"Ha… has my era… never even begun?"
A, murmured hollowly, completely lost.
The confidence of the "Strongest Raikage in History," the pride that allowed him to name an entire era after himself, had shattered like the wound carved across his chest, cracked and splintered in every direction.
"Whether you call it the remnants of an era or the Raikage Era… from beginning to end, it was nothing more than your own delusion."
The moment Garp finished speaking, A could no longer bear it. A spray of blood mist burst from his mouth.
The body that Cloud shinobi believed would never fall slammed heavily onto the ground.
A moment ago, he had still managed to kneel.
But as his pride, his confidence, his very will were crushed piece by piece, the force that held him upright dissolved with them.
"Hahahaha."
"It was all fake… all nothing but my self-indulgent fantasies, my own arrogant delusions."
"The Raikage Era never existed at all."
A, lay sprawled on the ground, laughing hysterically, self-mocking, bitter, despairing. His crazed laughter echoed across the battlefield, growing louder and louder.
"Raikage-sama."
Toroi and the other cloud shinobi stared in shock, each struck as if by a physical blow, faces pale, hearts trembling with fear and grief.
This was their pride.
Their greatest glory.
The strongest Raikage their entire village boasted of.
Yet now he was more wretched than a beaten stray dog.
Every halo that once crowned him was crushed to dust, and he was hurled straight into the abyss… unable to raise his head ever again.
Especially Dodai.
Half an hour ago, A, in his eyes had been unshakeable, unyielding, fierce, confident enough to call a hero of the shinobi world nothing more than a relic of a bygone era.
But now… compared to before, the difference was extreme.
A's helpless, desolate, utterly broken appearance made Dodai's eyes burn red, his chest twist with restless fury.
"A… is finished."
"Cloud shinobi… are finished."
…..
When Danzo, Tsunade, and the others took in the fallen Third Raikage and the broken cloud shinobi behind him, they all understood.
Konoha had won.
No… to be precise, Garp had won.
The hero who vanished for half an era had returned in absolute, overwhelming form, crushing the false Raikage Era without mercy.
He made the entire world understand, though the shinobi world changes eras without pause, the era of the Iron Fist has never ended.
Whether in the Warring States period or the age of hidden villages, everything still belonged to Garp, an age named by him fists.
At this moment, as the victors, they should have been jubilant.
Yet for some inexplicable reason, looking at the Third Raikage, who had fought them to the death only moments earlier, reduced to such sorrow and helplessness, they felt a strange heaviness, a shared sense of mourning.
"Raikage-sama, please don't. "
"Get away from me. I am A, the Third Raikage. The strongest man in the Hidden Cloud… I need no one's pity."
Unable to hold back, Dodai rushed to the Third Raikage's side, reaching out to help him up.
But A, who had been trembling on the ground like a madman, laughing hysterically, suddenly shoved Dodai away with a violent push.
"Garp…"
Dragging his broken body, the Third Raikage forced himself to stand.
His eyes were blood-red, wild with madness. The strongest armor that Garp had shattered with a chunk of stone the size of a palm suddenly reformed around him.
Not only that, the roaring Lightning Release chakra erupted like a jet of flame and rapidly turned pitch black. The thunder roared louder than before.
"What jutsu is that?"
"Lightning Release?"
"Or a Kekkei Genkai?"
Tsunade and Danzo's expressions darkened.
They had assumed the Third Raikage had mentally collapsed. And though he had, that didn't change the fact that he was still the Third Raikage.
In fact, because of his mental collapse and the destruction of his beliefs, he now had the reckless courage to fight again without restraint.
"It's Raikage-sama's unique Black Lightning."
Dodai's eyes lit up for a moment, but when he saw the Raikage's death-filled, insane gaze beneath the cloak of Black Lightning, his expression twisted in pain.
He shut his eyes, unable to watch.
He understood. He had been too hopeful.
The Third Raikage wasn't showing resilience. He hadn't withstood the blow and risen stronger.
On the contrary, he couldn't bear it and chose self-destruction.
"I am the strongest."
"No one can steal my era."
"Not even you, Garp the Fist."
A, clenched both fists, roared, and kicked up a storm of dust. In the blink of an eye, he flickered to Garp's front, thrusting a single finger straight toward him.
"Hell Stab: One Finger Assault!"
Though his finger hadn't yet touched Garp, the force behind it, the pressure like a tailed beast's roar, the violent power from Black Lightning and pure piercing strength, crushed the air itself, whipping Garp's black suit so fiercely it snapped and fluttered.
Yet Garp's eyes never wavered.
He simply watched quietly as the Third Raikage attacked.
This scene, he had witnessed countless times in the Warring States Period.
First Tsuchikage Ishikawa, First Kazekage Reto, First Raikage A, Uchiha Izuna… countless shinobi and samurai had shown the exact same expression as the Third Raikage before him now.
"Shigan!"
Though countless buried faces flickered through Garp's memory, not a single thought slowed his body.
Against A's suicidal strike, Garp casually raised a hand, extended a finger, covered it in Haki and lightly tapped the tip of A's finger.
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