A molten fist was protruding from Keoni's chest. She looked so small, so frail. Hanging limply, weakly trying to grasp at the fist coming out of her chest.
Akainu looked down disdainfully at her.
"Stupid little girl. You've only prolonged their worthless lives for a little longer. Look. You barely saved the Son of Roger, but what's he going to do without legs? He can barely hold onto the Son of Dragon, who's chest has already begun to melt under my fist. Your sacrifice was useless. Accept your fate, by aiding these disgusting pirates with such sinful blood in their veins, you were marked to die as well."
She gasped out weakly, "No… Itachi… Help…"
Akainu laughed, "That fool can't do a thing. A valiant fighter, but a pirate nonetheless. He will die along with every other piece of filth here. And you three will be the first deaths for a new age of Absolute Jus-gurk!"
A sword sliced right through his arm causing it to lose form, while a leg caught him in his neck sending him crashing to the ground.
"What was that? I didn't feel any Haki coming from him!"
"ACE!"
Whitebeard roared, looking up in concern when he heard his son screaming in pain. His eyes widened in shock and anger at Ace's injured state as well as the giant fist in the Pokian's chest. He had broken his promise.
"Keep her safe, Whitebeard. If anything happens to her, we'll never forgive you. Strongest man or not, you will not be allowed to step foot on this island if anything happens to her!"
"Gurarara. Don't worry, Makani. She'll never get anywhere close to the fighting. She'll be safe without a doubt. I promise."
A massive golden fist came crashing down on him, bringing him to his knees. A vicious uppercut from Garp shook his vision, disorienting him even more.
"Now is not the time to get distracted, Whitebeard! Your opponent is us!"
A beam of light shot by and pierced right through his chest, puncturing one of his lungs. Six swords shoved their way through his chest, courtesy of four Vice-Admirals, in his moment of weakness. Whitebeard growled in pain as his crew cried out in concern at seeing him injured as well as the unfair interference from five other people. But this was war, and war was never fair.
Whitebeard took the injuries in stride and swung his naginata, the tip empowered by his Devil Fruit, at the Fleet Admiral who meet it head-on with an enhanced punch of his own, stopping the mighty weapon, but before he could make another move, Whitebeard punched his weapon, doubling the power of the attack Sengoku had tried to match and sent the man's golden form sliding back. Garp made to follow up, but then something red and hot slammed into the ground between them.
Admiral Akainu picked himself up out of the crater, surprised that the little punk had been able to kick him.
He looked up only to be on the receiving end of a tremor-enhanced punch from Whitebeard, anger written all over his face. Akainu grunted under the immense pressure from the punch. The ground was cracking underneath him, his ribs feeling like they were about to shatter. The pressure was gone, Garp having forced Whitebeard off of the admiral, and without hesitation, Akainu leaped at Whitebeard's head, swiping a clawed hand at him.
"Hellhound!"
Whitebeard tilted his head out of the way, but the glancing blow from the attack still melted part of his head including his famous mustache. Whitebeard only grunted before smashing a fist into the admiral's side.
The air cracked where Whitebeard had hit and Akainu felt some of his ribs break for real. Then a massive shockwave burst from the other side of his body and obliterated everything in its path. The ground shook and trembled as the massive tower that was Marine HQ collapsed into rubble.
The earth split open beneath them, the deep chasm eating those unlucky to have fallen into it.
And thus, Whitebeard had split himself away from the rest of his forces, leaving only himself to face the might of the remaining marines.
"This war has gone on long enough!"
He slammed his naginata into the ground.
"These will be my last orders as captain of the Whitebeard Pirates!"
Blood covered Itachi's chest. There was just so much of it and it wouldn't stop coming out of Keoni's chest and Ace's missing leg and Luffy's chest.
Luffy was no longer conscious, Ace struggling to stay conscious himself.
He landed on the ground as a whale shark fishman he recognized as Jinbe, a former Warlord, and a crossdresser with an oversized head appeared next to him. He laid Luffy and Ace on the ground before he began to cradle Keoni in his lap. Her Voice was getting weaker by the second and he couldn't do a thing about it. Her spine was destroyed and her lungs were melted.
