"Ozz..."
Feeling that suffocatingly powerful Conqueror's Haki, Roger froze for a moment. He even forgot to care about Shanks, who had just been kicked flat.
And Roger was not the only one.
Almost every strong fighter still conscious was staring at that figure in shock.
They all remembered the evaluation the World Economic News had once given Ozz when he was young.
A genius so overwhelming it drove others to despair. A monster-like physique. An owner of absolutely mighty three-color Haki. A Devil Fruit power that gave him absolute control over battle.
A new leader of the next era, seemingly cultivated by Roger himself, possessing unquestionable strength.
Judging from the spirit and potential he had displayed, he would likely hold absolute dominion over the world's top fighters for at least the next thirty years.
Thirty years?
That number was probably too small.
The entire battlefield fell silent. Only Ozz's footsteps rang out, each one seeming to step directly on everyone's heart.
Wrapped in black spatial distortion and surrounded by endless black-red thunder, the tall figure walked step by step toward Shanks.
The formerly imposing Shanks could only kneel on one knee now, clutching the spot where Ozz had kicked him, blood spilling from his mouth.
"Shanks!!!"
"Boss!!!"
The Red Hair Pirates instantly tensed up when they saw that.
Even Beckman, who had been calmly smoking before, now had cold sweat on his face as he leaped down from the mast.
But before he could get any closer, a sharp flash of cold steel blocked his path.
It was the back of a noble-looking man who landed directly in front of him.
The man slowly turned his head, adjusted his hat, then abruptly drew from his back the black blade that symbolized the world's strongest swordsman.
"Hawk Eyes..."
Beckman's face immediately darkened.
But Mihawk only stared at him coldly.
"What happens between bosses is not something others get to interfere in."
"As long as I'm standing here, there's no way you're getting past."
He raised the long blade in his hand, the pitch-black edge pointing straight at Beckman.
That sentence was confidence.
The confidence of a man standing at the absolute peak of swordsmanship.
And over on the Red Force, several figures were already starting to move.
Yet their way was also blocked by several others.
"You are...?"
"The Seven Warlords!!!"
Doflamingo swaggered forward sideways like a crab, arrogant as ever.
"Fufufufufu... the Red Hair Pirates, huh? Can't let you lot pass."
Crocodile looked thoroughly unwilling to stand on the same side as Doflamingo, but under the circumstances he stepped out anyway.
"Well... I hate admitting it, but that man is strong enough to be our boss."
"If I let you go over there and interfere, wouldn't that just make me look incompetent?"
"I absolutely cannot allow rude people to offend Lord Ozz!!!"
"If you were going on a journey, where would your Red Hair Pirates want to go?"
At that moment, the situation became extremely tense!!!
But Ozz himself was not paying attention to any of that.
He was simply irritated.
This Shanks, after so many years without fighting him, had actually started thinking he had really grown into something.
He had stepped out directly to block the blow when Ozz was about to kill the King of Deserters.
Then he had told Ozz to give him face.
And just like that, the matter would be over.
So Shanks' face was face, but Ozz's face was not?
He had spent all that time carefully setting the stage, making it clear from every angle that the King of Deserters was doomed.
Then Shanks came up and asked for face.
If he had said it properly, then for the sake of all those years of friendship, Ozz could have given him some.
But Shanks had come right up using Observation Killing, putting on that imposing heroic act.
Anyone watching would think Ozz was giving face because he was afraid of him.
"Ozz..."
Shanks looked at the demon-like figure approaching him, his aura and visual effects like that of a dark god. His own eyes gradually turned dangerous.
Right now, he was one of the Four Emperors.
A man carrying a mission...
"To be honest, Shanks, I have zero interest in the balance and order you're trying to maintain in this world."
"But since you pushed me this far, if this war doesn't begin, wouldn't that make me lose face instead?"
Ozz slowly lowered his body, a grin spreading across his face.
"Look forward to it. In the near future, there will be a war far beyond the scale of this one."
"It won't just drag pirates and Marines into it. It will drag the entire world, including the World Government itself, into a massive war!!!"
Shanks' pupils trembled, his gaze turning more dangerous still.
But Ozz merely patted him on the shoulder and straightened up with a smile.
"Captain Roger is still watching. Let's leave today's spar here. There'll be chances later."
With the climax of Marineford, Ozz's earth-shaking kick had defeated one of the Four Emperors, Red-Haired Shanks.
And the battlefield, once so fierce, began to cool.
The Marines and pirates who had been fighting like mad were all put to sleep.
Even the hatred in the hearts of the pirate commanders and Marine officers who still felt unwilling was washed clean by the lingering force of that Conqueror's Haki.
"I knew from the broadcast that this war would be unbelievably brutal..."
"But I never thought even hundreds of kilometers away, you could still feel that terrifying Conqueror's Haki."
At that moment, a small boat slowly rowed in from the distance.
An unshaven old man in a white cloak arrived with a smile.
"Dark King Rayleigh!!!"
A Marine Vice Admiral recognized him at once and cried out.
Some officers' eyes twitched with numb despair.
"Heh... just how many legendary pirates are going to show up, damn it..."
But some people were very happy to see him.
Roger instantly broke away from Garp and waved madly toward the shore.
"Hey!!! Rayleigh!!!"
Sitting in the little boat, Rayleigh, who had been smiling just moments ago, suddenly looked dazed.
For an instant, he seemed to see the same reckless young man who had once invited him out to sea.
Tears began streaming down his face uncontrollably.
Looking at Roger, Rayleigh stood up as well and shouted,
"So there really was another day for us to meet again... Roger!!!"
"Hahahahaha!!!"
The now white-haired Roger crouched, gathered strength, and leaped toward the boat floating by the shore.
Rayleigh was happy at first, but then his expression slowly changed.
"Hey... hey!!!"
Roger laughed as he flew through the air and crashed straight into Rayleigh's face, knocking him off balance.
Splash!!!
Watching the little boat capsize while the two white-haired old men fell into the water, still laughing with their arms around each other, Ozz smiled from the heart.
"Well... this has completely stopped looking like a war now."
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