For a long moment—
The frozen sea lay in utter silence.
Only the mournful wail of the wind swept across the jagged trenches and shattered ruins, tracing the scars carved into the battlefield. Pale daylight spilled over the broken expanse, illuminating the aftermath of devastation.
Then—
"Cough… cough cough…"
A suppressed, ragged cough shattered the stillness.
Red-Haired Shanks knelt on one knee upon the ice, Griffin plunged deep into the frozen ground before him, barely holding his trembling body upright.
"…You really are a monster, 'Heavenquake'…"
His voice was hoarse, strained.
"Back then… Captain Roger said… if you'd been born in his era, you could have stood shoulder to shoulder with him…"
A faint, bitter breath escaped him.
"…Seems… he wasn't wrong."
He tried to lift his head—to look toward that distant figure, equally battered, equally bloodied—but his vision swam, darkened, blurred into nothing.
He still wanted to speak.
To question.
To stop him.
To roar and charge forward one last time…
But his body betrayed him.
His throat felt clogged with burning gravel, no sound escaping.
The strength he forced into his limbs amounted to nothing more than a few pitiful steps forward—dragging himself like a broken husk—
Then—
Thud.
His knee scraped against the ice, leaving a faint trail.
The last thread of strength snapped.
"Ugh…"
A dull groan slipped from his lips.
Griffin, still embedded in the ice, tilted forward slightly.
His fingers—once gripping the hilt with unyielding resolve—loosened, one by one.
The light in his eyes dimmed rapidly.
Darkness swallowed his vision whole.
His body, held together by sheer will alone, finally collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut—crashing heavily onto the frozen surface, scattering fine shards of ice.
And then—
Stillness.
Only the faintest rise and fall of his chest remained, barely perceptible.
The Emperor still lived.
But he could no longer fight.
Not far away—
Gern Reginald Sigmar still gripped Bahuang, his posture tense, wary.
Until—
The sound of Shanks collapsing reached his ears.
Only then did the tension in his body finally loosen.
"…Ha… haah… haaah…"
He drew in deep, ragged breaths, each inhale dragging pain through every inch of his body.
The wound across his waist—torn open by Divine Departure—burned fiercely.
His back throbbed from the impact of Dragon's wind assault.
His arms trembled from the strain of relentless clashes and overexertion.
And deeper still—
The exhaustion from pushing his Devil Fruit to its limits surged through him like a rising tide, gnawing at bone and spirit alike.
One against two.
First, overwhelming Dragon—another peak-level powerhouse—and capturing him in a lightning-fast exchange.
Then, battling a near-unharmed Shanks to this extent—Shanks, who wielded Observation Killing and supreme Conqueror's Haki at its absolute peak…
Even for Gern—
A King among Kings—
This battle had exacted a price unlike anything before.
"Heh… heh heh…"
A low chuckle escaped him, tinged with fatigue—and a trace of cold self-mockery.
"The current Red Hair… taking him down without injury…"
"…was never going to be easy."
But—
He had won.
He won.
Despite the wounds.
Despite the immense cost.
A King… was still a King.
And in the end—
The one left standing on this shattered ice field…
Was still him.
Gern slowly lowered himself, sitting cross-legged upon the frozen ground.
He didn't care about the biting cold beneath him.
Leaning back, he stared up at the sky.
He needed time.
Even just a brief moment—
To steady the surging blood in his veins.
To rein in the Haki spilling uncontrollably from his body.
To let his nearly depleted stamina and will recover—if only slightly.
The cold wind brushed against his sweat-soaked hair.
He closed his eyes, focusing, regulating his breathing.
Time passed.
Little by little.
The ice field echoed with nothing but the wind.
No one knew how long it had been—
Before Gern finally opened his eyes again.
Planting his hands on his knees, he rose—slowly, with effort, but steadily.
His gaze dropped briefly to the wound at his waist.
