"ROGER!!!"
Vice Admiral Garp, the legendary Marine hero, bellowed from the depths of his lungs, his voice shaking the heavens above Marineford. The roar echoed through the battlefield, long and unending.
The instant he saw that unmistakable figure, Garp knew—without the slightest doubt—that it was him.
No illusion could replicate that presence.
The spirit.
The overwhelming aura.
The wild, unrestrained will.
Even after all these years, Garp could never forget it.
In truth, few in the world had ever known Gol D. Roger—the Pirate King—so well. Perhaps only his right-hand man, Rayleigh, could compare.
He didn't know how or why Roger had returned from the dead.
But none of that mattered.
Because the man who had once stood at the pinnacle of the seas—the man who had changed the world—was standing before him again.
For the first time in decades, Garp could feel his blood boil once more. His fists clenched, trembling—not from fear, but from the raw urge to fight his old rival again.
As the Marine hero's roar split the air, the suffocating silence that had enveloped Marineford shattered.
And in the next instant—
An uproar exploded across the battlefield.
"Roger! That's him! The Pirate King—Gol D. Roger!"
"It's not an illusion—Vice Admiral Garp wouldn't lose control like that if it were!"
"There's no doubt! That's Roger himself! The Pirate King, alive before our eyes!"
"But… how!? How could this be possible!? Roger was executed twenty-two years ago!"
"Why is the Pirate King, who died two decades ago, appearing here now!?"
"Did he… come back from the underworld because his son is about to be executed!?"
"This is madness—no, this is a nightmare!"
"Someone, please! Someone explain what the hell is going on!"
"Whitebeard! Kaido! Big Mom! The Fairy Tail Guild—four Emperors on one battlefield! And now even the Pirate King's returned! What kind of day is this?!"
"Is the sky itself going to collapse next!?"
The entire battlefield dissolved into chaos.
The Marines shouted in panic, faces pale as ash. None of them could comprehend the sight before them—the Pirate King, long dead, standing alive amidst fire and war.
Fear spread like a plague.
Since the start of this war, every event had already tested the limits of Marine morale—one shocking twist after another.
And yet, through it all, they had endured. They hadn't given up. They hadn't lost hope.
Until now.
Roger's resurrection—the return of the man whose death had birthed the Great Pirate Era—was the final straw that broke the will of even the strongest Marine soldiers.
Even Portgas D. Ace's death had been difficult enough to bear…
But now that the Pirate King himself had risen, doubt began to take root.
Was this execution truly righteous?
Had they angered something divine by defying fate?
Even the gods, it seemed, would not allow this act.
That was why, one after another, impossible obstacles had appeared—so many that it felt as though heaven itself opposed the Marines' justice.
From the lowest-ranked sailor to the highest-ranking officer, every Marine trembled.
"Someone—someone tell me what's going on here! I saw that man executed with my own eyes twenty-two years ago!"
Commodore Smoker, the "White Hunter," shouted until his voice nearly cracked. He had been there, in Loguetown, when Roger faced the execution platform with a fearless smile. The memory had burned itself into his soul.
"Mr. Smoker! Please, calm down!" cried Tashigi, the young officer adjusting her glasses, panic in her voice.
"How can anyone stay calm right now!?" shouted Colonel Hina, her face drained of all color.
"Oi, oi, oi…"
"This has gone beyond a joke!"
"Even if it were a joke, this is too cruel!"
The elite Vice Admirals—Doberman, Onigumo, Momonga, Strawberry, and Burning Mountain—were all frozen in disbelief, unable or unwilling to accept what their eyes showed them.
"The dead… returning to life. This time, it's beyond terrifying."
Even Admiral Kizaru, usually calm and mocking, muttered softly with a grim look that replaced his usual grin. His lazy demeanor was gone; for the first time in years, he felt his pulse quicken.
"Ah la la… what's going on here, really?"
Admiral Aokiji's eyes narrowed, his gaze locking onto Sugisawa Yuuto, who stood calmly at the bow of the Fairy Tail ship, watching everything unfold.
"Is this… your doing as well, Sugisawa Yuuto of Fairy Tail?" murmured Vice Admiral Tsuru, the veteran strategist, her voice low and cold.
And then, once again—
"ROGER!!!"
Another roar split the air, heavy with rage and disbelief.
This time, it was Fleet Admiral Sengoku, the Buddha of the Marines.
His fury and grief thundered across the battlefield as the legend of the past stood reborn before his eyes.