"Kurarararara!!"
Whitebeard's trademark laughter echoed across the heavens.
"What's so unbelievable about this?!"
As he spoke, the Tremor-Tremor Fruit energy gathered around his fist became denser and denser.
The countless cracks intertwined together, almost forming a miniature black hole.
"Break for me!!"
With a furious roar, Whitebeard threw out his right fist.
Countless cracks instantly spread toward the Gates of Justice!
"BOOOOM!!!"
The overwhelming Tremor-Tremor Fruit energy directly pierced through the entire Gates of Justice.
The alloy gates, dozens of meters thick, looked like a complete joke in front of Whitebeard's power.
They were blasted wide open.
As though the gates themselves were welcoming back the king of the seas.
"Let's go."
After smashing apart the Gates of Justice, Whitebeard slowly returned to his seat and calmly spoke those words.
He paid no attention to the stunned expressions around him.
Even Marco and Jozu were frozen in disbelief.
Destroyed.
Completely destroyed.
The Marines' defeat had been broadcast live to the entire world through the Transponder Snails without the slightest attempt at concealment.
Even those who had missed the live broadcast because of work or daily life quickly learned the general outcome through newspapers.
"The Marines… actually lost?"
In a small town somewhere in the world, countless people stared blankly at the fading images from the Transponder Snail.
Their faces were filled with disbelief.
Outside the New World, the Marines had always been viewed as absolute justice.
As the strongest force in the world.
That belief had long since become deeply rooted in people's minds.
And yet.
Even such a powerful Marine force had still lost against the Whitebeard Alliance Fleet.
So what if the Impel Down prisoners had reinforced them?
Once you lose, every explanation becomes an excuse.
Defeat was defeat.
Ordinary people did not care about the details.
"What are we supposed to do now?"
The entire town fell into worry and panic.
Expressions of fear and despair appeared on everyone's faces.
In their eyes, the Marines represented justice, while pirates represented evil.
After all, pirates would rob them of their money, steal their food, and even take their lives.
The Marines, on the other hand, protected them.
Now the Marines had lost.
Didn't that mean the world was about to fall under the rule of pirates?
For a moment, as more and more people came to the same conclusion, panic rapidly spread through the town.
"Hide quickly!"
"We're doomed! Those pirates from the New World will definitely come charging out soon!"
"When that happens, ordinary people like us will only end up getting slaughtered!"
"Hide!"
"We should migrate to a powerful country! We can't stay on this island anymore!"
The entire town fell into complete hysteria.
People began imagining scenes of pirate raids from other islands.
Their money stripped away.
Their food stolen clean.
The men butchered.
The women violated.
Even the elderly and children spared no mercy.
And this situation was not limited to just one town.
Almost every island and region in the world that lacked the protection of a powerful nation descended into the same chaos.
People lived in constant fear and panic.
Even those living under strong countries with powerful armies became deeply uneasy.
New World, Totto Land.
"Well now… that old bastard Newgate really did raise himself a worthy successor."
Big Mom sat quietly upon her throne, surprisingly without stuffing herself with food, while watching the live broadcast from the Transponder Snail.
She had remained seated there for nearly half a day.
Half a day without eating, yet her hunger cravings had not driven her into one of her violent rampages.
Instead, the events unfolding in the broadcast had left her visibly excited.
"Renji, was it?"
"It seems I'll have to be more restrained when dealing with Newgate from now on."
"I have no desire to provoke an opponent like that."
As she spoke, Big Mom slowly rose from her throne.
She looked toward the head chef, who had been standing by for who knew how long.
"Immediately. Right now. Prepare twenty tons of cake for me."
"Huh?"
The head chef froze for a moment before nervously asking:
"How long do you want it done in?"
"Half an hour should be enough."
Big Mom answered casually without much thought.
"I've been hungry for far too long already."
To be fair, she wasn't wrong.
Even an ordinary person would be starving after nearly an entire day without food, let alone someone with Big Mom's monstrous appetite.
"How is that possible?!"
The head chef nearly jumped in shock.
Twenty tons of cake in half an hour?
Forget cake.
The eggs and cream had not even been prepared yet!
"Hm?"
Big Mom turned toward the head chef with an unhappy expression.
"Is there a problem?"
"No!"
The head chef hurriedly shook his head.
He no longer dared say anything else to Big Mom.
Having served beside her for so many years, he understood her temperament very well.
Big Mom was indeed extremely violent.
But that side of her only appeared when food was involved.
In other matters, she was actually somewhat generous.
Especially toward the people who cooked for her.
As long as the food was delivered on time and in sufficient quantity, she generally would not punish anyone.
"Chefs, listen up!"
"Start preparing the cakes immediately!"
"Twenty tons in half an hour!"
Somewhere on the Grand Line.
Several ships had stopped in place.
Judging from their direction, they had originally been headed toward Marineford.
And from the appearance of the ships and the pirate flag flying above them, their identities were obvious.
One of the Four Emperors, Shanks, and the Red Hair Pirates.
"This really is unbelievable…"
Shanks recalled the scenes from the Transponder Snail broadcast.
Even now, he still had not fully recovered from the shock.
The Whitebeard Alliance Fleet clashing head-on with the Marines.
The battles between Whitebeard's commanders and the Marine powerhouses.
Especially Renji's dramatic arrival to save the situation.
And on top of that, the overwhelming presence displayed by both Whitebeard and Renji had been utterly astonishing.
"If I had known they possessed strength like this…"
"I wouldn't have come at all."
"You wouldn't have come?"
Hearing Shanks' words, Beckman scoffed while holding a cigarette in his mouth.
"If you could really stop yourself from coming…"
"Then my name, Benn Beckman, might as well be written backward."
"Ahem…"
Shanks scratched his head awkwardly and shot Beckman a resentful look.
"Hey, hey, I'm the captain here. Couldn't you at least save me some face?"
"You still care about face?"
Another voice suddenly joined in as Yasopp jumped out laughing.
"Captain."
"There aren't any outsiders here, so there's no need to keep pretending."
Hearing Yasopp's teasing, Shanks raised an eyebrow.
But before he could curse Yasopp out, Lucky Roux spoke up as well while chewing on a piece of meat.
"If we're talking about who actually has dignity on this ship…"
"It's only Vice Captain Beckman."
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