"So, even the Marine's Grim Reaper can bleed!"
Edward Newgate stood tall, wielding Murakumogiri like an inverted mountain cleaving the sea. A chilling grin spread across his face as he looked down at Rosen, blood trickling from the Admiral's mouth.
The injury validated Newgate's belief: even the invincible "Grim Reaper" was not truly invincible. At least, when facing the awakened Tremor-Tremor Fruit—the ultimate Paramecia ability that defied comprehension.
Unprepared, Rosen couldn't withstand it. The awakened power was simply too terrifying—a form of instant death.
"White... beard...!"
Rosen's face twisted in grimace, his speech broken and difficult. His vocal cords were collapsing from the violent vibrations; even uttering three words was agony.
"Speaking is weak. You've reached your limit."
Newgate raised his right hand, unleashing a torrent of Armament Haki that flowed like liquid metal, and a surge of Conqueror's Haki that coalesced into raging black lightning. Both coiled around Murakumogiri's blade.
Thump.
He took a step toward Rosen. The force sent shockwaves through the ice, causing the frozen expanse stretching for kilometers to tremble violently.
"No matter how powerful your Haki, no matter how well you've mastered your Arms-Arms Fruit, no matter how many Zanpakutō you possess—as long as you're a Devil Fruit user, destruction ends it all."
Newgate unleashed a chilling aura, a demon descending from the heavens, striding toward Rosen, who could barely stand.
Rosen's body trembled violently. His Zanpakutō slipped from his fingers, clattering onto the ice. The bones, muscles, skin, and nerve tissue of his hands were shattered by the vibrations. Even gripping a sword was now impossible.
"You can't even speak anymore?"
Newgate stood before Rosen, looking at the man who had brought unprecedented despair to the Whitebeard Pirates, the Four Emperors, and the entire pirate world. Now, unable to speak, he seemed to have unloaded a tremendous burden.
He let out a long sigh.
"Then."
"Goodbye."
"Rosen."
The words, laced with absolute killing intent, barely left his lips before Newgate raised Murakumogiri. The blade wreathed in two-colored Haki, imbued with world-destroying force, unleashed a violent slash that shattered space itself.
Crack.
The moment Rosen—trapped and immobilized in the fractured space—was struck, the cracks filling the surrounding area immediately expanded further. The fissures, already over a hundred meters long and emitting eerie white light, stretched to half a kilometer.
An area of five hundred meters in radius was completely cleaved in two by Newgate's strike, combining both Haki types and the awakened Tremor-Tremor Fruit.
Bang.
The next second, a deafening roar like a thousand thunderclaps erupted. The ice beneath Rosen's feet succumbed to pressure and exploded, shattering on the spot.
One hundred meters. Five hundred meters. One thousand meters. Five thousand meters...
Newgate's strike shattered a layer of ice several kilometers thick. Space itself exploded like a broken mirror; countless fragments—indistinguishable as atmospheric or spatial debris—scattered like meteors.
Meanwhile, Rosen's head and body, under the shockwave of Murakumogiri, visibly twisted, contorted into a pretzel shape.
Then—
Boom!
Under the devastating, tsunami-like force, Newgate buried him several kilometers deep in the ice. The overwhelming shockwave, like soil and a coffin lid, completely sealed him away.
Rolling icy mist flowed along the collapsed ice layers, then rose abruptly, forming a towering mushroom cloud that blotted out the sky. Deafening roars as space shattered, as ice layers collapsed, as sky and sea shook seemed to proclaim to all pirates of the Grand Line:
The Marine's Grim Reaper was buried in the New World.
"This is the power of the old man!"
"We won!"
"Old Man must have won!"
"Victory belongs to the Whitebeard Pirates!"
Listening to the thunderous cheers echoing across the battlefield, looking at the shattered sky and the majestic mushroom cloud, all pirates shared the same thought: their father, Edward Newgate, had won.
In response, the three Marine Admirals remained silent. The "Devil's Heir" watched with cold eyes. The Seven Warlords' expressions flickered with varying reactions.
They all understood: the sky, shattered and unrepaired, and the world-destroying commotion were results of the awakened Tremor-Tremor Fruit. Such terrifying power convinced nearly every pirate that Rosen was defeated. The world's strongest man had achieved final victory.
