Chapter 173

Rowan gazed around the Delta island that lied below him.

Many corpses, though mostly from the enemies, were seen all across the entire battlefield.

Rowan, although burdened by a heavy exhaustion, turned his eyes onto one ongoing fight: Alfred and Urouge versus Smoothie and Ulti.

Smoothie and Ulti felt a chill. They froze in fear, unable to move a tip of his finger.

"...Damn it." Smoothie whimpered in fear as she felt her grip on her sword loosening.

Ulti subconsciously lowered her gaze, not being able to say even one word.

"It seems... it's all over." Alfred, with a calm demeanour, muttered as he looked around, "There still are many unresolved fights. Yet, under captain's presence, none of them dares to move."

Every member of the Big Mom pirates and Beast pirates understood from deep within their mind, that the man on the sky, Rowan, had the power to exterminate them in a single second.

Following Katakuri's suit, one by one, they began to drop their weapons and collapse on the ground.

"...I yield." Smoothie, having gained some freedom, raised her hands up.

"I yield." A gigantic blonde Tobiroppo member of the Beast pirates, Black Maria, too sat down on the ground.

With Smoothie being a cue,

"I yield."

one by one, the enemies began to admit that they surrendered.

'All my crew members seem fine. Now, with them having yielded, this war... is our victory.'

Rowan, up until now, was struggling to keep his eyelids open. Although the fact that he still lied within the presence of others made it unsuitable for him to rest, he's already reached his limit quite some time ago.

'What a relief.'

Rowan, with an evident relief on his face, closed his eyes as he began to fall from the sky.

"I got you, captain."

With a flash of lightning, Dan held Rowan as the latter has gone unconscious from the exhaustion.

"Haa..."

Carina too sat down in fatigue.

"Hey, fem-boy!"

On the other hand, Carmen, who seemed tired as well, kicked Cavendish, who was quite literally snoring on the ground,

"Wake up already!"

"We... actually won." Law said to himself as if unable to believe the truth right in front of him.

"Well, Nami," Nojiko, on the other hand, turned to Nami with a serious look, "you know the protocol."

Nami was seen with a binocular in her hands. She gazed at the sea that lied across the island, before shaking her head in negative.

"Nope, no Marine at all. I don't see any third party around us."

Bonney already went back to finishing off her meal.

At some distance away, Marco was seen to be healing and patching up Rowan, whom Dan now brought to Carina.

""Well, he's going to be fine. An insane healing factor as always."" Dan and Marco said at the same time before they stared at each other with a surprise.

""Huh.""

Both of them then scratched their heads in an embarrassment,

""Right. You are a doctor as well.""

Carina sweatdropped.

Everyone seemed to be settling down. The intense atmosphere was slowly dying down, until,

a movement was sighted.

*Pzt*

Within an instance, Dan was right in front of one individual with his index finer pointed at the latter's neck,

"What were you about to do just now?"

In front of Dan was another Tobiroppo of the Beast pirates.

"Geos-san!" One member of the Beast pirates shouted urgently, but with a slight confusion on his face.

"Although the Big Mom pirates yielded, us, the Beast pirates, haven't." The man named Geos growled.

Black Maria's eyes narrowed, 'Geos... the one who recently became a Tobiroppo. The Beast pirates... haven't yielded? In this hopeless war?'

Then, Geos leaped forward at the next moment, with his right arm turned to a sharp claw.

Dan effortlessly dodged it.

'Something is off.'

Dan felt within his instinct that this man was more than just a Tobiroppo member. Unlike the other five, this one seemed to have an ulterior motive. During the war, he was barely noticeable. He, in purpose, stood at the back, trying to preserve his energy for something else. Just what could it be?

*Swoosh*

"You..." Dan's eyes widened in a realization.

Although the man was trying to hide it as much as he could, his habit. The way he attacks. His under-reliance on his fruit. They were quite familiar. Yes, it was the exact same movements that he saw from Who's-Who and the CP9 from the Water Seven.

All the clues Dan managed to find within the seconds pointed to one conclusion,

"The World Government... Cipher Pol."

