Next Bonus, 100!!
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Seeing Little Oars Jr. collapse for the final time, Ace let out a raw, guttural howl of pure agony.
Oars had been a true friend.
And Ace knew the reality of Whitebeard's condition better than anyone.
No man can outrun time. Even the legendary Whitebeard, the man who had once fought Roger to a standstill, was now dependent on IV drips just to stay alive.
He had likely undergone severe medical procedures just prior to this battle.
He was pushing his failing body far beyond its limits. He had traded blows with all three Admirals, and he had taken a devastating stab wound directly to the chest.
How much longer could the old man possibly hold on?
Was it really worth it? Throwing away everything for a reckless fool like him?
Ace's anguished cries echoed across the blood-soaked plaza.
"What's wrong, Fire Fist??"
Sengoku, who had been analyzing the battlefield, glanced down at the prisoner.
Below the platform, Garp's face twisted in profound sorrow. "Ace..."
Garp had watched the boy grow up. How could his heart not break?
He had done everything in his power to keep Ace away from this life, from this very fate.
But Ace was a man, not a pet to be kept on a leash. He had made his own choices.
Perhaps this was simply destiny.
In the end, every man must pay the price for the path he chooses.
Memories of his childhood flooded Ace's mind.
"Old man... was it really a good thing... that I was born?"
He had asked Garp that question so many years ago.
"That's something you'll only figure out by living!" Garp had replied.
Since that day, Ace had been searching for the answer. A rebellious kid, filled with anger at the world, burning himself up and catching his friends in the blaze.
"Ace! I'm going to save you!"
"Just hang on, Ace!"
"Don't you dare give up!"
Looking down at the men dying for him, hearing their desperate cries, the tears finally broke.
"I'm such... I'm such a piece of trash!"
"It's only now... when it's too late... that I finally understand how precious life is!"
"Dammit... how could I..."
"Pops... Luffy... everyone... I'm so happy... I can't stop the tears!"
Ace wept, the weight of his regrets crashing down on him.
"If I truly had a choice..."
Looking at the countless comrades throwing their lives away for him, Ace screamed his final, desperate truth.
"I WANT TO LIVE!"
The executioners raised their blades.
In that instant, time seemed to stop. The battlefield froze. Millions of people watching the broadcast around the world held their breath.
Was this it? Was Ace going to die?
As the executioners' blades began their fatal descent, Luffy, pushed past the absolute brink of physical and emotional exhaustion, erupted.
Driven by pure, primal instinct, the dormant power within him resonated with his desperate scream for his brother.
A catastrophic wave of Conqueror's Haki exploded outward. It swept across the plaza like a physical force, freezing everyone in its path.
THUD... THUD...
The executioners collapsed, foaming at the mouth.
Countless Marines and pirates dropped like flies.
The sudden, overwhelming display of Haki left both sides reeling in shock.
Garp, Sengoku, Whitebeard—even they were stunned.
They looked at Luffy, their eyes wide with surprise.
"Conqueror's?"
"Was that... Conqueror's Haki?"
"As expected of Dragon's son!" Ivankov beamed with pride.
"While Conqueror's Haki isn't exactly a myth in the New World..."
"To possess a burst powerful enough to knock out elite Marine officers... that is truly astonishing!"
Whitebeard let out a booming laugh.
"Gurararara..."
"You've got some fire in you, kid!"
He felt a deep sense of pride. He was glad Ace had a brother like this.
Among the three types of Haki, Observation allowed for precognition. Armament enhanced physical offense and defense.
Conqueror's Haki, on the surface, seemed like a mere crowd-control ability, useful only for clearing out weaklings. It hardly seemed befitting the title of a "King."
So, was Conqueror's Haki truly useless in high-level combat?
Absolutely not. It appeared weak only because true Awakenings were exceptionally rare. It was vastly more difficult to master than Observation or Armament.
It was an innate power, a genetic lottery ticket.
Unlike the other two types, which were widely understood and had established training methodologies, Conqueror's Haki could not be taught. Its development relied entirely on the user's own potential and willpower.
Consequently, there was a massive disparity in power between different Conquerors.
At the absolute pinnacle, someone like Shanks could wield Conqueror's Haki to inflict catastrophic physical damage on their surroundings.
The weaker users were relegated to knocking out grunts.
But even among the weak, there were distinctions.
The Admirals, Sengoku, and Whitebeard had all encountered countless Conquerors. The mere display of the Haki wouldn't normally surprise them.
But Luffy's Haki had knocked out elite Marines.
To unleash that level of power in the crucible of this specific battlefield, combined with the staggering revelation of his lineage... it delivered a profound psychological shock to the entire Marine force.
The execution was interrupted.
Ace was still breathing.
But that was all.
Luffy's desperate eruption had bought Ace a momentary reprieve. It had slightly eased the crushing tension of the battlefield.
But it hadn't saved him.
