Big Mom suddenly spread her arms wide, the full power of her Soul-Soul Fruit bursting forth.
Zeus the thundercloud, Prometheus the sun, and even Napoleon the sword transformed into a radiant barrier, desperately shielding Katakuri, Smoothie, Cracker, and her other core children from the oncoming blood mist.
"Mom?!" Katakuri shouted in disbelief, staring at her.
For once, there was clarity resolve in Big Mom's eyes. "Go!! All of you, retreat!!"
She knew it well: if they stayed any longer, not one of them would leave this place alive.
Ritter didn't chase after them.
He simply raised his hand slowly. The battle was already decided, and this time, he intended to end it completely.
The blood mist surged across the battlefield like a living tide, swallowing every last Beast Pirate and Big Mom Pirate straggler who failed to escape in time. Within the crimson haze, streams of stolen life force flowed into Ritter's body, absorbed and sealed away.
Far above, Kaido had already broken through with his surviving lieutenants. His azure dragon form spiraled into the clouds, casting one last bitter look down at the ruined battlefield.
"Ritter… I'll settle this debt one day!"
"You try to invade Wano again, and I'll make sure you die," came Ritter's mocking reply.
Kaido barely had time to roar before gravity betrayed him.
The mighty dragon crashed from the sky, his body smashing through the air like a meteor.
Ritter appeared above him in an instant, his hand clamping around Kaido's hair as he shifted back into human form.
Now, the dynamic had reversed Ritter beating Kaido was like a father disciplining a disobedient son. For the first time, Ritter saw fear in Kaido's eyes, and that alone was enough.
With a brutal twist, Ritter hurled Kaido down toward the ground.
Oden Oden himself stepped forward from the ranks of the Wano warriors, catching the momentum midair.
"Paradise Totsuka!"
The impact blasted Kaido straight into the sea. His chest now bore a cross-shaped scar, intersecting with the two old wounds Ritter had given him years ago during the God Valley Incident.
Meanwhile, Big Mom gathered her surviving children aboard the last remaining ship, her massive frame shaking as she turned her back on the battlefield. Without a word, she fled into the stormy horizon.
Silence descended over the seas of Wano.
Ritter knew perfectly well what he had done and what he hadn't. The world government and the navy feared him not only for his terrifying strength, but because he understood how to maintain the chaos of the seas.
Killing Kaido and Big Mom outright would destroy that balance. The core members of their crews had to live, or their fall would carry the same consequence as their deaths.
After all, those two emperors weren't just people they were pillars of equilibrium in the world's great order.
If both fell here, the navy would immediately descend upon his territories by dawn. The world government wouldn't tolerate one man monopolizing the power once divided among four emperors.
It was like wealth the world allowed everyone to have a share, but never just one man.
Ritter wasn't foolish enough to hand the government an excuse to unite against him.
He understood the politics of piracy, the unspoken rules of balance. The Four Emperors and the Navy together, they maintained the fragile peace of the seas.
If two of them died now, the world itself would spiral into war.
And Ritter? He wasn't about to sacrifice his empire for pride.
The navy had only stationed one major base, G1, at the edge of the New World. Not because they couldn't advance, but because the pirates didn't allow it.
The Summit War of Marineford, years later, had begun partly because Ace revealed his heritage but Ritter knew there was another reason. The navy had wanted a foothold in the New World, and Whitebeard's territory was the perfect bridge.
The war may have seemed a defeat for the navy, but strategically, it was a success they'd achieved what they set out to do.
Now, Ritter had learned from history. He wouldn't repeat the same mistakes.
He even joked to himself: The Five Elders are practically my business partners. Didn't they help me when I started my little empire?
Strength and diplomacy those were the real powers of the sea.
The dawn after the battle was heavy with smoke and sorrow.
Over the capital of Wano, white flags hung low.
Rows upon rows of plain white coffins were lined up across the central square, each one adorned with a broken samurai blade.
So few bodies remained intact; the war had consumed them all. There were no extravagant rites, no golden trimmings only silence, and the flickering glow of thousands of paper lanterns held by grieving citizens.
Oden stood at the front, wrapped in bandages from head to toe.
"Everyone…" His voice was hoarse, trembling. "I promised I would lead you to see the day our nation opens its borders."
The torchlight reflected in his bloodshot eyes.
Behind him, the Nine Red Scabbards carried the coffins with solemn precision. Denjiro's right eye was wrapped in gauze, Kawamatsu's fishman skin bore deep burn scars, and Kin'emon bit his lip hard enough to draw blood, refusing to cry.
Thud.
The sound of coffins lowering into graves was like the heartbeat of mourning itself.
Someone tossed a piece of white paper money into the air, then another, then another until the square filled with a storm of white, like snow.
The paper drifted over warriors' pale faces, over children's trembling fists, and onto the bowed backs of the elderly.
A little girl who had lost her father reached up, struggling to place her folded paper crane into the coffin.
Marco crouched beside her, lifting her gently by the waist.
"Daddy…" the girl whispered, placing the crooked crane on her father's chest. "You said you'd teach me to be a great samurai someday."
On the crane's wings were scribbled words in clumsy handwriting: Love you, Papa.
As night fell, Oden lit the first torch.
"Wano…" His voice quavered beneath the firelight. "Will never forget this day of blood and flame."
It was the highest funeral rite of their land.
From the crowd's edge, Ritter stood silently, his crimson eyes reflecting the glow of the pyres. Then he turned away.
Tesoro called out behind him, "Captain?"
"I don't like watching farewells," Ritter replied without looking back.
(Truthfully, the author just didn't want Ritter attending the funeral. These were honorable warriors, yes but for him, they were still sworn enemies. It didn't feel right.)
Tesoro hesitated, then hurried to catch up.
"Captain," he asked quietly, "you're just letting Kaido and Big Mom go?"
Ritter's voice was calm, too calm. The blood mist coiled faintly around his steps.
"Tesoro, what do you think this war was for?"
Tesoro blinked, unsure revenge? Justice? To save Wano?
"Revenge? Justice?" Ritter chuckled softly. "Survival was part of it, sure. But I didn't expect that coming to Wano would give me something even greater."
He stopped and looked out toward the fading smoke on the horizon.
"From this day on, in the New World… I make the rules."
As the final traces of smoke dissolved into the sky, Oden suddenly drew his blade and slashed at his own hair.
Shing!
Black strands scattered in the wind.
"From this day forth," Oden declared, raising his broken sword to the heavens, "I, Kozuki Oden, swear that Wano will open its borders when the prophecy comes when our savior calls upon us."
Nine bloodstained blades struck the ground in unison.
"Open the country!"
"Open the country!!"
The cries tore through the night.
The people's wails followed, turning to low, muffled sobs. One by one, they poured sake over the graves of fallen warriors.
The liquid seeped into the soil, mingling with the blood beneath, glowing faintly red under the light of the moon.
And thus ended the War of Blood and Dawn
A war that crowned Ritter as the true ruler of the New World.
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