"Gurararara! Akainu, do you really think you have any strength to spare in front of me?"
Whitebeard laughed mockingly, quietly glancing from the corner of his eye at the figure in the sky.
Strong.
Stronger than before.
Though he did not know exactly what Ren had done, he had likely undergone another explosive leap in strength.
After the Raijin Island incident, Whitebeard had gone and looked into the person known as Demon Ren.
He discovered that the brat's rate of growth was beyond imagination.
After every great battle, as long as he survived it, he would inevitably undergo a dramatic improvement. That was common enough among strong people.
But no one advanced in such great leaps the way Ren did.
However, since Whitebeard had already regarded him as someone on the same level as Roger, he was not overly shaken.
At most, he was somewhat surprised by Ren's current level of strength.
Putting everything else aside, Ren absolutely had the capital to fight an Admiral to the death now.
And since he had appeared, it also meant this war was about to enter its final act.
Of course—
There was one risk that had to be watched.
Whitebeard's gaze fell on Red-Haired Shanks in the distance. Because Kuzan had made his move, Shanks no longer had an enemy tying him down.
And there was clearly bad blood between Shanks and Ren.
Otherwise, Shanks would never have forced his way into the East Blue.
That matter had even appeared twice in the papers of the World Economic Journal.
At this moment, Whitebeard silently locked onto Shanks. If there was even the slightest sign of trouble, he would strike down this former ally without hesitation.
Perhaps sensing the shift in his aura, Shanks, who had originally been staring at Ren, suddenly looked over and met Whitebeard's gaze.
Then, as if understanding something, he lowered his head in thought for a moment before taking one step back.
It was a very subtle movement, but it clearly expressed Red-Hair's stance.
No matter what grudges existed between them, the most important thing right now was still getting Ace out alive.
He had noticed the executioners' movements just now. The Marines intended to move up the execution!
At that instant—
Two thuds rang out from the execution platform.
The two Marine executioners collapsed unconscious.
The residual shockwave of Haki that had descended from the sky had dealt them an overwhelming blow, weak as they were.
"…"
Garp clenched his fists and stood silently at the very front of the execution platform, not even turning his head back.
Sengoku, meanwhile, frowned and looked upward. The person in his sight wore a faint smile at the corner of his lips, while a trace of coldness lingered in his crimson eyes.
Demon Ren!
He had not expected Ren to leave and return, especially at this critical moment.
The ominous feeling in Sengoku's heart had almost reached its peak, because he had witnessed strength from Ren that far exceeded all predictions.
Having the strength to fight a Yonko and being able to actually battle a Yonko were two completely different concepts.
Previously, Ren belonged to the former category. In the past few decades of the sea, he was the only one of his age to reach that level. However, people with that kind of strength were as numerous as carp crossing a river.
Every few years, another such powerhouse would emerge, only to fail in their challenge against the Yonko.
Some died. Some fled and never recovered. Some were absorbed into their ranks.
But now…
No one could classify that young man as the former anymore.
The move he had just displayed had fully demonstrated how terrifying that brutal power was.
He was not a challenger to the Yonko.
He was an opponent even the Yonko had to take seriously.
And yet it had to happen at this exact time…
"Was it you?"
A thread seemed to connect in Sengoku's mind, and that ominous feeling finally seemed to find the "existence" hiding behind the curtain.
He simply found it difficult to believe that his judgment could be true.
Nineteen years old.
The other party was only nineteen.
Possessing his current strength and immeasurable potential was already terrifying enough.
If strategy and scheming ability were added on top of that…
Even Sengoku, who had seen countless geniuses, could not truly bring himself to believe such a judgment.
Being one step ahead made one talented. Three to five steps ahead made one a genius, a monster.
But ten-plus steps ahead?
Even Roger had never been that terrifying.
But no matter what—
What had to be done now was crystal clear.
Justice had to win!
No matter the means. Even if they had to act despicably and shamelessly before the eyes of the world.
Because they were justice!
At this moment—
The Marines did not know what those above them were planning, but they had already prepared themselves for a battle to the death.
Though the situation had worsened once again, the Marines, having clarified their own convictions, were still willing to sacrifice themselves for justice.
The Three Admirals had also broken away from their respective opponents during the recent clashes.
Now, with tacit understanding, they stood guard in front of the execution platform. They could roughly guess how events would unfold next.
So they needed to buy time!
"Are they planning to force it?"
The instant his gaze met Sengoku's, Ren grasped the current state of the entire battlefield.
Whitebeard had fulfilled the agreement of their cooperation and was waiting for the final moment.
Red-Hair had come to save Ace. Before Ace left alive, he would not turn against Ren.
Even if he wanted to make a move afterward, Whitebeard would not give him the chance.
The Marines had been pushed to their limit. A formation of two Emperors plus Ren himself was something even the Marines could not confidently claim they could defeat.
But they still had the power to fight, and the initiative was in their hands.
Ace was right there.
Then now, what had to be done was equally simple and clear.
The atmosphere on the execution platform grew tense at this moment.
Sengoku clenched his fist, as if he would kill Ace in front of the whole world in the very next second and force this war to end with justice's victory.
