"What a disaster! Even rushing, we were still too late!"
Just as Vic and the Three Admirals of the Navy were about to clash, a deep, magnetic voice resounded throughout the entire square.
Vic didn't turn around to look, and the Three Admirals also focused their attention on Vic, who could explode at any moment. The other marines and pirates all looked in the direction of the sound, and saw that a figure had appeared on the shore of the port at some point!
Everyone present recognized the figure; it was none other than the renowned Red-Haired Shanks, one of the Four Emperors. In the original story, Shanks was the last to arrive and mediate the fight, and now he had appeared.
"It's Red-Haired Shanks!"
"The youngest Emperor of the Sea, what brings him here?"
"Another Four Emperors has arrived! Is this going to bury the Marine Headquarters?"
"It's not just him who's here; look at the sea, that's the Red Voss!"
"Look! Isn't that Ben Beckman smoking on the mast of that warship?"
"It's him! I've seen him once!"
"What's that over there..."
" Red-Hair! Did Pops invite you?"
" Marco! Pops wouldn't hire someone for something like this. It was probably Vic who invited him; they have a good relationship."
" Red-Hair! The man who led Luffy onto the path of pirates!"
"What's that Red-Hair guy trying to do here? Trying to reap the benefits without doing anything? Garp! Now's not the time to slack off!"
"Hmm! What do you think I'm wearing on my back?"
"Old man! Don't you want to check what you were doing before?"
" Tsuru! I didn't help Vic before, that was the most I could do, what more do you want?"
"Hmph!"*2
" Red-Haired Shanks! I didn't expect him to be here too. This is getting more and more exciting! It was worth the trip! Fufufufufu!"
Shanks! That bastard dares to show his face in front of me?!
"Lord Buggy! You know Red-Hair the Four Emperors? This tone... were you really a big shot back then?"
Shanks ' appearance instantly attracted everyone's attention. Of course, Shanks didn't come alone; he brought his pirate ship and crew.
The officers had all arrived near the plaza without anyone noticing, and the pirate ship was slowly approaching the port. Only the crew of Red-Haired Shanks, the Devil Fruit User. It was incredibly impressive, befitting a Four Emperors ).
Actually Shanks and his crew also came from the seabed, and they arrived in a real hurry. They had just defeated Kaido in the New World and were immediately capturing sea monsters and pulling their ships to Marine Headquarters!
No one noticed them approaching by ship, because Vic's battle with the Blackbeard Pirates and his confrontation with Akainu's Three Admirals had drawn everyone's attention.
Of course, the Red Hair Pirates's officers are quite capable. If they wanted to approach quietly, most people wouldn't be able to detect them. Plus, their attention was drawn to Vic and his group, so it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they were elusive.
"Gentlemen! Give me some face. Continuing this fight will only lead to pointless casualties. If anyone hasn't had enough, then we'll be your opponents! Come on!"
Shanks still uttered his classic, Haki quote from the original work, but this time the target was different. In the original work, it was mainly aimed at the Blackbeard Pirates, and secondarily at the Marines. The Whitebeard Pirates were already a remnant, so the focus was more on preserving them.
The deeper reason is that Luffy hasn't grown up yet, and the sea hasn't reached the point of chaos, so he has to take action to buy some time!
Upon arriving here, Shanks wasn't actually targeting anyone. The Blackbeard Pirates had already slipped away while Vic was intercepting Akainu and confronting the Three Admirals. Of course, not everyone woke up; several of them were carried away.
Blackbeard was so terrified of Vic that he didn't even dare to covet Whitebeard's Devil Fruit power anymore. After waking up, he carried his unconscious companion and ran away.
Of course, the effective time for stealing the Devil Fruit's power had already passed, so it was useless for him to covet it anymore. This made Blackbeard secretly resentful, and he made a note of Vic in his little notebook.
The departure of the Blackbeard Pirates was ignored by the Navy's high command; with the battlefield in such chaos, it was better that they left, making the Navy's position safer.
The Navy had already compromised, but they were forced to confront Vic again because of Akainu. If it were the Whitebeard Pirates, the Navy wouldn't be in much trouble, as the remnants of Whitebeard's crew posed little threat.
But Vic is different. He's alone, yet possesses such formidable combat power, posing a maximum threat with no weaknesses whatsoever. So, all the Navy lacks is a stepping stone, and Shanks ' arrival provides just that. Therefore, Shanks isn't targeting the Navy; in fact, he indirectly helped them.
As for Vic, it goes without saying that the two are friends and there's no way they'd target each other. Vic would definitely give him face, and Shanks also knows that Vic would give him face, so no one would refute Shanks's words. The Navy is also waiting for Vic's attitude.
" Shanks! I'll give you face this time. Get the bar ready, I might come looking for you anytime!"
Vic gave Shanks a serious look at the Three Admirals in front of him and all the marines behind them before giving him a response.
Giving Shanks face is one aspect, but another is the calculation for the future. The Navy has always been part of Vic's plan, and in the future, it will serve as the main force against the World Government. Therefore, Vic does not want to weaken them now, even someone like Akainu, who may change his mind.
