The freezing wind over the western plaza whistled through the gaps in Vice Admiral Gion's uniform as she stood poised on the cracked ice. Her sharp, dark eyes suddenly flicked away from the two Whitebeard Division Commanders, tracking across the battlefield toward the massive, pristine hull of the Moby Dick. Even from this distance, she could feel the violent, chaotic aftermath of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, and more importantly, the sudden, hollow drop in the spiritual pressure of the boy she had spent some time mentoring.
Tenjin's presence had gone utterly stagnant.
Gion slowly sheathed Konpira, the polished guard clicking firmly against the mouth of the scabbard. She didn't look back as she addressed the slouching Marine standing behind her.
"Tokikake," Gion commanded, her voice dropping into an authoritative, no-nonsense register. "Take care of these two. I have to go deal with my student."
Tokikake's jaw practically hit his chest, his eyes widening in complete, comical betrayal behind his tilted hat. 'Eh?! Gion-chan, wait a minute!' he screamed internally, his dramatic posture crumbling. "You're just going to leave me?! We're facing two New World Division Commanders, and you're treating them like errand work?! At least give me a encouraging smile before you drop me in the fire!"
Gion didn't even give him a second glance. With a fluid, sudden burst of speed, she vanished from the ice via a high-tier Soru, leaving nothing but a faint trail of displaced frost behind her as she leaped over the frontline barricades, sprinting directly toward the Whitebeard flagship.
"Oi, oi... she really just walked away," Haruta muttered, a sharp, dangerous smirk returning to his face as he leveled his saber at Tokikake. "Looks like you've been left behind, old man."
"Don't underestimate him, Haruta," Rakuya grunted, lifting his massive spiked iron flail back into a lethal, heavy rotation that shattered the air currents around them. "That's Chaton. He isn't some regular Marine fodder."
"Ah, women truly are a handful," Tokikake murmured, his eyes sharpening to cold slits beneath the brim of his hat. He slowly let his hands drop into his pockets before pulling them out, loosely rolling his shoulders as his posture shifted. The absolute, pathetic look of a rejected suitor completely evaporated, replaced by the terrifying, heavy aura of a man who had earned his place at the absolute peak of the Marine hierarchy. An Admiral candidate in all but title. "Well then, boys... since my heart is already broken today, I suppose I don't mind breaking a few of your bones to match."
BOOM!
The ice beneath Tokikake's boots didn't just crack; it violently imploded as he moved. He didn't use standard Soru. His velocity was so immense that he completely bypassed the visual spectrum, appearing directly above Haruta in a fraction of a millisecond. He didn't draw a weapon; instead, his right fist coated itself in a deep, glossy, ink-black layer of high-grade Armament Haki that gleamed like polished steel. He drove a brutal, descending straight punch right toward Haruta's head.
Haruta's survival instincts flared. He threw his saber upward, coating his own blade in Haki to intercept the incoming fist.
CLANG!
The physical shockwave of flesh striking steel tore a fifty-foot crater into the frozen bay beneath them, ringing out with the deafening sound of a massive anvil being struck. Haruta's knees buckled under the absolute, monstrous weight of the pressure, his boots sinking inches into the solid frost. 'What is this weight?!' Haruta thought, his teeth grinding as sparks flew from the point where Tokikake's bare knuckles pressed against his blade. 'He looks like a slacker, but his raw power is unreal!'
Before Tokikake could capitalize on the pressure and shatter Haruta's guard, Rakuya intercepted. The 7th Division Commander threw his upper body forward, launching his massive spiked flail like a ballistic missile straight at Tokikake's exposed flank. The heavy iron ball was completely enveloped in a swirling vortex of black Haki pressure.
Tokikake didn't break his struggle with Haruta until the absolute last fraction of a second. With an effortless, mid-air twist of his torso, he let go of the pressure, allowing the massive spiked flail to roar past his stomach. Utilizing the momentum of the near-miss, Tokikake stepped directly onto the rushing iron chain itself. He sprinted along the flying links with immaculate, brawling balance, pulling his left fist back as it hardened into a pitch-black mass of destruction.
He thrust his bare fist forward, delivering an invisible, compressed blast of shockwave-infused Armament Haki directly from his punch. The kinetic force detonated right against Rakuya's heavy iron armor, throwing the massive commander backward across the ice for dozens of meters.
Yet, the Whitebeard commanders were veterans of the New World for a reason. Haruta didn't waste the opening. He recovered instantly, spinning through the air to execute a rapid-fire sequence of airborne slashes that targeted Tokikake's blind spots. "Saber Dance: Autumn Storm!"
A cage of flying, razor-sharp blue slashes descended upon the Admiral candidate. Tokikake was forced into a high-speed defensive retreat, his fists moving in a frantic, flashing blur of counters and parries. BANG! BANG! BANG! He literally punched the flying sword slashes out of the air, his Haki-clad knuckles shattering the compressed air waves with brute force. Every impact rang out like a thunderclap, the sheer speed of their exchanges turning the western plaza into a beautiful, lethal exhibition of high-tier brawling. Tokikake was dominating the rhythm with his supreme spatial awareness and advanced fist techniques, but the seamless coordination between Haruta's agility and Rakuya's heavy artillery kept the fight at a breathless, terrifying equilibrium.
