The fall wasn't half as bad as I thought it'd be, from that floating rock down to Marineford. What hit me first was the smell. Not pain, not fear - just saltwater, iron-stink of blood, sharpness of burnt air - the unholy mix you only get when battles rage. I climbed out of a crater big enough to swallow a town, flicking dust off my cuffs. The fabric alone cost more than some marines make in two years. Standing twenty-five feet high feels good - gives you a view above the calm chaos down below. Benefits? Spotting Teach, mid-kick, leg raised right over Luffy's skull.
"Hey now," I said slow, way too loud in that quiet spot. "Blackbeard - top dog ready to off a stretchy brat? That's a new low for you, huh"' Didn't even glance at Luffy kickin' around down there. Gotta keep focus. His eyes snapped up at me, huge like they'd seen a ghost. Acknowledgment hit first - then pure, raw terror. Perfect. Being called the "Destroyer of Mariejois" didn't help much before, yet sometimes it actually worked out.
"You!" Teach choked, darkness from the Yami Yami no Mi twisting wild around Luffy. "Doomsday - what in the hells are you doing here?"
"Just here for the sights," I said, shrugging - felt it down to my toes. "Word was there'd been an execution set up. Turned out folks hated it." My gaze dropped to Luffy, then flicked to Teach. "Seems you're running things now. Feels messy." I tapped Fake Mjolnir on my thigh. That thing wasn't buzzing - it growled, slow and deep, like landmasses clashing. Not lightning. Pure chaos. Way more interesting.
Teach recuperated quickly, puffing up. "This don't concern you, Hydra! Run along before I—"
"Before you what?" I cut in, taking a giant step forward. "Before you manage to finish trampling a kid into the ground? Brilliant plan. Honestly revolutionary." My tone fell, low and foreboding. "Let him go, Teach. Or I'll make everyone remember why Mariejois still reeks of charred Celestial Dragon."
The moment slowed, just briefly - but everything changed. Teach blinked, distracted by the dark swirls twisting wild. That's all it took. Luffy sucked in air, tripping back fast when those grip tightened hands twitched loose. Then Teach spun full toward me, yelling loud, knuckles cracking, black shapes lashing out like storms. "You really believe I'm scared? My strength runs deeper than anything - "
He never got to the end. I stopped him cold. Not while fake Mjolnir went off - like letting loose a half-crazed beast. No straight path here; it twisted reality, dragging swirls of jagged green force, warping everything nearby. Nothing like lightning. More like nature itself screamed. Total disorder made real.
Teach spotted it late - tried to dodge. Way too sluggish. Distracted, stuck in his focus on the huge guy, ignoring how that hammer moved weirdly on its own. Smacked him right at the temple. Felt less like a hit, more like being nudged by a building dropping from above.
It didn't boom. Just a soggy snap - then silence. He collapsed, strings cut. Flat on his face, right there in the wrecked square. Knocked out cold. The fake hammer slipped back into my grip, buzzing like it couldn't get enough.
I let the quiet grow heavy, broken only by far-off cries from wounded sailors and raiders. Moving past stunned expressions - officers frozen mid-step, pirates gaping, Luffy staring wide-eyed near the dark rift that opened when Blackbeard took notice. The Fake Mjolnir rested on my shoulder, its raw force twisting the space around it.
"See?" I snapped, my tone slicing through the stillness. Cracked. Harsh. "Told you - reviews sucked." I nudged Teach's limp body with my heel. "Grab him a cover - he's completely zonked." My eyes flicked toward Akainu, distracted mid-scrum with Aokiji. "Keep going."
The warning hit hard. Blaring. Impossible to ignore. Doomsday wasn't a maybe - he was chaos moving fast, tearing through like wind before you even spot storm clouds. Yet they'd unleashed that very storm.
Then came the tough bit. Getting up once more. Sky islands aren't like train stations. The fake Mjolnir wasn't chaos - it belonged to me alone. I held the hammer tight, focused. Just not on flying. Heading one way - no turning back. Pure rage tearing through gravity's hold. With a snarl born from chaos and a burst of wild energy that shook my jaw, I shot up like a cork popping free into open air. Wind screamed by, battle vanishing below. Just climbing. Toward soft white clouds hiding my floating home. To Logic? Hell no. But to them - Perona - and Shyarly? That's where I was going.
Landed softly on Skypiea? More like slammed into the clouds near Thousand Calamities - no grace at all. The ship, aptly named, groaned hard when it felt the hit. Perona hovered nearby, arms folded, pink hair flapping from the blast of air I kicked up. Shyarly stayed by the railing, expression flat, though her twitching tail gave away she wasn't calm.
"Well," Perona slurred, her Hollows dancing in and out of existence around her head like shades of smoke. "That was... effective. Knocked Teach out, stole the scene, and disappeared. Like a dramatic fart in a storm."
Shyarly lashed her tail from side to side. "We saw the drop. We saw the crater. We saw you.. resolve the Teach dilemma." Her voice low, threatening. "And then we saw you walk away. Without a fight."
I smudged cloud fluff off my dress shirt. "I fixed the immediate issue. Teach was seconds from creating Straw Hat paste. Mission success." I approached them, the ship groaning beneath me. "Staying? That was lunatic suicide."
Perona drifted close, jabbing my chest with a ghostly fingertip. "Crazy? They're walking into battle, Cassian - Shanks's fleet, Dragon's forces, top admirals, even Sengokku! We might've..."
