Before the shockwaves from the clash between Silvers Rayleigh and Enel had fully faded—
A heart-rending scream tore through the battlefield.
"BROOK——!!!"
It was Luffy.
He had already broken free of his shackles.
And yet he could only watch—
Watch as his final remaining crewmate, at the very last second, resolutely shoved him aside and used his own body to meet the descending palm of Bartholomew Kuma.
"Pop."
That soft sound.
In Luffy's ears, it was louder than thunder.
Brook vanished from where he stood, sent flying toward an unknown destination.
But to Luffy—
It was his pirate crew collapsing.
In an instant, all strength drained from his body.
His knees buckled. He crashed heavily onto the grass, palms bracing against the ground in helpless surrender.
Tears burst forth, mixing with dust and blood on his face, dripping wildly onto the earth.
There was no roar this time.
Only broken sobs.
His fists struck the ground again and again, dull, muffled thuds echoing weakly.
Not rage.
But the complete emptiness that follows when belief itself shatters.
As captain…
He couldn't save anyone.
Not one of them.
Kuma looked down at the young captain who had lost every comrade in mere minutes.
There was no ripple in his eyes.
He spoke calmly.
"Straw Hat… all misfortune in this world stems from one truth—insufficient ability."
The words fell like a hammer onto Luffy's heart.
His pounding fists stilled.
Kuma continued.
"So remember this moment well."
The paw-padded hand slowly rose again, aiming at Luffy's dazed form.
"You and I are both fortunate…"
"When I was at my most powerless… I met that man."
"And you—while recklessly chasing your adventure—met me."
The instant the final syllable left his lips, the massive palm descended.
Not violent.
But absolute.
It pressed against Luffy's chest with the quiet inevitability of a law of nature.
"You…"
Luffy seemed to sense the end approaching. In his unfocused eyes, a final thread of unwillingness and agony gathered. He reached out weakly, trying to grasp something—anything.
"…are not qualified."
"Pop."
A crisp sound.
The cruel "lesson" ended.
Luffy's body vanished from the battlefield, along with the frozen expression of despair and defiance on his face.
The wind swept across the devastated plain.
The battlefield fell silent.
Only Kuma remained standing.
The Straw Hat crew—
Completely scattered.
...
The moment Luffy disappeared, Rayleigh caught it from the corner of his eye.
His relentless assault paused for a fraction of a second. After another sharp collision with Enel, he borrowed the recoil to leap back lightly, creating several meters of distance.
"Clink."
With a clear metallic chime, his Western blade slid precisely back into its sheath.
He looked toward where Luffy had vanished and shook his head faintly.
He had already acknowledged Kuma's decision.
The boy upon whom Red-Hair had placed such hope… in Rayleigh's view, still required tempering.
With that mentality and that strength, charging into that sea would only mean death.
The "lesson" was complete.
There was no reason to continue entangling himself with Gern Reginald Sigmar's troublesome subordinates.
If they kept fighting, all that would happen was further destruction of the Sabaody Archipelago.
Meaningless.
Rayleigh's sheathing motion was decisive. The Haki around him dispersed.
A clear declaration of ceasefire.
Almost equivalent to turning his back and walking away.
...
At the edge of the battlefield—
Trafalgar D. Water Law had been lying still, enduring his injuries and suppressing his presence.
He had witnessed everything.
The complete annihilation of the Straw Hat crew.
Especially Luffy's collapse to his knees before vanishing—
That image sank heavily into his chest.
"Is that it…? Straw Hat and his crew… finished?"
For a fleeting moment, a chill of shared fate crept through him.
But sentiment was a luxury.
Taking advantage of Rayleigh's withdrawal, Law clenched his teeth, pressed a hand to his chest wound, and used Kikoku to prop himself up.
"Now. While that long-eared lunatic's attention is still on Rayleigh… quietly…"
His heel barely left the ground—
A teasing voice whispered almost directly behind his ear.
"What? Your name Monky D. too? Or maybe your grandpa's Garp?"
"!!!"
Law's body froze instantly.
