"A world like that… I truly want to see it for myself!"
"But, this old man hasn't lost yet!"
Whitebeard slowly extended both hands, his five fingers spreading forward in a pulling motion.
"Kid! If I win this fight, you'll take me to see that world! If I lose, I'll follow you, but you'll still have to take me there!"
As he spoke, a rugged, playful grin spread across his face, as though he believed he had cleverly made a deal that was impossible to lose.
But Qin Yi neither grew angry nor disagreed. Instead, he smiled faintly.
"Then you'd better prepare yourself, Whitebeard… to open your eyes wide, and never again be able to close them before the vastness of the cosmos you'll see!"
In the next instant, the space between Qin Yi's brows split open, the Rinne Sharingan flared to life, its scarlet, coiled ripples spinning ominously, its terrible insight taking in the shattered battlefield.
Behind him, ten massive tails surged upward, swirling with boundless Chakra that tore through the clouds, a raw, primordial energy.
"ROOOOAR!!"
The spectral outline of a Ten-Tails phantom, savage and titanic, rose from behind him, its feet trampling the sea, its head pressing against the very heavens. The void quaked; the air itself began to twist and distort under its oppressive, Naruto-world pressure.
"I command the Laws of Nature!"
The words left Qin Yi's lips softly, but in that moment, an overwhelming surge of power burst outward like a tidal wave.
"WUUUUMMM!!"
Everything within sight began to tremble and hum violently, every atom, every current of air, every droplet of water. In that instant, Qin Yi had seized absolute control over the world's very essence before him.
High above the sea, Whitebeard's body stiffened as his own pulling motion faltered.
"This brat… he's seized control of the world itself!"
"How is that possible!?"
Startled, Whitebeard didn't hesitate. Both hands clenched and pulled down violently.
"CRACK, CRACK, CRACK!"
Before him, the very atmosphere shattered. Everything, air, sea, and sky, split apart as if the universe were a vast painting, and someone had violently slashed it diagonally with a blade.
The ocean tilted, one half rising, the other sinking. The sky twisted, magnetic fields and gravity reversing, the very laws of nature spiraling into chaos and destruction.
"OPEN!"
Qin Yi's shout split the heavens.
"RUMMMBLE!!!"
The entire sky and sea convulsed madly. A taut, snapping sound, like steel strings pulled to the breaking point, filled the air, making everyone's scalp tingle in terror.
Far away, aboard the two ships that had been blown countless leagues from the battle, the crews clung to the rails, teeth clenched and eyes wide.
The sight before them nearly stopped their hearts.
"They… they destroyed an entire sea region!"
"The world itself is breaking apart!"
"What kind of power is this!?"
Two immeasurable forces collided between sky and sea, clashing, biting, tearing at one another, each blow shaking the world to its core.
At that moment, every witness finally understood,
Those legends of cutting the sea in half with a single slash, or smashing mountains with one punch, were nothing compared to the apocalyptic scale of the destruction they were witnessing now.
These two men… were no longer men. They were demons, or perhaps gods.
"CREEAAAK… CREEEEAK…"
The sound came from the void itself, a noise so sharp it made their skulls ache.
And then, they saw something that nearly made their eyes burst from their sockets.
The entire sea region was curving. The ocean was arcing upward toward the sky, while the sky itself collapsed downward like a sinking dome.
"The heavens and the sea… they're like a metal flask in his hands, and he's crushing it!"
"And at the center of that bottle… is Pops!"
Marco muttered, his face pale with fear.
His description was terrifyingly accurate. Whitebeard had torn the world apart; Qin Yi, commanding the heavens and the oceans with the power of the Rinnegan, was using the entire realm to crush his foe.
The area of destruction was vast beyond comprehension. Tsunamis, earthquakes, such catastrophes were now nothing more than side effects of their clash.
"CRACK!!"
Space itself was being crushed tighter and tighter, as though the world were a bottle being twisted in on itself. The void around Whitebeard shrank smaller and smaller, while an overwhelming, crushing pressure rolled toward him like a tidal wave.
The air was being forced out; the seawater surged upward against gravity, spiraling chaotically. The winds shrieked in madness, their sharp, high-pitched screams like the release of steam from a bursting pressure cooker, piercing and thunderous.
"Pffft!"
At last, under the crushing pressure, Whitebeard could endure no longer. He bent forward, spitting out a mouthful of blood. His face turned pale in an instant.
"Whitebeard, to withstand my Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack, a technique born of Chakra, and to resist for this long against the combined power of the very nature and the void..."
"I truly admire you."
High above the heavens, Qin Yi looked down upon him with calm majesty, his voice tinged with genuine respect.
Then, bringing his palms together slowly, Qin Yi continued to compress the space surrounding Whitebeard.
He knew this stubborn old man wouldn't yield just because of a little blood. He'd have to apply more force.
For pirates like this, great men, heroes of their worlds, the only true acknowledgment of defeat was death or collapse. To verbally admit loss? Impossible.
"Pffft! Pffft! Pffft!"
"CRACK!"
The pressure of time and space tightened again. Whitebeard spat more blood, his face now flushed crimson as his massive frame trembled violently. Even his bones seemed about to be crushed to powder.
The shifting air pressure around him grew thin, and the body of this already-aged titan finally reached its limit.
His vision blurred. The world before him dimmed and swayed. Weakness coursed through his body in waves.
Yet in that final moment, as his eyes clouded and his senses faded, images began to flash before him.
A sea breeze brushed against his face. He stood at the bow of a ship once more, a young man with golden hair, looking out across the endless ocean with a faint smile.
Then the image shifted, Roger's face appeared before him, grinning with that same unshakable confidence, shouting:
"Newgate! I'm not gonna lose to you that easily!"
Another flash, Garp, hair still black, face young and fierce, yelling with that familiar fire:
"Whitebeard! You're not escaping this time, surrender now!"
In that dazed moment, Whitebeard suddenly understood.
"So… this is my life."
Faces flickered by, Marco, Jozu, Vista, and the rest of his sons, each one flashing like stars in the twilight of his memories.
And then,
A final face appeared.
He froze.
A girl, golden twin-tails tied neatly behind her head, a soft, gentle smile, wearing a pink dress, hands holding the hem of her skirt, cheeks flushed with shy warmth.
"What… was her name?"
For a long moment, he couldn't recall it. But there was no doubt, this woman existed deep within Whitebeard's heart.
Then, unexpectedly, Whitebeard chuckled softly. A low, rough laugh.
He, of all men, the man who ruled the seas, had forgotten the name of the woman he'd remembered his whole life.
"Hah… what a failure of a life."
In what seemed like the last flicker of his consciousness, Whitebeard whispered those words from the depths of his soul, half self-mockery, half profound peace.
Then all color faded from his sight. Light vanished. Only darkness remained.
"So… it ends here?"
he muttered faintly, his senses slipping away.
And then,
"You've lost."
The quiet words drifted into his ear. Whitebeard froze for an instant, then relaxed completely.
"Yes… I've lost."
"To fall here… this old man couldn't be happier."
From the sky, the once-unyielding titan's body began to sink. Slowly, Whitebeard fell from the heavens, down toward the roaring sea.
"Pops!!!"
The anguished cries of his sons rose from the waves below.
(End of Chapter)
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