The sky shattered.
Crack.
A sound like a mirror breaking echoed across the battlefield. Fissures of white light spread across the heavens, forming a massive, spiderweb-like lattice.
It looked like a giant mirror embedded in the sky had been smashed from the inside out.
"How is this possible?"
Sakazuki looked up, his brow furrowing. A rare hint of astonishment laced his voice.
"Ara ara ara ara."
Kuzan's expression turned grave, ice still melting off his form.
"Is this the Tremor-Tremor Fruit?"
Borsalino's tone was uncertain, drifting lazily on the wind.
The other two Admirals were equally confused. In their memories, Edward Newgate could shatter the atmosphere and tear the sky, but the resulting cracks usually covered a ten-meter radius, centered on his limbs.
This was different.
The cracks covered hundreds of meters, a terrifying white lattice that lingered in the air.
"Strange," Sakazuki muttered, lava dripping from his fist. "Even if it is the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, Newgate is dead. I sense no living presence on him."
In the One Piece world, everything possessed an aura. Humans, beasts, even plants. A dead body emitted a completely different frequency than a living one.
Sakazuki was certain Edward Newgate was dead.
"Can a dead man use his Devil Fruit?" Kuzan frowned.
"Impossible," Borsalino chimed in, though his eyes narrowed. "Unless..."
"Old Man..."
Marco, hovering nearby, overheard the Admirals' exchange. His heart clenched. He had felt a surge of hope when the sky shattered, but the Admirals' Observation Haki was absolute.
If all three sensed death...
The world's strongest man was truly gone. The vibration in the sky wasn't a sign of life, but a final, lingering echo of his will.
On the other side of the island.
Rosen stood amidst the frozen remains of three legends. The aura of Edward Newgate, Shiki, and Charlotte Linlin had vanished, leaving only the cold stillness of corpses.
He had used Daiguren Hyōrinmaru—the fully released ice Zanpakutō—to freeze them. Not to destroy them, but to preserve their bodies. As the pinnacle of the world, they were invaluable research subjects, especially Linlin. Her lineage factor was a treasure comparable to Kaido's.
He turned to leave, intending to end the war personally.
Huh?
A red light flashed in his eyes.
Zangetsu.
The Zanpakutō spirit's voice whispered in his mind.
In an instant, Rosen's vision shifted. He saw the next ten seconds play out like a film.
Crack.
The sound wasn't from his vision. It came from reality.
The ice encasing Edward Newgate exploded.
Not from the outside, but from within.
"Gu...rara...ra...ra!"
A roar that defied death itself.
Rosen slowly turned his head. The ice around Whitebeard was cracking, splitting apart like porcelain under immense pressure.
"Newgate," Rosen said, his voice flat. "You truly bear the title of the strongest."
The ice shattered completely.
Edward Newgate stepped forward, his eyes burning with a ferocity that eclipsed even the most savage Sea King. He couldn't perceive Rosen's heart through Observation Haki—Rosen's Observation Killing was active—but he sensed the intent.
Rosen was moving to wipe out the remnants of the Whitebeard and Big Mom Pirates.
"I will absolutely not let anyone take my family," Newgate boomed, the air vibrating with his voice. "No one. Not even you, Rosen."
"Nothing much," Rosen replied calmly, his hand resting on the hilt of a phantom blade. "Just erasing your legacy."
Crack.
A deafening sound echoed for kilometers.
Centered on Rosen, white atmospheric fissures erupted, covering a hundred-meter radius. They formed a net, trapping him.
Then, the force hit.
It wasn't a shockwave from the outside. It didn't feel like a punch.
Rosen's body began to vibrate violently.
"Hmph."
A muffled groan escaped Rosen's lips. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
He realized the terrifying difference between this and Newgate's previous attacks. The Tremor-Tremor Fruit usually caused external shockwaves—air tremors, sea quakes, earthquakes.
But this...
Rosen felt the vibration originating inside him. His skin, flesh, bones, and organs were all resonating at a terrifying frequency.
"No," Rosen analyzed, his expression darkening slightly. "It's not an internal attack from the outside. It's my own body vibrating."