He held her close as she struggled for breath, whispering soft apologies into her ear.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
Her hand desperately grasped at his face, and he placed his hand over hers, pressing it into his cheek.
"Your eyes… like a bright... burning sun…"
His focus was all on her and all of a sudden her Voice was laid bare to him and so he listened. The strength of the love from her Voice was staggering and it was all for him. Even now, as she lay dying in his arms, it didn't waver in the slightest.
Why? Why did someone as pure and as wonderful as her have to love someone like him?
Tears began to drip down his face. She smiled weakly at him, blood dribbling out the side of her lips.
"Don't… cry… bastard…" she tried to take a breath, but only a wet gurgling came out.
"I… love…"
The last word never made it past her lips.
"Mother, what's love?"
A young Itachi sat at the kitchen table.
"Hmmm? What's brought this up?"
She sat down next to him with a slight grin.
"Did a girl catch your eye, Itachi-kun?"
"I just heard some girls at the Academy talking about it, but I didn't really understand what they were talking about."
"Mmmmm. Love is… diverse. There're all kinds of love in this world. The one those girls were talking about was romantic love. Falling in love with someone you like and spending the rest of your days with them to put it simply."
"And how do you know if you are romantically in love with someone?"
She tilted her head to the side, deep in thought.
"It could be a bunch of things to be honest. Of course, they should make you happy and you should make them happy in return, but it's not an instantaneous thing. Sasuke makes you happy, right? And you make him happy. That's a form of love and it can be the same with friends. You can have love for friends because you make each other happy or comfortable. I guess with those girls, they equate infatuation with love, and it's partially correct. When you like someone romantically, they seem to invade your thoughts a little more often than you'd like, or you just can't help but stare at them, picking out random quirks or features that seem super small, but seem all the more important. Your heart or your stomach or both will sometimes feel a little lighter than they should when you're with them, but love is more than that. To put it simply, when you're in love, you want to protect and support that person. It's like what you feel for Sasuke, but there's just a little something extra that defines the boundary between platonic love and romantic love, but that boundary changes from person to person. If you want to figure that out, you'll just have to find it on your own."
She smiled down at him stroking his head, as he looked lost in thought.
"You'll just know when you've found someone with that extra special something."
"Hey, Itachi."
"Mmmmm?"
Itachi was in his forge polishing his latest sword.
"I want to travel with you someday."
"Why is that?"
"Because you tell me all these cool stories of all the places you visited before you came here and your time with the Whitebeard Pirates and I just thought it would be neat…"
"Neat?"
"Uh-huh. You got a problem with that?"
"Not really, but why with me?"
"The illustrators sit too low on those sticks up their asses so traveling with them would be no fun. Most of the blacksmiths don't travel either as they just sell their stuff here or the closest islands so that just leaves you. Of course, it won't be too soon. I need to finish learning some more things from Makani as I'm not a genius like you. So you can take me out to see the world when you come back. Simple as that."
"Well, I don't think it's that simple…"
"Of course it is. Why wouldn't it be?"
"I don't think-"
"I will not be taking no for an answer!"
"What if I die?"
"I know you won't!"
"Then why'd you ask?"
"Cause it's polite…"
"When have you ever been polite?"
"Well I was trying to be polite just now, but if you're going to be so damn cheeky I'll just demand you to sail me around the world like my own personal taxi service once I win our bet."
"Alright. Sure."
She pounced on his back.
"Don't be so sarcastic, ya punk!"
When you come back, take me to Skypiea? After hearing the bell last night, I'm just dying to know what the real deal sounds like.
I want to go to Skypiea and hear the beautiful ring of that golden bell that you made!
Alright! I see how it is, Itachi. Then I challenge you! We'll see who can make a Supreme Grade Sword or better first. Whoever wins gets to boss around the other for a whole year!
Come back soon. Promise?
I promise.
