Under a sky like a black curtain, a bright moon hung high, and countless stars flickered—so peaceful that no one would guess this place had just witnessed a Genesis-level war, one worthy of being carved into a Poneglyph.
But if you looked down—
The shock of the aftermath hit you like a fist.
God Valley had lost more than half of itself.
The once-towering, cracked mountains were long gone—ground into rubble and mud.
Corpses littered the ground. Everything was chaos.
The air reeked of thick blood.
"—"
Surging seawater kept slamming into the shattered edge of the island, rolling chunks of broken stone into the deep.
Anyone could see it:
God Valley—the place that bore witness to that epic "King vs. King" battle—was about to sink forever.
On the decks of the Marine warships across the surrounding sea, every survivor stared at the collapsing island with pale, stunned faces.
Zephyr looked around in disbelief, wiping the blood from his lips as the severed half of his right arm continued to bleed.
"…Is it finally over?"
Sengoku's arms hung limp, blood still seeping from them. Even now, his eyes were filled with lingering shock.
Beside him—
With a massive crash, another slab of God Valley slid into the ocean.
"It's over."
Kong gripped the steel railing with both hands, his voice low.
"…Is Romu dead?"
Garp stood on the deck as well, after calling for medics to carry Tsuru away. He stared at the ever-sinking God Valley, motionless.
Was Romu dead?
He should be.
No one dared give a definite answer.
But after witnessing the power of that final strike—if Romu wasn't dead, that would be the truly abnormal outcome.
Even though they had escaped early, that near-world-melting impact still haunted them.
And now, they couldn't sense Romu's presence at all.
So—
A monster who had crushed the Navy and the World Government's top combat forces by himself…
A monster who had even defeated those thirteen knights of unknown origin…
He might, probably, maybe—most likely—be dead.
Behind Kong and the others, Kuzan and Borsalino both swallowed hard, their eyes locked on the collapsing God Valley.
Compared to Kong's group, their shock was even harder to describe.
It wasn't something you could process.
And Sakazuki—the one who had shown the strongest willpower from the very start—now had pupils contracted to sharp right angles.
His body trembled uncontrollably. Cold sweat drenched his forehead.
In his mind, scenes replayed on a loop:
Romu devouring Rocks… fighting nine alone… almost wiping them out…
Using a wooden substitute to evade the eight-man finishing strike…
Manifesting sixty-four wood dragons and sixty-four wooden avatars…
Instantly killing Tsuru… severing Zephyr's right arm…
Then finally summoning that sky-drowning, colossal emerald Buddha and trading a world-ending blow with thirteen beings beyond Admiral level…
The images kept flashing, pausing, repeating—like a broken film strip—
Until they froze on the moment he had been forced to burn his own flesh with magma just to stay conscious.
"We… won!!"
"We survived!!"
Around them, unlike the officers' heavy silence, the surviving Marines couldn't hold back. Relief burst out of them in cheers. They celebrated simply being alive.
Kong and the others snapped back to reality too.
Their mouths twitched into ugly, bitter smiles.
Yes.
They won.
The losses were catastrophic, but Rocks was dead—and the god-like Romu was dead too.
Wasn't that the greatest victory?
A battle that would reshape the world… had been decided.
In an instant, cheers erupted across the decks of every warship.
Not far away—
Out in the rough water, two figures floated with the sea's buoyancy, staring grimly toward God Valley.
Roger and Rayleigh.
Rayleigh spoke in a low voice.
But Roger didn't answer. He narrowed his eyes, turned away, and began swimming toward the distant dark.
Rayleigh sighed.
Two comrades had died in a single day.
His heart felt hollow—
But after one last look at God Valley, he turned and followed Roger, swimming into the unknown, even if he didn't know where they were headed.
Just then—
A furious dragon roar exploded from the distant island.
Everyone turned.
Under the moonlight, a battered Azure Dragon raged through the sky, roaring as it dove toward the crumbling stones and the nearly sunken God Valley.
