When the [Sloth's Decree] finally dissipated, the sound of the world snapped back as if someone had yanked it violently from a distant void.
After a brief burst of noise came an even deeper, suffocating silence.
The Blackbeard Pirates were the first to react.
They stared at the yawning, sleepy Marine rear admiral as though he were an ancient demon wearing human skin.
All the arrogance on Teach's face had long vanished, replaced by a twisted mixture of greed, fear, and profound dread.
"WE'RE LEAVIN'!"
He barked the order with no hesitation, didn't spare Shanks a single glance, and rushed his crew toward their ship, disappearing quickly into the thick sea fog.
Challenging a Yonko was tempting…
But compared to that incomprehensible, irresistible power from moments ago, everything felt meaningless.
Akainu rose from the ground, magma boiling over his body from sheer rage, yet, in the end, he didn't act.
He stared at Renzo's back like he wanted to burn a hole straight through it.
Shanks took a long, steadying breath and walked toward Sengoku, regaining his usual solemn calm.
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku."
"Whitebeard's and Ace's bodies… can you entrust them to us?"
"I don't want their deaths to become a spectacle for the world."
Sengoku surveyed the ruined Marineford, then glanced at Renzo, who was already strolling toward the harbor with Sanji and Potts, as if none of this had anything to do with him.
"…Do as you wish, Red-Hair."
And so, the war ended, abruptly, in a way no one could have predicted.
Under complicated gazes from the Marines, the Red-Hair Pirates solemnly collected the bodies of Whitebeard and Ace.
Before leaving, Shanks looked once more at Renzo's back, his expression heavy, as though contemplating something profound.
Meanwhile, Renzo was already halfway home with Sanji and Potts.
"Rear Admiral… we're just leaving like this?"
Potts asked, still shaken. "Don't we need to… uh… report the battle or something?"
"Troublesome."
Renzo's answer was simple.
"Sengoku will write it. I just want to sleep."
Sanji blew out a smoke ring and smiled bitterly.
The terrifying power that suppressed Yonko and Admirals alike… All because the battlefield was too noisy and interrupting his "off-duty time."
...
With the pirates gone, Marineford finally entered its tragic aftermath.
Medics rushed across the rubble with stretchers.
The air smelled of blood, gunpowder, and disinfectant.
Surviving Marines, numb and exhausted, began clearing corpses and debris in silence.
Cries, groans, and hoarse officer instructions filled the ruins, the true soundtrack of war.
Within the rubble of a collapsed wall, stones suddenly shifted.
A figure in a Marine cap, covered in dust, crawled out with trembling hands.
It was Koby.
His face was pale, his eyes red from terror and tears.
As he stared at the hellscape around him, guilt and self-loathing swallowed him whole.
At the peak of the battle, when he was needed most, he'd broken under the pressure and hidden himself.
…Actually, he hid from start to finish.
"I… I…"
He collapsed to his knees, clutching his head, sobbing silently.
Then a massive shadow, radiating heat and sulfur, loomed over him.
Koby froze.
He slowly raised his head…and met Akainu's emotionless, hellish face.
"You…" Akainu growled, magma dripping from his arm and burning holes into the ground with sharp sizzles.
"I remember you."
"The brat who always follows Garp around."
"Tell me… during the battle just now… where were you?"
Koby trembled violently.
His mouth opened… but no sound came out.
His silence was the clearest answer.
Akainu's eyes blazed with fury.
The anger he'd been forced to swallow earlier, before pirates, before Renzo, finally found a perfect outlet.
"COWARD!"
He yanked Koby off the ground like picking up a chicken.
"When 'Absolute Justice' faced its greatest trial, YOU, a Marine soldier, CHOSE TO HIDE LIKE A RAT! Because of you, this uniform is stained with shame!"
Nearby Marines stopped what they were doing, staring at the scene with shock and dread.
"For a disgrace who tarnishes Marine honor," Akainu roared, "there will be NO mercy!"
He lifted Koby high for all to see.
"Issue my orders!"
"Immediately investigate ALL Marines who abandoned their posts in this battle!"
"Arrest every last one of them!"
His gaze swept across the Marines like icy blades.
"In three days, here in this place, we will hold a public trial for these dishonorable soldiers!"
His voice dropped into a cold, merciless growl:
"And the sentence-"
Akainu glared at the trembling, half-fainted Koby.
"-is death."
.....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
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