The world exploded, then contracted into a dizzying, chaotic fall. Smoothie, flung free from the Sentinel's grip by the sheer force of Gunnar's impossible attack, tumbled through the air, disoriented, her ears ringing. Then, through the settling dust and the roar of the collapsing island, she saw him – a small, broken figure plummeting towards the abyss.
Instinct, sharp and sudden, overrode everything else. With a surge of her own considerable strength and agility, she twisted in mid-air, her long legs propelling her downwards. She reached out, her arms, bruised and singed, closing around Gunnar's unconscious form just as he was about to be swallowed by the churning chaos below.
He landed in her arms, a princess carry in the most un-princess-like of circumstances. He was terrifyingly light. His clothes were practically incinerated, his small body a landscape of horrific burns, muscle tissue exposed in places, the scent of seared flesh sharp and acrid. Yet, beneath the devastation, his chest rose and fell in shallow, ragged breaths. He was alive. Barely.
Smoothie stared down at him, her mind reeling. He had endured Akainu's direct magma attack, an assault that would have crippled seasoned veterans. And then… that final, earth-shattering blow. It was Whitebeard's power, unmistakably. How? How could this child, use Gura Gura no mi, and even unleash such a devastating force? It didn't matter now.
Looking up, she saw the massive chasm Gunnar's attack had torn through the island, a jagged wound reaching towards the sky. That was their escape. Holding Gunnar tightly, she leaped, using falling debris as precarious footholds, her incredible strength allowing her to ascend the newly formed cliff face.
She burst onto the surface of the rapidly destabilizing island just as a familiar blue flame streaked across the sky. Marco, in his full phoenix form, was already airborne, Jozu and Teach close behind, their expressions grim as they surveyed the rising pyramid and the catastrophic destruction.
Their eyes immediately fell on Smoothie and the near-dead boy in her arms.
"GUNNAR!" Marco's cry was anguished. He swooped down, his regenerative flames instantly enveloping Gunnar's ravaged form. The searing heat of the burns seemed to lessen, the bleeding to slow, but the damage was profound. "What in the blazes happened?!" Marco demanded, his voice tight with fury and fear.
"Akainu," Smoothie stated, her voice hoarse, her usual cool composure fractured by the ordeal. "He's down there. Somewhere. Trapped in the collapse, I think. But he won't be for long." She gestured towards the newly risen, gleaming golden pyramid. "Whatever you're searching for… it's likely in there. But the Admiral is a more immediate threat."
Marco's gaze was fixed on Gunnar. "The stone can wait. He needs immediate attention." He gently took Gunnar from Smoothie's arms, cradling the boy in his own fiery embrace. "Jozu! Teach! Secure the pyramid if you can! Find this damn stone! But be ready to pull out! This whole island is going down!"
With a powerful beat of his phoenix wings, Marco launched himself towards the Moby Dick, Gunnar a broken, smoldering bundle in his fiery grasp. Smoothie, without a second thought, leaped and caught onto Marco's leg, her own strength allowing her to hold on as they soared through the ash-filled sky.
Aboard the Moby Dick, chaos erupted as Marco landed. The infirmary was instantly a hive of activity. Marco, his flames working with a desperate intensity, began the agonizing process of trying to heal Gunnar. Whitebeard, his face a mask of stone, watched from the doorway, his presence a silent, heavy weight.
Gunnar's body was a testament to his sacrifice. He was fully bandaged, head to toe, looking like a small, fragile mummy. Marco worked tirelessly, his blue flames flickering, coaxing life back into the ravaged tissues. "He'll live," Marco finally said, hours later, his voice raw with exhaustion, wiping sweat and soot from his brow. "The flames… they're fighting the worst of it. But the damage… it's severe, Pops. More severe than Ikki. Internal burns, nerve damage… this will be a long, long recovery. If he ever fully recovers…"
Whitebeard nodded slowly, his golden eyes filled with a pain that mirrored his son's.
Later, when the initial crisis had passed and Gunnar lay still and silent, breathing with the help of a respirator Marco had rigged, Smoothie found herself sitting on a stool beside his cot. It was a strange, unfamiliar position for her. She didn't do bedside vigils. She didn't do sentiment.
Yet, here she was.
She looked at the small, bandaged form. The boy who had, with reckless, suicidal bravery, thrown himself between her and an Admiral's fury. The boy who had called her "wife" with a strange, unwavering sincerity. The boy who had somehow, impossibly, wielded the power of an Emperor.
Her brothers would have left her to die. They had left her. Perospero and Cracker, in their craven escape, had proven the Charlotte family's brutal pragmatism. But this child… this "little husband"… he had come back for her. He had faced down Akainu, had torn the world apart to save her.