He could feel it—
The suffocating presence at his back.
The undisguised malice.
"How…? Shouldn't he still be fighting Rayleigh for five hundred more rounds? How could he…"
He turned sharply.
Enel's face filled his vision, twisted in a cruel grin. The golden staff rested across his shoulder, glinting faintly.
And Rayleigh?
Gone.
"Eh?!"
"You—! Where the hell is Rayleigh?! Where's the Dark King?!"
Law's heart nearly collapsed in outrage and disbelief.
"So what, I'm not a Supernova? Not part of the Worst Generation?! I'm a sprout of the new era too, damn it!"
Enel's eyes grew impatient.
Dangerous lightning gathered once more in his pupils.
Law's heart sank.
The agony from the earlier Thunder Burst seemed to surge through his body again, reminding him of the overwhelming gap between himself and this so-called god.
Against absolute speed and power—
Escape was laughable.
God had not forgotten him.
"Tsk tsk tsk… 'Surgeon of Death' Trafalgar Law. Two hundred million Beli. Not bad, pirate."
Enel's amused tone tightened Law's nerves to the breaking point.
"I can't just wait to die!"
Driven purely by will, Law thrust out his left hand before Enel finished speaking.
A pale blue spherical space compressed to its limit—
Then exploded outward.
"ROOM!"
"Shambles!"
"Swish!"
In an instant, his body swapped places with a charred clod of earth several meters away.
It was the fastest reaction he could manage in his wounded state—creating a sliver of distance that might mean survival.
Unfortunately—
Enel didn't even move.
Before the all-seeing perception of his Mantra, every action was transparent.
The very instant Law materialized—
Enel's right arm had already lifted.
Palm aimed precisely.
"Judgment of God."
A beam of lightning tore through the air at a speed beyond sight, blasting straight toward Law, who hadn't even regained his footing.
At that razor-thin moment—
"Flying Slash!!"
A cold shout descended from the sky.
A crescent-shaped, pale-gold flying slash plummeted down at astonishing speed, striking the lightning beam dead center.
"SHHH—BOOM!!!"
Slash and lightning collided.
No explosion.
Instead—
The golden slash cleaved the raging beam cleanly in half.
The split lightning veered wildly to either side, carving two scorched trenches into the earth—
Perfectly bypassing Law at the center.
The violent energy forced him to squeeze his eyes shut, bracing for death.
But no pain came.
Instead—
Two powerful arms caught him firmly—
In a princess carry—
And soared upward.
"…Saved?"
"Is it the Dark King? So I really am a sprout of the new era after all?"
Dazed from survival, Law opened his eyes.
It wasn't Rayleigh.
It was a wild, arrogant grin—
And a mane-like crest of hair unmistakable to anyone who knew the legends.
"Gol—Golden Lion?!"
Shiki.
Law's mind went blank.
He couldn't comprehend why a legendary pirate who had vanished for over a decade would appear here—
And rescue him in such an… embarrassingly intimate manner.
Shiki looked down at the stunned Law in his arms and bared his teeth in a grin that, to Law, felt disturbingly overfamiliar.
"Hehehe! Kid, you're my treasure. Can't let you get so much as a scratch!"
That single scene made Rayleigh—who hadn't yet walked far—stop in his tracks.
He turned, gaze heavy.
"Shiki… why is that troublesome bastard here?"
Not far away, Borsalino—who had been casually trimming his fingernails—paused mid-clip, lips pursing.
"Yare~ yare~ how scary… even the legendary 'Flying Pirate' shows up, huh… This is getting troublesome~"
Yet just as everyone's attention shifted to the sudden appearance of the Golden Lion—
A calm, familiar voice reached every ear on the battlefield.
And every expression froze once more.
"Shiki."
The voice came from not far away.
A tall figure stood there—
Or perhaps had always been standing there.
With a faint smile, Gern Reginald Sigmar stepped forward slowly, his gaze sweeping across the sky and the gathered figures below.
"I told you," he said lazily, amusement flickering in his eyes, "you walk behind me."
"Otherwise people might start thinking you're the boss."