Only after Saint Shepherd Ju Peter's vessel disappeared beyond Marineford's harbor did the tension gripping the fortress finally begin to loosen.
For several long seconds, nobody seemed willing to trust the quiet.
Thousands of Marines remained where they stood, some still gripping rifles and swords while others slowly straightened from defensive stances they had taken when the Elder transformed.
The plaza was littered with broken stone, scattered equipment, and the aftermath of a confrontation that had come dangerously close to turning Marine Headquarters itself into a battlefield.
Borsalino was the first of the three Admirals to relax.
"My, my..."
Golden light flickered around him before fading.
"That became much more frightening than I expected."
His hands slipped back into his pockets, and the lazy expression everyone knew returned to his face, although the sharpness lingering behind his tinted glasses made it clear he had not forgotten what had almost happened.
He looked toward Zaraki.
"Try not to make a habit of bringing Five Elders home with you. It makes the workday terribly exhausting."
Zaraki raised an eyebrow.
"You could've stayed in your office."
"Ooh... even more frightening."
Borsalino gave him a faintly wounded look before turning away.
Kuzan released a long breath on Zaraki's other side.
The frost that had spread across the stone around him gradually melted, leaving thin streams of water running through the cracks in the plaza.
"Arara... at least nobody actually started a war inside Headquarters."
He stretched until his shoulders popped.
"For today, I'm counting that as a success."
His tired gaze briefly passed over Zaraki.
"Get some rest before you fall over."
Then he wandered away in the direction of the administrative buildings, looking as though his greatest concern had already become finding somewhere quiet enough for a nap.
That left Sakazuki.
He remained where he was for several seconds, staring toward the harbor through the smoke rising from his cigar.
When he finally turned, his expression was unreadable.
"Don't misunderstand what happened here."
Zaraki looked at him.
Sakazuki continued in the same hard voice.
"I didn't protect you from judgment."
He gestured once toward the damaged plaza.
"I protected Marine Headquarters from being turned into collateral damage because the World Government decided to enforce an arrest in the most reckless way possible."
His gaze hardened.
"The Marines have their own chain of command, their own responsibilities, and thousands of soldiers stationed here. I will not watch this fortress get torn apart because Cipher Pol or anyone else refuses to respect that."
That sounded much more like Sakazuki.
Zaraki gave a faint grin.
"Whatever helps you sleep."
A vein appeared on Sakazuki's forehead.
He decided not to answer and simply walked away.
Residual heat followed his steps, though this time the stone beneath his boots remained intact.
Zaraki watched him for a moment before exhaling quietly.
'Finally.'
The confrontation was over.
At least for now.
He had barely turned toward the harbor when Garp's voice arrived from behind him.
"And where exactly do you think you're going?"
Zaraki stopped.
Garp stood several paces away with his arms folded across his chest.
His white suit and Marine coat were still rumpled from the frantic return to Headquarters, and irritation covered nearly every line of his face.
He had already hit Zaraki once.
Judging from the way his fist occasionally twitched, he was seriously considering doing it again.
Zaraki sighed.
"To the harbor."
"I can see that!"
"Then why ask?"
Garp's eyebrow jumped.
Zaraki wisely moved on before another Fist of Love descended.
Behind Garp, Sengoku had finally reached the plaza after remaining with the fleet long enough to reorganize Marine forces and ensure Ju Peter's withdrawal did not immediately become another confrontation.
The Fleet Admiral looked exhausted.
Not physically.
Spiritually.
His gaze swept across the broken plaza, the retreating Admirals, Zaraki's bloodstained clothing, and the distant Visual Den Den Mushi still recording everything for Morgans.
Then he pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Do I even want to know what happened while I was gone?"
"No."
Garp answered immediately.
Sengoku's expression darkened.
"I wasn't asking you."
Zaraki shrugged.
"Then still no."
Sengoku stared at him.
Zaraki stared back.
Eventually, Sengoku decided that killing him himself would create too much paperwork.
Garp stepped closer.
"You're not leaving in that condition."
His voice had lost some of its anger.
