Chapter 48 – Pica's Mental Breakdown!
At the bottom of the massive ocean trench cleaved open by Whitebeard in Dressrosa…
There was no seawater.
As if an invisible force was holding back billions of tons of water on both sides, forming two towering, distorted "walls of water."
It was the lingering force of Whitebeard's slash—still refusing to fade even now.
"Pffft… cough cough…"
A harsh cough echoed across the strange vacuum-like space.
Whitebeard lay sprawled in a battered heap on the dry ocean floor.
He spat out several mouthfuls of hot blood—mixed with bits of internal organs.
"Gu… gurararara…"
With the last remnants of strength in him, his hand—still covered in IV needles—trembled violently as he pushed himself up.
At last, he managed to stand, though barely.
His gaze first fell upon Murakumogiri, embedded in the rocky ground beside him.
Then—
Whitebeard's pupils narrowed sharply.
The weapon that had accompanied him his entire life, the symbol of the "Strongest Man in the World"—
Now…
Was bent.
The naginata was actually bent.
After being struck by a single kick from Akira—it had curved into an L-shape, nearly ninety degrees.
"You've got to be kidding…"
A chilling horror spread through Whitebeard's heart.
"That brat's strength… is insane!"
"He… is he even human?!"
A sharp, tearing pain ripped through his chest—the exact spot where Akira's gigantic foot had landed.
He could feel it clearly—
"My ribs…"
"I don't even know how many are broken…"
Yet that physical pain was nothing compared to the shock rattling his soul.
For the first time since becoming the "strongest man"—
A single thought surfaced in his mind.
"This is impossible to fight."
"This monster called Akira cannot be opposed by any kind of power!"
A sudden old memory flashed across his mind.
God Valley.
The blood-soaked battle even Roger refused to speak about.
"That sinister force was mysterious… unnatural…"
"But this boy…"
Whitebeard looked upward toward the three-hundred-meter giant towering above the sea.
"He is pure 'power'!"
"An absolute power that defies all explanation!"
And what truly crushed his spirit—
"Earlier… I could feel it clearly…"
"That brat… wasn't even going all out!"
"He held back while fighting me!"
"And I…"
Whitebeard looked down at his caved-in, blood-soaked chest.
"I used everything…!"
Then a bitter thought rose inside him.
"No… not just everything."
"I could die here…"
"But my sons must not!"
"If I am no match for this boy…"
"Then they will only be throwing their lives away if they fight!"
With the instinct of a father—Whitebeard made his final decision.
He lifted his head, gathering the last of his Conqueror's Haki into his throat.
He roared——!!!!
A roar filled with a father's will blasted through ten thousand meters of seawater, tore through the air, and reached the harbor instantly!
"JOZU!!"
"VISTA!!"
On the harbor, every division commander preparing to fight froze in shock.
"Take everyone!!"
"Get on the ships!!!"
"Leave this place!!!"
Whitebeard's final order.
"And never come back!!!"
As Jozu, Vista, and the division commanders shouted with bloodshot eyes—
Whitebeard, deep beneath the sea, smiled faintly.
He ignored his near-shattered body.
He placed both hands—hands capable of shaking the world—
Slowly—
Against the ocean floor beneath him.
"Gurararara…"
"My sons… take care of yourselves…"
"This new era belongs to Akira…"
"Your hope lies in the future…"
Gura Gura no Mi!!
Crack——!!!!
Crack——!!!!
A quake!
A world-shattering tremor exploded upward from the ocean floor!
All of Dressrosa's landmass began experiencing the greatest "earthquake" in its history!
The island screamed and groaned!
…
At the same time, at the "Mingo Construction Group Headquarters."
On the steel framework of a newly built skyscraper—
Pica stood there with enormous dark circles under his eyes, gripping the giant blueprint designed by Akira.
He had been working overtime nonstop for three days and nights.
He had just finished repairing the cracks caused by Akira vs Kaido.
He had just reinforced the foundation of King's Plateau…
"Huh?"
He felt a tremor ten times stronger than the shockwaves from Akira vs Kaido!
He looked down.
And saw the island he had just repaired—
Once again—
Cracking!!
Splitting into four pieces!
"..."
"NOOO—!!!!!!!"
Pica's ear-piercing scream shot into the sky!
"Damn it!!"
"You bastards!!"
Pica began crying.
"Have any of you ever thought about my feelings?!"
"You destroyed this island again!"
"And who's going to be forced to work overtime fixing it?! ME!!!"
"Stop! STOOOOP!!!!"
Amid Pica's desperate wails—
Dressrosa shattered into four massive fragments!
…
With the collapse of the continental shelf under Whitebeard—
The two massive "walls of water" previously held apart by his slash—
Finally collapsed!
"ROOOOOOOAR——!!!!"
Billions of tons of seawater, mixed with a quake-powered tsunami, surged in from all directions!
The massive trench filled in an instant!
And Whitebeard's colossal body—along with his now-bent Murakumogiri—
Was swallowed—
Completely.
…
At the harbor.
"OYAJI!!!!"
"OYAJIIIIII——!!!"
Jozu and Vista roared in anguish as the sea engulfed their father!
"Hurry! Get on the ships! Save Oyaji!!"
But just as the tsunami slammed toward the harbor—miraculously—
The water didn't crash into them.
Instead—
Right before it reached the ships—
The water twisted, forming a powerful yet gentle current!
Boom!"
The Moby Dick—and every division commander's ship—was pushed backward!
As if Whitebeard himself were sending them away.
Jozu froze stiff.
He felt that gentle current.
"This… this…"
"Oyaji…"
"With the last of his strength…"
"…he's sending us away…"
"What are you waiting for, idiots!!"
Vista gritted his teeth until they bled!
"Move!!"
"Carry Ace and Marco!!"
"Get the ship running!!!"
"Follow Oyaji's final order!!!"
"OUUUAAAHHH—!!!"
The Whitebeard Pirates lifted Ace and Marco's unconscious bodies onto the ship.
Silent tears streamed down their faces as they boarded the Moby Dick—
A ship pushed away from danger by their father's dying will.
The ship drifted toward the open sea…
But suddenly!
It jolted—pulled back by a force!
They looked behind—
And saw—
Akira, in his three-hundred-meter giant form, gripping countless silk threads attached to their ship!
"You bastards completely destroyed my island!"
"And you're trying to run off without paying the damage fee?"
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