Heavy snow fell without warning.
It was not snow that belonged to this season in Wano Country. Thick, gray-white clouds hung low, as though the sky, too, were mourning this battered land. Cold snowflakes drifted down onto blackened ruins, onto bloodstains not yet dry, onto weary, grieving faces, trying to cover those horrifying scars, only to let the chill pierce deeper into their hearts.
A relatively sheltered hollow amid the ruins of Onigashima became a temporary cemetery and a place for farewells.
Bodies were carefully laid out one after another and covered with simple white cloths. Some were intact, their faces peaceful; others were incomplete and could only be identified by their clothing or personal belongings. The air was thick with the smell of blood, medicine, and a heavy, suffocating silence.
Lin Yan stood at the front of the crowd. Beside him were Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, and the others, supporting one another; the solemn-faced Denjiro, Kawamatsu, and Shutenmaru; Marco and the other remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates, their eyes red as they fought back tears; Nami, Chopper, Robin, and the other Straw Hat Pirates, weeping silently; and countless samurai and civilians who had lost relatives, friends, and companions in this war.
The list of the fallen was long. A rough count put the rebel alliance's dead at over three thousand, with countless more severely wounded. The casualties among the Beasts Pirates and Orochi's forces were several times greater still. Behind every number was a shattered family, a life abruptly cut short.
And at the very top of that long list, several names carried particular weight.
Izo, commander of the Whitebeard Pirates' Sixteenth Division and a former samurai of Wano Country, had stayed behind to protect his companions and died fighting CP0 agents. When his body was recovered, he was still