"A dying body... grasping for one last flicker of light!"
The boar-warrior Volri Seito, transformed into a massive armored beast, glared at the mighty Whitebeard—known here as Souta Kiryuu—with murderous intent. The two brutal gashes across Souta's chest were his handiwork. This old titan, he thought, couldn't possibly stand much longer.
"Ace! Kinto! Halta! Atmos! Gill! Fosa!"
Souta's eyes swept the battlefield, landing on the lifeless form of Fire Fist Ace pinned to a cross of divine steel by Saint Saturn, and on the frozen corpses of his fallen sons slain by Lord Nasu Shuro. With every name he spoke, his aura surged higher, burning through the air like molten rage.
His gaze then moved to the shattered remains of his flagship and the fallen banners of his fleet. Fury boiled within him until it erupted like a living storm.
"Hahaha! The old man's finally awakened the conqueror's will again!" Kaido roared with mad laughter from afar. "This is the same Whitebeard who once beat me bloody! Guess the more sons he loses, the stronger he gets!"
"End this quickly!" barked Saturn. "Kill them all! We can't risk Touya Ryu or Dragun threatening the Red Continent!"
Feeling Souta's murderous stare, Saturn flinched. His spider-like body tensed as he threw Ace's corpse aside. That single act shattered Souta's restraint.
"Kill!"
With a thunderous roar, Souta charged forward, his massive bisento blazing in the morning light. He swung for Saturn—the man who had murdered his son.
"So strong!" Saturn cursed. "Volri! With me!"
Even as fear gnawed at him, he refused to back down under the gaze of the world's cameras. Wrapping his spider legs in Armament and Conqueror's Haki, he met Souta head-on.
The collision was apocalyptic.
"BOOM!"
Souta brought his bisento down with the strength of a god. Saturn raised all limbs to block, but the clash of their wills lasted less than a heartbeat before Souta's quake-fruit power shattered him. The elder's upper body exploded under the pressure, his broken arachnid carcass driven deep into the ship's hull.
"Die, Whitebeard!" Volri roared, charging in. His enormous tusks became twin blades aimed straight for Souta's waist.
"You die first!" Souta bellowed. His left fist shimmered with a quake of light. He struck without hesitation, blasting Volri backward. The beast's tusks shattered, his skull caved in.
Fueled by wrath and loss, Souta was unstoppable—one man against gods. Even facing two Elders of the World Government, he held the advantage.
He didn't chase the broken bodies of Saturn and Volri. Instead, he turned toward Nasu Shuro, the skeletal swordsman who had murdered his sons.
Seeing the charge, Nasu snarled, unwilling to retreat. His skeletal steed galloped forward, blade screaming with spectral energy.
"CLANG!"
The clash of Souta's Cong Yun's Edge and Nasu's First Oni Blade tore the sea itself apart. Shockwaves shattered the sky, sending tsunamis roaring across the battlefield. What remained of the Moby Dick split in two and began to sink beneath the raging sea.
"Retreat!" Marco the Phoenix shouted, spreading blazing wings. He seized Ace's body and took flight. The surviving captains fled, carrying what frozen comrades they could from the wreckage.
"Impossible!" Nasu shrieked, blood running down his ruined face. "How can this decaying relic still fight like this?!"
Souta's blade came down again, breaking the man's left lens and crushing his torso into the ruins below.
Panting, Souta turned toward the monstrous bird-form of Saint Mars.
"Jozu! Vista! Izo! Little Oars! Go! I'll handle the rest!"
Blood poured down his chin, but his aura burned hotter than ever. He would carve a path through hell for his sons.
"Father!" they cried.
"Go!" he roared. A quake wave burst from his weapon, sending Mars flying. The command left no room for argument. The surviving captains leapt onto Little Oars' enormous hand and fled.
"Whitebeard!" one of the Elders bellowed. "You think you can face all four of us alone?"
"I'll kill you myself!"
"None of your crew will escape alive!"
Their mangled bodies knit themselves back together as they rose from the debris, murder blazing in their eyes.
Souta planted his bisento into the shattered deck. A surge of power radiated from him.
"Then all of you will die with my sons!" he roared. He clenched both fists and tore at the air itself.
The sea convulsed. Massive plates of the ocean heaved and split apart, tilting skyward like broken worlds. The entire battlefield became a maze of floating landmasses, torn from the sea floor by his quake-fruit's rage.
Even the live broadcast audiences trembled. This was the might of a Yonko—a power that could annihilate nations.
"Father!" Marco and the others wept, watching the titan's back against the rising dawn. They knew what it meant.
Today, they would lose not only their brothers—but their father too.
The devastation of Souta Kiryuu's final rampage stopped all other battles. Only the frozen sea held steady, where Admiral Aokiji fought Barrett in the distance. The criminals of Impel Down, seeing the tidal wave looming, scrambled onto their airships and fled for their lives.
The legend of Whitebeard's last stand had begun.