The dust of the battle has settled, but the sky is still filled with the lingering remnants of Conqueror's power, and the air seems to still be burning with the warmth of solemnity and oppression.
Whitebeard slowly put away his naginata, his huge body standing tall as a mountain. He took a deep breath, as if even his huge lungs were stirred by the shock just now and felt a dull pain.
"Dad!!"
Marco, Vista, Joz, Ace and others immediately landed and surrounded the group. All the main forces of the Whitebeard group gathered together, and their expressions were unprecedentedly heavy.
Vista frowned and looked at the sea-sky boundary that had disappeared in the distance, and asked in a deep voice:
"That kid just now...just left like that?"
Whitebeard laughed loudly, as heroic as ever, as if the fierce battle just now was just a stroll after dinner:
"Don't worry, Dad, I won't fall down that easily."
His eyes softened a bit, and he stretched out his hand as thick as a wall and gently patted Ace's shoulder, and asked in a low voice:
"Ace, are you okay?"
Ace lowered his head, clenched his fists tightly, and said in a low voice: "...I'm sorry, it's my fault."
Whitebeard didn't care at all. Instead, he laughed loudly, his tone proud and full of relief:
"It's not shameful to lose, it's shameful to be afraid."
"That Marine is not someone you can fight right now."
Ace gritted his teeth and remained silent, but an unprecedented fiery determination was burning in his eyes.
And at this moment——
Only Marco's expression did not soften with his father's laughter.
He is the ship's doctor.
He wasn't looking at Whitebeard's smile, nor the momentum of his naginata swinging, but at the subtle tremors of his muscles, the changes in his heart rate, the fluctuations in his blood circulation...
During the battle just now, he was monitoring Whitebeard's condition every minute and every second:
——Dislocation of bones due to shock,
- Mild congestion in blood vessels due to pressure changes,
——Even the unnoticed trace of blood dripping from Whitebeard's arm...
All of this means one thing:
In the battle just now, Dad was not "equally matched" at all, but was suppressed the whole time.
"How old is he? Thirty? Probably less than..."
"A Vice Admiral who's not even thirty years old... can actually force my father to use his full strength!!!"
Marco's pupils constricted and his heart felt heavy.
He stared intently at the receding Wind Crack, his heart churning violently:
"Just now... if all of us took action, we might be able to stop him."
He was about to speak when he was interrupted by Whitebeard's deep voice:
Whitebeard seemed to sense his inner turmoil and turned his head and smiled:
"Don't worry, Marco—I'm still here!"
His laughter was still loud, still like an ancient tree supporting the sky, but at that moment, Marco inexplicably felt that this tree... was a little tired.
Whitebeard waved his hand: "Ready to go back."
Just as everyone turned around, Qiao Zi frowned and whispered the question on everyone's mind:
"Dad...we were all here just now, why didn't you just take action and keep that kid?"
"He's not Kizaru. He doesn't have the speed of light. He can't escape."
Whitebeard did not answer immediately, but looked into the distance for a long time.
After a long time, he slowly spoke:
"…I can already smell it."
Everyone was stunned.
"What do you smell?"
Whitebeard's voice was as deep as a bell:
"The smell of molten lava."
"...!!!"
As soon as the words fell, everyone's faces changed suddenly!
Marco was shocked. "You mean—Akainu is here?!"
Whitebeard nodded slowly:
"Not only Akainu."
He narrowed his eyes slightly, looking at the Haki light particles that had not yet dissipated in the air, and continued:
"Kizaru...I've actually been here a long time ago."
"He didn't show up the whole time. He was waiting—let's make the first move."
"And Rogge... is just a 'trigger'."
The island fell into a brief silence.
The wind blew the broken earth, and the waves still beat against the rock surface that was torn apart by the vacuum and shock.
Marco then realized that the confrontation just now was more than just a one-on-one duel from the very beginning.
[The other side · above the sky]
The wind is howling wildly and the setting sun is blood-red.
Two figures passed through the shattered sky, slowly descended, and stepped on the thick air, returning like shooting stars.
Below, a warship with red flames burning on its bow was quietly parked on the sea.
Above it, the deck steel glowed red, and the smell of magma swirled like the limbo of hell.
——Marine Admiral Sakazuki.
He stood with his hands behind his back, his fighting spirit as hot as magma gathered around him, his eyes fixed on the crack in the sky that was drawn by the air.
When the familiar figure landed on the ground, his originally tense body relaxed slightly, as if he had let out a sigh of relief.
But his face was still as cold as frost.
"You little brat... you're finally back safely."
Rogge turned slightly when he landed, and the cloak on his shoulders fluttered in the wind.
He turned around to look at the familiar yet oppressive figure, and curled his lips slightly, with his usual arrogance and confidence:
"Uncle, you're back safe and sound, aren't you? Look, not a single hair is missing."
Sakazuki snorted coldly and glanced at him:
"I can keep my hair, but I almost lost my head."
"Did you know that old man Sengoku's Den Den Mushi is practically smoking from all the hits?"
"You suddenly went to provoke Whitebeard, and the whole headquarters is about to be in chaos!"
Rogge spread his hands, his face innocent, his voice cold as always:
"I am 'Xuanlin', not the gate god of those clerks in this department."
"And...didn't Admiral Kizaru go too? Why, retired?"
This sentence made Sakazuki's eyebrows jump, and the magma aura in his body exploded:
"That Kizaru guy slipped away a long time ago! I just saw him whiz back to headquarters in a flash of light."
"I guess he saw that your fight with Whitebeard was almost over and didn't want to get involved."
At this moment, a figure landed on the deck with a "thump". Leiter grinned, patted Rogge's shoulder with one hand, and gave a thumbs up with the other hand:
"But you are really confident, boss."
"No wonder... Admiral Akainu has come in person, what are we afraid of?"
Sakazuki was stunned when he heard this, then he pulled the corner of his mouth and showed a rare sneer, but did not say anything.
Of course he knew that Rogge didn't dare to provoke him by taking advantage of his power.
But - he has the ability.
Just as everyone's breathing slowed down, Rogge said nothing, but slowly raised his head to look at the golden and red horizon that was gradually sinking in the sky.
A gust of sea breeze blew up his cloak, and his eyes became deep, cold, and sharp as a sword.
"Whitebeard...is old. He doesn't have many years left."
He whispered slowly, as if speaking a death sentence to the world:
"But his 'family', his 'blood', his 'wildfire'..."
"It's still poisoning the entire ocean."
"And I—"
"He's the one who came to settle all this."
When Sakazuki heard this, a deep light suddenly flashed in his eyes, but he said nothing, just nodded.
He knew that this was not only Rogge's will,
——It is also their common path to "absolute justice".
The red warship slowly turned its rudder, and its burning bow drew a fiery red streak on the sea.
The blazing flames were like curtains, the cold winds like blades, advancing towards the center of the New World.
At this moment, one can seem to hear the whispers of fate across the vast sea of sky.
——The flame of rectification has been ignited.
——The dark night of the New World will be engulfed by wind and fire.