A strange, unfamiliar warmth, something akin to… concern?… stirred within her. It was an uncomfortable, alien sensation. She reached out a long, elegant finger, hesitating for a moment before gently, almost reverently, touching the unbandaged patch of his crimson and white hair peeking out.
It was soft.
She quickly withdrew her hand, annoyed at her own uncharacteristic display.
He was still just a boy. Whitebeard's son. A political pawn in her mother's game.
But he was also… brave. Foolishly, impossibly brave.
And he had saved her life.
Charlotte Smoothie, Sweet Commander, daughter of a Yonko, found herself in the quiet, lamplit infirmary of her enemy's ship, watching over a burned, broken child who was, by some bizarre twist of fate, her husband. And for the first time, the thought wasn't entirely… unpleasant.
***
While Gunnar fought for his life aboard the Moby Dick, the remaining pirates on the rapidly disintegrating Isle of Shifting Sands converged on the newly risen golden pyramid. Jozu, his diamond form shimmering even through the dust and ash, and Marshall D. Teach, his unsettling "Zehahaha" echoing eerily, were the first to arrive before its massive, sealed entrance.
They weren't alone.
Leaning heavily against a crumbling section of the pyramid's base, his colossal spiked club lying beside him, was Jack the Drought. He was a mess – his metallic jaw was dented, one of his tusks was cracked, and his clothes were torn and bloodied. His leg, though not completely severed, was horrifically mangled from his encounter with the Aegis Sentinel. He glared at Jozu and Teach with pure, unadulterated hatred.
"Well, well," Teach boomed, his grin wide and predatory. "Look what crawled out of the scrap heap! Thought that tin can finished you, Mammoth-boy! Zehahaha!"
"Shut your damn mouth, Teach!" Jack snarled, trying to push himself upright. "You Whitebeard scum will pay for—"
He was cut short as Perospero and Cracker stumbled out from a nearby fissure in the ground, looking battered, singed, and distinctly un-triumphant.
"Perorin! Finally, solid ground!" Perospero exclaimed, then his eyes fell on Jack. "Oh, joy. More company. And looking rather worse for wear, lick-lick."
Cracker, his biscuit armor mostly intact but bearing scorch marks, just grunted, his gaze immediately locking onto Jack with hostile intent. "Still breathing, fish-face? Shame."
The four pirates – two Whitebeards (one of questionable loyalty) and two Big Mom Commanders – eyed Jack, then each other. The air crackled with unspoken animosity and the greedy anticipation of the treasure within the pyramid. It was clear they were about to gang up on the injured All-Star.
"Three… no, four against one, eh?" Jack spat, gripping his club despite the agony in his leg. "Come on then, you cowardly dogs! I'll take you all down with me!"
Before the inevitable brawl could erupt, another colossal shadow fell over them. With a thunderous roar and the screech of metal, Queen the Plague, another of Kaido's All-Stars, a massive, cyborg Brachiosaurus, crashed through a section of the jungle, his metallic bodywork gleaming, cannons already swiveling.
"FUNK FUNK FUNK! What's all this ruckus?!" Queen boomed, his voice amplified by speakers. "Jack, you useless oaf! Took you long enough to find this oversized paperweight! And look at you, beaten by a bunch of… dessert chefs and an old man's lackeys?" He then noticed Jozu and the Big Mom pirates, his gaze turning intensely hostile. "Well, well! A party! And I wasn't invited!"
The five pirates – representing three rival Yonko crews – squared off, the tension so thick it was a physical presence. The pyramid, with its promise of the Philosopher's Stone, hummed silently behind them, an indifferent god to their impending squabble.
Then, the ground beneath them began to glow an ominous crimson. The temperature skyrocketed.
With a volcanic hiss, Akainu erupted from the earth, his body a column of molten magma, his face a mask of relentless fury. He had evidently clawed his way out of the collapsing chamber below.
"So," Akainu's voice, like the grinding of tectonic plates, echoed across the clearing. "The rats gather for the cheese. How utterly predictable." His molten eyes swept over them, disgust clear on his features. He then focused on Cracker and Perospero. "And look, the Charlotte family, so quick to betray their own kind." He was referring to Smoothie, though he didn't know the full extent of Gunnar's intervention. "Pirate filth, all of you. Willing to sacrifice anyone for your own greed."
"Marine dog!" Cracker snarled, his biscuit soldiers already forming. "You dare lecture us?!"
"He's right about one thing, Cracker-nisan," Perospero said, his voice dripping with false concern. "We did have to make a… difficult choice. For the greater good, of course, lick-lick."
Teach just laughed. "Zehahaha! Difficult choices are what make life interesting, candy-man!"
Jozu remained silent, his diamond fists clenched, ready for battle. Queen roared, his cannons aiming at Akainu.
"Your squabbles mean nothing," Akainu declared, magma dripping from his form. "**Today, justice will be served hot!**"