Dan's expression turned to that a hostility, before,

the Tobiroppo member, or the agent of the World Government, saw his whole bottom half being blasted apart by Dan's incredible blast of lightning.

"...Well played, Black Mask." The man's eyes quivered in a shock. He never expected there to be such difference between their strengths. Not even having enough time to react against... it seemed that his survival was an impossible feat to achieve.

His severed top began to fall toward the ground.

"I suppose that it makes sense for the World Government to place their spies in an organization as huge and open as the Beast pirates." Dan exclaimed as he gazed at the man calmly.

However, the man then smiled right before his death,

"...Mission... success."

*Thud*

"What?!" Dan urgently looked around himself. He expanded his Observation Haki along with the application of his fruit ability to see what was going on.

Dan's first course of action was to check Rowan, who was now within Carina's arms. He was fine.

'What is it? What have you done?'

Then, he focused on Robin. She was fine as well. No one was nearby to target her.

Then, Cavendish—

'Hold on.' Dan's eyes widened.

King's corpse was gone.

___________

[Briss, South Blue]

"No. This can't be."

Atop the mountain full of corpses, there lied one man in disbelief: Marshall D. Teach.

"We were prepared!! We defeated an Admiral! I... I... was fully prepared that I'd win!! So how,"

Teach glared at Shanks, who glared back at the former with a serious expression on his face,

"just how were you able to defeat all those millions of zombie soldiers, Red Hair!!!!!"

Shiryu, Jesus Burgess, Van Augur—all the members of the Blackbeard pirates were lying across the corpse mountain, dead. It was ridiculous, for the Red Hair pirates overcame the drastic difference of number.

However, that didn't mean that the Red Hair pirates suffered.

With the exclusion of Shanks, Ben Beckman, Lucky Roo, and Yasopp, everyone else was found dead.

What a gruesome war that they had in the South Blue.

"*Cough*..." Shanks, whose eyes were shadowed by his bangs, coughed out the blood at the next moment.

"Poison... Shanks." Beckman said with a grim expression.

"It's alright, Beckman." Shanks raised his hand up, "A poison of this potency can't kill me."

Then, Shanks raised his bloody sword, Gryphon, at Teach.

"Now, let's finish this once and for all, Blackbeard."

Teach gritted his teeth fearfully as he took a step back.

With Shanks already knowing that he had three fruit abilities, Teach, who was too tired to exert any further strength, knew that he stood no chance.

"Divine..."

Shanks was about to slash his sword horizontally, ending Teach's life once and for all,

"Departure—"

"GAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"

Teach's scream was heard. However, unlike what Shanks intended, it was only his left leg that was severed.

"...Why?"

Behind Shanks, his three crew members were seen to be struggling against one man, whose sword managed to push through those three's guns and into Shanks's exposed back.

"*COUGH*..." Shanks swayed before falling onto one knee.

"Shanks...!" Beckman gritted his teeth as his arm trembled.

Lucky Roo and Yasopp's arms too trembled from stress. Then,

all three's guns broke simultaneously.

"Red Hair."

One man stood with his eyes closed. When his eyes opened, there lied a sad gleam.

"...Heh, I see." Shanks, although feeling his consciousness fading away, managed to mutter, "Imu's... order... isn't it...

Hawk...Eye...'

"Just as father said..." Mihawk's eyes sharpened, "you already knew."

Beckman, Lucky Roo, and Yasopp, who were standing frozen, then saw Shanks's sign.

Immediately after,

*PUK*

Yasopp coughed out blood as Mihawk's sword, Yoru, stabbed through his heart effortlessly. Yet, the former grinned confidently,

"Even if it's only the seconds that we can buy for Shanks..."

Lucky Roo held Mihawk from the back,

"It's enough for us."

Beckman, on the other hand, lifted Shanks up and threw him toward the still-screaming individual: Teach.

"Go, Shanks!!!"

"Divine..."

Surely, Shanks won't miss this time.

"Red Hair!!!!!!!" Teach, out of fear, shrieked while sweating profusely, "T-think about this again!!! You are in trouble right now, aren't you?!! L-let's defeat that Hawk Eye together!!"

"Departure."

Teach's body was cut open in half, and from within revealed his three hearts that beat vigorously.

"AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"

Along with Teach's terrified scream, the hearts all burst into blood simultaneously.

'Luffy...'

Shanks, while falling toward the ground, thought as his vision became hazy,

'how is your journey to become the Pirate King? I'm sorry, but...'

Shanks, for an unknown reason, found him smiling,

'it seems that I won't be able to keep my side of promise.'

*Thud*

Shanks then crashed on the ground.

Looking up at the blurry sky, Shanks thought weakly,

'Captain Roger... did I do good? Will... the freedom be brought upon the world soon enough? Joyboy? Or just as the contradicting claim stated, a mysterious Vasilia?'

Within Shanks vision entered one man, whose eyes held the solid determination to pave his way forward,

'Captain... Roger...'

<Shanks.> The man within Shanks's vision grinned jovially, <Let's go, onto our next adventure!>

"...Yeah."

And just as Teach's breathing ceased, so did Shank's.

"Hawk Eye."

Beckman was seen to be gazing at Mihawk as he leaned on the boulder. On his left and right, Lucky Roo and Yasopp lied, dead.

"Do you believe that the arrival of New Age can be prevented? Do you believe that your father's era is never-ending?"

"I don't have a time for your nonsense, Ben Beckman." Mihawk raised his sword up, before,

severing Beckman in a single slash.

"Heh," Yet, Beckman, as his top half was airborne, smiled weakly, "It's too late for you. The time has already arrived. Although we are dead, there exists the others to carry on the golden will.

The Celestial Dragons... are as good as over."

Such was Beckman's final words.

Mihawk silently stared at Beckman, before shifting his attention to Shanks.

"...I don't feel any will within them. They are dead."

Mihawk turned around and gazed coldly at the Marine troop, who stood by with fear on their faces.

"Momousagi." Mihawk calmly walked up to them, much to their demise.

In front of the troop stood Gion, who was unable to believe what just happened in front of her. The appearance of 'Hawk Eye' Mihawk was the last thing that they expected here, after all.

"Now that you've heard all, I have two options to choose from." Mihawk then stated, "First, kill you all."

The Marine couldn't dare to let out even the breathing sound.

"Second..."

Gion, with fear in her eyes, held her hands out, "Float—"

*Swoosh*

"sever you all."

Hundreds of marine soldiers all fell down to the ground at once, in pieces.

"This world within the hands of my father, though unchanging, is an interesting one to live within." Mihawk's peculiar eyes glowed in a dangerous manner, "And having my father's reign to come to an end... I'd prefer it to last for as long as I remain in the world of living."

"Purururu, purururu,"

Then, Mihawk saw that a small Den Den Mushi has fallen out of Gion's pocket.

Without hesitation, he crushed it.

____________

"Imu...sama..." An elder, who was lifted up by his neck, said fearfully.

All the other four elders were found dead. The previously white and shiny room within the Pangaea Castle, was now painted with blood.

"Oh, how I have trusted you, and..." A tall man with cold red eyes, Imu, whispered, "...have been betrayed by your incapability."

Within Imu's other hand lied a newspaper, where Rowan's picture was portrayed at the title page.

"Vasilia... one after the other, the factor that disturbs my perfect kingdom continuously appears."

*CRUNCH*

Imu mercilessly crushed the neck of the elder, before dropping the corpse down.

"Youchiha B. Rowan... Youchiha. To think those with the surname of 'Youchiha' are the descendants of that royalty... how troublesome."

However, what disturbed Imu the most at the current moment, was the fact that he could clearly feel Rowan's will from far away.

A competitor has risen. The one with the potential to overthrow him. Imu, without him knowing, let a worm grow into a dragon.

"...One by one, all that belongs to you shall fall, Grimheart." Imu growled as the room began to be swarmed with a sudden wave of water that barged in,

"Yes, the fate still favours me."

Imu's face then morphed into a cruel smile,

"With Joyboy within my hands, with Uranus now fully restored, with Pluton having been attained, and with Red Hair having died..."

Imu walked on top of the violent wave of water and stood in front of a table, where a map lied,

"...the start shall be the fall of the Revolutionary Army. Once all has been finished,

then you shall taste the true despair."