"Another one of those physical attacks," Kizaru mused, his slow drawl cutting through the thunderous echoes of the battle. "It reminds me of Garp's Galaxy Impact."
"But it's not the same," Akainu countered, his eyes narrowed against the glare of the Haki-infused collision. "When Rosen deploys his Susanoo—a manifestation forged from Armament Haki and further coated in Conqueror's Haki—the output eclipses Garp's technique entirely. It's a different realm of power."
Edward Newgate had no time to debate the comparison. He had just been hammered to one knee by five consecutive, earth-shattering blows from Rosen. Now, as the colossal avatar of Haki—a Susanoo—rose and swung its fist, unleashing a shockwave that tore through the air like a celestial river, Whitebeard knew he couldn't take it head-on.
He launched himself skyward, a massive silhouette against the roiling clouds.
The impact missed him but devastated the ocean behind. With a deafening roar, the sea bed was ripped open. The water didn't splash; it was displaced instantly, vaporized by the sheer force. A massive, steaming fissure carved through the ocean depths, a scar that refused to heal as the surrounding Haki pressure held the water at bay.
Even the combined might of Whitebeard and the Golden Lion Shiki couldn't breach Rosen's defense.
Suddenly, the sky split open.
"Thunder Bagua!" Charlotte Linlin's roar boomed from above. A dozen purple lightning bolts, thick as tree trunks, lanced down from the heavens. She had recovered mid-air, riding the storm clouds of her Homie, Zeus. The lightning struck the Susanoo's armored torso.
The avatar shuddered. Fine cracks spiderwebbed across the purple armor, but the structure held. Rosen glanced up, unimpressed. He saw Linlin, her body—which he had bisected moments earlier with a point-blank Getsuga Tenshō—now fully healed.
"You're a stubborn one," Rosen noted, his voice devoid of emotion.
"This is why a three-on-one fight is different from a duel," Linlin sneered, her shadow falling over him. "We are the remnants of the Rocks Pirates. We don't fall with a single blow."
It was true. In a direct one-on-one, Rosen could suppress a Yonko in seconds. But with three, the dynamic shifted. Shiki used his Float-Float Fruit to anchor Linlin in the air, preventing her from drowning when Zeus was pinned. Linlin, with her unnatural durability and the Soul-Soul Fruit, regenerated instantly. And Whitebeard provided the battlefield control.
It was a perfect synergy—offense, defense, and mobility. A lineup capable of challenging the Marines' strongest.
This was the same logic used against Douglas Bullet in the past. A single faction stood no chance, but a united front could overwhelm even a monster. However, the quality of these three was far higher than the Worst Generation that besieged the Devil's Heir.
Rosen's expression remained cold. He saw the threat. He adjusted.
His left hand empty, he summoned a second Zanpakutō. The air grew heavy.
Edward Newgate felt a primal warning scream through his instincts. "Careful," he growled. "We don't know what that blade does. But if it's anything like the other, it could be an instant kill."
Shiki couldn't use Observation Haki to read Rosen; the "Observation Kill" technique rendered the future sight useless. He could only rely on raw instinct.
Whitebeard spread his fingers wide. "Gura Gura no Mi!"
He pulled his hand down. The sky and sea didn't just shake—they tilted. Gravity itself seemed to invert within a kilometer radius. Rosen and his Susanoo lost their footing, the world warping around them.
"Roar, Sea!" Shiki bellowed. Taking advantage of the tilt, he manipulated the ocean below. The water rose, forming a massive lion of seawater, jaws gaping wide. It lunged, biting the Susanoo's waist.
The force was immense. The water lion dragged the avatar downward, pulling it from the tilting sky toward the crushing depths of the ocean.
"Get down, you bastard!" Linlin dove, Napoleon transforming into a saber. Coating it in Conqueror's Haki, she swung. "Ikoku Sovereignty!"
