Bang!
A single shot tore through the back of Whitebeard's left hand, the one gripping his naginata. The flesh was instantly reduced to a bloody pulp. Had the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit not neutralized most of the impact, his entire hand would have been blown apart.
"Ggh...!"
No matter how ironclad Whitebeard's will was, as an ability user, the moment Seastone entered his system, he could no longer sustain his overwhelming strength. His massive frame finally buckled, and he dropped to one knee. Whether by coincidence or Alucard's deliberate design, not one of the spears raining down from the Wallachian Knights above struck a vital point.
"Huff... huff..."
Whitebeard's mangled left hand pressed against the surface of the blood pool. His blood flowed into the crimson tide, where it was greedily consumed.
Alucard walked toward Whitebeard, step by step. "Even relying on technique, you can't beat me. To think the man you once were has become... this."
"Stop it... please stop!"
Marco watched the Vivre Card in his hand; a full third of it had already vanished. The "Phoenix" could no longer hold back the tears in his eyes, and the others were in no better state.
"Stop the fight!!"
Marco let out a desperate roar. He thrust the Vivre Card into Vista's hands, his own arms transforming into wings of blue flame as he took to the sky toward the combat zone. "Stop it! Pops!!!"
The distance wasn't great to begin with. Flying at full speed, Marco quickly reached the center of the battlefield just in time to see Alucard leveling a gun against Whitebeard's forehead.
Marco's pupils dilated as he dove. "STAY YOUR HAND!!!"
Bang!
With his right hand, Alucard used Jackal to strike one of Marco's wings, blasting the Phoenix out of the sky. Simultaneously, the white pistol, Casull, in his left hand fired, not into Whitebeard's skull, but grazing past his temple. The shot tore away the black bandana tied around the old man's head, revealing a scalp that was completely bald, without a single hair remaining.
"It's over."
As Alucard spoke, the blood pool dissipated. The environment shifted back to the open sea, leaving Whitebeard and Marco on the shore of a lonely, deserted island. Alucard walked to the water's edge, stepped onto his small boat, and drifted away into the distance.
It took another twenty minutes for the rest of the Whitebeard Pirates, who lacked the ability to fly, to arrive by ship.
When the blood pool had suddenly vanished, many of those who had jumped off the ships to chase after Marco found themselves plummeting into the sea. The fruit users among them lost their strength instantly and nearly drowned. The crew had spent a significant amount of time frantically rescuing their comrades before they could finally reach the island.
"Pops!"
"Marco!!"
Marco pushed himself up with Jozu's assistance. Compared to Whitebeard, he had only suffered a mangled arm, a minor injury in the grand scheme of things.
"Don't worry about me... how is Pops?"
"He's only lost consciousness for now, but he needs medical treatment immediately!"
As they carried Whitebeard back onto the Moby Dick, the crew caught sight of his hairless head. A lump formed in everyone's throat, and they found it hard to speak.
Garp, Sengoku, Shiki, Redfield… men of a similar age, none of them were bald. Yet Whitebeard was. Why? Everyone had their own answer deep in their hearts, but in a silent pact of respect, no one uttered a word.
…
Grand Line.
Drum Island, the Sakura Kingdom.
The Golden Hair Pirates trekked through the snowy mountain paths. Snowflake as large as fingertips drifted down, accompanied by a freezing wind that made their clothes flap violently. Even a vain, self-absorbed man like Cavendish had wrapped himself in a thick mantle, proving just how low the temperature had dropped.
Marshall D. Teach.
To find this target, someone who didn't even have a bounty poster, they had gone to immense trouble. They were able to track him so quickly not just because of the Immortal Pirates' intelligence network, but because Teach had been too arrogant after gaining his new power. He had committed several major incidents in quick succession, exposing his trail.
Had he kept his head down, not only Ace and Ivalis's group, but even the World Government would have struggled to catch his scent.
Inside a tavern in one of the Sakura Kingdom's towns, the heavy doors swung open with a thud. The local patrons, seeing the doors left open, frowned and shouted at the group standing at the entrance: "Hey! Close the door! You're letting the cold in!"
"To murder a comrade and then go on a crime spree across several nations... you certainly live up to your reputation as a traitor who lurked for twenty years."
Ivalis brushed a flake of snow from the edge of his sunglasses, his other hand resting on the rapier at his hip. "Marshall D. Teach... former member of the Whitebeard Pirates' Second Division."
In a corner of the bar, five people sat at a table. There was Teach, devouring cherry pies with zero decorum; the pale, strangely-dressed navigator Laffitte in his black top hat; the sniper Van Augur, with his long face and expressionless gaze behind a marksmanship lens; and the massive, barrel-chested Jesus Burgess, wearing a wrestling mask over his tiny legs. Finally, there was the ship's doctor, Doc Q, slumped over the table, coughing up blood and muttering to himself.
"Zeha… hahaha!"
Teach's face stiffened for a moment as he paused his eating. He laughed, "If I didn't make some noise, how could I gather such powerful crewmates so quickly? Zehahaha!"
Though he was laughing, it wasn't natural; there was a flicker of tension in his eyes. He rose from his seat, and the two groups squared off. The atmosphere became so oppressive that the local residents fled the tavern in terror.
"So... Captain Ivalis of the Golden Hair Pirates, under the banner of the Immortal Pirates, Vice Captain Benn Beckman, and 'Hakuba' Cavendish..."
Teach's gaze swept over each member of the Golden Hair Pirates. "What does a famous elite crew of the Immortals want with a 'nobody' like me?"