Creation Rebirth had closed Zaraki's most dangerous wounds, but anyone with eyes could see he was exhausted.
His spiritual reserves were still badly depleted from releasing Nozarashi against Nusjuro, and the diamond mark on his forehead had noticeably faded after the amount of stored chakra consumed repairing his body.
"You're staying here until the medics look you over."
"No."
Garp's expression stiffened.
Zaraki's did not.
"I submitted my resignation before Fish-Man Island."
His voice remained quiet.
"The Government dragged out the final assignment, then Mary Geoise happened."
He glanced around Marineford.
"After today, I don't think anybody's going to pretend the paperwork still matters."
Sengoku said nothing.
He could not.
Whatever legal ambiguity had existed around Zaraki's pending resignation had effectively been destroyed the moment he killed Saint Charlos, fought CP0, clashed with Nusjuro, and returned to Marineford while the World Government openly called him a traitor.
Zaraki met Garp's eyes.
"I'm done letting other people decide where I'm allowed to point my sword."
There was no grand declaration about saving the world.
No speech about replacing the Marines' Justice with something better.
That had never been why he left.
"I'll go where I want, fight who I want, and decide for myself what's worth getting involved in."
His mouth curved slightly.
"Sounds better than being ordered to sit in a hospital because somebody upstairs thinks I'm inconvenient."
Garp remained silent.
Zaraki looked toward Sengoku.
"You already knew this was coming."
Sengoku slowly exhaled.
"Yes."
The answer seemed to age him another year.
"I just hoped you might manage to leave without murdering a Celestial Dragon on the way out."
"That part wasn't planned."
"That does not make me feel better!"
Zaraki laughed.
Garp stared at him for several seconds before finally placing one heavy hand on his shoulder.
His grip was firm.
"You came back alive."
The old Marine's voice had grown rougher.
"That's what matters."
Zaraki's grin faded slightly.
He nodded once.
Then stepped away.
"Take care of yourself, old man."
Garp snorted.
"I should be telling you that."
"Probably."
Zaraki turned and began walking toward the harbor.
Nobody tried to stop him.
Not Sengoku.
Not Garp.
Not Sakazuki or the other Admirals.
Even CP0 had already withdrawn with Ju Peter.
By the time Zaraki reached the dock, the battered emergency craft that had carried him back from Nusjuro's battlefield was still tied there, looking as though another strong wave might finish what the journey had started.
Zaraki stared at it.
Then at the open sea.
"Tch."
He climbed aboard anyway.
Behind him, Garp and Sengoku eventually reached the harbor.
Neither called him back.
The small vessel coughed smoke as the engine started.
Slowly, Marineford began receding behind him.
Garp watched until the craft had become little more than a dark shape against the water.
Sengoku stood beside him.
"Where do you think he'll go?"
Garp's earlier irritation gradually gave way to something more complicated.
"Where else?"
A faint grin appeared beneath his beard.
"That brat finally got what he wanted."
He looked toward the endless horizon.
"The sea."
Sengoku remained quiet.
The relief of seeing Zaraki alive had not erased the unease left by everything surrounding Mary Geoise.
The accelerated Reverie.
The Warlord summons.
The deliberate provocation involving Shirahoshi.
The attempt to turn the Warlords against Zaraki.
And finally Nusjuro pursuing him away from every witness.
None of it felt accidental.
Garp clearly reached the same conclusion.
"They wanted him separated from us."
His grin disappeared.
Sengoku looked toward him.
Garp's eyes hardened.
"Maybe they wanted him dead. Maybe they wanted him outside the Marines so anything they did afterward wouldn't involve Headquarters."
He cracked his knuckles.
"Either way, they got half of what they wanted."
Zaraki was no longer a Marine.
But he was still alive.
And that difference might become extremely important.
...
Morgans' live broadcast continued for several minutes after Zaraki's vessel left Marineford.
The World Economic News Paper president himself was nowhere near the fortress; he was shouting orders from his own newsroom while correspondents and Visual Den Den Mushi relayed the footage.
"Ladies and gentlemen, you saw it!"
His theatrical voice poured through receiving Den Den Mushi across the world.