Behind it, two severely wounded men drifted through the air.
Whitebeard and Shiki.
The Marines' cheers on deck immediately choked off.
All eyes shifted to Kong standing at the front.
Silence.
Kong looked back at the men behind him—every one of them hunched over, soaked in blood, barely standing.
For a moment he hesitated.
Should he order the battered fleet to strike again—take this chance to annihilate the remnants of the Rocks Pirates?
But then—
A terrifying presence erupted.
It instantly surpassed Kaido, Whitebeard, and Shiki and flashed straight onto God Valley.
"It's him!"
Kong's "mountain" moustache twitched. Pure wariness filled his face.
He recognized him at once—
Redfield, the "Lonely Red."
Kong didn't hesitate.
He raised a hand and barked the order.
The warships' horns blared. The fleet began to move, turning back toward their bases.
No one objected.
Not even Garp.
With their current condition, picking a fight with Redfield was suicide.
God Valley
With a sharp burst of air, Redfield landed first.
Kaido followed.
Then came the last two—Whitebeard and Shiki—barely holding themselves together.
"Captain Romu!!"
The moment Kaido touched down, he shifted back into human form, frantic and searching every corner with bloodshot eyes.
Redfield didn't look around.
He released his Observation Haki to the limit and blanketed the entire island.
In an instant, the world in his perception turned black and white—
But the lingering energy residue from that final clash slowed his scan. He swept over every rock, every corpse, every fragment, carefully.
After a long moment—
"Well?!"
Shiki demanded, coughing hard. Using his Devil Fruit power in this state was torture.
Whitebeard leaned forward, urgent.
"…Is he alive?!"
Silence.
Redfield didn't answer.
He only shook his head.
A trace of regret crossed his eyes.
Just moments ago, he'd already decided he would join Romu's crew—
But in the blink of an eye, the one man who had truly made him submit… was gone.
"So I'm fated to be alone."
The regret vanished.
Redfield became the old Redfield again—the man who refused companionship.
Ignoring Whitebeard and Shiki, he slung his umbrella-sword onto his shoulder and walked away.
With a soft whoosh, he disappeared from their sight.
"Romu… how could he die?!"
Whitebeard finally broke.
He roared, fury and grief tearing out of him.
Romu…
For the first time since he became a pirate, Whitebeard had met someone he truly liked—someone he wanted to call a real partner.
Shiki scanned the broken island with shadowed eyes. His emotions churned too.
After Romu had saved them, joked with him, and casually lit him a cigar—
Shiki had also started to see Romu as someone who could be called a partner.
But then those thirteen knight-demons had appeared—
And Romu had fallen here.
"Rumble…"
The island collapsed faster and faster.
Only a few hundred square meters remained. In just minutes, it would all be swallowed.
"Damn it!"
Shiki cursed.
He was a Devil Fruit user. And with his injuries, falling into the sea meant death.
He forced himself up to leave—
Then paused, frowning back at Whitebeard still standing there.
"Hell…"
The next second, both of their bodies floated.
Shiki carried Whitebeard away toward the distant island.
Now only Kaido remained on God Valley.
"Captain Romu!"
He kept flipping through the few corpses left, one by one, trying to identify them.
His eyes were red. He looked insane.
He wasn't the future "Beast Kaido" yet.
He was just a stubborn fifteen-year-old boy.
He had chosen Romu as his captain—and if Romu died, Kaido would die believing it.
Not just because Romu was strong—
But because Kaido believed in fate.
Because Romu had given him the power that would change his entire life: the Fish-Fish Fruit.
"Damn it!! Captain Romu can't be dead!"
When he reached the last corpse and it still wasn't Romu, Kaido hurled it into the sea and screamed at the sky.
Cold seawater flooded over the final patch of land.
The chill hit him, and he snapped back into clarity.
"Captain Romu!"
"Don't worry!"
"I'll avenge you!!"
He looked around at the last scraps of land—barely more than a few dozen square meters now.
