Rain.
Torrential rain poured down, pattering on the eaves with a ding-dong sound, and distant peaks were obscured by the misty downpour.
Marine Medical Department.
Medical staff in white coats hurried about, their foreheads beaded with sweat.
Anesthetics, hemostatic clamps, scalpels, sutures... A nurse pushed out a cart full of blood-stained gauze. Sengoku, sitting on a bench by the door, had a grim, self-reproaching, and remorseful expression. His fingertips dug into his explosive hair, and his hands trembled uncontrollably.
The brutal scenes from the battlefield were vivid in his mind!
The outside door was pushed open from the outside, and a pale lightning flash illuminated the pouring rain and the figure that suddenly appeared at the entrance.
Garp, wearing a Marine greatcoat over a dark suit, walked in with a serious expression.
"Ga-Garp...! Cough, cough, boo hoo hoo!"
Tears could no longer be held back in Sengoku's eyes; they gushed out, and he tugged at his hair with both hands: "It's all my fault, it's all my uselessness, for not being able to protect Zephyr and Tsuru..."
He cried like a helpless child.
A shadow fell over Garp's forehead. He grabbed Sengoku by the collar and slapped him hard: "What's the use of crying now?!"
"No one could have predicted something like this! Calm down, Sengoku! Where is the confident, brilliant Sengoku who toyed with pirates in the palm of his hand?!"
Garp repeatedly punched Sengoku in the face, knocking him down. Sengoku did not resist, letting him punch.
Tears blurred his vision. Sengoku's eyes were filled with self-reproach and remorse, and his voice was mournful: "I had the thought of allying with pirates... Perhaps I should have allied with them. Even if it meant letting them escape, we should have first joined forces to deal with Kaido..."
Garp's fist stopped just before Sengoku's face. He then rolled over and lay down himself in the medical department corridor, staring at the ceiling.
Garp's expression was complex as he murmured, "Has that apprentice kid grown to such an extent?"
Sengoku's face was covered in fist marks, and tears and snot ran down his cheeks.
If he had given up chasing Silver Axe and others back then and decisively joined forces with Zephyr, defeating Kaido should not have been a big problem.
Kaido's strength reminded Sengoku of Whitebeard, Roger, and Rocks, who had died a few years ago.
Sengoku: "It's all my fault..."
Garp impatiently roared, "It's just that one sentence over and over! Pull yourself together! Even someone as strong as Rocks wasn't eliminated by us, was he?!"
Sengoku stared blankly at the ceiling.
After a long silence, Garp asked, "How is Tsuru?"
Sengoku's voice was downcast: "She's still in critical condition. She took a direct hit from Kaido... The situation might not be very good."
Zephyr died, leaving behind only a charred, unrecognizable skeleton.
Tsuru took a direct, powerful Haki-infused blow from Kaido.
She received emergency treatment on the warship during the return journey, but her condition was not optimistic. Sengoku immediately contacted nearby Marine bases and professional surgical doctors for rescue.
Several hours later, the emergency room door was pushed open, and doctors in white coats walked out.
They glanced at the messy corridor and the two people lying on the floor. Garp and Sengoku anxiously stood up. The lead doctor said, "She's been saved, but Staff Officer Tsuru's left leg needs to be amputated as soon as possible... In the future, she will most likely have to retire to a secondary role, training new recruits."
Hearing that Tsuru had been saved, Sengoku breathed a sigh of relief, but then hearing about the amputation, Sengoku couldn't help but worry. Given Tsuru's strong personality, how could she bear to have an amputation and retire to a secondary role?
How would he explain it to her when she woke up? Just then, the doctor added, "If Vegapunk could be found and asked to create a prosthetic limb no less capable than a human hand, it shouldn't affect normal movement. However, we heard that the Peace Research Institute exploded, and the scientists are missing."
This was the official statement in the news, but for high-ranking Marines like Garp and Sengoku, they knew Vegapunk was currently in the World Government's hands.
Sengoku's eyes narrowed: "Garp..."
Garp's eyes lit up: "Ah, I understand what you mean, Sengoku. Let's go see Fleet Admiral Kong together!"
Days later, the great battle that occurred in an unknown sea area spread throughout the world, causing a huge uproar everywhere.
'The Twilight of the Marine Admiral!'
'Worst Generation Pirate Alliance defeated, Kaido and Gan Zhui dead, Silver Axe's whereabouts unknown!'
'The World's Dragon of Evil, Kaido of the Beasts!'
On the Moby Dick, Whitebeard Edward Newgate looked at the newspaper in his hand with a serious expression. That apprentice he recruited back then had actually killed even Marine Admiral Black Arm Zephyr.
"Are kids nowadays all this strong?"
Whitebeard murmured, his expression complex. On this vast sea, those who could become Marine Admirals were by no means ordinary. Before this, only Rocks had killed an Admiral.
"It seems the world is about to change..."
In an unknown sea, the Roger Pirates.
Rayleigh, with his golden slicked-back hair, looked at the morning newspaper with a solemn expression.
"What are you looking at, Rayleigh? Come on, let's have a feast!"
Roger, holding a bottle of sake, laughed heartily, but his gaze suddenly fell upon the news in the newspaper.
"Hey, isn't this kid the apprentice from Rocks' ship?"
The smile vanished from Roger's face, suddenly becoming serious: "Marine Admiral Black Arm Zephyr dead..."
Rayleigh stared at the newspaper, sighing: "I didn't expect such a major event to have happened on this sea during this time. According to the newspaper, Kaido and Gan Zhui also died by his hand. Kaido is young and powerful; this sea will probably soon fall into great chaos again."
Gaban picked up a wanted poster: "Hey, Roger, this kid's bounty is already very close to yours."
Kaido of the Beasts, bounty 3,511,000,000 Berries, dead or alive.
Cake Island.
Charlotte Linlin was incredibly shocked upon learning of Kaido's recent actions, but she quickly calmed down, her expression turning into one of admiration.
He truly was the man she had her eyes on.
"He even killed a Marine Admiral? How truly reckless, Kaido... Do you intend to continue Rocks' plan, or do you wish to become another overlord of the sea?"
"I eagerly await your next choice... The Marines, the World Government, the God's Knights, the Gorosei—these are not easily shaken."
At once, Kaido's wanted poster spread throughout the world, some were enraged, some worried about the future of their kingdoms, and every street corner discussed the killing of a Marine Admiral and the fearsome reputation of Kaido of the Beasts.
This day was destined to be one of worry for peacemakers and revelry for rioters.
Countless villains and thugs, malcontents oppressed by kingdoms and Celestial Tribute until they could no longer survive, flocked to the sea, baring their fangs at the Marines and the World Government.
Many kingdoms erupted in riots, intending to seize power from the kingdom's nobility.
On this day, several arson incidents occurred worldwide!