The brutal melee resumed.
Sensing that the Admirals had been momentarily distracted by Luffy's outburst, Marco saw an opening.
He attempted a daring, high-speed aerial strike, diving straight for the execution platform to snatch Ace.
But he had miscalculated.
There were two legendary figures on that platform who had yet to truly enter the fray.
"You're not getting past me!"
Garp launched himself into the air. His fist, coated in terrifying Armament Haki, slammed directly into Marco's partially elementalized face.
The "Fist Bone: Meteor" drove the First Division Commander straight into the ground, shattering the stone beneath him.
Landing heavily, Garp took the seat previously occupied by Sakazuki. His aura was suffocating, instantly rekindling the wavering morale of the Marine forces.
"Vice Admiral Garp!"
"Garp the Hero is holding the line!"
The Marines roared their approval.
Garp's face was a mask of grim determination. He cast a sidelong glance at Luffy, who had collapsed from exhaustion after unleashing his Haki.
Once again, his own family had disrupted the execution.
Garp knew that if he didn't make a definitive show of force now, Sengoku would completely lose his mind.
Truth be told, this entire war was a waking nightmare for Garp. He was trapped between his duty and his heart, a man with no right answers.
No matter what he did, he was failing someone.
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Utterly drained, his body screaming in agony, Luffy clung to Ivankov's leg, begging for another injection.
"Another one?? Are you insane?? Absolutely not!!!" Ivankov refused vehemently.
He might have been a flamboyant revolutionary, but he was a medical professional with principles!
"After everything you went through in Impel Down, the lethal poison... we just dragged you back from the edge of death! Your body has already shattered its absolute limits!"
"If you push yourself any further... you will literally die!"
"Then let me die! Just let me fight, Iva!" Luffy screamed, his voice cracking.
"If I don't fight now!"
"If I fail to save Ace... I'll just want to die anyway! Please! Give me the strength to fight!"
"I told you! If I let you die here, I'll never be able to face Dragon again, you idiot!!!"
But...
Looking at the sheer, unadulterated agony in Luffy's eyes, Ivankov's resolve crumbled. He had no choice. He prepared the syringe.
As the user of the Paramecia Horm-Horm Fruit, Ivankov was a master of biological engineering, capable of altering a human body from the inside out.
The "Emporio Tension Hormone" essentially bypassed the body's natural fatigue receptors. It was the ultimate, lethal stimulant.
When the effects wore off, the accumulated exhaustion and cellular damage would hit the user with catastrophic force.
Luffy had already received one injection. That was supposed to be the absolute limit.
A second injection was actively burning away his lifespan.
But Ivankov knew that if he left Luffy lying there, the psychological torment of watching his brother die would be far worse than any physical pain.
"You reckless, stubborn fool!"
"Emporio Tension Hormone!"
Ivankov's fingers plunged into Luffy's back.
"UWOOOOOOOO!"
Fueled by a massive surge of adrenaline, Luffy found his strength anew. He pushed himself off the ground.
A full, artificial recovery!
"ACE!"
Luffy roared, his eyes locked on the execution platform.
The distance was agonizingly short. Less than a few hundred meters.
The Whitebeard Pirates and the Impel Down escapees, deeply moved by Luffy's insane, suicidal tenacity, redoubled their efforts.
They fought like demons, desperately trying to carve a bloody path for him.
The division commanders threw themselves into the fray, acting as his vanguard and rearguard.
In that moment, Luffy carried the hopes of the entire pirate alliance. Even Whitebeard himself shifted his focus, aggressively intercepting the Admirals to ensure Luffy had a clear run.
Whitebeard had placed all his chips on the boy.
He knew the grim reality of the battlefield. The only person capable of getting past Garp and reaching the execution platform was Luffy.
No one else could do it. Not even Whitebeard himself.
Holding off the three Admirals was already pushing him to his absolute limit. Trying to break through Garp and Sengoku on top of that was an impossible task.
But Luffy was different.
He was weak, yes.
But he was Garp's own flesh and blood.
Whitebeard was making a massive, calculated gamble: he was betting that Garp wouldn't have the heart to strike down his own grandson with lethal force.
Luffy's group surged forward, closing the distance rapidly.
But the Marine resistance stiffened proportionally.
A hundred meters out.
A solid wall of elite officers and Vice Admirals blocked the path.
"Inazuma! Now's the time! Do it!" Ivankov barked.
"Understood!"
Inazuma's hands transformed into massive shears. With effortless precision, he sliced through the solid bedrock of the plaza.
As the user of the Paramecia Snip-Snip Fruit, he treated solid stone like mere fabric.
With a powerful heave, he flipped the massive, continuous strip of severed stone upward.
It formed a perfect, sloping ramp, bridging the gap over the Marine blockade and landing directly on the edge of the execution platform.
He had created a shortcut.
"Go, Luffy-boy!!!"
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