Two days later, the war that had shaken the New World for nearly a week finally came to an end.
Big Mom was the first to finish her battlefield.
"Emperor Sword: Breaking Blade!"
Charlotte Linlin swung Napoleon with terrifying force. The blade burned with golden flames, wrapped in overwhelming Haki. The air itself seemed to split apart.
Wang Zhi raised his sword to block, but his breathing was ragged. Days of nonstop combat had drained him. His body felt heavy. His arms trembled.
Then a strange sound pierced the battlefield.
It was sharp enough to rattle the skull, loud enough to crack the ground beneath their feet. The earth fractured outward in spiderweb patterns. Along with it came a powerful shock to the soul.
At close range, Wang Zhi's body stiffened.
At his peak, such interference would have meant nothing.
But this was not his peak.
After days of fighting, exhaustion weighed on both body and mind. And as the battle dragged on, Big Mom's advantage had only grown clearer.
The sky churned with storm clouds. Lightning split the darkness again and again.
Through the power of the Soul-Soul Fruit, Big Mom had infused souls into Zeus and Prometheus, bending weather and flame to her will. This battlefield had become her domain.
And domains favored their masters.
The moment Wang Zhi stiffened, Big Mom moved.
Her blazing slash tore through him.
Blood sprayed into the storm wind. Wang Zhi's body was launched thousands of meters, smashing into a small mountain. The impact collapsed half the slope, sending rocks cascading down in a thunderous landslide.
His sword flew from his grasp, spinning through the air before plunging tip-first into the muddy ground far away.
For many watching, that image felt symbolic.
The sword had fallen.
Had he even lost the strength to hold his weapon?
The live broadcast followed Big Mom as she advanced toward the ruins.
Wang Zhi lay on the ground, unable to rise.
He could not even move.
Big Mom stood above him on Zeus, her massive figure silhouetted by lightning. She looked down at him the way a monarch looked at a defeated rebel.
"Mama, mama…"
She stepped down from Zeus. The ground shook under her heels. Despite her large frame and pink dress, traces of her former beauty still lingered in her features. Red lipstick. Purple eyeshadow. A cold smile.
Napoleon returned to his hat form atop her head. Zeus and Prometheus floated at her sides.
"Wang Zhi," she said calmly. "Any regrets?"
They had once sailed under the same flag in the days of the Rocks Pirates. But that crew had been built on betrayal. Familiarity did not mean friendship.
After Rocks fell, they became rivals.
Wang Zhi coughed violently. Blood stained his lips.
"You won," he said quietly.
His chest was crushed. Bones shattered. The earlier slash had cut deep. Only his monstrous physique kept him alive.
He smiled faintly.
He remembered his life. His dominance. The years of standing above the sea.
He was old.
Blood soaked his clothes.
Big Mom did not interrupt him.
Wang Zhi felt his life slipping away. To die slowly like this was unbearable for someone who had ruled the sea.
"Do it," he said at last.
Big Mom nodded once.
Dying at the hands of a powerful enemy was the final dignity of an overlord.
"Zeus. Prometheus."
She raised her hands. Lightning gathered in one fist. Flames roared in the other.
"Thunderfire Blast!"
Her fists crashed down together.
The explosion swallowed Wang Zhi's body. The ground shattered. Rock spikes jutted upward as debris blasted outward.
When the dust settled, the overlord of a generation was dead.
The first sea overlord had fallen in the struggle for Emperor.
The world went silent.
Half a day later, Kaido finished his battlefield.
A diagonal scar marked his abdomen.
It had been carved there a day earlier by Silver Axe's strongest attack, a strike that broke through Kaido's defense and left a wound that even his monstrous regeneration could not fully erase.
It was Kaido's first true scar since his rise.
Silver Axe stood opposite him, armor shattered and falling apart. Blood seeped from every crack. His shield was broken in half.
