"Whitebeard… I'll be borrowing a little of your blood."
Souta Kiryuu had been waiting patiently for the perfect moment to strike. Whether it was Marco the Phoenix rescuing Fire Fist Ace or Whitebeard managing to send Kaido flying, both moments left the old titan physically and mentally vulnerable.
A flash of light streaked across the battlefield—
Whitebeard's massive arm split open, blood spraying through the air.
Before it could fall, Souta swiftly produced a small containment vial, collecting every drop of that precious blood midair.
"You little brat! You're asking for death!" Whitebeard roared furiously, swinging his bisento in a wide arc.
But before the blade could land, an immense force of gravity pressed down upon him, forcing his colossal body into the ground. The earth cracked beneath his feet, forming a deep pit, and his movements slowed drastically.
Souta laughed coldly. "Heh, Whitebeard—stay alive a little longer. I'll come for a real fight next time."
With a fierce dragon-tail kick, Souta sent the mighty Whitebeard flying backward, the blow shredding his coat and leaving a bloody gash across his back.
"Gah-hahahaha! The invincible Whitebeard—his unscarred back has finally been wounded! Souta Kiryuu actually struck him from behind!"
The voice of Morgans blared excitedly through the live broadcast Den Den Mushi. It didn't matter that Souta's move was a sneak attack—what mattered was that Whitebeard's legendary, uninjured back now bore a mark.
Across the seas, countless viewers gasped. Their feelings were conflicted—disdain mixed with dread.
This man, Souta Kiryuu… was a strategist and a monster rolled into one. Ruthless, cunning, and unrestrained. To offend him was far more terrifying than crossing two Emperors of the Sea combined.
Time and again, he had humiliated the Four Emperors and even the World Government itself—slaughtering Celestial Dragons, striking the Gorosei, and publicly cursing the mysterious ruler, Imu. Truly, Souta Kiryuu was the most deranged and dangerous man of this era.
"Father!!"
The Whitebeard Pirates' division captains, eyes burning red, charged toward their commander's position in a fury, ready to tear Souta apart.
"I'm fine!!" Whitebeard growled, planting his bisento into the ground as he stood tall once more. His arm bled freely, his back stung from the wound—but neither was enough to bring him down.
Still, the insult burned hotter than the pain itself.
The air trembled as Whitebeard's quake powers erupted outward. The entire Island of Gods and Demons began to shake violently, as though the world itself was quaking in his rage.
"Oh? Angry already?" Souta said mockingly, twirling a key in his hand. "You sure you don't want the key to Ace's Sea Prism Stone cuffs? Look over there—Kaido's already charging back in. What's it going to be, Whitebeard? You going to take on me and Kaido at the same time?"
The key glinted in the sunlight as Souta smirked. He could have worked with Kaido to crush Whitebeard completely, but that wasn't the plan.
No—Souta didn't want the World Government walking away unscathed. For now, the existence of the Four Emperors still served their purpose—to draw attention, to buy him time.
He already had Big Mom's blood. Now Whitebeard's.
Once the Government turned its wrath toward Totto Land or Whitebeard's territory, he'd swoop in again to collect what was left.
Kaido, the raging brute, lunged once more. Whitebeard had no choice but to turn his fury back on the Beast Emperor. Their clash shook the heavens, and the Whitebeard division captains joined in the assault.
"Oi! Souta!" Kaido's voice thundered through the air. "Hold these bastards off! I'm taking Whitebeard one-on-one!!"
But the battlefield was chaos—Moria, Crocodile, Hancock, and the Seraphim fought furiously against the remaining captains.
Above, the floating islands erupted into war. Big Mom and Golden Lion Shiki were at each other's throats, quarreling over how to divide the Celestial Dragons' loot. Several golden warships were smashed apart as Shiki hurled them like weapons.
Viewers watching the broadcast could only stare, open-mouthed.
Each ship was worth over two billion berries, decorated with gold and jewels—and they were being thrown around like stones.
Souta laughed wildly. "Hahaha! Kaido, today's fight should satisfy even you! You didn't manage to kill a Gorosei, but I took down Saint Figarland Garin myself. You've got nothing to complain about!"
He turned toward the sky, eyes burning with greed. "Now, it's time for spoils. Move out! Everything floating up there belongs to whoever grabs it first!"
The Arlong Pirates charged toward the fleet of golden Celestial Dragon ships. Souta didn't care for "fair play." Whoever seized the treasure earned it.
After all, when they'd been raiding Devil Fruit vaults, nobody complained about fairness.
The Revolutionaries, short on manpower, could only take a few precious artifacts. Even they knew that seizing a warship was more trouble than it was worth—slowing them down during their escape.
Morgans' voice boomed again through the transceivers:
"Gah-hahahaha! This battle has turned into an all-out scramble for treasure! Who will emerge the true victor—Souta Kiryuu, the Four Emperors, or the Revolutionaries?!"
As the war devolved into chaos, the Marines' remaining forces pressed forward toward the Island of Gods and Demons. Sengoku and his fleet intended to recover the abandoned soldiers Akainu and the Gorosei had left behind—and perhaps, if fortune favored them, scavenge from the carnage.
Far above, a crimson dragon roared through the clouds. The Red-Haired Pirates rode atop it, racing across the skies.
That dragon's speed was legendary—it could soar from Wano's waters in the far reaches of the New World to Marineford in a single day. It was how, in the original timeline, Red-Haired Shanks had stunned the world by arriving at the Summit War so suddenly.
Now, from the far side of the New World to the Island of Gods and Demons, the trip would take even less time.
But they had been delayed—raiding Whitebeard's allied crews for their vivre cards had cost them precious hours.
And so, the world trembled once again, as the strongest forces of the age converged—
on the blood-soaked battlefield where Souta Kiryuu waited.