The memories flooded his head as those promised words bounced around in his skull and he just couldn't stop thinking about her. Her smile. Her laugh. Her special spot on that hill. Her love for the moon. The box of letters. Her horrible attempts at painting. The earrings and the necklace that she had made for him. Their arguments over the stupidest things. How she wiggled her ears when she was nervous and so many other small quirks and tidbits that made Keoni unique in his mind.
And in the sea that was her in his head, he realized.
He loved her.
It had been there but he had always pushed it away because he had thought he had been undeserving of it. Why did a monster need love? It had been so easy back in the Nations. No sane woman wanted to love a criminal like him and he had been perfectly fine with it, but here? In this world? He had no such reputation. He had been a fish in a sea of monsters.
But she hadn't cared.
And he had been so scared. Scared to open his heart. Scared to be vulnerable. But he had done it anyway and she had loved him despite it. It made it hurt all the more. It felt like his heart was being stabbed by a thousand tiny needles, but he just couldn't deny that he loved her.
And it was too late to tell her that.
He had promised to come back to her, but how was he supposed to do that when he had no one to return to.
More tears escaped from his eyes as he cradled her body in his arms and he just had to accept it.
Keoni was dead.
A hot, heavy presence landed behind him.
A shout of surprise came from the crossdresser, who had been trying to staunch the blood coming from Ace's stump.
"It's Admiral Akainu! Quick ve must get Straw Hat-boy and Ace-boy away from him!"
Itachi laid Keoni's limp body on the ground. Pulling out a scroll, he sealed her in it. The Pokians had a special ceremony in which they buried their dead. She deserved at least that.
"Uchiha Itachi. Just another thorn in our side, especially after that stunt you pulled at Enies Lobby. Your little girlfriend has already died. You, your captain, and his brother are next. This is what you get for standing in the face of justice. You are all failures, Whitebeard included. Once Whitebeard dies, this era ends and a new one will begin that will cleanse this world of filth like pirates and Revolutionaries."
The heat grew in intensity behind him. He could sense the admiral raising his fist in preparation to strike him down. He looked up at Jinbe and the crossdresser.
"Take care of my brothers for me."
Ace lifted his head, pushing through the pain," No, Itachi! Don't!"
The crossdresser whisked him away before he could say anything else.
As the fist came down, Itachi let the rage that he had been holding tightly wash over him, his Susanoo coming partially into existence, and turning on the spot, sliced Akianu's arm right off.
"ARRRRRRRRRRGGGGH!"
Whitebeard stared down the Blackbeard Pirates as they prepared to fire everything they had into his body.
That was fine. He had told the world the truth of One Piece and all that was left was to welcome death. He had served his purpose in this world and he would gladly leave like this. His sons would continue to rage across the oceans and his will would live on. It was all he could ask for in the new age of pirates that would begin.
He stood proudly in front of the detestable pirates, ready to die by their hand.
Only... it never happened.
Before he could even comprehend what happened a body smashed into the Blackbeard Pirates knocking them back with the force and for some reason, he was on the other side of the great chasm he had created, his most wayward son occupying the space he had just stood in.
He ground his teeth in anger. Insubordination at a time like this, what an insolent little brat!
"Itachi, what do you think you're doing?"
"Giving what is due. She didn't deserve to die."
Whitebeard's heart hurt to hear such pain and heartbreak in his son's comment, but he couldn't ignore the stab of guilt. He hadn't been able to protect the Pokian girl and because of his failure, she was dead and he was to blame. A solitary tear dripped from his eye. He could only imagine the place she had held in Itachi's heart. The pain his son was going through.
He didn't have the strength to jump the gap, and as he felt Marco's flames engulf him, their regenerative ability easing the exhaustion in his body, he knew that his commanders wouldn't let him go, Itachi's act of mutiny lighting a similar fire in their hearts. It would seem that he would not be dying this day, but he didn't have much time left either way. His body had been completely wrecked.
He could only stare as Itachi faced down the world, his back despite being so small, seemed larger than a giant's.
It should've been his place, but it seems like fate had other plans.
