The silence that followed was absolute.
On the execution platform, smoke rose from Ace's cooling corpse while Luffy knelt motionless beside his brother's body. Below in the plaza, Whitebeard's massive form lay sprawled across the cracked stone, the World's Strongest Man finally at rest.
Sengoku stood atop the mutilated Emperor, his golden Buddha form slowly shrinking back to human size. Blood dripped from his hands, but his expression remained impassive as he surveyed the battlefield. Victory had come at a terrible cost, but it had come nonetheless.
The Fleet Admiral raised his voice, the words carrying across the silent battlefield with the weight of divine proclamation.
"WHITEBEARD IS DEAD!"
The announcement hit the remaining combatants like a physical blow. Marines who had been cowering in terror began to raise their heads, hardly daring to believe. Pirates who had followed Whitebeard across the Grand Line felt something fundamental break inside their chests.
"FIRE FIST ACE IS DEAD!"
Sengoku's second declaration sealed the fate of the war. On the platform above, Akainu stood over the brothers like a victorious executioner, magma still dripping from his fists.
Luffy's body finally gave out. The trauma, the grief, the physical injuries, all of it crashed down on him at once. His hand slipped from Ace's cheek as consciousness fled, his body crumpling beside his brother's corpse.
"The bloodline of the Pirate King has been severed," Sengoku continued, his voice carrying to every corner of Marineford. "The strongest pirate of this era lies broken. This is the price of defying justice. This is what happens to those who would challenge the World Government's authority."
**************************************
The reaction was immediate and devastating.
Marco was the first to scream.
Shackled with seastone and under constant watch by Admiral Kizaru, could only stare in helpless fury at his fallen captain. The Phoenix's flames had been suppressed for hours, leaving him as vulnerable as any other man.
"POPS!" The cry tore from his throat as he crashed into the plaza, his body refusing to regenerate. "ACE!"
Around him, the remaining Whitebeard Pirates began to collapse. Some fell to their knees, others simply stopped fighting entirely, letting Marine weapons find their marks. The loss of their captain and their brother had shattered something essential in their spirits.
Around the battlefield, the remaining Whitebeard Pirates began to collapse. Jozu fell to his knees, his diamond form flickering as despair consumed him. The coordinated retreat that had been their only hope dissolved into chaos.
The coordinated retreat that Marco had been orchestrating dissolved into chaos. Pirates ran in all directions, some fleeing toward the bay, others charging blindly at the Marines in suicidal rage. Their formation, their discipline, their hope, all of it crumbled in the face of absolute loss.
On the Marine side, the reaction was jubilation mixed with disbelief.
"We did it," a young Marine whispered, his rifle shaking in his hands. "We actually did it."
"Whitebeard is dead!" another shouted, his voice cracking with emotion. "The nightmare is over!"
Across the battlefield, Marines began to cheer. Some wept with relief, others raised their weapons in triumph. They had faced the strongest pirate crew in the world and emerged victorious.
Vice Admiral Doberman wiped blood from his sword with grim satisfaction. "Signal all units. Begin the final sweep. No pirates leave this island alive."
Admiral Kizaru materialized near Sengoku, his usual lazy demeanor replaced by something approaching respect. "That was... quite the spectacle, Fleet Admiral. Though I wonder if we've truly won, or simply survived."
But Sengoku's attention was elsewhere, his eyes scanning the smoke-filled horizon with practiced wariness. His victory was complete, but the war was not yet over.
**************************************
"Zehahahaha! What a show! What an absolutely magnificent show!"
Marshall D. Teach's distinctive laughter echoed across the battlefield as he emerged from the smoke at the plaza's edge.
Behind him loomed his new crew, monsters pulled from Impel Down's darkest pits. Each one a nightmare given form, a testament to the corruption that festered in the world's most secure prison.
Shiryu of the Rain stood to Teach's right, his blade casually resting across his shoulders. The former Impel Down chief guard's eyes scanned the battlefield with cold calculation, measuring each potential threat and victim with equal dispassion.
Catarina Devon preened beside him, her claws flexing with anticipation. The "Crescent Moon Hunter," most feared female pirate in history, whose beauty belied a savagery that had made her name a terror throughout the seas.
Sanjuan Wolf's titanic form rose from the water behind the ship, dwarfing even the massive vessel. "The Colossal Battleship" was a living siege weapon, his every footfall an earthquake, his breath a gale.
