The atmosphere of Marineford was no longer just volatile; it was toxic. The arrival of Blackbeard, the ultimate end-game villain, was the final, devastating curveball. The plaza descended from a desperate battle into a chaotic massacre where the rules of the world itself seemed to be breaking.
Whitebeard, who had just sent Akainu into a magma pit, now faced his former subordinate, Marshall D. Teach. The sheer betrayal and cruelty of the moment were thicker than the smoke hanging over the bay.
Leo watched, hidden beneath the shattered hull of a ship, utterly paralyzed. This is it. The final cutscene of the Whitebeard Saga. The end of the greatest era.
Whitebeard launched his final, earth-shattering attack. The air WHRUMPED! and shattered, sending vibrations through Leo's very bones. He saw Whitebeard take dozens of catastrophic wounds from Blackbeard and his terrifying new crew—bullets, cannon blasts, slashes, and the crushing darkness of the Yami Yami no Mi.
The old pirate stood there, a mountain of defiance, taking everything they could throw at him. He finished his final, legendary speech, confirming the coming of the One Piece and the great wave of the new generation.
Then, he stopped moving.
Leo felt a cold wave wash over him. His heart ached, a genuine ache that superseded the gamer detachment. The greatest legend of the old era was gone. He looked at Whitebeard's massive back, riddled with holes and scars from a thousand battles.
He's standing. He never ran.
The memory of the narrator's voice from the anime echoed in Leo's head, filled with a mournful reverence: "He has never run from any fight. There are no scars on his back."
A profound awe mixed with the horror. Leo whispered, his voice catching: "He didn't just stand against the world; he died facing it head-on. Truly the strongest and bravest pirate."
The Marine Counter-Attack
Before the emotion could fully settle, the grotesque violation of the scene began. Blackbeard and his crew swarmed the fallen legend. They covered Whitebeard's body with a large black sheet, creating a sinister, secretive bubble.
A moment later, a terrifying, familiar energy flared from within the darkness. It was the power of the Gura Gura no Mi.
Blackbeard burst from the sheet, letting out a maniacal, bone-chilling laugh: "ZEHAHAHA!" He now wielded two powers—Darkness and Tremors. It was an overpowered combination that instantly made him the greatest threat in the world.
Okay, Blackbeard has the power. The war is still hot, but the Marines must intervene. Where are the top-tier Marine players?
Just as the Blackbeard Pirates began to celebrate their obscene victory, the atmosphere shifted again. Sengoku, the Fleet Admiral, appeared, his transformation into a colossal golden Buddha creating a blinding flash: SHOOOOOOM!
Sengoku was fighting mad. He unleashed devastating shockwaves of pure force against the Blackbeard crew. The air exploded around the two colossal figures—Sengoku in gold and Blackbeard in darkness.
Leo watched Blackbeard's crew, including the burly, crude figure of Jesus Burgess, scatter under the Fleet Admiral's furious onslaught. Burgess, wielding a massive elbow guard, charged forward, shouting a taunt at the old man.
Before Burgess could even reach him, a blur of white and gold intercepted the pirate.
Garp.
The legendary Marine hero, utterly consumed by grief and rage over Ace, slammed his fist into Burgess's face. It wasn't a standard Haki punch; it was a desperate, raw emotional strike. CRACK!
Burgess, a tough pirate who had just stolen the power of a dead Emperor, was sent flying backward, unconscious before he even hit the ground. Garp stood over him, tears silently running down his face, the pain of losing his grandson written across his expression.
Leo felt a deep pang of sympathy. Garp couldn't save Ace, but he's taking his grief out on the people who disrespected Whitebeard. That's tragic, but powerful.
The Ticking Clock
The battlefield was now a three-way frenzy: the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates fighting for retreat, the enraged Marines trying to stop them and neutralize Blackbeard, and Blackbeard's crew consolidating their overwhelming new power.
Leo, seeing the action concentrated on the top-tier fighters in the plaza, checked his internal display again. His survival window was closing rapidly.
DING!
SYSTEM MESSAGE
Time Until System Online: 30 Minutes Remaining
"Thirty minutes. Thirty minutes of avoiding being collateral damage in a battle of legends. I need to be more aggressive in finding an exit. Shanks has to be close. The war has to end soon."
He knew his window to escape was right now, before the final, decisive confrontation. He began crawling again, moving away from the central dock where the action was thickest, toward a far side where a few smaller, less damaged frigates were moored.
The Glitch in the Story
Leo was focused intently on dodging a stray cannonball that WHIZZED past his head. He knew the Marineford "storyline" was about to wrap up with Shanks' arrival and declaration of peace. He just needed to survive the few minutes of transition.
He pushed off a piece of twisted metal. He saw a flash of golden light from the distant Marine flagship—not Akainu's magma, but a beam of pure energy.
A laser? Wait, Kizaru! But he's not fighting here right now!
He didn't have time to process the "unscripted" attack.
BZZZZZZZZT!
A flash of pure, golden light—a laser beam—slammed into the wreckage right behind his makeshift hiding spot. The explosion was deafening: BOOM! KERR-POW!
The force of the blast was immense. Leo was flung forward like a ragdoll, across the ice toward the central plaza. He bounced, his body taking devastating damage that his current low-level stats could not handle.
What? Who shot that, and why at me?! I was hidden!
His head swam. His vision blurred, and the world spun in shades of red and white. He came to a violent stop, crashing hard against the heel of a large, black boot.
He groaned, struggling to push himself up. He was dizzy, coughing from the smoke, and his whole body was screaming from the impact. He forced his eyes open, and his stomach dropped through the floor.
Standing over him, radiating heat that scorched the air and caused steam to rise from the surrounding ice, was the single most dangerous person on the entire battlefield.
Admiral Akainu looked down, his face expressionless, his magma fist momentarily still. The Admiral had been chasing Luffy when Leo's body slammed to a stop at his feet, interrupting the pursuit.
Leo was staring directly up into the eyes of the man who had just brutally murdered his Second favorite character.
Akainu slowly raised an eyebrow, "Who are you".
Leo felt a primal panic seize him. He was completely exposed, completely powerless, and the System was still counting down.
"What?" Leo rasped, his voice barely a whisper, a mix of genuine fear and utter confusion. "This was not in the story."
Note: Hey, please add this to the library and give it some powerstones if you think it is worth it.