Half a month later.
Marineford, Crescent Moon Bay Plaza.
The sea breeze howled across the stone, yet it could not disperse the heavy atmosphere that had solidified to the extreme with a mixture of suffocating oppression and wild fanaticism. A massive white phalanx of a hundred thousand elite Marines stood in perfect formation, looking like a silent, unyielding forest of steel.
Every single person's gaze was locked onto the G-5 warship as it slowly docked at the bustling port. On both sides of the long red carpet, a galaxy of high-ranking officers had gathered. The Vice Admirals of Marineford, who were usually elusive and busy across the world, all stood at attention with solemn expressions, without a single wrinkle visible on their crisp uniforms.
Gulp...
A young Major's Adam's apple bobbed nervously, his voice barely audible even to those standing right next to him.
"This lineup... it is even more exaggerated than a Fleet Admiral's inauguration ceremony..."
"Shut up! You idiot!" the Colonel beside him scolded in a low voice, though he could not suppress the burning fanaticism in his own eyes. "That man is the one who personally dragged the Pirate King from his throne and trampled him underfoot! He deserves ten times this!"
The massive iron anchor crashed into the sea, the piercing sound of the chain echoing across the bay. The breathing of the entire plaza seemed to come to a synchronized standstill.
"He is here..."
Standing at the very front of the line, Admiral Zephyr's facial muscles under his sunglasses were twitching uncontrollably. It was the pride of a teacher and a deep sense of relief, mixed with a hint of complex emotion at seeing his star student surpass him so completely.
Click.
Under the watchful eyes of the multitude, the heavy cabin door slowly opened. Sakazuki, Kuzan, and Borsalino were the first to step out, spreading out in a perfect triangular formation. Like three guardian deities of old, they stood with cold, hard expressions, emitting monster-like auras that blocked all prying eyes from getting too close.
Then, that legendary figure finally appeared.
Kane.
Leaning heavily on tensa zangetsu, he walked "with great difficulty," step by agonizing step. He was covered in blood-stained bandages from head to toe, his left arm was held in a thick plaster cast, and his neck was locked in a medical brace. Especially the silhouette of the hideous wound on his chest; even through several layers of thick gauze, it still emitted a tragic aura that caused phantom pain in everyone who saw it.
And behind him...
The once-arrogant Pirate King who had been a headache for the World Government for twenty years—Gol D. Roger. Wearing heavy Sea Stone shackles and with disheveled hair, he was easily escorted by the "heavily injured" Kane like a stray dog on a leash. Roger kept his head down, and no one could see his expression. Only he knew that the sense of absurdity in his heart at this moment was wider than this entire ocean.
This scene not only shocked the retinas of the hundred thousand Marines present, but was also transmitted directly to the whole world through dozens of pre-installed visual den den mushi!
"Kane—!!!"
A roar ignited like a spark hitting a pile of dry gunpowder. Following that was a landslide, an earthquake, a fanatical tsunami whipped up by the collective beating of a hundred thousand hearts!
"Hero! Hero! Hero!"
Countless young soldiers had tears streaming down their faces, not caring even as their voices cracked and went hoarse from screaming. Looking at the man who was "heavily injured" for the sake of justice but still kept his back straight, the blood in their bodies boiled like hot lava!
Kane was already laughing inwardly at the spectacle, but his face managed to squeeze out a perfectly timed, pained, and pale smile. He walked up to Fleet Admiral Kong, who had been waiting for a long time, and struggled to raise his cast-covered hand to attempt a standard military salute, but his body suddenly swayed and he almost fell due to the "intense pain."
"Enough! Kane!"
Fleet Admiral Kong, this iron-blooded tough guy, felt his eyes instantly turn red as he reached out to support Kane.
"Your military salute is already engraved on Roger's shackles for all to see! That is more than enough!"
Kong's voice was trembling; looking at this young man who had almost "burned out his life" for the cause of justice, his heart surged with hot, fatherly emotions.
"Fleet Admiral..."
Kane panted weakly, his voice just faint enough to be captured by the nearby recording den den mushi for the global broadcast.
"I have fortunately fulfilled my mission... Although I have broken over a dozen bones and my lungs were shattered by his Haki, as long as I could capture Roger... cough cough, I think those innocent civilians who died tragically under the pirates' blades should be able to rest in peace now, right?"
Boom!
These words were like a tear gas bomb; countless emotional female Marine soldiers on the scene immediately covered their mouths and burst into tears.
How great he is! What kind of noble sentiment is this!