As Marco carried him onto the deck of a ship that hadn't been destroyed by Akainu's assault he had only one thought.
"Give 'em hell, Itachi."
Akainu struggled to get out of the crater, gripping at the bleeding stump where his arm had been, but before he could stand up fully, something large and white slammed into him and sent him flying further away from the chasm.
"Zehahaha! Even Marine HQ's admirals aren't invincible!"
Teach got up from where he had been knocked over.
"Aren't you happy to see me, Itachi? I've attained my dream! It came at a small cost, but it wa- GUAH!"
Teach was interrupted when a sword attempted to impale his stomach. Itachi had rushed the man, not giving him any room to talk. He didn't want to hear it.
The blade never pierced the man as the rest of his crew had jumped in front of him to protect him. They didn't come out of it unscathed as they were shoved back from Itachi's Susanoo forming fully around him. They all howled in pain as harsh burns covered the parts of their bodies that were unlucky enough to have gotten close to the great avatar.
The admirals gazed in confusion at the ethereal figure that surrounded Itachi.
"Wasn't that thing originally orange? Why is it white now? And didn't it have two arms, not four?"
Surrounding Itachi, the Susanoo stood tall, white flames that burned hotter than even Amaterasu swirling out like protective armor over its red form. Four arms flexed menacingly, one carrying the Sword of Totsuka, one the Yata Mirror, another a wrist-mounted crossbow, and the final one a brush. The arm with the brush had just finished drawing the character for "Heavy" on top of the group of criminals and when the brush lifted, the traitorous ex-Warlord and his crew felt like they were suddenly being crushed by a mountain. Teach's ribcage creaked ominously as he struggled for breath.
"Stay right there, Teach. I'm not done with you yet."
Itachi began to stalk towards the line of marines. The five strongest marines in history stood in front of him but he couldn't care less. Keoni had died. As far as he was concerned, they would too.
There would be no mercy.
He sensed Kizaru attempting to speed past him towards Luffy and Ace who was being loaded into a submarine, but before he could make it even close to the chasm, a white arrow shot him out of the sky.
"None of you will pass."
The brush arm lifted and began to write on the air, the character for "Gate" floating over the great divide. A ripple of energy spread out from it as the arm finished drawing, spreading high into the sky and then the marines felt like they were truly cut off from the escaping pirates.
The followers of Absolute Justice ground their teeth in frustration as they saw the pirates slipping from their grasp, but as they let fly cannonballs and bullets and missiles at their retreating backs, they all exploded on the barrier that the massive character had created. Even the burning, molten attacks from Akainu couldn't get through it.
"Bring down that barrier at once, scum! At this rate, our targets are going to escape to the sea!"
A marine leveled a bazooka at Itachi, but before he could pull the trigger, a massive hand was gripping his head and all he could do was scream in pain as the white flames engulfed his body, incinerating him on the spot.
Sengoku's eyes widened in anger, a vein throbbing in his forehead.
"EVERYONE! ATTTTAAAAAAACCCKKKK!"
At once, every marine left in the plaza charged at Itachi and he dashed forwards to meet them.
He wrote with the brush, the character for "Drum" in front of him and slammed the Yata Mirror into it. The character disappeared after the hit, causing a massive shockwave to blast out from it towards the line of approaching marines, the concussive force knocking the frontline backwards with ruptured organs and eardrums.
In an instant, the admirals were on top of him, but now Itachi was able to take them on evenly. His four limbs were a whirlwind of destructive energy, forcing the admirals to duck and dodge away from the Sword of Totsuka. They had seen Itachi cut off Akainu's arm and they couldn't risk it happening to them. It was the only thing they could focus on as somehow, Observation wasn't working anymore. They couldn't sense what Itachi was about to do next, and as such, could only think about staying alive.