"Died," I cut in, my own voice flat. "Needlessly. For what? Ideals? Justice? Pirate pride?" I nodded in the direction of the far-off, tumultuous battle still ongoing in Marineford. "See that mess. That's a meat grinder. There's too much risk. Akainu's flames, Aokiji's ice, Kizaru's light-show... Mihawk's swordsmanship. Going down there promises nothing but suffering and a ginormously messy demise." I held Shyarly's fierce glare. "Luffy's fine. Teach isn't around right now - fact was, that's what mattered.:
Perona snorted, crossing her arms. "So practical. So... boring. Where is the magnificent performance? The magnificent anarchy?"
Shyarly cocked her head, scowling. "You betrayed Luffy to Lucci. You began this war. And now you just walk away?" She didn't speak in accusation, but in analysis... Judgment.
I leaned against the hull of the Thousand Calamities. "Guilt? Yeah. A little. But pragmatism prevails. Lucci got Luffy delivered? Fine. But I protected Teach from stepping on him. Balance sheet's even. Brawling now? Futile risk. Too many variables." I pointed out toward the battlefield in the distance. "My work now? Sit. Watch. Stop Kaido from thinking this is the right moment for an aerial barbecue. Or Big Mom from thinking she suddenly needs Marineford cake."
Perona hovered close, leaning her head against my arm. "Just watching? Seriously, that's what you're doing?"
"Yeah," I said, pulling Shyarly closer. She stayed still, her tail wrapping round my leg instead of pulling away. "Winners will show up after the bloodshed ends, standing over the fallen ones. But the names won't matter then - we'll just be looking for who's left when the smoke clears." My eyes locked onto distant firelight flickering below. Then comes the hard part: picking how things burn from there. That fake Mjolnir on my back hummed once… like a slow nod.
**
Saturn strained hard after meddling with the war. His muscles pained from the effort, the new sensation of physical strain a bitter reminder of how low things had sunk. He stood in the ruins of Marineford, the bitter smell of smoke and defeat heavy in the air. Sengoku sat next to him on the ground, sunken eyes, decades older in appearance. Akainu burned with rage, magma flowing from fists clutched hard onto broken stone. Kizaru's usual indifference was overcome by an irate weariness. The Straw Hat Pirates. they'd gotten away. Disappeared in the confusion Doomsday had caused.
The silence was oppressive. Not the silence of triumph, but the empty silence of complete defeat. The big stage of the World Government, so carefully prepared for the performance of Monkey D. Luffy's execution and return to pure supremacy, reduced to a smoldering wreckage. And the mastermind of this ignominy was not some visionary revolutionary like Dragon. It was a force of nature contained in flesh. A pirate named Doomsday.
Saturn's eyes gazed out over the destruction, before at last coming to rest on his fellow Gorosei. "We miscalculated him," he croaked, his voice raw. "We considered him a mere bruiser. A monster. We overlooked the method."
Warcury growled, his great frame exuding rage. "Method? He destroyed Teach and disappeared! He started this war and left it!"
"Exactly!" Saturn snapped, the noise high in the quiet. "He caused it. He manipulated Lucci. He had Luffy brought here. He was aware of the powder keg he was fanning. And then." Saturn pointed in the direction of the crater where Doomsday had descended, then the vacant sky beyond. "He entered only when it served his purpose. To save Luffy? Maybe. To humiliate Teach? More likely. To show us." Saturn's voice dwindled away to a whisper. "that he'd be able to walk onto our stage, reposition the pieces, and walk away unscathed."
Ju Peter rubbed behind his glasses, his expression unreadable. "His bounty... fifteen billion. An insult. It should be infinity."
Nasujuro remained silent, his hand on the hilt of his sword, his gaze fixed on the distant horizon where the Straw Hats had disappeared.
"He didn't fight," Saturn went on, the comprehension freezing him more than any wound. "He didn't fight the Admirals. He didn't battle Shanks or Dragon. He didn't stay around to conquer. He made one, sharp strike and vanished. He showed us our weakness. He showed us the vulnerabilities in our infrastructure."
He gazed at the ruined remains of the execution stage. "The Celestial Dragons... reduced to ashes. Completely destroyed. By his hand. And now this." Saturn shut his eyes, the totality of the new order weighing heavy upon him. "The old order... is finished. The Marines shattered. Our power an illusion. The balance of power." He opened his eyes, meeting the stern looks of his equals. "...now belongs to the Emperors. With Kaido. With Big Mom. With Shanks. With Blackbeard. And with him. Doomsday. The shadow king."
Warcury punched a broken wall, and pieces of it flew every which way. "We will find him! We will—"
"Obey what?" Saturn cut in, his tone worn. "Our troops are shattered. Our pride is dust. He sails the heavens. He wields anarchy itself. He likely has minions we haven't yet dreamed of." Saturn remembered the rumors – the terrible Sky Island, the impossible vessel, the Ghost Princess and the Mermaid Seer by his hand. "He's not playing our game. Never did."
He gazed once more out across the sea, where the Red Hair Pirates had stood fast and the Whitebeard Pirates' and their allies' forces were reorganizing. "The world has changed," Saturn panted, the words metallic-tasting like ash. "The pirates make what is law now. And the face of it all... is a man who could not wait for the world to burn." He shut his hands into fists, his knuckles pale. "And we... we lit the match." The silence that followed wasn't so much deafening; it was the finality of an era.