After а mоmеnt, Rоgеr looked аwаy, as сalm as if hе hаd just grееtеd аn old friend. Нe turnеd his heаd аnd cоntinued dоwn thе pаth that was his аlonе.
Аs Rogеr аsсendеd thе еxeсutiоn plаtfоrm аnd sаt сross-leggеd, а pоwеrful presence wаshеd ovеr thе еntirе squarе. Не was likе а сasual king, рrераring tо have a chat with his subjeсts.
Just thеn, somеоne in the crowd bеlow уеllеd in a neаr-hуstеriсаl rоar.
"Рirate Кing! Whеrе did yоu hide аll уоur treаsure?! Yоu found it, didn't yоu?! That lеgendary grеаt treаsure!!! Оnе Рieсe!!!"
Silence…
No one had expected someone to loudly question Roger about the location of One Piece. But gradually, the hearts of everyone present began to burn, their gazes fixed hotly on Roger.
A knot of panic tightened in Sengoku's chest. He hurriedly shouted into the Transponder Snail in his hand.
"Execute him now!!"
The blades beside Roger rose, but he simply threw his head back and laughed.
"Hahahahahahahaha! My treasure, you ask?"
"If you want it, you can have it all."
"Go find it! I left everything I own in that place!!"
Accompanied by the sound of blades sinking into flesh, that wild, untamed smile was frozen in place for eternity.
The square erupted in a heaven-shaking roar, as if celebrating the dawn of a brand-new era.
The faces of Sengoku, Garp, Zephyr, and the other Marines turned utterly grim. That damn bastard, with his dying words, had just kicked off an age of chaos!!
Garp growled through gritted teeth, "So this is why you chose to turn yourself in, Roger? You bastard!!"
Uchiha Madara also watched the fall of that king with a complicated expression. Gion, who was perched on Madara's neck, was completely stunned.
Though Gion was still young, it didn't stop her from being deeply captivated by the sheer presence of the man on the execution platform.
Uchiha Madara noticed the shift in the little brat's aura on his neck, which seemed to be trending toward hero worship. He immediately unleashed his own presence, shattering Gion's trance and forcibly dragging her back to reality.
"The end of an era is worth savoring, but don't lose your ability to think, brat!"
Gion snapped back to her senses, her heart pounding with dread.
'So this… is the spirit of the Pirate King?'
Then, thinking about how Madara had interrupted her awe with his own aura, she pouted.
"You stupid master. You have no sense of occasion."
Uchiha Madara was rendered speechless. He snatched Gion off his neck, placed her on the ground, and turned to leave. A little slip of a girl talking about a sense of occasion? If he didn't put his foot down now, she'd probably steal a ship and set sail herself.
After Madara left, Garp and Zephyr also departed, each wearing a dark, gloomy expression. Gion's little brain couldn't figure out why the mood had suddenly become so somber. The Pirate King had been executed, hadn't he?
That afternoon, the cleanup work was not something for Vice Admirals and Admirals like Garp, Sengoku, and Zephyr to handle. The group boarded a warship and began the journey back to Marineford.
The atmosphere on the way was oppressively silent. Except, that is, for Uchiha Madara and the little brat, Gion. Madara couldn't care less. A ruthless man who had fought his way from the Warring States Period to bring peace to the ninja world. Was he supposed to be afraid of a chaotic era? Afraid of people dying? For some, their very existence is the era!
Gion, on the other hand, was still full of her childish notions of filial piety. Her mind was occupied with either fatherly love and filial devotion or the Will of Fire. Whether the era descended into chaos was not a problem a little kid like her needed to worry about.
Madara was clearly somewhat interested in the sea. He had fought wars his entire life, but the number of naval battles he'd been in could be counted on one hand. Fighting in those little ponds was nothing like the vastness of this place. Madara had been quite excited these past few days. Life drifting on the sea was incredibly boring; he was looking forward to the appearance of an enemy.
"Admiral Sengoku, pirate ship spotted ahead!"
Sengoku glanced at the listless crew on deck, then called into the ship's cabin.
"Madara, we've got enemies. Three million berry, dead or alive."
With a loud bang, Uchiha Madara burst through the door and gave a cold nod.
"Fine."
