"You!"
Edward Newgate, his heart gone and fighting death with sheer willpower alone, saw two feet suddenly appear in his vision. His pupils shifted upward.
A figure wielding Kyōka Suigetsu stood before him.
Rosen.
The sight made Newgate's mind reel with conflicting emotions. Incredulity—after taking the full force of his devastating attack, this man stood completely unharmed. Confusion—he noticed something wrong. Why did Rosen only wield Kyōka Suigetsu? Where was the other blade, Tensa Zangetsu?
Did the attack destroy his Tensa Zangetsu?
But why is Rosen completely unharmed?
Unless... the one wielding Tensa Zangetsu was never him to begin with.
As Newgate stared at Rosen, his racing thoughts hit a wall of uncertainty.
"Even without your heart, you still refuse to die?"
Rosen lowered his gaze, meeting Newgate's crimson eyes.
"Isn't it better to die with the illusion of defeating the Marines' Reaper?"
"Continuing to resist only brings more agonizing despair. Newgate."
He stared into the Whitebeard's eyes, which gleamed with scarlet light.
"Gurgle... gurgle..."
"It's just half a body," Newgate laughed, the sound broken and intermittent. "I won't die until I defeat you!"
His voice carried an aura of dominance that transcended death itself.
"Give up." Rosen shook his head. "Your Tremor-Tremor Fruit's awakened ability cannot touch me. Forever."
"How do you know if you don't try?" Newgate remained unmoved, his will unbroken.
"Have you forgotten?"
Rosen sighed slightly upon seeing this.
"Forgot what?"
Newgate struggled to rise from the pool of his own blood. Spatial rifts—cracks in reality emitting eerie white light—spread from him, surging toward Rosen.
Even with his body destroyed, he fought on by sheer willpower.
"You're dead, Newgate."
Rosen ignored the spatial rifts extending toward him.
"Dead?"
Newgate's scarlet pupils widened. An image flashed through his mind unbidden.
In that vision: Rosen held Daiguren Hyōrinmaru, pointing the blade at him, freezing him mid-air.
Then the memory hit like a tidal wave.
He had been fighting to forget. Forbidding himself from knowing. From remembering.
Because he couldn't die. In the world of One Piece, unwavering belief was power. Newgate could only continue living if he firmly believed he was alive.
But now...
Whether it was because Rosen's Getsuga Jūjishō had destroyed half his body, or because his will had reached its limit, Newgate trembled as Rosen's words struck home.
He remembered.
"So that's how it is." His voice was quiet now. "I've been dead for so long."
Newgate murmured, his head—held high in defiance of death—slowly drooping back into the pool of blood. His eyelids, which had trampled death itself, closed.
Boundless darkness devoured him from all directions.
Thud.
His head hit the ground. His will vanished. For the first time, Edward Newgate closed his eyes—and closed them forever.
The world's strongest man was not a god. He could transcend death once, twice, three times—but not countless times.
Tap. Tap.
With Newgate's demise, two figures staggered from the abyss of the ten-kilometer ice canyon he had torn apart with his awakened Tremor-Tremor Fruit.
One wore a black overcoat and white shirt, black hair and beard, weathered face, semi-transparent glasses.
The other wore a white Shinigami uniform, short pale hair, cold face, arrogant eyes.
"Yo, my lord."
The white-haired figure—Hollow White—glanced at Newgate's prone body before turning to Rosen with a haughty smile. "That guy called Whitebeard? You finally killed him."
"He couldn't even tell who he was fighting," the black-clad figure—Zangetsu—said expressionlessly. "No reason for him not to be killed."
"True, but he was strong," Hollow White shrugged. "Almost shattered both of us with his tremor."
Zangetsu didn't refute. They both acknowledged it: Newgate had become terrifying after awakening his Devil Fruit.
"The only one who could make our King wield both Kyōka Suigetsu and our Zanpakutō in battle is Whitebeard," Hollow White said, arrogance in his tone—but a hint of admiration remained.
A man who forgot his own death to fight beyond his limits. In the entire pirate world, only Edward Newgate could achieve that feat.
"Thank you for your hard work, Zangetsu."
Rosen's words were simple.
"It's alright," Hollow White stretched. "Thanks to this guy, I got some fresh air and even stretched my muscles. His final attack was brutal—knocked us back from Bankai to Shikai state."
"Later, I'll trouble you to repair us," Zangetsu finished, his form fading until he vanished completely, leaving only a short sword—Zangetsu—diagonally embedded in the ice.
A shocking crack ran along its blade, carved by Newgate's awakened tremor.
"I will," Rosen nodded.
"Well then, that's settled. I'm leaving. My King!" Hollow White waved, repeatedly addressing Rosen as "King," then vanished like his counterpart, leaving behind a long sword—Zangetsu—also cracked from the battle.
At this moment, if Newgate were still alive, he would understand why Rosen was unharmed. Why Rosen only held Kyōka Suigetsu while Tensa Zangetsu was nowhere to be found.
It was simple: the one who pierced Newgate's heart and unleashed Getsuga Tenshō wasn't Rosen. It was Tensa Zangetsu, materialized using Rosen's Arms-Arms Fruit ability. Even the final blow Newgate seized—the one that shattered space, shook the heavens, and carved the canyon—was Tensa Zangetsu.
That was why Rosen had told him: Continuing to persist only brings despair.
If Newgate had persisted after realizing he was dead, he would have seen Hollow White and Zangetsu emerge from the canyon's depths. He would have known he fought merely two Zanpakutō casually created by Rosen.
Then he would have understood the truth.
The awakened Tremor-Tremor Fruit could never even graze Rosen's sleeve.
Snap.
Rosen sheathed Kyōka Suigetsu, then grasped both Zangetsu blades.
Clang.
With a chilling sound, the cracks on both swords healed instantly, as if they'd never existed. Each Zanpakutō was created by his Arms-Arms Fruit—naturally, he could repair it to its original state.
Even if shattered beyond recognition, he could recreate it. Just as Charlotte Linlin could create thundercloud Zeus, she could create Hera.
Whoosh.
After restoring the twin swords, Rosen vanished from his spot along with them.
This wasn't Geppo—using Armament Haki as a stepping stone for midair movement. It was an inherent ability of the twin swords: Sound Spin. With this, even without Observation Haki, Rosen could evade detection during spatial teleportation.
Combining Sound Spin with Observation Haki rendered even the most powerful Observation Haki incapable of perception. Unable to foresee the future. Unable to sense presence. Truly achieving complete evasion.
Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.
After several flashes and reappearances, Rosen left the battlefield where he'd fought Newgate, Shiki, and Linlin. Like a god descending, he stood above the Marines and pirates still locked in desperate combat, looking down at the pirates' last stand.
"Rosen!"
Marco, defeated by Borsalino and lying prostrate on the ground, barely alive, immediately noticed Rosen standing in the sky. Seeing him appear—but not Newgate, Linlin, or Shiki—his last shred of hope was instantly extinguished.
At this moment, he completely believed the three Admirals' words.
Edward Newgate was truly dead.
The Phoenix's heart died with him.
—-
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! ❤️