The explosion hit almost the instant the Ancient Weapon fired.
High in the sky, Kaido's pupils shrank as the colossal weapon flared with blinding white light. A roaring shockwave and searing heat slammed into him, swallowing his massive frame.
Even the Three Emperors Alliance, who had already pulled a fair distance away from Egghead Island, was caught in it. On their twenty-nine warships, everyone was temporarily blinded by the intense white flash. A thunderous roar followed, numbing their ears, and then a violent shockwave storm crashed into the fleet, flipping twenty-eight of the warships in an instant.
The only ship that remained upright was the one carrying the Ancient Robot, Emit.
At the bow of that ship, Emit—who had just claimed he was out of energy and about to enter hibernation—now stood with his arms spread wide. A powerful energy shield, identical to the Ancient Weapon's, unfolded from the bow of the ship, intercepting the brunt of the shockwave.
Even so, the raging storm and towering waves drove the remaining warship back several dozen kilometers.
The blast from the Ancient Weapon engulfed all of Egghead Island. Under the ultra-high-temperature flames, parts of the island's buildings—and even some of its lifeforms—were instantly sublimated, vanishing without a trace.
A few minutes later, Ace finally managed to force his eyes open. His vision cleared—and his pupils tightened at the sight.
A towering mushroom cloud rose into the sky. All of Egghead Island was ablaze, and what burned at its heart appeared to be the shattered remains of the Ancient Weapon.
"What… what is going on?!" Ace stared, stunned. The scene before him was beyond words. The sea hissed and fumed, sending up steam like boiling water. The more than twenty warships that had been beside him were gone. No—"gone" wasn't quite right. Scattered fragments of ships still bobbed faintly on the surface.
And there, at the bow of his own ship, stood the giant robot. Ace dimly remembered that, at the last moment, this robot had raised some kind of barrier and blocked the worst of the blast.
One by one, the pirates aboard the surviving warship began to regain consciousness. Yamato, still dazed, stared wide-eyed at the devastation.
"What on earth is going on?!"
"Yamato, are you alright?!" Ace, seeing her wake, immediately stepped forward, worry clear in his voice.
Yamato gave a stiff nod, her eyes locked on the towering mushroom cloud clawing its way into the sky. That level of destruction… it was terrifying. She had never seen power like this before.
"Where are the others?! How is everyone?!" Yamato shouted, voice cracking with urgency.
Ace's expression was heavy with grief. Out of the twenty-nine warships that had set out, only their own remained—and even that was only because of Emit's protection. Every other ship had been wiped out by that last impact, and the people on them were now nowhere to be seen.
Emit sat down heavily, the red light in his eyes flickering weakly, like a lantern about to go out.
"Emit, are you alright?!" Ace rushed to his side at once, worry written all over his face.
The glow in Emit's eyes stuttered, and his mechanical voice broke up as he spoke. "En... ergy... has been... completely... depleted..."
"Did you save us? Thank you, Emit," Yamato said, her voice full of gratitude and emotion.
Then, unable to hold back her curiosity, she added, "But didn't you take out the energy stone before? How did you still have enough energy to protect us?!"
"This… is backup… energy," Emit explained haltingly. "The energy… of the energy stone… was used up… eight… hundred years ago..."
"Please… Marco… help me… find new… energy…"
With those final words, Emit's remaining power ran out. The faint red light in his eyes went dark, and he slumped onto the deck of the warship, completely motionless.
"Emit…!" Yamato cried out, but this time there was no response. It was clear that his energy was truly gone.
Ace placed a steadying hand on her shoulder. "It's alright, Yamato. Emit is just out of energy. As long as we find Dr. Vegapunk, he'll definitely have a way to restore Emit's power."
Buoyed by Ace's words, Yamato managed to pull herself together.
At that moment, Jozu, Vista, and the others approached, their faces grave.
"Did the Ancient Weapon self-destruct?" someone asked quietly. "Then Marco, he..."
"Marco definitely won't die," Jozu said firmly. "He's the Phoenix."
Ace's gaze swept over the empty, churning sea. "It looks like, besides us on this ship, all the other warships were overturned by that earlier shockwave and tsunami. I don't know how they're doing now."
"Jinbe and Namur have already gone into the sea to search," Jozu replied seriously. "And the Beasts Pirates and the Big Mom Pirates have Fishmen too. They should… be alright… right?!"
Jozu himself wasn't certain as he spoke. The earlier blast had been too intense—white light had seared their vision, the roar had deafened them, and the shockwave left their heads spinning. In a state like that, if anyone had really been blown into the sea, even non–Devil Fruit users would have had little chance of surviving… and most of them were Devil Fruit users.
Just then, a black dragon plummeted from the sky. Ace and the others jolted in alarm but quickly recognized the figure.
"Don't panic; it's Kaido," Ace said.
A moment later, Kaido crashed down onto one of the warships, his massive form shrinking back into his human body. But the Kaido who landed before them was in a wretched state. Nearly ninety percent of his body was scorched, his hair and beard burned clean off, his entire figure charred pitch-black.
Yamato took one look at him and immediately burst out laughing. "Hahaha! You old geezer, you look pathetic!"
Kaido was panting heavily, every breath ragged. "Shut up… Yamato…" he growled between gasps.
He had been far too close to the Ancient Weapon when it detonated. There had been no time to escape; the explosion had swallowed him whole. Only sheer willpower had kept him conscious and out of the sea.
Yamato folded her arms, still gloating. "Hahaha! So you do have days like this! Kaido, you're always bragging you're the strongest creature on land, sea, and air, and look at you now—beaten this badly."
"Yamato, you—" Kaido's temper flared at her words, but before he could snap back, a violent surge of blood rushed through his chest.
"Cough—! Cough, cough—!"