"That Figarland brat ruined things again! He's such a troublemaker!"
"We didn't tell Sengoku the truth: at this point in the war, Sengoku no longer wants to deplete his naval forces!"
" The Blackbeard Pirates nothing special; they couldn't even get past Vic alone. They let them in for nothing!"
" Vic has always been a threat, but I never expected that after years of inactivity, he would now possess such combat power and become such a serious problem!"
"This time he openly violated the agreement of the Shichibukai, so we can revoke his title. Set a higher bounty on him; maybe someone will want to take his head. Not everyone wants to fight him fair and square; there are plenty of underhanded and cunning methods. If even one person succeeds, we'll have made a huge profit!"
"Can you confirm that person is Vic?"
"It's not certain. He only defeated Akainu and the Blackbeard Pirates. Haki was key when he fought them. He didn't use his Devil Fruit ability much; he mostly relied on the speed of his Rumble-Rumble Fruit ability to gain the upper hand. That doesn't prove anything!"
"If they had fought just now, Vic could have defeated the Three Admirals head-on, which would have deepened suspicions about him. Unfortunately, that Red-Hair ruined it!"
In the Room of Authority at Holy Land Mary Geoise, the Five Elders were somewhat disheartened when they saw Vic decide to stop in the light screen. They had originally anticipated a major battle between Vic and the Three Admirals, a battle that would have helped them filter out several strong individuals, but Shanks had stopped them!
In fact, the Five Elders had been paying close attention to the battle at Marine Headquarters. They had an independent surveillance system installed on the four high sentry posts, so even though Sengoku had turned off the Camera Den Den Mushi, they could still see the specific situation on the field.
Moreover, Buggy also has a Den Den Mushi, and can occasionally glimpse some details. Now that Shanks has joined the fray, this war is truly about to end!
"Leave Whitebeard's affairs to us! The footage of the battle has already spread throughout the world; stop making a fuss about his death!"
"What gives you the right to act on your own?"
"It doesn't matter!"
" Fleet Admiral!"
"You can do that, Red-Hair!"
"But..."
I will take responsibility!
Thank you for your help!
"The war is over!"
Seeing Vic speak up, Shanks continued, saying that as a former friend and foe of the captain, Shanks felt he should respect Whitebeard and not let Whitebeard's body be mishandled by the Navy. He wanted to send Whitebeard off on his final journey as a way of fulfilling the bond between the two.
However, Vice Admiral Doberman objected, but was stopped by Sengoku. Sengoku was probably still blaming Doberman in his heart, thinking, "Things were almost over, and you're stirring things up again. You want the navy to suffer heavy casualties, don't you? How can you be so clueless?"
Even Akainu, whom you've allied with, hasn't said a word. You're really asking for trouble by jumping out and being the first to speak up. You couldn't even withstand a single Conqueror's Haki release from either of them, yet you're still jumping around so happily here?
Of course, Sengoku also had reasons for being tired and wanting to shirk responsibility. He really didn't want to bear the burden of being the Fleet Admiral anymore. He had come all the way from Roger's creation of the Great Pirate Era, so he knew the impact of Roger's words at his execution on the world.
Now that Whitebeard has come again, this old man really doesn't want to face it anymore. He might as well hand over the position of Fleet Admiral. He can't keep up with the commotion. This war will end no matter what. Regardless of how the outside world evaluates the Navy, he will take on the negative news about the Navy by resigning.
Sengoku had spoken, and no one from the Navy spoke up. The medical team began to treat and bandage the wounded soldiers. Shanks and Vic came to Whitebeard's standing body and together they lifted Whitebeard's body onto the wrecked Moby Dick in the bay.
And so, the Draco Voss led the way, followed by the wrecked Moby Dick, and then the remaining pirate ships and the stolen warships. All the pirates left the half-destroyed Marine Headquarters in an orderly fashion.
Of course, this doesn't include the Shichibukai; they left through other channels. Buggy and the criminals brought out of Impel Down also left on the warship. This time, Buggy didn't dare to go to Shanks because Vic was always by Shanks' side, and he was a little hesitant to approach him.
When the main force passed through the Sabaody Archipelago, Vic sent Ivankov to take the unconscious Luffy to Rayleigh. Luffy didn't need to attend Whitebeard's Luffy; he had more important things to do.
If Vic returns before Luffy wakes up, he will go to Marine Headquarters with Luffy to deliver the message. If he can't make it in time, Rayleigh can Luffy there. In any case, the message must be delivered, and the two years of training for each of them are also necessary. The Straw Hat Pirates are not yet able to deal with the enemies in the New World!
The outcome of the Paramount War didn't change much; the only major difference was that Ace survived and Blackbeard didn't obtain the Tremor-Tremor Fruit's power!
There were quite a few smaller ones, but thanks to Vic's appearance, many of the Whitebeard Pirates who had died have now survived. The moment Vic stopped Akainu was the moment their fate changed. In short, the Paramount War is completely over!