Imbuing objects with vibrational force was one thing. Causing the target's own body to spontaneously vibrate was another.
This was the true power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit Awakening.
It bypassed his Blut Vene—the ultimate defense where Haki infused his blood vessels. It bypassed his Bloodstained Armor, activated 24/7. It even bypassed the defensive layers of a Susanoo construct, because the vibration was emanating from his very cellular structure.
His heart hammered violently, enduring a force capable of tearing oceans. Even his legendary durability, forged by the Six Treasures Immortal Thief technique and rivaling Kaido, was being overwhelmed.
"This is... the awakening of the strongest Paramecia."
Rosen clutched his chest.
Cracks appeared on his skin, spreading across his body. This pervasive, penetrating vibration was too much for his physical defenses to handle alone.
He had been injured. He was bleeding.
It was the first time since his transmigration that he had felt this level of danger.
Zangetsu.
The spirit's voice was urgent.
I know.
Rosen's eyes snapped open, glowing with intense Haki.
"Susanoo!"
A massive, skeletal avatar of Haki manifested around him. The vibration tried to shake the construct apart, but the sheer density of Rosen's Conqueror's Haki held it together, though the avatar trembled violently.
"Newgate!" Rosen shouted, his voice cutting through the vibration. "You've transcended death to protect them?"
"That's right!" Newgate roared, his glaive Murakumogiri appearing in his hand. "My family is my life! And I will protect them until my last breath!"
The atmosphere cracked further. The vibration intensified, threatening to shatter Rosen from the inside out.
But Rosen smiled. A cold, calculating smile.
"Then I shall break that breath."
Rosen raised his hand.
"Senbonzakura."
From the spectral arm of his Susanoo, thousands of cherry blossom blades materialized. They didn't just glow with Haki; they shimmered with an ethereal, freezing light.
Hyōrinmaru.
The ice dragon coiled around the cherry blossoms.
"Scatter."
The blades shot forward, not as a storm, but as a singular, focused stream. They bypassed the vibrating air, piercing through the cracks in the atmosphere.
Newgate swung Murakumogiri, attempting to shatter the blades with a shockwave.
Shatter.
The ice blades shattered against the vibration, but the cherry blossom petals continued forward, unstoppable.
Newgate's eyes widened.
The petals didn't just cut. They froze.
Wherever they touched, the vibration stopped.
"Your vibration is strong," Rosen stated, stepping out of the Susanoo's protection, his body already healing rapidly through Rokugan Rebirth. "But it relies on the medium of the atmosphere and your target's physiology."
"Ice freezes the atmosphere."
"And my Haki freezes your vibration."
Rosen closed his fist.
"Bankai: Senbonzakura Kageyoshi."
The world turned white.
Not with light, but with petals. Millions of them. A blizzard of razor-sharp, ice-encased cherry blossoms.
Edward Newgate stood amidst the storm. He roared, releasing a final, massive quake that shattered the ground beneath him, but the ice petals absorbed the shock, layering over each other like armor.
"Meigo."
Rosen whispered the name of the final technique.
The petals converged.
They didn't attack Newgate directly. Instead, they formed a massive, intricate cage of blades around him. A prison of frozen steel.
The vibration died down.
The air grew still.
Newgate stood, his weapon lowered, surrounded by the silent, deadly garden.
"You are a monster, Rosen," Newgate said, his voice tired but unbroken. "Stronger than any I have ever faced."
"I am the future of the Marines," Rosen replied, his eyes cold. "And you are the last obstacle to a new era."
Newgate looked toward the distant sea, where his sons were fleeing. He smiled, a genuine, fatherly smile.
"Go on," he whispered to the wind.
Then, he looked at Rosen.
"Do it."
Rosen didn't hesitate.
The garden closed.
Slash.
The blades swept through.
Edward Newgate, the Strongest Man in the World, fell. His body, already dead, finally surrendered to the stillness of the ice.
Rosen stood amidst the settling petals, the blood on his face freezing and then vanishing as his body regenerated.
He looked at the empty space where the pirate king once stood.
"A worthy dance," he murmured.
Then, he turned toward the horizon.
The war was over.
The new era had begun.
—-
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