Aokiji opened a hole in his body as the Sword of Totsuka attempted to pierce him, but he was forced to split himself down the middle of his body as the massive sword slashed upwards. Akainu dodged another "Freeze" character that was launched at him by the arm holding the brush but was forced to jump away from a kick from Itachi as Kizaru was brutally smashed into a nearby building by the Yata Mirror. A bolt of white fire shot from the crossbow hitting one of the giants in the shoulder, the blazing fire spreading across his upper body, consuming his left arm in an instant. Another giant was forced to cut off the limb before the fire could spread to the rest of the giant's body.
A swirling ball of chakra formed in the palm of the arm wielding the crossbow, slamming into a group of Vice-Admirals that tried to attack from behind him.
Sengoku aimed a shockwave at the Susanoo's chest, but Itachi leaped up and met it head-on with the Sword of Totsuka. The resulting clash shook the entire plaza causing even more cracks to run through the ground. Then Garp was there and Itachi was just able to block the man's heavy punch with his other sword, but unlike the Sword of Totsuka, she couldn't hold against such pure brute force, especially when he had no Haki left to imbue her with. Thus ended the life of Itachi's beloved greatsword, Fuyukokyo, as she shattered into pieces and Garp landed the very first hit against Itachi, the mighty punch sending him flying back.
At the sight of Itachi finally getting hit, the morale of the marines returned with vigor and they charged at him, the other Vice-Admirals leading them. Cannonballs, missiles, and elemental projectiles rained down on him knocking Itachi around with their explosive strength not at all giving him a chance to recover from Garp's destructive punch.
Under the concussive barrage, Itachi swayed on his feet, his vision blurring.
He was tired.
His chakra reserves were nearly depleted, this Susanoo form greedily burning through them faster than even his Complete Body Susanoo. But he couldn't leave now. Whitebeard's ship hadn't left the harbor yet and Itachi would not leave until the old man and his crew were safe.
An errant thought passed through his head. A random epiphany of sorts.
He could hold out for another few minutes, but not like this.
He deactivated his Susanoo, it's fiery form dissipating into the air. The giant "Gate" character behind him disappeared as well.
The marines cheered at the sight, clearly thinking that the lone pirate had finally been beaten. They charged at him even faster. The faster he died the faster they could close the harbor and capture the Whitebeard Pirates, whose ships they could still see turning around in the harbor.
Itachi flew through a string of hand seals as the sun-like design in his eyes began to spin hypnotically, blood gushing from burst blood vessels from the magnitude of the technique he was about to perform/.
"Heavenly Sun Wheel Ultimate Technique: Full Copy!"
He clapped his hands together, "Senju Hashirama!"
His mind was instantly assaulted by memories that weren't his, hundreds of techniques unique to the First Hokage filling his head. One came to the forefront of his mind.
His body began to mold chakra like it had done thousands of times before, but he didn't remember having a nature affinity with Earth, yet he did. It didn't matter because somehow Itachi knew Wood Release and his body knew how to create it and a massive wooden structure was already rising from the ground as dark markings covered his face.
"Sage Art Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands!"
And then a titanic wooden Buddha was towering over the marines, thousands of wooden hands surrounding it. Looking down, the marines looked tiny to Itachi, Sengoku's giant golden form being the only thing he could easily see.
It didn't matter. He was going to crush all of them. He was going to wipe Marineford off the map.
His body began to mold chakra again, another technique pushing itself forward in his mind.
"Top Transformed Buddha!"
He willed every single hand on the great statue to smash the ground that the marines stood on, and following his bidding, the thousands of hands extended from the wooden structure, pulverizing the ground with their wooden fists. The Vice-Admirals, Admirals, and Sengoku tried desperately to protect those of lower rank, slashing, melting, freezing, and punching as many of the wooden limbs as they could, but like a hydra, every destroyed fist was replaced with two more and they were slowly becoming overwhelmed.
With a roar, Sengoku created a massive shockwave as he transformed into a different form.
"Hundred-Handed Attack Stance!"
Sengoku stood almost as large as Itachi's wooden statue, one hundred hands sprouting from his back ready to split wood.
The wooden Buddha detached itself from the rest of the wooden structure, a hundred hands also sprouting from its back and moved forward to meet Sengoku.
