The beach was a mountain of corpses.
The samurai lines had shattered, their ranks torn apart. Zoan-users of the Beasts Pirates surged through with savage laughter, trampling what little defense remained.
"Form up! Hold the line!" Denjiro's voice was raw from shouting. His blade dripped with blood, three pirate corpses lying at his feet.
But the enemy was endless.
A hulking beast-man with the hide of an iron-skinned rhinoceros barreled into the crowd, his grin savage. Swords struck his flesh, sparking harmlessly. With a sweep of his massive axe, two samurai were cleaved in half, their blood soaking the sand beneath the stampede.
"Die, Wano trash!" he roared.
Kawamatsu struck from the flank, fists surging with Ryuo. "Ryu Flowing Sakura!"
The rhino's skull burst like a melon under the blow.
But Kawamatsu had no chance to breathe. A spiked club slammed into his back.
"Gah !" He spat blood, stumbling to his knees.
"Rare breed, aren't you?" sneered a pirate, licking the blade of his sword. "Heard your kind fetch a fine price."
Before the blade could fall, a thunderclap split the sky.
"Twenty Million Volts: Thunderbird!" Enel's voice thundered from above, even as he clashed with Queen elsewhere. A bolt reduced the pirate to smoldering ash.
With his mantra spread wide, Enel was the battlefield's unseen commander. As long as Ritter remained absent, none controlled the field better.
Kawamatsu raised his head and saw only despair.
On the horizon, another fleet loomed. Big Mom's warships cut through the waves, an army of biscuit soldiers marching from Cracker's battered form.
Inside a makeshift medical tent, Stella's hands trembled as she pressed them over wounds, healing as fast as she could.
"Hold on… please, hold on…" she whispered, tears slipping silently down her cheeks as the ground quaked with cannon fire outside.
She had seen the deepest darkness of humanity, yet still offered her gentleness to everyone within reach. That was Stella.
In a corner, a young apprentice samurai clutched his fallen master's sword. His gaze was hollow, his master's final words echoing in his ears:
"Live… live to see Wano's dawn…"
The tent flaps ripped open.
Outside, Laboon thrashed like a living fortress, shattering Zoan-users and men alike with each mighty swing of his fins. Perona floated above, releasing waves of hollow ghosts to sap the enemies' will and ease Laboon's burden.
"Retreat! The beachhead is lost!" Kin'emon, drenched in blood, staggered inside. "Everyone, fall back at once!"
Stella's lips trembled. She looked at the men on the cots, too injured to move. "But what about them ?"
Kin'emon's blade dripped crimson. His eyes burned with pain and steel. "This… is war."
Those barely able to stand took up their weapons again, meeting Stella's gaze with solemn smiles.
"Lady Stella, please go. We'll manage. This battle was ours from the start. Thank you… for all you've done."
"Brothers! Charge!"
In the blast of firelight, their silhouettes burned bright against the night. Samurai raised the Kozuki banner high, roaring as they hurled themselves into the flames, never to return.
"Fire! Keep firing!" Beasts Pirates manned their warships, their glee feverish.
"Boom !"
A cannonball tore into a samurai vessel. Timber, blood, and limbs scattered across the waves. The sea turned red, broken bodies bobbing in its churn.
"Help… help me…" A wounded samurai clung to driftwood, legs blown off. But a tide of homies surged from Big Mom's fleet, dragging him screaming beneath the waves.
"Mama-mama-mama! Drown them all!" the homies cackled with glee.
Samurai leapt into the ocean, bodies forming living bridges so comrades could climb onto enemy decks.
"Board them! Take their ships!" cried an elder warrior, his left arm gone. Blade clenched between his teeth, he gripped the enemy's rope with his remaining hand.
"Old fool!" A pirate raised his pistol and blew a hole through the man's skull.
The elder's corpse sank into the waves, yet his sacrifice had forged a path. Dozens of samurai clambered up after him, blood painting the enemy's deck.
Among the wreckage, a broken katana sank silently into the abyss.
On the flagship, Kaido and Big Mom grew restless.
Kaido stood at the prow, dragon eyes burning as he surveyed the slaughter below. Despite his crew's advantage, the samurai's madness frayed their lines.
"Pathetic," he snarled. His knuckles tightened on the spiked kanabo. "Can't even handle mere samurai…"
High above, Big Mom cackled from her perch atop Zeus. Napoleon burned with conqueror's Haki in her grip. "Mama-mama-mama! Kaido, your men are useless!"
Kaido growled. "Save your tongue, old hag."
Their eyes met and in silence, both reached the same decision.
It was time to enter the fray themselves.
Kaido launched skyward, body unfurling into a massive azure dragon. But before he could dive
"Boom!"
A blood-red curtain erupted across the sky, splitting the heavens and barring his path.
"What?!" Kaido's pupils shrank.
From the mist, Ritter emerged, Blacktide blade resting on his shoulder, lips curled in a cold grin. "In such a hurry, Kaido? Too bad. You're not the one I came for."
At that moment, Whitebeard's naginata cut through the air, conqueror's Haki crackling.
"Gurararara! Kaido, brat you're mine!"
Kaido roared, spewing dragonfire as his club met Whitebeard's strike. The clash of their conqueror's Haki shattered buildings for miles.
"Newgate!" Kaido snarled. "You think you can hold me back?!"
Whitebeard laughed, his voice booming. "Try me!"
Above, Big Mom brandished Napoleon, the blade screaming with Haki. Her laughter split the clouds. "Mama-mama-mama! Blood-soaked brat! If not for Roger, I'd make you my husband!"
Ritter stepped from the fog, eyes gleaming with menace. "Big Mom… I don't like old women."
Her grin froze. She leveled Napoleon at him. "Arrogant whelp! Your soul is mine!"
"Cognac!"
Her blade descended like a god's verdict.
Ritter met it head-on, Blacktide ablaze with his own aura. "Mist God Style: Blood Dragon Dance!"
The collision stilled the battlefield for an instant. Then the world split apart.
A shockwave blasted outward, collapsing towers, splitting the sea into tsunamis. Warriors pirates and samurai alike were erased in an instant, swallowed by the cataclysm.
This was why emperors rarely entered battle. Their very presence annihilated the field.
Even Ritter, locked against Big Mom, could spare no strength to heal. His mist clawed desperately at fallen pirates, stealing life itself to keep the dying samurai clinging to breath.
Far off, Whitebeard's roar clashed with Kaido's as the two titans battered each other apart.
But the war's true center was elsewhere.
Not emperors. Not legends.
The nameless.
Samurai and pirates alike. Their blood ran into the sea, staining it darker with every wave. Their screams, their courage, their deaths
That was war.
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