The emperors of the sea who ruled the New World—
and the Admirals of the Navy Headquarters who stood as the highest military power—
both were titans, beings who stood at the very peak of the ocean's hierarchy.
Between them and the rest of the world's powerful figures stretched an insurmountable chasm.
Even among the Seven Warlords of the Sea, only Dracule Mihawk—the world's greatest swordsman—could stand at that same height.
The gap between a Warlord and an Admiral, or a Warlord and a Yonko, was a gulf that few could ever cross.
Even the man who would one day be hailed as the Fifth Emperor, Straw Hat Luffy, who would later command a bounty of 1.5 billion—
had once been felled in an instant by the overwhelming might of Kaido, the "Strongest Creature in the World."
Eustass Kid, whose bounty would one day soar past three billion after his exploits on Onigashima,
had also fallen in a single instant—to the divine strike of the red-haired Emperor, Shanks.
Even his partner, Killer, the masked warrior who fought beside him, could not withstand the aftermath.
Such was the terrifying power of the Four Emperors.
And the Admirals—who stood as their equals—were no less monstrous.
The three Admirals of the Navy were far from ordinary men.
Each possessed the might of a Logia-type Devil Fruit—abilities that could reshape the battlefield like natural disasters.
But beyond their Devil Fruits, every Admiral was a master of Taijutsu and Haki, warriors who had tempered their bodies and spirits to the extreme.
Take Admiral Aokiji, for instance—
who now stood at the center of the battlefield, fighting at full strength.
Long before he gained the power of the Chill-Chill Fruit, he had idolized the Marine hero, Garp.
In his youth, Kuzan trained directly under the old hero's supervision,
honing his fists by using entire warships as sandbags—
year after year, day after day—until his knuckles bled and his bones screamed.
The echo of his blows against those steel hulls had once rivaled Garp's own training.
He had inherited the "Iron Fist" of the Marine hero in both strength and spirit.
Then, when fate granted him the Logia power of ice,
he fused it with his iron fist to create a terrifying hybrid—
the Frozen Gauntlet.
That very technique—
the pinnacle of Aokiji's strength—
was the same move that, two years after the events of this war, would allow him to defeat his mentor Garp in a one-on-one battle at Beehive Island.
Such was the scale of his power—an attack that rivaled divine techniques like Thunderclap Eight Trigrams or Divine Departure.
By contrast, Fire Fist Ace—the young captain of Whitebeard's Second Division—
was no weakling. As a Logia user of the Flame-Flame Fruit, his strength was recognized across the seas.
Yet…
His greatest flaw lay in his overreliance on his fruit's power,
neglecting to train his Haki and refine his close-combat technique.
So when Aokiji's Ice Gauntlet shattered Ace's blazing Fire Fist,
the outcome was sealed.
Under the overwhelming might of the Admiral fighting with everything he had,
Ace's body was hurled backward, blood spraying from his lips.
"Ace!!!"
Sabo and Luffy cried out in unison, their voices cracking in horror.
"Captain Ace!!!"
The Whitebeard Pirates turned pale, their expressions frozen in disbelief.
"Captain Ace… he's unconscious!"
"No… no way! That's our Second Division Commander!"
"What did that Admiral—what did Kuzan do!?"
Their voices trembled with shock and denial,
each word trembling like the sea itself beneath the titanic clash.
No one could believe what they had just witnessed.
That a man as strong as Fire Fist Ace—
could be defeated by Admiral Aokiji in a single, devastating blow.
"What… what was that?"
Luffy's voice shook as his wide eyes stared at the fallen Ace.
"That move… why did that attack look just like Grandpa's punch…?"
His entire body quivered,
his mind torn between recognition and dread.
"Uwohhh!"
"Kuzan Admiral—so strong!!!"
"As expected of Admiral Aokiji!"
"Did you see that!? That's the power of a true Marine Admiral!"
"It's over for the Whitebeard Pirates now! Surrender while you still can!"
The Marines erupted into cheers,
their morale reignited by the overwhelming display of might.
"Well done, Kuzan."
Marshal Sengoku nodded solemnly, his golden Buddha form fading as his tone carried pride.
"He actually felled Fire Fist Ace with a single strike… Was he holding back when we were at Enies Lobby last time?"
Robin's eyes widened, disbelief crossing her face.
"No," Juvia said softly beside her, her voice calm but firm.
"He wasn't holding back. He simply never had a reason to unleash this much power before Sugisawa Yuuto appeared."
"Ohh~ So Kuzan's finally showing us what he's truly capable of?"
High above, Admiral Kizaru raised his hand lazily, a faint smirk on his lips.
The air shimmered as golden light gathered at his fingertip—
a laser of pure destruction forming, aimed directly at the unconscious Fire Fist Ace… and the Straw Hat boy beside him.