---
Meanwhile, high above the chaotic ice bay, Gion ascended the steep boarding ropes of the Moby Dick with effortless grace, vaulting over the high railing to land squarely on the main deck.
Edward Newgate stood near the center of the ship, his massive bisento resting easily in his grip as he watched the unfolding war. He turned his scarred head slightly, his eyes narrowing as he took in the arrival of the Vice Admiral.
"Well, well... a Vice Admiral has climbed aboard my ship," Whitebeard rumbled, his deep voice carrying a testing pressure. "Who might you be, girl? You've got a lot of nerve to step onto my deck completely alone."
Gion didn't even blink. She walked right past the strongest man in the world, her gaze fixed entirely on the shattered crater near the main mast. She didn't look at Whitebeard, she didn't offer a challenge, and she completely ignored his question as if he were nothing more than a ghost.
The nearby Whitebeard pirates who were guarding the deck gasped in absolute shock.
'She just ignored the Pops?!'
'Is she insane?!'
Whitebeard himself let out a subtle, amused huff, his eyebrows raising behind his massive white mustache at the sheer, cold audacity of the woman.
Gion stopped at the edge of the splintered crater. Down in the center of the broken timber, Tenjin lay completely flat on his back. His green hair was matted with dried blood, his chest rising and falling in slow, shallow breaths. The hyperactive, vibrant light that usually defined him was entirely gone, replaced by a dull, glassy stare aimed at the empty clouds. His hands were loose, the wood properties of his fruit completely recessed. He had lost the will to fight.
Gion looked down at him, her expression shifting into a mask of severe, unyielding disappointment.
"Look at you," Gion spoke, her voice cutting through the heavy air like a razor blade. "Pathetic. Is this the boy I spent my time beating into shape in the Marine yards? Is this the absolute limit of your resolve, Tenjin?"
Tenjin didn't look at her. He merely let out a hollow, bitter sigh. "Leave me alone, Gion-sensei... You heard what the old man said. He's right. My blood... everything about me is a mistake. I'm just a monster born from monsters. I don't even know why I'm holding a sword anymore."
BANG!
Before he could finish the sentence, Gion brought the heavy wooden scabbard of Konpira down with descending force, slamming it right into the deck inches from his ear. The impact sent a sharp vibration through his skull.
"Stand up!" Gion roared, her voice echoing across the deck with the force of a commanding officer. "I don't give a damn about who your father is, and I don't give a damn about the Holy Land! When you put on that Marine coat, you didn't swear an oath to your bloodline, you swore an oath to the people who stand beside you!"
She leaned down, her eyes burning with an intense, fierce maternal protection as she glared straight into his dull irises.
"Look down at the plaza, you fool!" Gion hissed, pointing her finger toward the distant defense line. "Koby is bleeding! Helmeppo is fighting past his limits! Prince Grus, Hibari, Kujaku... your friends, your comrades, the people who actually look at you and see Tenjin, not a Celestial Dragon! They are out there risking their lives right now because they believe in you! Are you going to lie here in the dirt crying about a man who doesn't care about you, while the people who actually love you are dying in the mud?!"
The words struck Tenjin's consciousness like a localized lightning strike.
'Koby... Hibari... the elite trainees...'
The glassy look in his eyes instantly shattered, replaced by a sudden, violent spark of realization. He looked toward the plaza. Gion was right. He had been so consumed by his own bitter, childish hatred that he had forgotten why he had even joined the Marines in the first place. He didn't join to serve the World Nobles; he joined because he wanted a place where he could belong, with people he wanted to protect.
A low, deep rumble began to vibrate within his chest. The green steam around his shoulders suddenly flared back into existence. The wood fibers along his arms knit themselves back together with explosive velocity.
"I... I'm a total idiot," Tenjin whispered, a small, familiar smirk slowly returning to his face as he pushed himself up from the dirt. He wiped the blood from his cheek, his eyes shining with an unyielding, competitive fire. "You're right, Sensei. I've got a lot of people to beat up today."
"Then go," Gion said, her expression softening into a small, proud nod. "Don't let your comrades fall."
"Yes, ma'am!" Tenjin shouted.
With a powerful burst of aerial flower propulsion, Tenjin launched himself off the deck of the Moby Dick, flying across the plaza like a green comet as he shot back down into the fray to rejoin the Elite Trainees, his energy fully restored.
Gion watched him land safely in the distance, before she slowly turned her body around. She faced the massive figure of Edward Newgate, her hand returning to the hilt of Konpira. She drew the blade smoothly, the silver steel catching the light of the sun as she pointed the tip directly at the Emperor's chest.
"Now then, Whitebeard," Gion said coldly, her aura skyrocketing as an intense pressure enveloped her body. "Thank you for lecturing my student. But as a Marine Vice Admiral, I cannot let you leave this island alive. I am going to take your head and end this war right here."
Whitebeard looked at the slender woman, then at the glowing gold blade pointed at his heart. For a brief second, the deck was entirely silent. Then, the old Emperor threw his head back and let out a loud, booming chuckle that shook the very foundations of the flagship.
"Gurararara! You've got a fierce tongue, girl!" Whitebeard roared with absolute amusement, his eyes gleaming with anticipation as he raised his massive bisento. "Let's see if your swordplay can back up that massive claim!"
---
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