The Marine Hero

"Only the victors are justice!"

On Marineford's plaza, Doflamingo's crazed laughter rang through the sky.

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

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

Ronz, 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 massive axe with a howl toward Whitebeard's head.

"I'll take your head, Whitebeard!"

As the axe blade neared Whitebeard's neck, a triumphant smile appeared on Ronz's face.

Crack, crack.

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

Crack! Crack!

The heavy axe blade split apart inch by inch, then shattered.

Whitebeard's face was icy cold. He sprang into the air, spread his fingers, and seized Ronz's helmeted head from above.

Bzz!

A spherical shockwave burst from his fingertips.

Boom!

With a distinct, muffled explosion.

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

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

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

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

"Vice Admiral Ronz!"

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

The Marine officers who witnessed the scene felt their hearts sink. Their eyes were filled with terror as they looked at Whitebeard.

Clang!

Whitebeard's bisento struck the deck as he threw back his head and roared:

"Boys!"

"Advance! Charge into the plaza!"

"Woooahhh! Charge into the plaza!!"

The pirates answered with a thunderous roar, charging into the mass of Marine soldiers 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 simultaneously.

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

"The battle plan can now be put into action."

Aboard the Moby Dick several hundred 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 are the Marines plotting now?"

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

On the execution platform, Sengoku watched the approaching Garp with a tense expression, demanding an answer in a guarded voice.

Garp's gaze was firm. "No. They're pirates. There's nothing to sympathize with."

"Then—"

"Shut up! What does it matter? I'm only sitting here!"

Gritting his teeth, Garp walked over to Ace and slowly sat down beside him.

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

"Grandpa..."

Garp's voice was old, filled with deep exhaustion.

"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 full vigilance.

Garp clenched his teeth. Veins bulged across his forehead, his eyes reddened, and tears faintly welled up in them. Ace's heart trembled, filling with overwhelming guilt.

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

"If you had truly become a powerful Marine soldier, then even if your identity had eventually been uncovered, I would have thrown away this life to keep you safe!"

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

"Ace, remember this."

"The Marines did not strip you of your right to live because of your bloodline."

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

Garp's fists tightened, and the air before him twisted under the terrifying power he unconsciously released.

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

But Garp ignored him and continued.

"Ace, do you know? Even as your grandfather, I once regretted agreeing to Roger and saving you."

Ace's pupils dilated. His face instantly turned pale, as though struck by lightning. All color and life seemed to vanish from him.

"Back then, on Batelira Island in the South Blue, in order to find Roger's bloodline, the World Government would rather kill the wrong people than let anyone escape. They killed many innocent babies and pregnant women."

Garp looked into the distance, as if the tragedy of those years was reflected in his eyes.

His hands began to tremble uncontrollably, tears falling one drop at a time onto the backs of his hands.

"I once wondered whether sacrificing so many innocent lives 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 ridiculous notion could never be accepted in any world!"

"Do unborn babies have no right to choose their own future?"

"A vicious band of pirates kidnapped one person and one hundred people at two different locations at the same time."

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

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

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

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

"What if you were that person?"

Garp muttered to himself, as though asking Ace, yet also asking himself.

His words made Ace's mind roar. He stood there completely numb.

Even Sengoku, who had been guarding against Garp all along, was utterly stunned.

He had never expected the usually rough and careless Garp to say something like this.

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

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

"Garp!! What are you saying?!"

Sengoku's face drained of color in horror.

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 shock at his words, and walked down the steps with a desolate expression.

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

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

But there had only ever been one Marine Hero.

Yet being a hero was never easy.

Just as Garp was despondent, Sengoku was lost in thought, Ace stood numb, and the sounds of killing 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 midst of battle froze, then instinctively looked up at the sky.

Then came a sight that none of them would ever forget for the rest of their lives.

High in the sky, the frozen tsunami collapsed.

A pitch-black warship a thousand meters long, like a giant sword cleaving the heavens, pressed across the sky and crashed down!