Then shifted—toward the fallen figures of Shanks and Dragon.
A faint smile curled at the corner of his lips.
"In the end…"
he murmured quietly,
"…I came out… just slightly ahead."
Without another word—
He moved.
His left hand grasped the hilt of Bahuang, securing the black blade back at his waist. The sword seemed to sense its master's state—its low hum fading into silence.
Then—
He bent down.
His right hand still clamped around the neck of the unconscious Monkey D. Dragon.
His left reached out—grabbing the collar of Shanks' black cloak.
With a single motion—
He pulled.
Two figures who once shook the world… who could tip the balance of the seas themselves…
Were now dragged behind him like lifeless cargo.
Shanks' body scraped across the ice, producing a faint rasping sound.
Dragon hung limp, utterly motionless.
Gern stepped forward.
Toward the distant edge of the frozen sea.
Toward Wano.
Step by step.
His lone figure stood tall against the vast, pale expanse—
Solitary.
Unyielding.
Behind him—
Only two long trails etched into the ice.
At the same time—
Far beyond the towering waterfalls and steep mountain walls that sealed it from the outside world—
Wano.
The smoke of war had yet to fully dissipate.
Onigashima groaned under its own weight, cracks spreading as it teetered on the brink of collapse.
Flames raged across the fortress.
Buildings crumbled.
The once-proud banners of the Beasts Pirates fluttered in tatters under the violent winds.
The outcome of the war…
Had not fundamentally changed due to Momonosuke's death.
If anything—
The grief and fury of losing him had carved deeper into the hearts of the Scabbards.
Their sorrow—
Their rage—
Had transformed into a near-mad, relentless will to fight.
Within the palace battlefield—
The roar of Big Mom, Charlotte Linlin, had already taken on a desperate, almost deranged edge.
At the beginning—
Eustass Kid and Trafalgar Law had been completely overwhelmed.
Driven into a corner.
But now—
Everything had changed.
Their Devil Fruits—awakened.
Law's awakened ability allowed him to generate internal shockwaves within Big Mom's body itself—forcing blood from her lips.
Kid followed immediately—
Assigning magnetism directly onto her body—
And unleashing crushing electromagnetic force.
For the first time in ages—
The "Iron Balloon" felt true pain.
Not the external damage inflicted by Gern—
But something far worse—
Pain from within.
Unavoidable.
Uncontrollable.
"You two… damn brats!!!"
Big Mom roared, attempting once more to extract souls and unleash her ultimate technique.
"You won't… get the chance!"
Law growled, thrusting his blade forward.
"K-ROOM… Puncture Wille!"
An invisible, high-frequency penetrating field pierced straight through the area where her soul power gathered—interrupting her attack at its very inception.
"Now! Captain Kid!"
"Don't tell me what to do!!"
Kid's eyes burned crimson.
"Magnetic Demon—Ten Thousand Tons… Crush!!"
Every ounce of magnetism he could muster converged—
Metal debris surged like a mountain, collapsing inward from all directions—
Crushing down upon Big Mom's staggering form.
"Ikoku Sovereignty!!"
She swung Napoleon in defense—
But the power was no longer what it once had been.
Crack—!
Fractures spread across the massive blade.
In that instant—
Law shifted the battlefield, isolating her from her Homies.
And then—
"—!!"
His cursed blade Kikoku, infused with awakened penetration—
Drove in from an impossible angle—
Piercing deep into her collapsing defenses.
"AAAAAAAHHH!!!"
A shriek of agony tore from her throat.
"We're not done yet!"
Kid roared.
"Magnetism—"
"Damned Punk!!!"
All remaining power—
Combined with the opening Law had created—
Was poured into a colossal electromagnetic cannon formed in the hands of his magnetic construct.
Blinding blue-white energy ripped through the air—
"BOOOOM!!!"
The beam struck her square in the chest.
Big Mom—
Was blasted completely off the island.