Suddenly, Admiral Kizaru was flying in front of Itachi, ready to shoot a barrage of lasers into Itachi's body, but before he could let loose the attack, a great wooden dragon slithered off the wooden statue's head, wrapping itself around the marine.
Kizaru paid it no mind thinking that he could phase out of it since it was just wood. It wasn't that white humanoid thing that had been able to cut off Sakazuki's arm so he would be safe.
That line of thought would prove to be fatal.
The wooden dragon bit deeply into Kizaru's torso, causing the man to cry out in pain. Itachi watched as the sea of tiny yellow particles within the admiral's body was absorbed by the dragon. The first arm of his Susanoo formed to his right, the ethereal blade of the Sword of Totsuka flowing out from the sake gourd, and in one fluid motion, he stabbed Kizaru straight through the chest.
He coughed, blood beginning to seep out of his mouth, surprise etched over his face.
Aokiji was there, freezing the wooden dragon that held Kizaru, but it was too late. Itachi began to draw the blade out of the admiral's chest, but it didn't slide out fully. As the tip made to exit the admiral's chest, it pulled Kizaru as well and then his limp body was slowly drawn toward Itachi, until the Sword of Totsuka was sheathed and Admiral Borsalino, the man known as the Yellow Monkey, was sealed for eternity in a world of drunken dreams.
The marines gaped in shock at the death of one of the legendary Marine Admirals. The admirals were fabled to be untouchable.
Unkillable.
Yet, right in front of their eyes, this nobody had done what was seemingly impossible and killed one.
Aokiji attempted to jump back, but a pair of wooden fists grabbed him out of the air, and he suddenly couldn't turn himself into ice. Itachi had seen the long strands of blue light in the admiral's body drain away just like they had in Kizaru's. Then those fists, still holding him, began to clash with the fists of Sengoku's Hundred-Handed Buddha. The force of them rattled his brain inside his skull and caused his organs to rupture inside his body. The wooden hand that was holding him finally broke and let him tumble to the ground barely conscious.
He landed with a sickening crunch on the ground right next to Master Chief Petty Officer Koby.
Koby looked over in shock as the voice from Aokiji's body became incredibly quiet, almost a whisper, but still there. He looked up at the two titanic behemoths that were the giant wooden statue and his Fleet Admiral duke it out and then out to the harbor as the stern of the last ship of the Whitebeard Pirates slipped out to sea.
He cast his eyes around him as the sounds of agony and suffering invaded his brain, and it was just too much for him to handle. The voices! They just kept disappearing as those massive wooden fists kept pounding into the ground. Screams of anguish as Akainu burned those who tried to turn tail and flee from the battlefield.
He couldn't take it anymore. It had to stop.
They had failed to execute Portgas D. Ace and Sabo the Revolutionary.
So why? Why were they still fighting?
This war…
It. Had. To. Stop.
He didn't know what he could do but he could try. He looked back up to the two massive Buddhas fighting. One of the voices was crying out in pain and in grief and hate and all it wanted to do was to destroy.
To raze and burn everything in front of it and just the sheer presence of it made him want to curl into a ball and cry, but he couldn't. Luffy's words came back to him.
"It's my dream and I wouldn't mind dying for it."
He dreamed of being a fine marine. To be the best damn marine this world had ever seen, and that kind of marine would put his life on the line to stop such meaningless destruction. The Whitebeard Pirates had already escaped.
He would stop this war or die trying.
He jumped up, kicking at the air beneath him using Moon Step to fly upwards. He did his best to dodge the flying fists between the two giants, but the air they displaced was more than enough to almost make him lose his balance, but he caught himself.
He couldn't fail.
As he got closer to the head of the wooden statue, he began to scream at the top of his lungs.
"STOP! STOP FIGHTING! IT'S MEANINGLESS TO CONTINUE FIGHTING! THEY'RE GONE! THE WHITEBEARD PIRATES ARE GONE! WE'VE FAILED OUR OBJECTIVE!"
He came up to eye-level with the enemy and looking into those swirling suns, he was overwhelmed by the pain and grief and rage held in the purple depths of those enchanting eyes. The blood continuously seeping from them making them more haunting.