Red-Hair silently placed his hand on the hilt of his sword. Black-red lightning overflowed around him, and if even the slightest thing went wrong, he would erupt into action.
Whitebeard reacted as well.
But not toward the execution platform.
Instead—
Toward the sky!
Boom—!
Quake force erupted, stirring up a roaring gale. Amid the howling wind, a miserable scream amplified by Devil Fruit power rang out.
"Aaaaaaah!"
The voice was filled with panic and torn-throat terror.
But it made Marco instantly fly into the sky, delight appearing on his face as he went to catch the cage bubble whose landing point was on their side.
It was a cage bubble, almost identical in style to the bubbles of the Sabaody Archipelago.
And inside it, shrieking in terror, was someone whose features could not be clearly seen, but whose distinctive clothing was unmistakable.
A transparent glass helmet.
A thick white "diving suit"!
The cage bubble plummeted at high speed, the screams growing even more intense.
In response, Whitebeard's booming laughter suddenly echoed across the sky above Marineford.
"So they've come, the Celestial Dragons!"
The Emperor standing at the peak of the sea used the simplest and most exaggerated method to reveal the origin of the person inside the falling cage bubble.
It also made Sengoku on the execution platform clench his fist violently, his widened eyes filled with disbelief.
How could this be?!
Whitebeard had cooperated with the Revolutionary Army?!
This was yet another event that exceeded all predictions.
The two Celestial Dragons who had disappeared from the Sabaody Archipelago had always been a massive headache for the Marines.
Because the powerhouse who had made that move had absolutely no records in any file. It was as if a fighter of that caliber had suddenly popped out of the ground.
No matter how hard the Cipher Pol Agency and Marine intelligence departments worked, they could not find even the slightest clue.
Powerhouses always had a growth process.
But on this person, such a thing seemed not to exist at all.
They could not even confirm whether this person was a member of the Revolutionary Army.
After all, that black-and-white figure who had suddenly appeared had never acted under the name of the Revolutionary Army before.
In other words—
He was practically someone with no traceable existence.
This made investigating the matter, and even recovering the Celestial Dragons, even more difficult.
Because of the preparations for this war, the Marines had put most of their energy into the battle.
They simply had not expected the kidnapped Celestial Dragon to appear in this manner.
The Revolutionary Army…
No!
Not necessarily the Revolutionary Army!
Those people's ambitions were not aligned with pirates. Whether Ace lived or died was irrelevant to the Revolutionary Army.
They might even be happy to see him die, because the emergence of a second Pirate King was not necessarily a good thing.
Under these circumstances, there had to be an intermediary.
Ren!
Sengoku seemed to perceive the truth behind it, and even connected it to something even more horrifying.
Not only that—
Perhaps the existence behind the scenes was Ren himself!
The Revolutionary Army… might only be another chess piece in his hands!
Sengoku abruptly looked toward the figure hanging high in the sky.
And what entered his vision was Ren raising one finger to his lips, along with a calm smile.
Shh—
That seemed to be what he meant.
Sengoku's blood pressure surged, and even his breathing began to grow disordered.
All that filled his heart was horror.
Yes.
It had to be him.
Although there was not enough evidence, Sengoku's instincts had locked onto the source of all these anomalies.
This nineteen-year-old Ren, who just a few years ago had been nothing more than the owner of a general store!
Only with that could this series of unbelievable events receive a reasonable explanation.
When more impossible things happened around someone who routinely created the impossible, what was strange about that?
And at this moment—
The cage bubble shattered. Marco handed the person beneath his talons, who was still screaming in panic, over to his father.
Under everyone's eyes, while the broadcast center at the Sabaody Archipelago was still running—
Whitebeard raised the struggling, cursing figure high in his hand.
The iconic clothing, the shouts from his mouth, and that face all proved his identity.
That was—
A Celestial Dragon!
Saint Charlos, who had been kidnapped during the Sabaody Archipelago incident!
"This is no longer our battle."
The moment Kuzan saw that obese pig-like man, he closed his eyes and sat back down where he had been before.
Because he had communicated with Ren many times, he was the first to react to how the situation would develop next.
That guy, who had no qualms about using plots and schemes, always acted with one link chained to the next.
What they were seeing now was only the beginning.
Next, without any surprises, the Cipher Pol Agency would contact the World Government as quickly as possible.
And in that process, that woman named Stussy would probably put in considerable effort.
Perhaps within a few minutes, the Buru Buru of the Five Elders' call would ring from the Den Den Mushi on Sengoku's person.
Once things reached that point, everything would become impossible to stop.
Because the hostage in Whitebeard's hand was a damned Celestial Dragon!
When Saint Charlos's family was attacked at the Sabaody Archipelago, Kizaru had been deployed to purge every pirate in the area.
It had only been forced to stop because Dragon appeared.
Let alone now.
Saint Rosward, who had lost both his son and daughter, had been exerting pressure through the World Government all this time!
The personnel sent by Marine Headquarters to negotiate could only grovel and beg for him to wait until the war ended.
A few of the negotiators had even lost their lives because of that answer.
But what could anyone do?
They were Celestial Dragons!
The World Nobles who stood above everything, the so-called Descendants of the Creator.
They were the makers of the rules.
The "justice" above justice.
(End of Chapter)