Falling—
Still calling out to her Homies for help—
But Law's spatial barrier sealed her voice away.
In her final moments—
A thought surfaced.
Gol D. Roger.
Why… hadn't he revealed the truth of the One Piece before his death?
Why had he ignited this Great Age of Pirates…
Forcing her to endure the relentless challenge of these upstarts, all seeking her head?
And then—
Amid the chain reaction igniting the island's armory—
The Emperor who had ruled the New World for decades—
Let out one final, unwilling roar—
Before plunging into the magma-filled abyss deep within Onigashima.
Elsewhere—
The battles raged just as fiercely.
King the Wildfire, strongest of the Three Calamities—
Unleashed his ultimate technique—
Only to be cut down head-on by Roronoa Zoro's
"King of Hell Three-Sword Style: Dragon Damnation."
Blade and wing—
Severed together.
Defeated.
Queen the Plague—
Faced Sanji, whose body had awakened, combining Germa enhancements with Armament Haki and Diable Jambe—
Evolving into something monstrous.
"Ifrit Jambe!"
With his final attack—
"Boeuf Burst!"
Queen was blasted clear off Onigashima.
Defeated.
Jack the Drought—
Was overwhelmed by the combined might of Sulong-form Inuarashi and Nekomamushi—
Kicked out of Wano—
Falling into the sea to his death.
And at the heart of it all—
The final battlefield.
"YAMATO!!!"
Kaido's roar shook the collapsing heavens.
His body—once called the strongest creature alive—was riddled with wounds.
Before him—
Yamato stood.
His own blood—
Yet his enemy.
Alongside the Straw Hat crew.
Each of them pushing beyond their limits—
Pouring everything they had into the storm of attacks crashing down upon Kaido.
And then—
The balance shattered.
By a "sun."
At death's edge—
Amid the cries of his comrades—
A heartbeat began to echo.
In rhythm with an ancient legend.
A power unlike anything before—
Burst forth.
White steam curled like a divine mantle.
Black hair turned pure white.
A strange, elastic yet divine force enveloped his body.
Nika.
Gear Five.
"Shishishi…!"
Monkey D. Luffy grinned—
Freer than ever before.
No longer a desperate challenger—
But the very embodiment of liberation itself.
What followed—
Defied all logic.
Kaido's devastating kanabo strikes—
Were twisted, deflected, toyed with.
His blazing breath—
Was grabbed, shaped, and flung back like a toy.
Even his colossal dragon form—
Was seized like a skipping rope—
Swung and hurled at will.
"This… is… Joy Boy…"
For the first time—
Kaido's bloodstained eyes reflected something new.
Defeat.
And perhaps—
A strange sense of release.
After all—
He had once said it himself.
The one who could defeat him—
Would be Joy Boy.
In the end—
At the crumbling edge of Onigashima—
Before countless stunned witnesses—
Luffy gathered everything—
Power.
Will.
Dreams.
Into one final, enormous fist.
Grasping the sun itself—
"I want to create a world…"
His laughter rang into the sky.
"…where everyone can eat their fill!!!"
The strike—
Defied description.
Liberation incarnate—
Devoured everything.
Kaido's invincible dragon form—
Was pierced through completely.
His final roar carried defiance, shock—
And something almost like satisfaction—
As his massive body fell—
Into the magma below.
Onigashima trembled—
Letting out its final groan.
The giant skull cracked apart.
Debris rained down like a storm.
Magma light surged upward—
Bathing the battlefield in a tragic, blazing glow.
Kaido—
Defeated.
Big Mom—
Defeated.
Two Emperors—
Fallen into the depths of magma.
Their fate—
Unknown.
On this day—
The old order of the seas…
Collapsed.
Outside Onigashima—
Red-Haired Shanks and Monkey D. Dragon—
Both defeated by Gern.
Inside—
Two Emperors fell.
In a single day—
The era shifted.
Three Emperors—
Gone.