Redfield and Shiki, flying close behind, froze as the tornado ahead grew even more terrifying.
"What did you say? Brook is the only one trapped inside that monster?" Redfield's face darkened with worry. Brook was still a Devil Fruit user—if the storm hurled him into the sea, there would be no escape.
"We're worried too!" Whitebeard rumbled, his voice calm but heavy. "The fishman army's already been told to stand by. They'll dive to rescue Brother Brook if he falls."
He cast a sharp look at Charlotte Linlin, who trembled with rage. "Watch his life paper. Don't lose your head. If you go wild, you'll put him in more danger."
Hours passed. The colossal storm refused to fade, spinning endlessly, ripping across the sea with gales and rain. It was growing into a full-blown typhoon.
"How can it still be getting stronger?!" Golden Lion Shiki barked, his eyes narrowing. "Don't tell me that bastard Gabriel's power is still holding?"
"If Brook's paper weren't intact, I'd swear he'd already drowned," Redfield muttered. Then his eyes widened. "Wait—look! Wrinkles. His strength is fading."
Linlin's aura flared violently, the air around her trembling. "Brook…"
"Calm yourself!" Whitebeard's roar cracked like a cannon. "If you snap now, you'll kill him faster!"
But none of them had an answer. Shiki's Floating Fruit couldn't break a storm this size. Redfield's thunder might strike Brook himself. Whitebeard's quake powers risked crushing him outright. And Linlin, in her frenzy, was the worst threat of all.
··
Inside the maelstrom, Brook clung to consciousness. He hadn't expected the tornado to persist after Gabriel fell. Instead, it had swollen stronger, faster, dragging him in endless circles.
"No choice," Brook muttered. His icy sphere was small—barely enough to shield him, the unconscious Gabriel, and the Kirin Lion. Safe, but too light. It spun with the storm, never falling, never breaking free.
"If I make it bigger… heavier… it might shatter, but better a desperate gamble than rotting slowly in this prison."
He poured the last of his Underworld energy outward. The sphere grew, ice groaning as it expanded, cracks spiderwebbing across its surface.
"Hold… hold…" His breath rattled as frost sealed the fractures, forcing the sphere larger still.
Outside, Whitebeard and the others watched in horror as Brook's life papers shriveled and yellowed. "It's tearing him apart!" Redfield's voice was grim.
Then—the storm bucked. From the tornado's gut, a titanic shard of blue crystal burst free, crashing into the sea with a thunderous splash. An iceberg, thirty meters wide, floated to the surface.
"That's him! That's Brook!" Linlin shrieked. Without hesitation she surged forward, slamming onto the frozen sphere. Her Emperor Blade rang as it hacked the ice, sparks flying.
"So hard…!" She snarled, striking again.
"Don't waste time!" Newgate bellowed. "His paper's still wrinkling. He can't break free alone!"
Together, the four titans unleashed their might. Shiki slashed, Redfield struck with thunder, Linlin hacked with soul-infused fury, and Newgate finally split the world with a quake. The iceberg cracked open at last.
"Huuhhh… finally!" Brook gasped as air flooded his lungs. He slumped forward, drawing ragged breaths. "Too slow… the Kirin Lion and this fool almost suffocated."
Crocus, the ship's doctor, rushed in. Healing energy poured from his fruit, knitting the Kirin Lion's battered body while blood crystal dandelions restored its strength. Gabriel, shackled in seastone, was dragged out unconscious.
Linlin seized Brook in a crushing embrace. "You scared me half to death! Eat! Drink! Take it all!" She shoved blood crystals into his hands, drained a CP0 agent's soul before his eyes, and fed the essence into him. Homies of blood and soul crowded close, replenishing his power.
Brook leaned against her shoulder, still trembling. "Damn Knight… I almost underestimated him into the grave. I can't afford arrogance like that again."
Then his eyes sharpened. "Open the Den Den mushi. Show me the battlefield at Rocks' side."
Antonio, hesitated. "…Brother Brook, the battle's over. Rocks has been defeated. The Navy's chasing down the survivors."
For a long heartbeat, silence hung heavy. Then Brook's jaw clenched, frost curling from his teeth.
"My harvest… stolen." His laugh turned into a snarl. "Damn you, Gabriel! You wasted four hours of my life!"
His roar split the sky, echoing across the sea, shaking even his crew.
---------
An hour earlier, the battlefield between the Rocks Pirates and the Navy's main force was drenched in blood and chaos.
After three to four hours of relentless fighting fueled by the ES drug, the Rocks Pirates finally began to falter. The drug's terrifying side effects were setting in, and the balance of the war shifted once more.
