Compared with their panicked flight, the Whitebeard Pirates' retreat seemed tragic and heavy.
"Pops..." Marco supported Whitebeard, who knelt on one knee, panting heavily, his own eyes reddening.
"Gurararara..." Whitebeard raised his head. He glanced at his battered "sons," still gathered around him, then turned his gaze toward Lorne in the distance. A complicated gleam flashed through his clouded eyes. "You really... stirred up one hell of a storm, brat of the New Era."
He said nothing more, slowly rising with the captains' support.
"Boys!" Summoning the last of his strength, Whitebeard gave his final order to the entire crew. "We're... going home!"
"Yes, Pops!"
The captains escorted the exhausted Whitebeard, retreating toward the Moby Dick in grief and disarray. They showed none of the dejection of the defeated, only the heaviness and relief of knowing their family had survived. Jozu, Vista, and the others glanced back at the devastated battlefield and the man standing there like a god or demon, their eyes filled with awe and uncertainty.
The era Lorne had ignited with his own hands, then extinguished together with Red-Haired Shanks, came to an end just like that.
With the withdrawal of the Three Great Four Emperors Pirates Crews, the Rocks Remnants drawn by Teach's origins and the various pirates who had come upon hearing the news lost their mainstay entirely.
"Young Master Teach is dead... what do we do?"
"Who gives a fuck what we do! Run!"
"Boss Soren was killed! Boss Blacktooth was killed too! Rocks's era is finished for good!"
The Pirates Alliance collapsed completely. Every faction scrambled to flee, scattering like headless flies aboard their damaged ships, wanting only to leave this Asura Field as quickly as possible.
Watching the chaotic yet orderly retreat, Shanks said to Benn Beckman behind him, "Beckman, take some