Beside them, Sengoku adjusted his glasses, his brow furrowing almost imperceptibly. As a resourceful and calculating general, his top-tier Observation Haki vaguely sensed that although Kane's aura was chaotic, wasn't his underlying vitality... a bit too exuberant?
'This kid... he couldn't be acting for us, could he?'
A ridiculous thought flashed through Sengoku's mind, but he immediately forced it down. He glanced at the fanatically worshipping faces around him, then at the very real Roger in chains behind him. Who cares if he is acting! Roger is real, the achievement is real, and the victory the Marines desperately need right now is also real! That is enough!
"Puhahahaha! Good lad!!"
Bam!
Garp's laughter and the sound of a massive slap rang out simultaneously as he mindlessly landed a heavy blow on Kane's "broken" shoulder. Everyone's pupils shook in pure shock.
"Cough..."
Kane cooperatively let out a muffled groan, his body slumping forward as if he were about to faint.
"You bastard Garp! Do you want to kill the Marine's hero right here?!"
Great Staff Officer Tsuru flew into a rage and kicked Garp squarely in the chest with her heel wrapped in Armament Haki, blasting him dozens of meters away into the crowd. After a chaotic scramble to support him, Fleet Admiral Kong took a deep breath and stepped onto the high platform. The entire plaza instantly fell into a dead silence.
"All troops, hear my command!"
"In view of G-5 Base Commander Navy Rear Admiral Kane's capture of the Great Pirate Gol D. Roger during the South Blue campaign with unyielding will and unparalleled combat power, ending a twenty-year era of chaos!!"
"By the joint decision of the highest levels of the World Government and Marineford—"
Kong's throat bobbed as he used all his strength to roar out the decision that would be etched in history.
"As of today!"
"Navy Rear Admiral Kane is promoted to—"
"Marineford's Highest Combat Power!"
"Admiral!"
Boom—!
Even though it was expected, when those words were actually roared from the Commander-in-Chief's mouth, the extreme shock of witnessing history still made the scalps of the hundred thousand Marines tingle! An Admiral in his twenties! A miracle unseen in the eight-hundred-year history of the Marines!
Two ceremonial guards stepped forward carrying a brand-new Admiral's mantle. The coat was as white as snow, the word "Justice" on the back was bold and powerful, and the golden tassels on the epaulettes shimmered in the sunlight.
Kane slowly turned around. Fleet Admiral Kong personally draped the mantle, a symbol of supreme power, over him. The moment that snow-white fabric touched Kane's shoulder... Kane's "weak" and tottering disguise melted away silently like snow under a desert sun.
His originally slightly bent back straightened inch by inch, and the bandages on his body seemed to become insignificant decorations. An invisible airwave erupted from him as the center, sweeping across the entire field! That was the pressure belonging solely to a king!
Everyone present felt as if the sky had suddenly darkened, and the air was filled with the oppression and fury before a massive storm! Countless soldiers' legs went weak under this momentum, yet they became even more reverent because of the protective intent they felt within it!
Kong stepped back half a pace and looked at this youngest and strongest combat power in Marine history with burning eyes, announcing his official codename.
"The codename granted is—"
"[Calamity]!"
A storm is a calamity. This was not only a description of his fruit ability but also the ultimate judgment for all the evil in the world!
"Calamity! Calamity! Calamity!"
The cheers after the initial suppression were ten times more intense than before, almost flipping the sky over Marineford!
[Ding! Congratulations to the Host! Achievement "Youngest Admiral in History" unlocked!]
[Your existence has completely overturned the Marine power structure and changed the future pattern of the world!]
[Comprehensive settlement... discipline points +1,500!]
Kane suppressed the urge to laugh wildly and slowly raised tensa zangetsu, the black blade pointing straight at the sky. Facing the cameras of the whole world, he maintained that compassionate saint-like expression, his voice clear and powerful:
"I hereby swear—"
"My sword is only for cutting down all evil."
"My storm is only for sweeping away all the filth of this sea."
"As long as I stand here for one day..."
His voice paused, and the corners of his mouth curled into an unnoticeable, cold arc that only Roger could see.
"Justice shall never end!"
"Calamity! Cal-am-ity! Cal-am-ity—!!!"
Amidst the hysterical shouting, the escorted Roger finally slowly raised his head. He looked at the back bathed in endless glory and silently mouthed two words.
"Monster..."
Meanwhile, the phones of the Marine Personnel Department were completely overwhelmed by transfer applications from all over the world. Everyone had only one goal—G-5 Branch! They were going to follow the man who had personally ended an era before the eyes of the world!
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