Rocks himself clashed against three admiral-level navy fighters, but even the self-proclaimed King of the New World began to stagger. Each time he lunged for the Knight of God Raphael, his target slipped away, saved at the last second by the others.
As his crew struggled, the martial monk Scorpion Dragon refused to accept defeat. Ignoring the warnings of Monkey King Wizz, he swallowed every pill left in his body.
The surge was immense—his strength ballooned far beyond his limit. But the cost was written instantly on his skin: deep wrinkles, age spots, and loosening teeth. His youth drained in an instant.
Yet with that fleeting burst of strength, Scorpion Dragon hammered Garp hard enough to make the iron-fisted vice admiral vomit blood.
But it didn't last. His body snapped under the strain. Just as he thought he would land the killing blow, his waist gave way, his aura collapsed, and Garp struck back with brutal precision. Scorpion Dragon crashed to the ground, barely clinging to life.
"Brother!" Wizz roared. Desperate, he took another dose of ES, his Titan Ape muscles bulging until they nearly split. "Captain Rocks, I'll cover you! I'm sorry, everyone!!"
The other officers stared in horror. Was this the true cost of Brook's so-called "holy medicine"? They had been told the aftermath was only temporary weakness. Yet Scorpion Dragon was already shriveled like an old man.
Murderous glares turned on Wizz, but on the battlefield, choice no longer existed. Some pirates even prepared to swallow the last of their pills, determined to drag the navy down with them.
Wizz, guilt burning, doubled his dose again. His Titan Ape form swelled grotesquely as he locked Minaro, Knight of God, in a desperate grapple.
Rocks' eyes softened for the briefest moment. Wizz had been with him more than ten years. But sentiment was a luxury he could not afford. With his crew's lives crumbling around him, Rocks swallowed another pill and hurled himself at Raphael.
The battlefield shook as he traded blood for opportunity. Gouts of crimson sprayed from his lips, but his sword finally pierced Raphael. The Knight of God the Confinement Fruit user collapsed with a strangled cry.
"NO!" Kong and Minaro unleashed everything at once. Their combined strikes nearly shattered Rocks then and there.
But Rocks laughed through the blood. With a defiant snarl he devoured five more pills. His thick black mane turned gray at the roots, streaks of white showing through.
"OUT OF MY WAY!"
His aura burst like a tidal wave, forcing even Kong to step back. Lifting the half-dead Wizz with one arm, he pressed a devil fruit into Wang Zhi's hand.
"Eat it. Live."
Wang Zhi hesitated only a heartbeat before biting down. The fruit was foul, but survival demanded it.
The power of Raphael's Confinement Fruit took root in him, giving the Rocks Pirates a new weapon.
With his battered cadres scrambling onto ships, Rocks stood like a wall, holding back the navy's pursuit. Garp and Sengoku lunged with all they had, but even together they could not topple him in that moment.
Still, fate extracted its price. In the final exchange, Kong and Minaro managed to halt Rocks for half a breath—just long enough for Garp's fist to smash into his left eye. The organ burst in a spray of blood.
A cheer erupted among the navy ranks.
"Navy Hero Garp!"
The title spread like wildfire. Though Minaro bristled, Kong and Sengoku seized the chance. If the Celestial Dragons began eyeing Garp for his D-lineage, the title of "Hero" might shield him.
Meanwhile, the battered Rocks Pirates fled. Scorpion Dragon and Wizz, aged to husks, were dragged aboard. Their lives hung by threads.
On the their ship, silence weighed heavy. Officers slumped in despair. Their invincible captain had lost an eye. Their top cadres lay dying.
Rocks stood among them, blood streaking his face. For a heartbeat his shoulders sagged. Then his expression hardened.
"Brook… Marines…"
His howl tore into the night sky. With one eye blind and his hair streaked with white, he looked like a god brought low, consumed by hate for both the navy and the Hell Pirates.
"Captain! Scorpion Dragon and Wizz they can't hold on."
The crew's voices cracked with grief. Two pillars of the Rocks Pirates were crumbling before their eyes.
Rocks stepped forward. Dark matter wrapped around his hands as he laid them on his comrades. He granted them swift, merciful ends, then turned their fallen legacies into weapons.
The Mythical Zoan of the Two-Winged Unicorn passed to the giant warrior Jennifer. The Ancient Zoan Titan Ape went to Silver Axe.
No one dared speak. The air around Rocks boiled with fury. Captain John and Miss Bakin lowered their heads, afraid even to breathe.
Then Rocks barked a single order.
"Karnze. Eric Dane. Your crews are disbanded. You serve me now."
Both men trembled but bowed. To refuse meant death.
And so, broken but unyielding, the Rocks Pirates turned to hunting new blood. With threats and promises, they sought to rebuild from ruin.
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