Atop the execution platform, Sengoku stood still, arms behind his back, a statue of authority amid chaos. His uniform, though torn and bloodstained from his battle with Whitebeard, had been hastily replaced with a clean coat that now billowed in the wind. The symbolism was deliberate, the Fleet Admiral, unbowed, unbroken, presenting the face of absolute justice to both his troops and the watching world.
He had resumed his base form, not because the fight was over, but because the message had been sent. The world needed to see a calm commander, not a monster. The Buddha's wrath had served its purpose in breaking Whitebeard; now the stern, implacable face of the law would oversee the execution that would end an era.
Garp sat nearby on a broken section of railing, silent, hunched, fists white-knuckled. His legendary visage was carved with new lines of pain and conflict. His eyes never left Ace's kneeling form. The Hero of the Marines had not spoken since Whitebeard's fall, had not acknowledged Sengoku's commands or the salutes of passing officers. He simply watched, a storm of emotions raging behind his weathered face.
Ace had stopped struggling hours ago. The sea-stone cuffs had drained his energy, but it was the psychological toll that had broken his resistance. He only stared forward now, watching his father's broken body gasp across the plaza, surrounded by Marines who kept a wary distance even from the fallen emperor. Occasionally, Ace's eyes would drift to the frozen bay, scanning the horizon as if hoping for a miracle, but the miracles had run out.
Sengoku raised a hand to the Den Den Mushi embedded in the platform, its eyes reflecting the Fleet Admiral's stern expression.
"Status report."
Tsuru's voice came back sharp and clear, the old woman's tactical precision undiminished by age or the chaos of battle. "Eastern flank: pacified. Akainu advancing through the last pocket of resistance. Casualties acceptable. Western flank: reinforcements scattering after Vista's group was isolated. CP reporting morale collapse in half the allied forces. Prisoner containment proceeding on schedule."
Sengoku frowned slightly, the expression barely visible beneath his mustache. "Keep the dome formation. I want containment absolute." His gaze swept across the battlefield, noting position and progress with the eye of a master strategist. "Have Momonga's forces secure the medical stations. I don't want any of Whitebeard's doctors escaping."
He turned his gaze to the frozen sea, where Aokiji's power had created an impassable barrier.
"And have Admiral Aokiji reinforce the outer barrier. I want it three meters thick minimum. I don't want a single damn ship slipping away." His voice hardened. "Every pirate who sailed under Whitebeard's flag either surrenders today or dies today. No exceptions."
In the distance, Whitebeard's massive form shifted slightly, a tremor running through his broken body. Sengoku watched, expressionless, as Marines tightened their formation around the fallen emperor.
"And prepare the execution stand," he added quietly. "We proceed in thirty minutes."
**************************************
Kuzan raised his hands again, fingers spread wide as frost gathered around his palms. He cast another sheet of ice across the shattered bay, the freezing energy rolling out like invisible waves, transforming the sea into an ever-expanding glacial field. Already, several pirate captains who had abandoned the main battle were attempting to flee toward the icebergs that marked the bay's outer edge. One shouted into a Den Den Mushi, trying to coordinate escape with allied ships waiting beyond the Marine blockade.
"Nope."
A flick of the wrist.
A glacier rose from below, the ice surging upward like a living thing, impaling the escape route and scattering the pirates like ants. Their screams were cut short as secondary ice formations encased their bodies. Within seconds, what had been a desperate group of escapees became a macabre ice sculpture, hands raised in final supplication, faces frozen in eternal terror.
Kuzan's voice was quiet, but the words were iron, carrying across the frozen wasteland he had created.
"No one leaves."
His breath hung in the air, vapor against the silence of his killing ground. He closed his eyes briefly, a flicker of something like regret passing across his features before his professional mask returned.
"Admiral's orders," he muttered to himself.
A nearby Marine captain approached cautiously, keeping a respectful distance. "Sir, we've detected movement beneath the ice, approximately two kilometers from shore. Possible submarine activity."
Kuzan nodded slowly. "Of course there is," he sighed. "They always think below the surface is safe."
He stepped forward, ice forming beneath his feet with each stride. As he walked, the temperature dropped further, the very air crystallizing around him.
"Ice Block: Partisan."
Spears of ice formed around him, hovering momentarily before plunging into the frozen bay. They penetrated deep, driving through the upper ice layer into the dark water below.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then bubbles rose. The ice cracked. Something large and metal scraped against the underside of the frozen surface.
Kuzan watched dispassionately. "Caught you."
**************************************
From the edge of the broken plaza, shrouded in smoke and the last remnants of Marco's blue flame, he came. Monkey D. Luffy.
His chest heaved. Blood streaked down his temple, cuts webbed across his torso, and his knuckles were scraped raw. Beside him, Jinbe limped forward, one arm hanging lifelessly at his side, his body a latticework of burns and deep slashes.
They had carved a brutal path, through frozen gauntlets, through shattered Marine formations, through gunfire and steel and fire. The thunder of distant Pacifista blasts echoed behind them, but their eyes were locked ahead: the scaffold.
"Almost there...! Ace...!" Luffy panted, lips cracked and dry. His legs shook, but they did not stop.
Jinbe gritted his teeth, his battered body half-shielding the rubber boy. "Keep running. Don't look back, Luffy-kun. You have to reach him."
They emerged into the plaza's inner circle, less than a hundred meters from the execution platform, when the air thickened. The heat came first, then the smell. The smell of molten stone, scorched blood, and righteous fury.
A voice rang out.
"Straw Hat Luffy. Former Warlord Jinbe. Halt."
The ground cracked.
From a fissure of searing magma, Admiral Akainu rose, steam hissing from his clenched fists. His coat, untouched by battle, fluttered like a flag of vengeance.
"You've run far enough."
Jinbe's hand shot out in front of Luffy, halting the boy. His one good arm tensed as he stepped forward. "Run," he said. "Now."
"NO!" Luffy shouted, grabbing Jinbe's shoulder. "I'm not leaving you! We fight together..!"
But Jinbe didn't wait for permission.
He launched himself forward with a roar, Fish-Man Karate channeling water from the shattered ice, hurling it as boiling vapor met frozen ground.
"Vagabond Drill!"
Akainu met the attack head-on. His fist surged forward, Magma Fist: Hellhound, exploding into a howling, molten beast. The techniques collided, steam and fire erupting like a volcano in miniature. The shockwave blew Luffy backward.
When the smoke cleared, Jinbe stood, barely, arm dripping blood, legs trembling.
Then Akainu was in front of him.
Too fast.
A molten punch sank into Jinbe's gut. The force lifted him off the ground. Bones snapped. Blood sprayed.
Luffy screamed, "JINBE!!!"
The Admiral's voice was stone.
"You protect a pirate... You betray justice."
He drove another fist through Jinbe's chest, straight through. Lava sizzled as it burst from the fish-man's back, incinerating everything it touched.
Jinbe coughed once, blood pouring from his mouth.
His eyes met Luffy's, full of pain, but also calm.
"I'm sorry… I can't… go with you…"
Akainu wrenched his fist free and let the body fall.
It landed in a heap, burning, still.
Luffy didn't move.
He couldn't.
Everything stopped, the war, the screams, the flames. The world became red. His limbs shook. His vision blurred. Something snapped.
His voice tore out of him, not a scream, but a primal howl.
"AAAAAAAKAINUUUU!!!"
Akainu turned toward him, his face as impassive as ever.
"Good. Now you understand."