A thick mouthful of fresh blood sprayed from his lips. Kaido's knees buckled, and he dropped to the deck, struggling to breathe. His chest heaved, his lungs refused to draw air, his eyes rolled back—and he collapsed unconscious on the spot.
"Hey—! You stinky old man…!" Yamato shouted, shocked. She might despise many of the things he'd done, but he was still her father. After marrying Ace and putting some distance between herself and Kaido, a lot of her hatred had faded. Seeing him suddenly faint like that rattled her far more than she expected.
Ace and the others rushed to Kaido's side, worry written across their faces. After a quick check, they realized he had only passed out and wasn't dead, and everyone let out a breath of relief. Ace immediately barked, "Hurry up, treat him right now!"
"Alright." Jozu immediately moved off to dig out the first-aid kit. He didn't know much about medicine, but he could at least handle some basic bandaging. Anything more would have to wait for a real ship's doctor.
Vista's expression was unusually grave. "I wonder how Marco is doing now… and what about the others?"
Ace fell silent for a moment, then answered with firm conviction, "Marco will definitely be fine."
The moment the words left his mouth, Yamato suddenly pointed to the sky and shouted, "Ace, look! That's Marco…!"
At Yamato's shout, everyone on the ship who could still move lifted their heads. High above them, a great bird of black flame was flying toward the ship.
As it drew closer, they could finally make out Marco's figure within the flames—but his condition was miserable. Half of his body was gone, and the jet-black fire of his phoenix form was desperately knitting his shattered form back together.
"Marco…!"
"I knew you'd be fine!" Ace and Jozu shouted, excitement and relief breaking through at the sight of him.
Marco was panting heavily. When he landed on the deck, his right arm and right leg were still missing; he could only balance awkwardly on one leg. The moment his foot touched down, his strength failed him, and he dropped to one knee.
"Marco…!" Ace and the others moved on instinct to help him, but the black flames clinging to his body were thick and vicious. One touch would tear their skin off. Gritting their teeth, they hesitated, not daring to lay a hand on him.
"Marco, are you alright?!" Jozu demanded, unable to hide his worry.
"Mm…" Marco managed a weak sound in response.
He had been at the very center of the blast. The first shockwave alone had almost finished him. In that instant, with no time to think, Marco had dumped all 42,000 of his saved attribute points straight into defense and stamina.
He'd originally planned to wait until he had 50,000 points before upgrading his Devil Fruit, but the situation had forced his hand.
Of those 42,000 points, he'd put 20,000 into defense and 22,000 into stamina.
Now, his defense had climbed to 43,800, and his stamina had reached 47,100.
In a life-or-death moment like that, Marco hadn't dared to hold anything back. As long as he stayed alive, he could always earn more points.
Little by little, under the continuous regeneration of the black flames, his missing right arm and right leg finally reformed. The process was agonizingly slow; during the explosion, those limbs had been blown off over and over again, making each bit of recovery that much harder.
Marco's stamina was completely spent after so many battles and that last massive explosion. He looked at Ace, eyes dim with fatigue, and forced a faint smile.
"Ace, I'll leave the rest to you. I'm afraid I need to rest for a while."
As soon as he finished speaking, Marco slumped back against the stairs and collapsed.
"Marco…!" Ace called out, alarmed.
Jozu rushed over at once, expression tense. "Marco must be completely worn out. That's why he passed out. I'll take him to a room so he can rest properly."
He carefully lifted Marco and carried him into the ship's cabin.
Vista's expression had grown grim. Their losses this time were truly severe. Of the Three Emperors Alliance, two of the three Captains were severely injured and unconscious, and the third's condition was still unknown. They had no idea how many fighters the Big Mom Pirates and Beasts Pirates had brought to Egghead Island, but the Phoenix Pirates had come with a full twenty thousand people—and the casualties were staggering.
"Ace," Vista said at once, "we need to get out of these waters as soon as possible! If the Gorosei or the Marines show up now, we won't be able to stand against them in this state."
His gaze sank, voice heavy, as he added, "We lost this war."
He simply couldn't bring himself to call this a victory. Even though they had achieved their ultimate objective—protecting Vegapunk—the price was far too high. Out of twenty thousand Phoenix Pirates, only a few hundred were currently aboard these warships. The fate of the others was unknown.
Even if Jinbe and Namur managed to save some of them, most of their comrades would likely never return. There was no question: even though Vegapunk was safe, the Phoenix Pirates were the losers in this battle—a crushing, devastating defeat.
Ace remained silent. The scale of their losses weighed heavily on him. The World Government and the Marines had also paid dearly, but compared to them, the Phoenix Pirates had suffered far more…
—
Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, in the Holy Land, Mary Geoise is inside the Flower Room—
Imu's face was dark with fury. The World Government's treasure, Uranus, had been destroyed. That loss far outweighed even the death of a Gorosei or a few members of the God's Knights.
He didn't care how many people died.
The Marines had lost over twenty thousand of their thirty thousand troops, and he felt nothing. There were always more insects to throw at the enemy.
The deaths of the God's Knights didn't move him either. There were plenty of Celestial Dragons. With time, it wasn't difficult to find a powerful Devil Fruit, train a replacement, and raise a new batch of elites.
Even the death of Saint Mars, who had followed him faithfully for centuries, only stirred a faint ache in his chest. It was unpleasant, but not unbearable. He could simply choose someone strong enough from among the God's Knights and turn them into a new Gorosei.
But the destruction of Uranus—that wound cut deep.
That weapon had been his greatest source of power.
For hundreds of years, not even Joy Boy had ever inflicted such a loss on him. Without question, for Imu, this war was a crushing defeat—an unprecedented humiliation.
"Damn Marco, Mu will kill you."
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