A massive slash of black lightning slammed into Susanoo's head. The avatar's helmet shattered, exposing the diamond-shaped crystal on its forehead—the core. The blow didn't break the crystal, but it did drive the Susanoo, already being dragged by the water lion, deep into the sea.
"Now!" Linlin screamed.
Whitebeard didn't stop. He punched the air repeatedly. Crack! Crack! Cracks!
"Quake Fist!"
Each punch created a shockwave that hit the water, turning the ocean into a spinning vortex. The whirlpool grew, swallowing the Susanoo, pulling it down into the abyss. The diameter expanded to kilometers, the suction force terrifying.
"He's trapped," Shiki said, hovering above the maelstrom. "Ten thousand meters down. The pressure alone will crush a normal Devil Fruit user. Even his Haki reserves will run dry."
"His Susanoo is broken," Linlin added, breathing heavily. "The sea pressure, the vortex, and Newgate's tremors... nothing survives that."
Whitebeard stared at the whirlpool, his eyes glowing crimson. He didn't relax. He kept the vibrations flowing, churning the sea into a frenzy. He wasn't just trying to drown Rosen; he was trying to bury him under the weight of the New World itself.
"The Grim Reaper," Whitebeard muttered, his voice low and dangerous. "Today, the New World serves as his grave."
Below the surface, amidst the crushing darkness and violent currents, the Susanoo shattered completely. But inside the core, Rosen didn't struggle. He didn't panic. He simply closed his eyes.
"Bankai," he whispered, the voice echoing in the spiritual space. "Tensa Zangetsu."
The black blade in his hand pulsed. The cracked crystal around him suddenly glowed with an intense, dark energy. It didn't push the water away. It didn't fight the pressure.
It began to cut.
Not the water. But the space between the water. The dimension itself.
Whitebeard's eyes widened. The whirlpool... was being severed.
"What is this?!" Shiki screamed, his telekinesis slipping.
A black line appeared at the bottom of the whirlpool. Then it expanded. The darkness wasn't the ocean; it was a void. A Garganta.
From the void, a voice echoed, cold and absolute.
"Cero Oscuras."
A beam of concentrated black light, accelerated to impossible speeds, fired from the void. It didn't aim for the surface. It pierced through the water, cutting a straight line through the millions of tons of liquid, shattering the vortex instantly.
The water exploded upward, creating a geyser that reached the clouds. And standing atop the pillar of water, perfectly dry, was Rosen. His Susanoo was gone, but he was unharmed. The second Zanpakutō was still glowing.
"You prepared a grave," Rosen said, his eyes locking onto the three legends. "But you forgot one thing."
He raised his left hand. The second Zanpakutō pulsed.
"I am the one who buries the dead. Not the one who dies."
The air pressure dropped. A massive, spectral armor began to form around him again—not the purple Susanoo, but a darker, more demonic figure. It had six arms, each holding a different weapon. A massive crossbow. A trident. A greatsword.
"Resurrección: Segunda Etapa," Rosen intoned. "Murciélago."
The sky turned pitch black. Bat-like wings of pure shadow stretched from Rosen's back, eclipsing the sun.
Whitebeard gritted his teeth, raising his bisento. "Don't get cocky, boy!"
Linlin summoned Napoleon, Prometheus, and Zeus. "We'll sink you again!"
Shiki manipulated the floating islands in the distance, preparing to drop them.
Rosen didn't flinch. He pointed a single finger at the three legends. A tiny sphere of black energy formed at the tip.
"Gran Rey Cero."
The sphere expanded. It wasn't a shockwave. It was a beam of pure destruction, honed by the precision of a Zanpakutō and amplified by the Arms-Arms Fruit's ability to reshape energy. It screamed toward them, tearing the air apart.
"Defend!" Whitebeard roared, unleashing a massive wall of vibrations.
Linlin and Shiki poured their Haki into the defense.
The beam hit.
For a moment, there was silence. Then, the explosion swallowed the New World.
—-