Three days later, the earth-shaking battle finally drew to a close.
Half of the island had been obliterated by the aftershocks, swallowed by the depths of the Grand Line and reduced to dust beneath the sea.
The culprits themselves Garp and Roger sat sprawled on the beach like two bulls who had spent every ounce of strength, panting heavily. It was a draw.
Under the helpless but familiar gazes of their respective crews, both men stuffed their stomachs with food like starved beasts, then, almost at the same time, tilted their heads back and started snoring loudly where they sat.
"All right, that's a wrap!" Rayleigh clapped his hands together.
"Same procedure as always…" Spencer sighed and expertly directed the rookies. "Lift the captain back to the ship. And be careful, don't let him roll into the sea."
On the other side, the Marines were just as practiced, hauling their Vice Admiral Garp back aboard the dog-headed warship.
The two vessels drifted apart in the bay, their crews exchanging knowing waves of farewell.
Between pirates and Marines lingered a strange atmosphere something like old friends parting ways.
"Next time we meet, we're enemies again!" Gaban bellowed toward the retreating ship.
"Next time, we're taking you all in!" a Marine rear admiral shouted back.
Once the Marines had left, the Oro Jackson's deck finally found a moment of quiet.
But that peace did not last.
As the setting sun painted the sea gold and red, a small boat appeared on the horizon. A towering figure stood alone at its bow. Just by standing there, he radiated a suffocating pressure.
One look at his stance and you knew this man was frighteningly strong.
He had a head of gleaming golden hair and a crescent-shaped white mustache that gleamed in the fading light.
Edward Newgate.
The man who would one day be known as "the Strongest Man in the World" Whitebeard.
Not gonna lie, he's only in his thirties right now. That beard's already a whole performance.
Alone, he leapt straight onto the Oro Jackson's deck. His landing made the entire ship shudder.
"Where's Roger?" Newgate's deep voice rolled across the deck.
His sharp eyes swept over the crew until they landed on Rayleigh, Gaban, and Kael. "I heard he was here. I've come to test myself against him."
This was one of the sea's greatest pirates, a man ranked alongside Roger and Shiki. Several crew members tensed instantly, gripping their weapons.
"Sorry about that, Newgate." Kael stepped forward calmly, arms folded, even wearing an apologetic smile.
"Our captain just went through some heavy 'pre-dinner exercise.' He's currently catching up on sleep and won't be able to answer your challenge for now."
Newgate's brow lifted slightly at the unexpected reply.
Kael reached back and tapped the hilt of his own naginata, golden eyes glinting with pure fighting spirit. "But since you've come all this way, leaving empty-handed would be boring. We both wield naginata why don't I be your opponent instead?"
The deck went still in shock.
"Be careful, Kael!" Elio's brows knitted tight.
"Oi, oi, that's Newgate!" Nozdon hissed.
Newgate stared at the young man before him, surprised at the aura that matched his own. Then he grinned wide, a smile brimming with a conqueror's confidence. "Gurararara! Fine! Let me see how strong Roger's monster really is!"
He reached back and drew his massive naginata Murakumogiri.
Kael unslung his own long naginata. The two men faced each other at the center of the deck.
No Devil Fruits. No flashy techniques. This was a pure duel between naginata wielders.
In the next instant, both figures vanished.
"Clang!!"
Sparks burst like fireworks as the two blades clashed, the collision of Haki sending gusts of wind across the deck and forcing nearby crew members to steady themselves.
Fast too fast.
Their weapons moved as extensions of their bodies. Each strike, parry, and thrust left only afterimages. The blades tore the air with shrill howls. The deck beneath their feet cracked and splintered.
Newgate's power was overwhelming, each strike like a mountain-shattering blow, wide and commanding as a king's decree.
Kael, on the other hand, was more fluid. He infused his mastery of vibration from the Wave-Wave Fruit into his footwork and blade work, dissolving the giant's strength at cunning angles and counterattacking with lightning speed.
Kael seized an opening, driving his black-and-gold naginata upward in a diagonal slash that made the air explode along its path.
Newgate did not dodge. With a low roar, he tightened the Armament Haki on Murakumogiri and brought it down in a vertical cleave, stopping the strike dead in its tracks.
"Not bad!"
Newgate's praise came with even greater ferocity. He stepped forward with such force the entire ship shook, Murakumogiri descending with the weight of ten thousand tons.
Kael's pupils shrank. He raised his blade in a horizontal guard.
"Boom!"
The impact's power defied imagination. Kael's arms went numb, his body pressed down until one knee hit the deck, gouging two deep pits into the wood beneath his boots.
A single misstep.
In pure strength and Haki, he still fell short of this future legend.
"Kuahahaha! Not bad at all, Newgate!"
A familiar voice rang from the cabin.
Roger stood shirtless in the doorway, watching with gleaming eyes.
Kael seized the chance to retreat, shaking out his tingling arms with a wry smile.
Roger strode up and slung an arm over Newgate's shoulder. "Enough fighting! You're here, let's have a feast!"
Newgate sheathed Murakumogiri, glanced at Roger, then at Kael, and shook his head. "A feast will have to wait. I'm still searching for what it means to set sail."
He looked hard at Kael. "You're strong, young one. I look forward to our next fight."
With that, he leapt back onto his own ship and sailed away.
The Roger Pirates stood watching Whitebeard's departing back, silent for a long moment.
Kael sheathed his naginata, his mind racing.
That match had been fought without his Devil Fruit, purely blade, strength, and Haki. With the Wave-Wave Fruit, he was sure he could defeat the yet-to-be-Quake-Quake Whitebeard.
But the future? Once he had eaten the fruit known as the strongest Paramecia, the outcome would be uncertain.
Still… Kael's lips curled upward.
He had one great advantage youth. Time to grow, to accumulate battles, to surpass these living legends.
Then a name flashed in his memory.
God Valley.
In just a few years, the legendary God Valley Incident would take place. The fall of the Rocks Pirates. Roger and Garp fighting side by side. And Whitebeard, back then, a member of Rocks' crew.
Could it be… he only obtained the Quake-Quake Fruit after God Valley?
Then found the meaning of sailing, and started gathering "sons" to form his great family.
A bold, crazy idea took root in Kael's mind.
God Valley where legends would converge, where the old era would end and a new one begin.
There was no way he could miss it.
Kael lifted his gaze to the stormy horizon, golden eyes blazing with unprecedented light.
He licked his lips, murmuring to himself with anticipation and excitement.
"That day, I'll make sure the world turns upside down."