"Sakazuki!!!"
Sengoku let out a heart-rending roar, his voice filled with shock, fury, and a trace of... fear that even he refused to acknowledge.
His mind went blank. Sakazuki, the man who had embraced absolute justice to his very bones, was simply gone?
Not even a scrap of his remains was left.
His roar echoed across the deathly silent battlefield, but received no answer.
Across the entire battlefield, Marines and pirates alike stopped moving.
Drawn by what had happened in the sky, tens of thousands of terrified gazes converged on the black-robed figure in midair.
Pero floated there silently, without a word.
He made no move.
Yet his very presence exerted an absolute pressure beyond Conqueror's Haki, making every powerful fighter present feel as though an invisible hand had seized their heart in a crushing grip. Even breathing became difficult.
Among the Marines, a battle-hardened Vice Admiral tried to draw his sword, only to find his arm shaking like a leaf. The hilt knocked against the scabbard with a faint clink, piercingly loud in the deathly silence.
On the pirates' side, even the captains with bounties over a hundred million instinctively took half a step back, cold sweat soaking their backs.
Sengoku's towering body trembled slightly.
He glanced down at the Den Den Mushi still faithfully carrying out its live broadcast. Through that tiny lens, he seemed to see the frightened, bewildered, and even mocking eyes of countless people around the world.
Had the Marines... lost?
No, not yet!
One final surge of madness rose in his heart.
He abruptly turned his gaze toward Ace on the Execution Platform, murderous intent laid bare in his eyes.
As long as I execute the Pirate King's bloodline here, right now! he roared inwardly. *As long as I accomplish our original objective, we