"Are you all alright?"
Standing atop a piece of drifting wreckage, Retsu Unohana glanced around at everyone and asked gently.
Acnologia shook the seawater off his body—but used too much force. The piece of timber beneath his feet sank instantly, forcing him to leap into the air and land beside Unohana.
"I'm fine, but…"
As he spoke, his gaze swept across the ocean, now littered with wreckage.
There were some Marines—
But not a single trace of the Rocks Pirates.
"Those guys… disappeared???"
Acnologia spoke with a hint of confusion.
The others fell silent for a moment before shaking their heads.
"Rocks D. Xebec and Edward Newgate are both Devil Fruit users. The sea is a huge threat to them… It's possible they've already been dragged down to the depths," Madara Uchiha speculated.
But with no bodies in sight—
No one could say for certain whether they had sunk…
Or escaped.
"Speaking of Devil Fruit users… Is is one too, right? Could he have been caught up in this?" Unohana asked, concern in her voice.
"Is?" Tornado replied immediately. "He's not affected by seawater, remember? He was swimming in the ocean before. Did you forget, Sister Unohana?"
Unohana froze briefly, then smiled softly.
"I suppose I did forget for a moment."
"Is is fine. I saw him chasing one of the Rocks Pirates' officers—Shiki. If nothing went wrong, he's already far from this place," Madara explained.
"I see… then my worries were unnecessary," Unohana said with a gentle smile.
Elsewhere—
Gol D. Roger and his group emerged from the sea, clinging to floating debris.
Their wounds, soaked in seawater, burned with pain throughout their bodies.
"Not long ago we were still running across that island… and now it's gone. All that's left is this endless ocean," Silvers Rayleigh muttered as he climbed onto a piece of wreckage.
Roger gazed across the sea—
Then burst into laughter.
"If I'm not mistaken, this was Newgate's doing. Still, I didn't expect that just one Marine warship could push the Rocks Pirates into such a desperate situation!"
"It's probably because of that Celestial Dragon—Aurelius D. Virel ·Is," Scopper Gaban added.
"Whatever the reason, Rocks got a taste of defeat this time. Maybe from today onward, there won't even be a Rocks Pirates anymore," Roger said calmly.
Rayleigh sat atop the debris, removing his soaked shirt and wringing it dry as he smiled.
"Either way, we owe the Marines this time. If they had arrived any later… the outcome would've been unimaginable."
"Looks like fate is on our side, Roger Pirates!"
As he spoke, Roger climbed onto another piece of wreckage, doing the same with his clothes.
When it came to luck—
Roger truly seemed favored by fate.
Whether in this altered world with Is—
Or in the original timeline—
Time and time again, he escaped disaster through sheer fortune.
Just like in the past—
When Shiki once surrounded him with his fleet.
Everything had seemed doomed—
Yet a sudden storm turned the tide, sinking much of Shiki's armada.
And as for misfortune—
Shiki was the perfect example.
Even when victory was within reach—
Fate twisted against him, and an accident left a ship's wheel lodged in his head.
"So, Roger… what do we do next?" Gaban asked.
After this battle, the Roger Pirates had been severely weakened. Their combat strength had taken a heavy hit.
Hearing this, Roger fell silent.
The smile on his face faded completely.
After more than a minute, he finally spoke:
"We head to a nearby island. Recover and regroup… our journey will pause for now."
"Agreed."
Rayleigh, Gaban, and the others all nodded.
After all—
They had lost their ship.
Everything would have to be rebuilt from scratch.
Some time later—
The Fleet Admiral and the main Marine force finally arrived.
They began a large-scale search and rescue operation.
Quite a few surviving members of the Rocks Pirates were captured—
Including several officers.
Among them—
Charlotte Linlin.
As for Rocks and Whitebeard—
There was still no sign of them.
Their fate remained unknown.
But one thing was certain—
Both the Roger Pirates and the Rocks Pirates had suffered devastating blows.
Even if they were still alive—
It would be impossible for them to recover their former strength in a short time.
Without a doubt—
The greatest beneficiary of this battle was the World Government.
"I truly didn't expect things to turn out like this," the Fleet Admiral said with a sigh.
"Indeed. We thought this would be a hard-fought battle… yet it ended before we even arrived," Kong added.
"Those people… are they the ones who follow Saint Aurelius D. Virel ·Is?" one of the Admirals, who hadn't seen them before, asked.
◇ I'll be dropping one bonus chapters for every 10 reviews. comment
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on P@treon if you're interested:
patreon.com/c/GojoSP