Before the Summit War began—
Maude had secured two "plane tickets" in advance from Kuma.
This was his hidden trump card, reserved for the final moment, ensuring that after completing his hunt, he could immediately escape the battlefield.
However—
Even with the knowledge from the original timeline, Maude couldn't be entirely certain that before his full transformation, Kuma had been able to persuade Dr. Vegapunk to implant such a conditional program within his "processor."
Thus, without a doubt, this was a trump card that carried a degree of risk.
After all, in this world, there's no such thing as a high reward without risk.
To achieve a greater return, one must be willing to shoulder potential dangers.
Until Maude actively revealed this trump card, no one had any inkling of his plan.
Even Vegapunk, who programmed Kuma's actions, could never have anticipated how these two "plane tickets" would come into play.
No one had foreseen this.
So much so that when Maude expressed his gratitude, Kizaru was left utterly perplexed.
Retracting the shadow covering Law, Maude turned his head to see Kuma striding toward him.
Before securing the "plane tickets," Maude had taken a wisp of Kuma's shadow as a final contingency—a sliver of hope that he might one day awaken Kuma's consciousness.
Previously, he lacked the ability to do anything about it.
But now, with his Shadow-Shadow Fruit having reached eight and a half stars (the ninth star isn't filled yet), perhaps he had the power to awaken Kuma's mind.
With a flick of his palm, a wave of shadow energy spread as Maude discreetly opened the Shadow Casket, retrieving the fragment of Kuma's shadow.
The Shadow Casket was one of Maude's most intricate and deeply developed techniques. Initially, it wasn't meant for storing objects but rather for imprisoning shadows—a portable prison designed to contain and stabilize them.
With this, Maude could preemptively store high-quality shadows within the Shadow Casket, allowing him to extract them at will during battle.
These stored shadows could be used either to unleash a one-time Shadow's Asgard or as substitutes to absorb damage.
Following this line of thought, Maude had successfully developed the technique.
The only issue was that the internal space of the Shadow Casket was severely limited—it could hold at most two or three three-dimensional shadows.
Perhaps, once his Shadow-Shadow Fruit reached nine stars, this limitation could be resolved.
Maude focused his will as he extracted Kuma's shadow fragment.
However—
When he attempted to activate his ability through this shadow as a medium, there was no response.
"Even at eight and a half stars, it's still not enough…"
Maude sighed inwardly.
The lack of feedback meant that, even with his current abilities, he still couldn't awaken Kuma's consciousness.
"Does that mean I need to reach 'nine stars' to make this happen?"
His eyes narrowed as he clenched his fist, returning Kuma's shadow to the Shadow Casket.
If he couldn't do it now, he would have to wait for another opportunity.
For now, his priority was escaping the battlefield.
Thud. Thud—
Kuma's heavy steps brought him before Maude and Law. Behind the lens-like eyes, a faint red light flickered and vanished in an instant.
"Death Surgeon, Trafalgar Law. Bounty: 228 million. Target confirmed."
His mechanical gaze locked onto Law, who was still panting heavily.
Beep—beep—
Kuma opened his mouth, and within it, an energy charge identical to Kizaru's light-based abilities began to gather.
Not far away—
Seeing this, Kizaru rubbed his chin and mused, "Hmm~~ Since you're dragging dead weight, you should be prepared to be left behind~~ Bacardi Maude~~"
By this point, he was certain that Law no longer had the strength to use his Op-Op Fruit powers, making him an undeniable burden to Maude.
Now, with Kuma fully transformed into a living weapon, his target acquisition system had locked onto Law.
Although Maude's decision to charge into the encirclement struck Kizaru as oddly reckless—
Given the current circumstances, he couldn't see any way for Maude, who had abandoned his status as a Warlord of the Sea, to escape unscathed.
Sengoku, as well as the surrounding elite Marines, shared the same sentiment.
No matter what Maude intended to do next, the area was packed with high-ranking Marine forces. They had more than enough strength to either execute or capture Maude and the Blackbeard Pirates on the spot.
As the Marines believed they had the situation under control, they suddenly heard Maude utter a peculiar word.
"Plane ticket."
Maude spoke directly to Kuma, activating the trigger phrase for his pre-programmed action.
The light energy gathering in Kuma's mouth suddenly dissipated, vanishing like melting snow.
Beep—beep—
At the same time, a red glow flickered across Kuma's lenses before he slowly closed his mouth and began removing his gloves.
"Kuma, the next time we meet, it will be the day I fulfill our promise."
Seeing Kuma's action, Maude immediately understood—the program implanted in Kuma had been activated. He spoke softly to the towering figure before him.
A promise made was a promise Maude would keep, no matter what.
If reaching nine stars was the requirement to awaken Kuma's consciousness, then he would find a way to accelerate his progress.
When that time came, regardless of Kuma's circumstances—
Sky, earth, or sea—
Maude would find a way to bring Kuma back.
As Kuma raised his right hand, Maude suddenly turned, facing Kizaru and Sengoku.
Coincidentally, his gaze also met the lens of the Den Den Mushi broadcasting the battle.
"Are you ready?"
Maude lifted his right hand, clenching it into a fist.
His cryptic words and unexpected gesture momentarily confused Sengoku and the surrounding Marines.
A smile spread across Maude's face as his eyes locked onto the Den Den Mushi's camera lens, knowing that Lafitte and the others must be watching.
Then—
"To the pinnacle!!!"
His fervent, resounding voice echoed across Marineford, transmitted by the Den Den Mushi to the entire world.
At that moment—
Sengoku, Garp, Kizaru, Aokiji, Fujitora, Blackbeard—all the strongest figures present instinctively turned their gazes toward Maude, inexplicably captivated by his commanding presence.
"Zehahaha…"
Blackbeard's laughter was uncharacteristically subdued.
His gaze, filled with killing intent, was locked onto Maude.
Now, and in the future—
He saw an obstacle that had to be eliminated.
Above them, the wind howled, and black clouds churned like turbulent waves.
From within those clouds, an unseen gaze bore down on Maude, who stood with his back to Kuma, proclaiming his bold declaration.
"D… If it's you, maybe you really can do it…"
A whisper, faint as the wind, was quickly swallowed by the howling storm.
Whether it referred to reaching the pinnacle or saving Kuma—it was left unknown.
Across the world—
Journalists staring at the broadcast were left in stunned silence.
"To the pinnacle???"
"Why… say that now…?"
Countless eyes fixated on Maude, who, despite standing directly in Kuma's attack range, turned his back without a hint of defense.
Then—
PAH—!
Before the eyes of the world—
With a single palm strike from Kuma, Maude vanished into thin air.
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