Though not tall, he possessed terrifying natural strength. His giant axe was taller than he was. Against Kaido's massive frame, it was like a human fighting a dragon.
"Silver Axe!" Kaido roared. "Fall!"
He had already heard of Wang Zhi's death. He would not lag behind.
"Thunder Bagua!"
Lightning and Conqueror's Haki wrapped around his kanabo as he launched forward at extreme speed.
Silver Axe had endured for days through sheer toughness. In pure durability, he surpassed Wang Zhi.
But Kaido was different.
Born a monster.
Forged by battle.
Empowered by the Mythical Zoan, Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon.
In human-beast form, every attribute surged.
Silver Axe could not match that.
Still, he did not retreat.
"Raging Axe: Silver Axe!"
He discarded his ruined shield and gripped his weapon with both hands. Muscles bulged. Veins tore. His body screamed in protest.
But he swung.
The silver edge flashed, brilliant and deadly.
Their attacks collided.
The earth sank beneath Silver Axe's feet. Shockwaves rippled outward like earthquakes. Rock formations burst from the ground.
For three breaths, they remained locked.
Kaido grinned.
Silver Axe trembled. If he relaxed even slightly, it would be over.
Pain spread through every limb.
Kaido opened his mouth.
"Boro Breath!"
A blast of scorching dragon fire erupted at close range.
Silver Axe had no room to dodge. The flames struck him directly, disrupting his stance.
The stalemate broke.
Kaido's club smashed upward.
Silver Axe's body was hurled into the air.
Kaido leapt after him.
"Descending Thunder Bagua!"
The kanabo crashed down with black-red lightning exploding outward. The impact shattered the ground across dozens of meters.
Even through a Den Den Mushi screen, viewers felt the terror of it.
Silver Axe hit the earth like a meteor.
Half his body sank into rubble. His chest armor was obliterated. His ribcage was caved in.
He was still barely breathing.
Kaido raised his club.
He did not hesitate.
The final strike ended Silver Axe's life.
A living rival was a future problem.
A dead overlord left chaos.
And chaos benefited the rising Emperors.
With that, the Emperor's Struggle ended.
As predicted, the Big Mom Pirates and the Beasts Pirates emerged victorious.
Charlotte Linlin and Kaido officially became Sea Emperors.
There were now four.
But two overlords had fallen.
Their vast territories lay exposed.
The Big Mom Pirates and Beasts Pirates absorbed portions, but enormous swaths remained unclaimed. The remnants of the Wang Zhi Pirates and the Silver Axe Pirates were leaderless.
Some sought independence.
Some sought protection.
Others waited for the highest bidder.
The region, near the heart of the New World, was too valuable to ignore.
It would become a battlefield of flags and blood.
And already, pirate ships were planting banners across contested islands.
"Guhahaha!"
Watching the broadcast, Shiki laughed loudly.
Yet tears streamed down his face.
He drank from a bottle of sake in long gulps.
Times were changing.
Wang Zhi. Silver Axe.
Both erased by the era.
Once, even Rocks had fallen. A man so powerful he shook the world, yet still defeated by time and by the alliance of Gol D. Roger and Monkey D. Garp.
When would his turn come?
Shiki crushed the empty bottle in his hand.
He had ambitions to conquer the world. He would not fade quietly.
For the first time, he thought of Patrick Redfield differently.
Perhaps preparation was necessary.
Meanwhile, the Moby Dick sailed toward Marine G-1.
A former commander who had escaped Impel Down, Hii, returned to the Whitebeard Pirates, flying across the sea with his Devil Fruit ability.
He rejoined familiar faces.
On deck, Edward Newgate watched the deaths of his former rivals without a word.
He drank quietly.
If one day he fell, what would become of his sons?
Even if he was in his prime now, time never stopped.
"Pops," Marco called softly.
Whitebeard rose to his full height, wind whipping his coat.
"Gurararara!" he roared toward the sea. "I am Whitebeard!"
And the ocean trembled in response.