"Whoosh…"
Luffy let out a painful grunt as his body was sent flying. He rolled violently across the battlefield, scraping against broken stone and scorched ground. The steam surrounding him thinned rapidly, and the Armament Haki markings on his skin faded away.
Gear Fourth could no longer be maintained.
His chest rose and fell erratically as he coughed nonstop, each breath more ragged than the last.
"Luffy!"
Ace, still in the distance struggling to remove his Sea Stone handcuffs, had been watching the fight the entire time. When he saw Akainu relentlessly chasing Luffy, his heart had nearly stopped. Now, a deep sense of dread flooded his chest.
At the same time, a voice echoed clearly within his mind.
"You can die, but Monkey D. Luffy cannot. At the critical moment, you must protect him, even if it costs your life."
Ace's expression changed completely.
Without hesitation, he turned and sprinted toward Luffy.
He had to protect him.
"Ace!"
The pirates surrounding him froze in disbelief as Ace suddenly rushed away from the group.
"Fufufufu… Rose Queen Emma, bounty of 210 million."
Just as Emma prepared to move, a strange, amused laugh drifted toward her. A sharp, pointed shoe kicked toward her face without warning.
Emma instantly hardened her right hand into diamond and coated it with Armament Haki, blocking the strike head on. The impact forced her backward, her high heels carving deep grooves into the ground as she slid several meters. She lifted her head slowly, eyes cold, staring at the man before her.
A flamboyant feathered coat. Sunglasses. A familiar, mocking smile.
"Doflamingo."
Her expression carried clear surprise. She did not understand why this man had chosen to target her.
"Fufufufu…"
Doflamingo only laughed, his gaze openly sweeping over Emma from head to toe, as if studying a rare specimen.
It was unsettling.
"Get out of my way," Emma said coldly.
She stomped her right foot down, and the surrounding environment rapidly transformed into diamond.
"That will not do. I need to keep an eye on you."
Doflamingo raised both hands, crimson strings dancing between his fingers. The environment around him began to shift as well, his awakened ability clashing violently against Emma's diamond domain.
Emma frowned.
She was not surprised that Doflamingo had awakened his Devil Fruit.
What unsettled her was the color of his strings.
They were blood red, as though soaked in fresh blood.
This was not Armament Haki.
"Fufufufu…"
Doflamingo stood as if submerged in a sea of blood. Crimson strings rose all around him, dripping and swaying, beautiful yet terrifying.
Sonic booms echoed as the two stared each other down. Behind them, diamond spikes and razor sharp strings collided repeatedly, sending shockwaves rippling outward.
Emma's expression darkened further.
She could feel it now.
Those strings were even harder than her diamond.
Her pupils contracted as a psychic storm surged outward from her mind, invisible waves of mental force crashing toward Doflamingo.
"Fufufufu… interesting!"
Doflamingo's body swayed briefly, his smile faltering for only a moment before he regained control. Almost instantly, an overwhelming will surged outward from him, forming a violent mental tide that smashed into Emma.
Boom. Crack.
Black and red lightning split the air as pirates and Marines nearby collapsed, screaming, scrambling desperately to escape the area.
"It is not Haoshoku, yet it can disturb the mind," Doflamingo said with interest. "And more importantly, your ability is identical to Diamond Jozu's. I am very curious."
Using his own Haoshoku Haki to resist her psychic assault, Doflamingo's fascination only deepened.
"Damn it…"
Emma's gaze flicked toward Luffy, her anxiety growing by the second.
Her telepathic ability was still too weak.
And Luffy was already facing a nightmare.
"Monkey D. Luffy, you also carry the most evil bloodline."
Akainu slammed Luffy into the ground with a brutal punch, then advanced slowly, each step leaving molten footprints behind him. He stopped directly in front of the pale, barely conscious Luffy.
"I will kill you first," Akainu said coldly. "Then I will deal with Gol D. Ace. Today, neither the Whitebeard Pirates nor the Revolutionary Army will leave Marineford alive."
Magma swelled violently around his right arm, killing intent pouring out unchecked.
"Luffy!"
Nami, Zoro, and the others screamed as they rushed forward.
"Get lost, Luffy!"
Sabo blasted Momousagi away with a punch, but before he could move again, another Vice Admiral intercepted him, locking him down.
The battlefield fell eerily silent.
On the field and across the world, countless eyes watched as the massive magma fist descended toward Monkey D. Luffy.
Everyone knew.
That punch would kill him.
Emma's face drained of color.
If Luffy died here, her mission would fail completely. Every exchange point she had was already spent back at Sabaody Archipelago. Mission failure meant point deduction, and without enough points, lifespan would be taken instead.
She and her brother would die.
Luffy's death meant their death.
"No…"
"Luffy!"
Garp, who had been lying motionless like a corpse, suddenly stirred. His eyes snapped open as he looked up, watching the giant magma fist fall.
Plop.
The sound of flesh being pierced and instantly burned rang out, horrifyingly clear amid the chaos of battle.
Hot blood splashed across Luffy's stunned face.
A smiling face, twisted in pain, filled his vision.
"A… Ace."
Luffy touched the blood on his face, his pupils shrinking as his eyes turned crimson.
"Ace!"
The battlefield became deathly silent.
Marco, Jozu, and the others stared in disbelief as they saw Ace's chest pierced straight through by Akainu's magma.
"Impossible…"
Sabo's mind went blank.
On the ice field, Whitebeard suddenly froze mid battle. After being struck back by Kong, he turned toward Marineford, shock and something dangerously close to fear flashing through his eyes.
Thump.
As the magma fist was withdrawn, Ace collapsed forward into Luffy's arms. A massive hole burned through his chest, visible from front to back, the residual heat continuing to destroy his cells.
"Sorry…"
The light in Ace's eyes faded rapidly.
Leaning against Luffy, he whispered just one word before his body went limp.
This Ace's endurance was clearly inferior to the real one.
After all, he was merely one of Doflamingo's subordinates, a low level Demon. His regenerative ability was nowhere near enough to withstand magma.
From the moment his chest was pierced, his fate had already been sealed.
Luffy stood frozen.
But Akainu did not.
Magma surged once more around his right arm as he launched another merciless attack, intent on erasing both cursed bloodlines in one strike.
Across the world, time seemed to slow.
Boom.
An iron fist collided head on with the magma fist.
The impact detonated outward, forcing Akainu to stagger back two steps.
As dust and smoke cleared, a figure stood between Akainu and Luffy, radiating uncontrollable fury. Veins bulged across his face, muscles trembling, eyes colder than death itself.
The sky streaked with lightning seemed to freeze.
A monstrous killing intent descended like a mountain range, crushing down on everyone present, making it nearly impossible to breathe.
"Marine Hero Garp!"
"No way…"
"That expression… is he really going to kill Akainu?"
"He raised Luffy himself."
The Marines stared in horror, dread spreading rapidly through their ranks.
"Vice Admiral Garp…"
"What the hell are you doing?!" Sengoku shouted, his face changing drastically as he faced Gaban.
"Garp!" Tsuru cried out, her heart pounding.
"Ace… Ace…"
Behind him, Luffy's broken sobs echoed.
Garp's eyes were bloodshot. His fists clenched so tightly that blood seeped from his palms. Tears streamed down his face as his entire body trembled uncontrollably.
His heart felt as though it had been ripped apart.
"Garp, what do you think you are doing?!" Akainu demanded, anger flaring.
But Garp did not answer.
He only looked at Akainu with eyes that declared one thing.
Death.
Then Garp vanished.
---