As Hikari Uchiha was quietly sizing things up, the battlefield started to shift.
How to put it…
Whitebeard's strength was, frankly, a cut above Kaido's. And on a technical level, he had a slight edge over Esdeath. The Tremor-Tremor Fruit's penetrating power, combined with his supreme-grade blade Murakumogiri and Conqueror's Haki infusion, created a synergy where one plus one was greater than two. Even Esdeath's "Snow Demon," a massive ice construct rivaling a Susanoo, couldn't withstand the onslaught. In no time, her icy giant was battered to pieces, teetering on the edge of collapse.
Under these circumstances, Esdeath had to abandon the construct and face Whitebeard head-on with just her sword.
But her blade, nowhere near the quality of Murakumogiri, didn't last long. After a dozen clashes, it shattered into fragments, flung far into the distance. The sheer force of Whitebeard's attack pushed her back, her sword-wielding right hand trembling violently from the wrist.
At first glance, Whitebeard seemed to have the upper hand.
But… that was only for a moment.
For Esdeath, that exchange was just an appetizer before the main course. Sure, the final clash had injured her, but a shaky arm was a minor inconvenience. If she hadn't deliberately chosen to go toe-to-toe to test Whitebeard's limits, she might've avoided the damage altogether.
For Whitebeard, though, that barrage of attacks was close to his current limit. At over seventy years old, the oldest of the current Emperors, and plagued by illness for years—half an hour before the fight, he'd been hooked to an IV drip on the Moby Dick. His explosive burst of strength was impressive, but soon his breathing grew labored, his movements visibly slowed, and blood began seeping from where IV needles had been, staining his bandages red.
Hikari was the first to notice these details. Esdeath was the second.
"…Hm? You're carrying some old wounds, aren't you?" Esdeath asked.
Whitebeard took a deep breath and let out a booming laugh. "Gurararara! Just a few nagging ailments, nothing that'll stop me from fighting! Come on, show me what else you've got. You're holding back, aren't you?"
As he spoke, he gritted his teeth and swung his naginata a few more times, each strike laced with Tremor-Tremor Fruit power and Conqueror's Haki. But both the speed and force were a far cry from the start of the battle.
Esdeath easily dodged the incoming blades with a few nimble steps, then leaped back, disengaging from the center of the fight.
"That's enough," she said. "If you can't keep up that level of intensity, you're not worth my time. Get yourself patched up and come back when you're ready."
Whitebeard frowned, about to respond, when Hikari stood up. With a light tap of her foot, she floated into the air, landing gently not far from him.
"Let me introduce myself. I'm Hikari Uchiha, vice-captain of the Dimension Pirates. This is my comrade, Esdeath," she said. "You may not have heard of us, but we're here because of one of your division commanders—your son. Before we get into it, eat this."
With that, Hikari reached into her pocket, pulled out an item, broke it in half, and tossed the pieces out. Esdeath caught hers, glanced at it, and popped it into her mouth without hesitation. Whitebeard caught his, examined it briefly, then looked up. "What's this?"
"A little specialty from my hometown," Hikari said with a smile. "What, afraid we're poisoning you?"
"People who resort to cheap tricks like that don't reach your level of strength," Whitebeard replied, swallowing the item in one gulp.
Then…
"?!"
The item Hikari tossed was, of course, a Senzu Bean. They were incredibly rare, and she didn't want to use them lightly. But seeing Whitebeard bleeding from multiple spots was concerning—he looked like he might keel over early. So, she figured a bean was worth it to stabilize him.
As the Senzu Bean took effect, both Esdeath and Whitebeard's stamina rapidly recovered. Esdeath's torn arm muscles and Whitebeard's surface wounds healed visibly in moments.
However, Whitebeard's old scars remained unchanged, and his aura, while improved, plateaued at roughly his pre-battle state, still tinged with weakness.
That was to be expected. Senzu Beans could heal fresh injuries, but not old scars from years past. And Whitebeard's internal issues, like organ failure, were beyond their scope.
Still, for someone from the One Piece world, the Senzu Bean's effect was astonishing.
"Kid, was that some kind of special medicine?" Whitebeard asked, surprised. "I don't know where you got something that miraculous, but thanks!"
After another hearty laugh, his expression turned serious. "Now, what's this about one of my sons?"
Whitebeard treated all his "sons" equally, with no favorites—except for the traitor, Teach. But Hikari's mention of a "division commander" made his eyelid twitch, a sudden unease stirring in his gut.
His crew had sixteen division commanders. And at this point in time, the only one unaccounted for was…
"Exactly. Portgas D. Ace, your Second Division Commander—and the son of Pirate King Roger," Hikari said casually. She glanced back at their destroyer and extended an invitation. "One of our crew members is an old friend of his. We heard some news about him by chance and came to check it out. Mind stepping aside for a private word?"