this world was completely detonated by the shocking news.

The world erupted!

"Fire Fist Ace is the son of the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger!"

"The most evil bloodline in the world!"