Then he jumped, transformed into an Azure Dragon, and let out a low cry toward the tiny, palm-sized remains of God Valley.
Without looking back, he fled into the distance.
And just as God Valley became a black speck—
And was completely swallowed by the sea—
Space above it twisted.
A pitch-black hole, several meters tall, formed.
The next moment, a red flower slowly drifted out of it.
Romu.
Blood—redder than petals—spilled from his mouth in two thick streams.
With the last shred of will he had, Romu forced the flower forward, staggering through the sky.
"Rumble—!"
Weather at sea changed without warning.
The sky that had been clear a moment ago suddenly thundered—
Then torrential rain crashed down.
The red flower swayed… and fell onto the sea.
"Heh…"
Romu's face was pale as paper.
He gave a bitter smile and used his final ounce of strength.
Swish!
The red flower transformed into a "coffin"—its front and back both carved into green-faced, fanged demon masks.
Storm winds. Towering waves.
And the coffin drifted—pulled by the sea—
Toward a faraway, unknown destination.
Later — Mary Geoise, the Great Conference Hall
The Five Elders sat in luxurious sofas.
Kong and the others stood below.
Notably, after this battle, Sakazuki, Kuzan, and Borsalino had been personally valued by Kong and brought to the "Holy Land" as well.
"…That's basically what happened," Kong finished in a heavy voice.
"What do you mean 'basically'?! It must be completely sealed off!"
The black-suited elder's moustache shook violently, his tone vile.
Especially when he said the name Romu—the trembling was worse.
"This name must never appear in this world again!!!"
"But—"
Kong's face twisted helplessly.
They'd suppressed information before. They were experienced.
But this time was different.
This time, to display the World Government's might and the Navy's power, they had publicly moved to execute the Rocks Pirates.
Powerhouses from all over the world had been mobilized.
How could you erase that?
Even with high-pressure suppression, it would take over a decade to bury it underground.
To truly "erase" it—
It would take at least decades. One generation had to die out, the next had to grow up—only then would it be remotely possible.
"No 'but'!"
The green-suited elder roared.
"What are you Marines even good for?!"
Behind Kong, Sakazuki's face turned pitch-black. Rage boiled inside him.
His eyes burned as he snapped at them:
"Why should the entire world be forced to spin in circles because of a dead man?!"
"If this happens again—what 'face' will the Marines have left?!"
The moment those words landed—
Kuzan and Borsalino froze.
They couldn't believe Sakazuki dared speak like that to the Celestial Dragons' administrators.
Even Kong—now Fleet Admiral—wouldn't dare.
Only Garp frowned, staring at Sakazuki, thinking silently:
"This kid… actually has the guts."
Boom!
The Five Elders' aura erupted like a guillotine.
"The Navy's 'face'… is what, exactly?"
The black-suited elder leaned forward slightly, eyes narrowed, sweeping his gaze over Kong's group as if they were insects.
"You Marines are nothing more than the World Government's outer mask."
The kimono-clad elder slammed the First Kitetsu down and snarled.
Cold sweat poured down Kong's forehead. Terrified they would execute Sakazuki on the spot, he stepped sideways and placed himself in front of him.
The kimono elder's eyes flashed—
But he lowered the blade.
Even they knew: God Valley was already a mess they didn't want to handle openly.
The red-suited elder's face sank into shadow as he stared at Kong shielding Sakazuki.
"First time."
"And the last."
Then he continued coldly:
"This matter is no longer the Navy's concern."
"It will be handled entirely by the World Government's direct secret intelligence agency."
With that, all five elders snorted and waved them off impatiently.
Kong and the others were displeased—
But could only accept it and withdraw.
After they left—
The kimono-clad elder lifted the First Kitetsu and turned toward Pangaea Castle.
After a moment of thought, he said quietly:
"Let's go."
"We need to report to Lord Im."
Meanwhile, on a calm sea far away—
A green-faced, fanged "coffin" drifted with the waves.
No one knew where it would wash ashore.
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