Ripple cut through the ocean like a living engine, its massive body carving the waves apart as if water itself feared it. We were moving northeast—toward Elbaf, toward the land of giants.
Toward hope
I stood on the Ripple's head, my boots slick with blood and seawater, my left hand clenched tight around Spruce's collar. He was still unconscious, his body limp, rising and falling faintly with each breath.
The wind tore through my matted hair, stinging the open cuts on my face, cooling the blood just enough to remind me I was still alive.
Then—
I saw it.
Through the rolling mist ahead, a shadow emerged.
A Marine battleship.
My breath caught.
"No… not now—"
I slammed my palm against Ripple's head, pouring intent into the Voice of All Things.
"Stop. Halt. Now."
Ripple hissed, muscles tensing, but momentum is a cruel thing. We were already a freight train of ancient power tearing across the sea. By the time we slowed, we were staring straight at the iron hull of the ship.
Behind me, the ocean itself rose.
Two of the Eight Colossal Sea Kings Birdy and Topknot, from the Calm Belt emerged first, their bodies blotting out the horizon. Around them, fifty standard Sea Kings formed a massive ring of teeth and scales, while hundreds of Sea Beasts churned beneath the surface like a living storm.
It was a sight meant to crush the will of any man.
But the man standing on the bow of that ship didn't flinch.
He didn't have a heart.
He had a furnace.
His tan skin burned against the crimson of his suit, his Marine coat snapping in the wind like a banner soaked in blood. Lava dripped lazily from his clenched fist, hissing as it kissed the sea air.
Akainu.
The Admiral froze.
For the first time, the mask of Absolute Justice cracked. His eyes widened, his cigar slipping from his mouth and clattering uselessly onto the deck.
"…Impossible," he growled, his voice low and vibrating like magma beneath stone.
"I burned that bloodline to ash myself. I watched the life leave his eyes."
His gaze locked onto my face.
"Who are you?"
"…Why do you carry that face?"
I didn't answer.
I didn't have the breath—or the strength—to feed his hatred.
Instead, I sent a single, desperate command into the Ripple's mind.
"Back. Now."
The massive creature recoiled, beginning to pull away—but it was already too late.
Akainu moved.
His arm melted, dripping into bubbling magma that pulsed with killing intent.
"I don't care if you're a ghost…"
"…a clone…"
"…or a curse," he roared, rage erupting from him like a volcano.
"GREAT VOLCANO!"
The sky turned orange.
"OPEN YOUR MOUTH!" I screamed.
Ripple obeyed instantly.
I shoved the Spruce forward, forcing Spruce—still unconscious—into Ripple's maw.
"Dive!" I shouted. "Protect him! Don't surface until you're miles away—do you hear me?!"
Ripple plunged.
And the world ignited.
BOOM.
Akainu's magma fist struck the ocean like a falling star. For a heartbeat, there was no sound—only blinding white steam and a violent surge of heat. The sea began to boil.
Beneath the surface, I caught a glimpse of Ripple's silhouette vanishing into the depths, pulling the Ripple far away from the inferno.
A breath escaped me.
"They're safe…"
But I wasn't.
My lungs burned. The water around me grew hotter by the second, turning into a suffocating trap. I kicked upward, dragging myself through the dark blue with my single arm.
I broke the surface near the Marine ship, gasping violently, blood and salt flooding my mouth.
I looked up.
The sky was no longer blue.
It was raining fire.
Akainu hovered above the sea, launching magma fists like meteors, his face twisted with obsession.
"DIE!" he roared. "DIE—DIE—DIE!"
In the distance, the Ripple surfaced for a split second—
"No!" I screamed. "DIVE, RIPPLE!"
A magma fist screamed past, missing by mere meters. Ripple vanished again into the abyss.
Relief hit me.
Then—
A shadow fell over me.
A man-shaped shadow.
"HELLHOUND!"
Akainu dropped from the sky.
He didn't care about the sea.
Didn't care about Devil Fruit curses.
His legs roared like jet engines of magma, propelling him straight at me.
I tried to dive.
Too slow.
BOOM.
The impact was cataclysmic.
The ocean around us flash-hardened into black obsidian, the water screaming as it turned to glass. Akainu stood atop the destruction he created, unbothered.
But his fist—
His fist hit my back.
I was driven deep underwater, air ripped from my lungs as the sea flooded my throat. The pain wasn't just heat—it was branding, like my soul itself was being burned.
I tried to shout—but water rushed in, stealing my voice as I began to sink.
"So this is it…?"
I sank.
The light above flickered like a dying candle.
"Bruh…"
"So this is how it ends?"
"I wasn't able to see the One Piece."
"Wasn't able to meet Gray again."
I struck something hard—the trench floor, or a shard of obsidian torn from the sea itself. Fire roared across my back, a cruel reminder of the man who had ended Ace's life.
My vision dimmed.
The deep sea closed in, cold and silent.
"I'm sorry, Mom…" I thought weakly.
"I guess… the prank is over."