Hero of the Marines

"Only the victors are justice!"

Doflamingo's crazed laughter echoed across the sky over Marineford Plaza.

His voice was like the opening speech of a grand banquet, thoroughly driving the slaughter-filled battlefield toward its bloodiest climax!

"You still dare lose focus at a time like this, Whitebeard!"

Ronse, the giant Vice Admiral wielding a massive axe, had silently arrived behind Whitebeard.

Taking advantage of Whitebeard's grief over Little Oars, he swung his howling axe toward Whitebeard's head.

"I'll take your head, Whitebeard!"

As the axe blade neared Whitebeard's neck, Ronse wore a triumphant smile.

Crack, crack.

Whitebeard's teeth ground together as he suddenly thrust out his right hand and, before Ronse's horrified eyes, caught the descending axe blade.

Crack! Crack!

The heavy axe blade gradually cracked apart and shattered.

Whitebeard's face was frosty as he leaped into the air, spread his fingers, and seized Ronse's helmeted head midair.

Buzz!

A spherical shockwave erupted from his fingertips.

Boom!

With a clear, muffled blast.

The giant Vice Admiral's thick helmet shattered with a bang.

A spray of red and white burst out from beneath the broken helmet.

Ronse's head exploded like a watermelon smashed by a hammer.

Specks of blood splashed across Whitebeard's towering body, making him look like a demon god.

"Vice Admiral Ronse!"

"He killed a giant Vice Admiral in one blow!"

The Marine officers who witnessed the scene felt their hearts sink, their gazes toward Whitebeard filled with terror.

"Clang!"

The Pheasant Blade struck the deck as Whitebeard threw back his head and roared:

"Men!"

"Advance! Kill your way into the plaza!"

"Woooahhh! Into the plaza!!"

The pirates answered with a thunderous roar, charging into the ranks of Marines with hatred, fury, excitement, and every other emotion coursing through them.

At that moment, the Transponder Snails in the hands of Marine officers scattered across the battlefield began ringing at the same time.

On the execution platform, Sengoku spoke into the Transponder Snail in his hand:

"The battle plan can begin."

Aboard the Moby Dick, hundreds of meters away, Whitebeard's Observation Haki seemed to suddenly sense an intense danger.

He turned his gaze toward the distant execution platform and looked at Sengoku.

"What is the Navy plotting now?"

"Garp! Why did you come up here? Do you have objections to the battle plan?"

On the execution platform, Sengoku watched Garp approach with a tense expression, his voice guarded as he demanded an answer.

Garp's gaze was resolute. "No. The enemy is pirates. There's nothing to sympathize with."

"In that case..."

"Shut up! What's wrong with it? I'm just sitting here!"

Garp gritted his teeth, walked to Ace's side, and slowly sat down.

Ace's body trembled as he turned to look at the old man whose hair had already turned gray.

"Grandpa..."

Garp's voice was aged and deeply weary.

"Though I don't sympathize with criminals, family is different. What am I supposed to do...?"

Sengoku's heart tightened, and he stared at Garp with complete vigilance.

Garp clenched his teeth. Veins bulged across his forehead, his eyes reddened, and tears threatened to spill over, making Ace's heart tremble with overwhelming guilt.

"Ace, you brat, why didn't you live the way I told you to?"

"If you had truly become a powerful Marine, then even if your identity had eventually been discovered, I would have laid down this life to protect you!"

"But you became a pirate, followed in your father's footsteps, and committed unforgivable sins."

"Ace, remember this."

"The Marines did not take away your right to live because of your bloodline."

"It was because of the sins you committed after becoming a pirate!"

Garp clenched his fists, and the air before him warped under the terrifying power he unconsciously released.

"Garp!" Sengoku's pupils contracted, his fists already clenched.

But Garp ignored him and continued:

"Ace, do you know? Even though I'm your grandfather, there were times when I regretted saving you after promising Roger I would."

Ace's pupils widened. His face instantly turned pale, as if struck by lightning, drained of all color and vitality.

"Back then, on Batelira Island in the South Blue, to find Roger's bloodline, the World Government would rather kill the innocent than let anyone slip through their grasp. They killed countless innocent babies and pregnant women."

Garp looked into the distance, as though the tragedy of that year were reflected in his eyes.

His hands began to tremble uncontrollably, and tears fell one by one onto the backs of his hands.

"I once wondered whether sacrificing so many innocent lives just to save the bloodline of an evil pirate was truly worth it."

"But making a son bear responsibility for his father's mistakes... such a laughable notion could never be accepted in any world!"

"Do unborn babies not have the right to choose their futures?"

"A group of vicious pirates kidnapped one person in one place and a hundred people in another place at the same time."

"At that moment, the Marines had to go rescue them."

"But they could only save the people in one location. The people in the other would be killed by the pirates."

"If you were the Marine sent to save them, would you save one person or a hundred?"

"Did that lone person deserve to die? Could you make that choice for him?"

"What if you were that person?"

Garp muttered to himself, as if he were asking Ace, yet also asking himself.

His words made Ace's mind roar, and he stood there completely numb.

Even Sengoku, who had been guarding against Garp the entire time, was utterly stunned.

He had never expected the usually carefree Garp to say something like that.

"No one has the right to deprive an innocent person of the right to live in this world for any reason."

"Not even the World Government..." Garp murmured.

"Garp!! What are you saying?!"

Sengoku's face went pale in shock.

Garp let out a long sigh. His once-upright body seemed to stoop a little further in that instant.

He rose to his feet, ignoring Sengoku's horrified expression, and walked down the steps with a desolate look on his face.

Watching his comrade-in-arms of so many years suffer in such loneliness and pain, Sengoku wanted to offer some words of comfort, but they stuck in his throat and would not come out.

Over the years, Marine Admirals and Fleet Admirals had come and gone.

But there had only ever been one Hero of the Marines.

Yet being a hero was never easy.

Just as Garp was despondent, Sengoku reflective, Ace numb, and the sounds of battle shook the plaza.

The sky suddenly darkened.

A vast shadow completely covered the frozen surface of the inner bay.

A violent pressure from the wind swept down from above.

Both sides in the battle froze and looked up at the sky in unspoken agreement.

Then, a sight none of them would ever forget appeared.

Hundreds of meters overhead, the frozen tidal wave collapsed.

A thousand-meter-long black warship, like a giant sword splitting the heavens, stretched across the sky and came crashing down!