"Father!"
Only Marco remained. He lay prostrate, gazing at the cracked sky, his face devoid of joy, expression deepening with grief.
The three Admirals' words still echoed: the aura emanating from Edward Newgate was that of a corpse. No matter how powerful he was, no matter whether he truly defeated the strongest Marine in history, it couldn't change one fact—that suffocated him just thinking about it.
The Whitebeard Pirates were about to lose their king.
"Is it because you can't let go of us—your worthless sons?" Marco murmured. "That makes it impossible for you to rest in peace. Even after entering hell, you still chose to return to the world."
Besides being second-in-command, Marco was the ship's doctor. Once, while drinking with Newgate, they'd discussed whether a person could return to life after death. Marco, as a doctor, firmly believed death was final. As captain, Newgate jokingly said he wouldn't give up even if he died to protect his family.
That casual conversation was now reality. The strongest man in the world refused to surrender even in death, returning from hell with a will that transcended death. Just like during the Marineford War—pierced twice by magma fists, recalling moments with Ace, he reopened eyes that should have stayed closed, unleashing a devastating punch that shattered Marine Headquarters.
---
Below the soaring icy mist mushroom cloud...
Edward Newgate stood at the edge of a ten-kilometer-long chasm formed by collapsed ice, looking down at Rosen's burial ground.
"He's dead," Newgate's eyes flashed red as he activated Observation Haki. He sensed a corpse's aura from the Grim Reaper's grave. Rosen was dead.
Realizing this, Newgate turned to face the battlefield where Marines and pirates clashed. He knew he couldn't stop yet. Slaying the Grim Reaper didn't mean victory. The Navy still had three Admirals, the Devil's Heir, numerous Vice Admirals who'd consumed artificial Azure Dragon and Buddha Zoans, and the Seven Warlords. Until all these powerful enemies were wiped out, his family remained in grave danger.
"Hold on a little longer," Newgate whispered to himself, propping up his drooping eyelids with incredible willpower. He dragged his body—heart long since stopped—step by step toward Marco and the others. "My foolish children, your old man is coming."
"Hold on a little longer," he repeated mentally. "No matter what, I must hold on until I defeat the three Admirals, the Devil's Heir, and the Seven Warlords of the Sea."
---
"You said he's dead?"
"Newgate."
"I don't quite understand what you're saying."
Hearing the familiar voice beside him, Newgate stopped abruptly and turned toward its source. His eyes widened, pupils contracting to pinpoints.
In his line of sight stood a figure that should never have been there. The man he'd plunged into ice thousands of meters deep moments ago now stood behind him, completely unharmed.
"Rosen?" Newgate's voice betrayed surprise and disbelief.
"It's me, no doubt."
Seeing Newgate's incredulous expression, Rosen smiled and nodded, confirming this wasn't an illusion.
"Weren't you in the ice five thousand meters below? How did you end up here?" Newgate demanded. "Besides, I clearly killed you completely! Your aura... it's definitely the aura of a dead man."
Newgate stared at Rosen, growing increasingly shocked. His eyes flashed red, and his Observation Haki spread out once more. There was no mistake—Rosen exuded the aura of a corpse. The Marine before him was already dead. At least, from Observation Haki's perspective, that was correct. Yet strangely, his eyes and ears told him Rosen was still alive.
"Aura?" Rosen's smile deepened. "You mean this?"
He whispered: "Shatter, Mirror Flower, Water Moon."
Crack.
With the sound of shattering glass, cracks similar to those formed by the Tremor-Tremor Fruit's space-ripping appeared on Rosen's body. Newgate, still using Observation Haki, instantly paled and reflexively exclaimed:
"Impossible!"
"He's actually... alive?"
He cried out in disbelief. Just moments ago, Rosen exuded a dead man's aura, but the next second, he'd transformed back into a living man's aura. This ability to switch auras so freely between life and death horrified even the world's strongest man.
—-
Enjoying the story? You can read 3-5 chapters ahead right now on Patreon!
New chapters drop there much earlier than Web Novel.
Join P@treon & Read Ahead → https://[email protected]/c/Ren_Saga
Thank you for your support! ❤️