Hot drops of blood fell steadily to the war‑torn ground. Whitebeard's massive body trembled as he coughed and sank onto one knee, face pale and bearing a deathly gray cast. His chest and back were ravaged with wounds deep enough to expose bone, and his internal organs were grievously injured.
Even so, this blood‑soaked figure remained tall and regal, though the years of relentless combat had taken their toll. From the very beginning of this war until now, he had stood against the four Marine Admirals — and even slain Admiral Fleet Commander Kong in an earlier conflict — enduring battles of unmatched ferocity and danger.
No one in the world could doubt that Whitebeard, hailed as the strongest man alive, was worthy of such a title.
"Pops!"
Across the battlefield Marco, Jozu, Vista, and the other Whitebeard Pirates stared at their captain with tears in their eyes. Whitebeard knelt, bloodied and broken, and their cries shook the devastated landscape.
Ace was already gone, and if Whitebeard were to fall here as well, the Whitebeard Pirates might truly be wiped from existence.
"Gurara."
Whitebeard suddenly burst into laughter that rumbled like thunder, and despite the pain and exhaustion, he rose with astonishing will. The sheer force of his resolve stirred winds, clouds, lightning, and thunder across the battlefield. It was as though a hero stood at his twilight, delivering his final curtain call.
Cold, determined eyes fixed upon the scattered Marines. He saw Kizaru and Silver Dragon who had staggered from the ruins, Akainu still locked with Luffy, and Aokiji, battered but fighting Jozu. A murderous intent surged from Whitebeard that made the hair on all four of their heads rise in alarm.
"Swish!"
In an instant, Whitebeard vanished from his position. His battered body blazed with crimson energy, and before any of the Marines could react, he reappeared right beside Kizaru — the closest Admiral. With unstoppable force his right fist encased in a blood‑stained white pressure dome slammed down toward Kizaru's head.
A sudden aura of death rushed toward the Admiral. Kizaru, face smeared with blood, brought his Ama no Murakumo sword up with both hands to block. The collision was like an earthquake in motion, powerful enough to cave in Kizaru's chest. The Ama no Murakumo shattered into a rain of light, and the next instant, Kizaru's body slammed into the ground, blood spewing from all seven orifices before he vanished from sight within the broken battlefield.
Crack.
A bolt of lightning pierced Whitebeard's heart without warning. At the same moment Silver Dragon leapt into the fray, eyes ferocious, his massive Fangtian Halberd swinging at Whitebeard's neck.
Blood and flesh flew. Whitebeard did not flinch. With veins bulging, he seized the Fangtian Halberd with his right hand bundled in Armament Haki and raised it high.
"Five Hundred Million Volts."
Thunderous energy crackled and surged along the halberd, enough to obliterate nearly anything in its path, causing Whitebeard's body to smell of cooked meat. Yet at that moment Whitebeard's right fist also drove downward with immense force.
"Shinra Tensei!"
An immense repulsive force rippled outward, causing Whitebeard's attack to miss. His upper body spouted blood and pitched backward. At the same time, a jagged roadway of fractured earth appeared beside him.
Still, he did not yield.
Puff.
As if propelled by sheer will, Whitebeard's knee shot upward with brutal force, smashing through the lingering repulsion and ramming into Silver Dragon's chin. Bloody fragments and shattered teeth rained down as Silver Dragon's eyes rolled back. His body rocketed skyward, jaw shattered and life fading.
Even so, Silver Dragon fought on. With electricity coiling between his fingers, he formed an electromagnetic cannon and fired it straight into Whitebeard's chest. The beam pierced through his massive torso, and yet Whitebeard endured.
Both warriors — brutal, unyielding — clashed without restraint.
Whitebeard grabbed the air before him with both hands and pulled downward, tearing the sky as if it were cloth. Silver Dragon, propelled away like a comet, slammed into the ground with colossal force. The earth within tens of thousands of meters warped upward as though a continent were disintegrating.