"The World Government declared War Demon Zaraki dead—and less than an hour later, the dead man walked straight into Marine Headquarters!"
Morgans flung both wings outward.
"He challenged the Government's version of events before the entire world, revealed that he had decapitated Saint Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro only to witness the Elder regenerate, and rang the Ox Bell sixteen times to announce the end of one age and the beginning of another!"
His eyes gleamed almost feverishly.
"And now he has sailed away from Marineford with no flag above his head!"
He leaned toward the camera.
"What happens when a monster like that is finally answerable to nobody?!"
The broadcast ended.
The reaction did not.
Over the following hours, the images spread across the sea.
On the enormous Giant Warrior Pirates' vessel descending from Red Port, Dorry and Brogy stared at the latest newspaper before erupting into laughter.
"Gegyagyagyagya!"
"That brat really walked out!"
Dorry slapped one enormous knee.
Brogy threw his head back.
"Gababababa! I knew he would!"
Dorry looked toward the horizon.
"So that settles it."
Brogy nodded.
"If Zaraki ever calls for the Giant Warrior Pirates, we answer."
Dorry grinned.
"As warriors!"
"Not servants!"
"Of course!"
Their laughter rolled across the sea.
...
Far beneath them, aboard a fish-man vessel descending through the waters toward Fish-Man Island, Jinbe stood near the bow while the latest Government bulletin rested in one hand.
The World Government now openly branded Zaraki a criminal.
That changed nothing about what he had done for Fish-Man Island.
Jinbe looked through the darkness toward the home waiting below.
"Queen Otohime wished for a future where our people could stand beneath the same sun as everyone else."
His hand tightened around the paper.
"Today, Zaraki risked everything rather than allow Shirahoshi to be taken."
He lowered the newspaper.
"If the day comes when that man needs Fish-Man Island's strength..."
Jinbe's expression settled.
"I will answer."
...
Elsewhere, the Kuja Pirates sailed away from Red Port aboard the Perfume Yuda.
Boa Hancock had already read the same article several times.
Each rereading somehow made the blush across her face deeper.
"So domineering..."
Marigold looked toward Sandersonia.
Sandersonia looked back.
Neither said anything.
Hancock pressed one hand to her cheek.
"To challenge the World Government, ring the Ox Bell before the entire world, then leave Marineford without allowing anyone to stop him..."
Her eyes softened dreamily.
"Perhaps that man is finally becoming worthy of courting me."
Marigold's mouth opened.
Then closed.
There was no point.
Hancock had apparently skipped directly from Zaraki has never proposed anything to I may generously permit him to propose in the future.
Some battles could not be won.
...
The newspapers became less restrained with every new edition.
The World Government issued Zaraki an emergency wanted notice, but Morgans supplied the title that spread fastest.
THE FIFTH EMPEROR — WAR DEMON ZARAKI!
It was not an official rank.
The Marines had never recognized such a title, and the World Government certainly had not.
That hardly mattered.
Morgans had given the sea a phrase simple enough to remember, frightening enough to sell newspapers, and dramatic enough for ambitious pirates to repeat in every tavern from the Four Blues to the New World.
"He isn't even a Marine anymore!"
"He fought Kaido and Big Mom, beat Hawkeye, survived Mary Geoise, and came back from a duel with one of the Five Elders!"
"Did you hear what he said? He cut one of the five elder head off and the bastard grew another!"
"If War Demon is building something of his own, I want in!"
Not everyone believed the title.
Many veteran pirates laughed at the idea of creating another Emperor because Morgans printed it in enormous letters.
Others pointed out that Zaraki had no established territory, no great fleet, and no organization comparable to the forces commanded by the actual Emperors.
But the argument itself made the name spread faster.
A banner did not need to be official before people began gathering beneath it.
...
In the New World, the reaction had already reached two people who required no newspaper to understand exactly how dangerous Zaraki could become.
Whole Cake Island.
The negotiations begun through Perospero after the first reports from Fish-Man Island and Mary Geoise had finally reached the stage where words delivered through Den Den Mushi were no longer enough.
Kaido had come personally.