Two days later, Fleet Admiral Sengoku reluctantly announced to the world that the execution of Fire Fist Ace had not been entirely successful.
The official explanation was carefully worded. Although Ace had survived, he had lost an arm to Admiral Aokiji. At the same time, the Marines declared a decisive victory in the war—boasting the death of the world's strongest man, Edward "Whitebeard" Newgate, the elimination of nearly twenty thousand pirates, and the capture of several thousand more.
Notably absent from the announcement was any mention of Marine casualties.
Those losses were far from insignificant, and revealing the true numbers would have dealt a severe blow to the Marines' already shaken prestige.
Once the war concluded, Sengoku immediately submitted his resignation to the World Government.
He was utterly exhausted—mentally and emotionally. During the Marineford War, every strategy he had so confidently devised had been seen through by Whitebeard, who had led him step by step into a grand miscalculation. Sengoku had hoped to redeem himself by capturing Blackbeard, only for Teach to slip through his grasp as well.
At least… several members of the Blackbeard Pirates had been captured in the end. Had even that failed, the blow to the Marines would have been immeasurable.
Inside the Commander-in-Chief's office in Mariejois, Kong stared at Sengoku's resignation letter for a long moment before speaking, his voice heavy with emotion.
"Are you truly going to resign? Honestly, this war can't be blamed entirely on you."
Sengoku smiled bitterly.
"Kong-san, there's no need to comfort me. I was the Fleet Admiral. The execution failed—so the responsibility is mine alone."
Seeing Sengoku's resolve, Kong sighed and asked,
"Then… do you have a recommendation for your successor?"
Without hesitation, Sengoku replied,
"I recommend Aokiji as the next Fleet Admiral of the Marines."
It was a decision he had already made long ago.
Meanwhile, in the New World—
After two long days, the Whitebeard Pirates finally returned to familiar waters. The moment they crossed the boundary, a palpable sense of relief spread through the crew.
On the ship, Marco stepped out of his cabin and onto the deck. Everywhere he looked, people were resting—or helping injured comrades change bandages. After enduring the hell of Marineford, nearly everyone bore wounds. Exhaustion weighed heavily on all of them.
"Captain Marco—you're awake!"
A First Division member, Kuri, hurried over with visible relief.
Marco nodded lightly.
"Have we reached the New World?"
"Yes!" Kuri replied excitedly. "You've been unconscious for over ten hours, Captain Marco. But it's a relief to see you awake."
After dismissing Kuri, Marco sat down on the steps and quietly opened his system panel. The mission tab was flashing.
When he clicked it, he saw that the Save Ace mission had been marked as complete, with a prompt asking whether he wished to claim the reward.
Marco didn't hesitate.
The moment he confirmed, the system's cold, mechanical voice echoed in his mind:
"Save Ace mission complete. Reward granted: 10,000 attribute points."
Marco exhaled softly.
His gaze shifted to the remaining missions. The Retrieve the Body mission had not yet been completed—but its progress bar was already halfway full.
Once Whitebeard was properly laid to rest… that mission would be complete as well.
Without bothering to check the remaining missions, Marco shifted the system panel to the Character Attributes tab.
Name: Marco
Age: 43
Attribute Points: 10,232
Devil Fruit: Zoan-type — Phoenix Form (Unawakened)
Haki:
Armament Haki (Advanced)
Observation Haki (Advanced)
Haoshoku (Elementary)
Body Techniques:
Soru (Elementary)
Rankyaku (Beginner)
Moonwalk (Elementary)
Tekkai (Elementary)
Finger Pistol (Elementary)
Kami-e (Beginner)
Strength: 8,822
Speed: 4,500
Defense: 8,800
Recovery: 45,000
Stamina: 8,100
Spirit: 4,800
System Combat Power Assessment: Strong Yonko Commander-level
Marco blinked slightly in surprise.
Speed, Defense, Stamina, Spirit…
All four increased.
He remembered his base attributes clearly. Recovery remained unchanged at an absurdly high 45,000, but every other stat had risen. Strength made sense—he had invested attribute points into it deliberately. But the others?
He had never touched them.
'Is it because I awakened Haoshoku?'
'Or did surviving Marineford itself force my body to evolve?'
Whatever the reason, one thing was undeniable—he was stronger now. And more importantly, he still had over ten thousand attribute points left to spend.
'In that case… Haki comes first.'
Marco opened the Special Attributes section and focused on his Haki.
Haoshoku (Elementary) → Intermediate — 500 points
Armament Haki (Advanced) → Top-tier — 10,000 points
Observation Haki (Advanced) → Top-tier — 10,000 points
Marco immediately dismissed Haoshoku—for now.
He intended to temper his Conqueror's Haki through real combat and experience first. If he could push it to Intermediate—or even Advanced—on his own, then enhancing it later with attribute points would be far more efficient.
Instead, his eyes lingered on the final two options.
"System," Marco asked, "what exactly qualifies as Top-tier Observation and Armament Haki?"
The system's mechanical voice answered promptly:
"The future sight demonstrated by Charlotte Katakuri in the original timeline is classified as Top-tier Observation Haki. The Ryuo mastered by Monkey D. Luffy in Wano Country is classified as Top-tier Armament Haki."
Marco exhaled slowly.
So that was it.
Future sight.
And internal destruction.
With more than ten thousand attribute points at his disposal, the choice now lay between perfect defense and overwhelming offense, or absolute awareness and prediction.
As the ship sailed steadily through the New World, Marco leaned back, eyes narrowing slightly—
Carefully weighing which path would serve him best in the battles yet to come.
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