Below, magma boiled within the bottomless chasms, spewing lava like volcanic pillars. The entire scene resembled the end of the world.
With Kizaru and Silver Dragon vanquished into the abyss, Whitebeard turned his battered gaze toward Aokiji, whose fight with Jozu raged on.
"Be careful, Whitebeard is pushing for mutual annihilation!" Sengoku shouted, shock etched deep into his expression. It was clear to every observer that Whitebeard was fighting with no thought of survival. He intended to drag down every Marine Admiral with him before perishing. Even if he could not kill them, he would cripple them. His sacrifice would greatly relieve pressure on the Whitebeard Pirates and the Revolutionary Army. If the Marines suddenly lost four of their top combatants, no one needed to guess what would follow.
Whitebeard was forging a path of opportunity from his own demise.
"Pheasant Beak."
Aokiji, chilled from head to toe, bore his wounds boldly. The ice elemental powers he wielded were still ferocious, his body half‑formed but fighting with unwavering resolve.
The air fractured as he transformed into ice crystals that scattered in all directions. Aokiji shifted out of harm's way instinctively. Mountains of fractured earth rose on both sides. Whitebeard, moving with shocking speed for a man so wounded, threw a punch into the air toward Aokiji's position.
Aokiji, unable to reform fully in time, opened his mouth and spewed blood as his body was torn apart by the impact. Whitebeard's Armament Haki fused with the devastating quake of the Tremor‑Tremor Fruit, enabling him to damage even elemental Logia users. That terrifying combination was part of what made him the strongest of Yonko.
Aokiji reformed again, though the danger remained, growing even more severe.
Whitebeard materialized beside him, a massive silhouette that blocked the light, right hand seeming to hold a blazing white sun of power.
"Two‑Spiked Spear!"
Aokiji, face bloodied and contorted with pain, summoned four ice spears that shot toward Whitebeard.
The ice spears pierced Whitebeard's torn chest, freezing parts of him with their chill.
At the same time, Whitebeard's right fist thundered downward. The air ruptured and twisted as Aokiji's bloodied body contorted and vanished with the collapsing ground.
The earth's crust rippled upward in all directions. Whitebeard sank to one knee once more. The icy spears embedded in him had paradoxically slowed his bleeding from the wounds dealt by Kizaru and Silver Dragon.
With every effort he made, his towering body tried to rise again but failed.
"Pops!" Marco and the Whitebeard Pirates cried in tears, and viewers around the world watching via broadcast fell utterly silent.
This man was truly worthy of admiration.
"Gurara… gurarara…"
Whitebeard coughed up blood again, laughing with serene acceptance of fate. His wounded frame swayed but he stood up, eyes clear with a sense of solemn finality. He fixed his gaze on Akainu, who was locked in battle with Luffy and still clashing relentlessly.
Whitebeard took a step, then another. Bloodied footsteps marked each advance — five in total — and then he stopped, chest heaving.
His body could no longer carry him further.
"Pops! Pops!" Marco and the others wept openly. Veteran fighters like Rayleigh and Jabura watched with respect in their eyes.
On every battlefield, the strongest fighters bowed their heads.
Whitebeard's mutual annihilation tactics had wiped out three of the four Marine Admirals. Silver Dragon, Kizaru, and Aokiji were all out of the fight — whether truly dead or merely incapacitated, their combat effectiveness was gone.
Akainu remained, still struggling but clearly weakened. It was only a matter of time before he, too, succumbed to defeat or death at the hands of a relentless Luffy.
Similarly, Garp had turned against the Marines, further tipping the balance.
But even as the worst seemed past, an ominous laugh echoed.
"Zehahaha…"
From the distant ruins, Blackbeard appeared with Lafitte and the original members of the Blackbeard Pirates. Katakuri, Crocodile, Magellan, and others were not present in that moment.
If one looked closely, Lafitte held a book in his hand.
Seeing Whitebeard barely standing with only the faintest breath left, Blackbeard laughed even more heartily, a celebration of twisted triumph on a battlefield drenched in blood and legend.