He casually tossed aside the doorknob in his hand, leaped from the warship, and sprinted across the surface of the water toward the enemy vessel.
"Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Jutsu!"
He reached the pirate ship in the blink of an eye. His hands formed a flurry of seals, and he spewed a massive fire dragon at the ship. He then leaped high into the air, descending like a meteor toward its deck.
The fire dragon slammed into the ship's side, causing a violent explosion that made the vessel lurch. Madara then crashed down hard onto the deck, the immense shockwave blasting nearly half the enemy crew overboard.
A man with a thick beard, who appeared to be the ship's captain, pointed a finger at Uchiha Madara.
"I am the great—"
Before he could finish his sentence, with a sickening crunch, the initial form of Susanoo materialized and crushed his skull. He became a headless corpse, blood spraying everywhere. The crewman next to the unlucky captain was impaled by a flying piece of his skull.
Uchiha Madara leaped onto the ship's bow and surveyed the scene. He found that this small band of pirates had already lost their nerve, which was a bit of a letdown for the pent-up Madara. A three-million-berry pirate, and this was all the mettle he had?
"Wood Release: Tree Bind Flourishing Burial."
Giant roots sprouted from the ship's hull, wrapping around the entire vessel like a swarm of massive serpents. With a final, crushing squeeze, the pirate ship burst like an overripe orange, its juices spilling everywhere as it slowly sank beneath the waves.
Madara then looked back at Garp, who was eating senbei on the warship. A ripple appeared in his eye, and in an instant, he was standing next to Garp. Where he had been standing a moment before, a half-eaten bag of senbei fell slowly to the deck.
Amenotejikara. That little brat Sasuke's jutsu. The principle is quite simple, but it's surprisingly useful.
Ignoring the jaw-dropped Marines on the ship, Madara pondered ways to improve the technique as he returned to his cabin, leaving a drowsy-eyed Garp to search the deck for his missing half-bag of senbei.
Garp snatched Sengoku's donut and stuffed it in his mouth, mumbling, "You seen my senbei?"
Sengoku shot a look at Garp, who was playing dumb, and rolled his eyes.
"Stop playing dumb. If you have the energy to steal my food, why won't you be Madara's sparring partner when he asks?"
Garp scratched his head. "His hand-to-hand combat is average, but his abilities are just too weird. Fighting him is just constant defending while he throws you around. It's not fun."
Uchiha Madara entered the cabin but didn't go to his own room. He walked straight to Zephyr's and knocked on the door.
"Mr. Madara, is there something I can help you with?"
Zephyr was one of the more polite ones, which was why Madara always thought to seek him out with questions. Sengoku was busy as hell, and that old bastard Garp spent his days either spreading rumors or making snide remarks.
"I wish to understand this so-called Haki."
Zephyr was taken aback for a second, then smiled and agreed.
"Haki, is it? I saw you use your Conqueror's Haki quite well. I'm surprised you don't know about it. No problem, I'll give you my notes on Haki in a bit."
Madara nodded. Zephyr was reliable. Over the past few days at sea, Zephyr had patiently answered every one of the bizarre questions Madara had thrown at him.
"That was not what you call Conqueror's Haki. It was merely a way of applying my presence combined with Chakra."
Zephyr was also extremely curious about Madara's fighting style. He wasn't a Devil Fruit User, yet he possessed all sorts of strange and wondrous abilities that covered an incredibly wide range, making him seem almost omnipotent. Madara had tried to teach him how to extract Chakra, but he couldn't even sense it, let alone cultivate it.
Madara offered no further explanation. He took the notes from Zephyr and returned to his room.
Originally, Madara had planned to just casually learn about Haki after they reached Marine Headquarters. But he couldn't help it. The little brat pestered him about it every single day. If he didn't tell her, she would just stare at him with those pitiful eyes. Of course, Madara could have completely ignored the brat's feelings.
But he couldn't stand the fact that as soon as the little brat left his sight feeling wronged, that old fool Garp would start spreading rumors all over the place, calling him a bastard who wouldn't even take care of his own daughter.
So, he decided to learn a little, just enough to shut the little brat's mouth. And also, the little brat was not his disciple, nor was she his daughter!!
To be continued...