Vasco Shot swayed drunkenly, a massive gourd in his hands. The "Heavy Drinker" was notorious not for his alcoholism, but for the monstrous strength and bloodlust that emerged when the last drop was drained.
Laffitte stood perched on the yardarm, his wings spread wide. The "Demon Sheriff" smiled his ghastly smile, tap-dancing lightly on the wooden beam as if celebrating the carnage below.
Jesus Burgess flexed his enormous muscles, the champion's belt around his waist gleaming in the firelight. "The Champion" roared his challenge to the battlefield, his voice second only to his captain's in volume and menace.
But Teach's swagger faltered slightly when he saw Whitebeard's corpse. The old man was supposed to be weakened, dying slowly, giving Teach time to arrive and claim his power at the perfect moment. Instead, the Emperor had fallen too quickly, too definitively.
"Damn," he muttered under his breath. "The old bastard couldn't even die on schedule."
His eyes swept the battlefield, taking in the full scope of Marine victory, and settled on Sengoku's imposing figure. The Fleet Admiral stood calmly atop Whitebeard's body, but there was something in his posture that made Teach's confidence waver.
Sengoku looked like he had been expecting this moment.
"Marshall D. Teach," the Fleet Admiral called out, his voice carrying easily across the distance. "Right on time."
The words sent a chill down Teach's spine. This wasn't the reaction of a surprised commander, this was the calm of a man who had prepared for exactly this scenario.
"Zehaha... Sengoku!" Teach forced his usual bravado back into his voice. "I've come to claim what's mine! The old man's era is over, and it's time for, "
"I know exactly why you're here," Sengoku interrupted, his tone cutting through Teach's bluster like a blade. "Did you truly believe the World Government was unaware of your research? Your experiments with Devil Fruit extraction? Your obsession with the Gura Gura no Mi?"
To be honest, it was a bluff. But it was enough to unnerve Blackbeard.
Teach's crew began to shift nervously behind him. Jesus Burgess cracked his knuckles, but even he seemed unsettled by the Fleet Admiral's confidence.
"We've been monitoring your activities," Sengoku continued. "Your escape from Impel Down, your recruitment of Level Six prisoners, your inevitable arrival here, all of it has been anticipated."
The admission hit Teach like a physical blow. If Sengoku had known, if they had prepared...
"You think you can stop me?" Teach snarled, but the uncertainty was creeping into his voice. "I have the power of darkness itself! I.."
"AKAINU! AOKIJI!"
Sengoku's commanding voice echoed across the battlefield. "Deal with these criminals. Show them what happens to those who would steal the power of the dead."
The response was immediate.
Magma began to bubble up from cracks in the plaza as Admiral Akainu descended from the execution platform, his form already shifting into its most destructive state. The air around him shimmered with lethal heat.
From the opposite direction, the temperature plummeted as Admiral Aokiji approached on a path of spreading ice. Frost formed on broken stone and twisted metal, the very moisture in the air beginning to crystallize.
"Two Admirals," Doc Q wheezed from atop his skeletal horse. "Captain, perhaps we should.."
"No!" Teach roared, but sweat was beading on his forehead despite his defiance. "I didn't come this far to be stopped by Government lapdogs!"
Facing one Admiral was manageable. Facing two, with Sengoku watching and waiting, while the entire Marine force rallied around them...
"Last chance, Teach," Sengoku said, his voice carrying the weight of absolute authority. "Surrender now, and you'll live long enough to see the inside of a cell. Continue this path, and you'll join Whitebeard in death."
Teach looked at the cloth in his hands, then at the approaching Admirals, then at his crew who were beginning to show signs of doubt. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. He was supposed to arrive when both sides were exhausted, claim Whitebeard's power in the chaos, and escape before anyone could organize a response.
Instead, he found himself trapped between the World's Strongest Navy and the corpse of the man whose power he desperately needed.
The gamble of a lifetime was about to begin, and for the first time since obtaining the Yami Yami no Mi, Marshall D. Teach wasn't certain he could win.
"Zehaha..." His laugh was forced now, hollow. "Well then. Let's see what the Government's finest can do against the power of darkness."
But as Akainu's magma fists began to glow and Aokiji's ice spears formed in the air around him, Teach couldn't shake the feeling that he had walked into a trap of his own making.