Tears began to spill out of his own eyes because the grief and anguish that he felt from this man would be the same for all the families that would lose their husband, brother, or son if this war continued. So many lives had already been lost, but more didn't need to be taken in meaningless fighting.
He choked on his next words, but he managed to get them out.
"Please! There's no need to fight. We've lost. Your comrades have escaped to sea. So please… please stop killing… I can feel your pain and your grief, but if you continue, hundreds if not thousands of families will feel the same. I know you're not the kind of person who would relish in that kind of pain. If you were, there's no way Luffy would've allowed you to join his crew. So I beg of you, end this now."
His Voice sang with sorrow and grief at the death and destruction that surrounded them and unknown to him, the man could hear it.
And it made him pause.
A tendril of wood snaked around Koby's waist, gently pulling him towards the man.
"Oh god, he's going to kill me. He's going to kill me but I said what I wanted."
But he refused to close his eyes. He would meet death fearlessly.
But it never came. Instead, the man smiled wearliy at Koby.
"Thank you, young marine. It's quite ironic that it would be my enemy that would bring me back from the abyss of hate and darkness, but those words remind me of another person just like you. He wanted to end wars too. To end the cycle of hate that plagued our lands, and I worked to help that dream. But it seems that I only ended up getting lost in my sorrow and hate. For that, I am sorry."
The man bowed his head slightly at Koby, who was so surprised by the sincerity and remorse emitting from the man that he couldn't formulate a proper response.
An angry voice called out from beneath them.
"What do you think you're doing, boy! We don't negotiate with scum like that. If you're willing to negotiate with the enemy, you should just die!"
Akainu jumped up at Koby, magma flowing from his stump, ready to kill him.
Sengoku, who had stopped his assault on the wooden statue when Koby had jumped up, began to order the admiral to stop, but before the first word could leave his mouth, a massive slash flew in the space between him and the wooden statue, knocking Akainu back down to the ground.
Everyone turned to see where the attack had come from only to gasp in shock at the sight they saw.
"I came to end this war and protect the retreat of the Whitebeard Pirates, but it seems like I don't need to do either."
Red-Haired Shanks walked towards them, his sword held loosely in his hand.
Marines stumbled back in shock at the sight of another Emperor and his crew walking onto the plaza.
"End this war. Like the young marine up there said, you've failed your objective. The world saw that Ace and Sabo escaped and their faith is shaken. Save some face, Sengoku."
The Fleet Admiral shrunk down until he was back to his normal size as Itachi jumped off the head of his wooden statue, carrying Koby.
"The world doesn't know what happened after I switched places with Whitebeard, so you can spin it in your favor. The old man won't live for much longer, the injuries he sustained here are too grave. Say that you killed him if you want, I know the others won't care if you take credit for it."
He placed Koby on the ground, letting the young marine stand up on his own. He grabbed a scroll and handed it to the boy.
"In that scroll, are the three Celestial Dragons that went missing at the Sabaody Archipelago two weeks ago. All you need to do is open it and they'll be unsealed."
Koby nodded before walking over to stand by Sengoku. Itachi wisely refrained from mentioning that two of them were dead and one was more than likely paralyzed from the neck down.
Sengoku turned to look at the marines who were watching them with bated breath.
"Tend to the wounded! This war is over!"
Shanks slung his arm over Itachi's shoulder, guiding him to the Red Force.
"Come on, I'll take you to see the geezer before he kicks the bucket."
Itachi looked to see where Teach had been laying but was greeted with an empty space.
He wasn't surprised. When he had deactivated his Susanoo, the giant "Gate" character had disappeared, so it wasn't much of a stretch to think that the character he had drawn on Teach's chest disappeared as well, allowing him and his crew to sneak away while he was preoccupied with the marines.
As he walked away, swaying tiredly on his feet, the Heavenly Sun Wheel disappeared from his eyes, and his world was plunged into darkness.
Change has started, Itachi. But what direction will it go? Only you can decide.