Chapter 100: Whitebeard and Fa-Jin

The music on the deck of the Moby Dick just stopped and died out completely.

My words cut through the lingering noise of the banquet like a blade.

The sheer impossibility of the offer hung in the salty sea air, completely silencing the legendary commanders of the Whitebeard fleet.

Marco the Phoenix was the first to react.

His relaxed demeanor vanished in an instant, replaced by the fierce, protective instinct of a first mate.

He stepped forward, placing himself between me and his captain.

“Don’t make jokes like that, Warlord,” Marco warned, his eyes narrowing, faint wisps of blue-and-yellow flames licking at his shoulders.

“I’m the ship’s doctor.

I know the old man’s condition better than anyone.

Even my Flames of Regeneration can only heal physical wounds.

They can’t reverse terminal organ failure, and they can’t turn back time.”

I didn’t back down, keeping my gaze entirely fixed on the massive Emperor sitting in the chair.

“I didn’t say I could turn back time, Marco.

I said I could cure him.

There’s a difference.”

Whitebeard raised a massive hand, gesturing for Marco to stand down.

The First Commander hesitated but slowly stepped aside.

The Strongest Man in the World leaned forward, the medical tubes hooked to his chest rattling softly.

His piercing golden eyes scrutinized me, searching for any trace of deception or an ulterior motive.

He looked at Ace, who was still kneeling on the deck, utterly overwhelmed by the revelation of his family, and then he looked back at me.

“You tore down a Warlord and challenged an Emperor just to secure a path for your blood,” Whitebeard rumbled quietly.

“You don’t strike me as a man who makes empty promises, Victor.

But why offer this to me?

I am an Emperor.

By all rights, I am your enemy.”

“You gave my cousin a home when the world told him he didn’t deserve to exist,” I answered simply, my tone completely devoid of arrogance.

“You gave him a family.

I take care of my own, Newgate, and I always repay my family’s debts.

Consider this a blank slate.”

Whitebeard stared at me for a long, heavy moment.

Then, the edges of his mouth curled upward.

“Gurarararara!” Whitebeard’s laugh boomed across the silent deck.

“A Warlord paying off a debt to a Yonko!

This era is full of surprises!

Fine, brat.

I accept your offer.

Let’s see this miracle of yours.”

The deck of the Moby Dick was immediately cleared.

The Whitebeard Pirates formed a massive, tense perimeter, watching with bated breath as Law and I stepped up to the Emperor’s chair.

“What’s the play, Victor?” Law asked quietly, pulling his Nodachi from its scabbard.

“His internal systems are failing.

If I just start cutting away necrotic tissue, the shock to his system will cause his heart to give out.”

“You’re the scalpel, Law.

I’m the life support,” I explained, rolling up my sleeves.

“You use your Devil Fruit to perform the surgery, extract any shrapnel lodged in his organs, clear the dead tissue, and realign the failing valves, Do a full rehaul of his internals.

Don’t worry about his heart stopping.

I won’t let it.”

Law smirked, pulling his spotted hat down low.

“Room.”

A massive, pale blue spherical barrier instantly expanded, completely enveloping Whitebeard, Law, and myself.

Inside this space, Trafalgar Law was a god.

With intense, absolute focus, Law held up his free hand.

He didn’t make a single physical incision.

Instead, he made a series of rapid, precise twisting motions with his fingers.

Deep inside Whitebeard’s massive torso, microscopic pieces of rusted shrapnel, remnants of a hundred different wars, began to seamlessly phase out of his body, floating into the air and clattering harmlessly onto the wooden deck.

Whitebeard grunted, his massive hands gripping the armrests as the invasive, spatial surgery took its toll on his failing stamina.

His breathing hitched, and the heart monitor hooked to his chair began to flatline.

“His heart is failing!” Marco shouted from the perimeter, stepping forward.

“Stay back!” Law barked, sweat beading on his forehead as he manipulated the Emperor’s organs.

“Victor, now!”

I stepped directly in front of Whitebeard and slammed both of my palms squarely against the center of his massive chest.

I closed my eyes, dug deep and tapped into the pure, internal kinetic energy stored in me, the Fa-Jin.

Through the golden Nega-Rings on my fingers, I converted my mental willpower into raw, concentrated life-force.

A blinding, brilliant green aura erupted from my hands, washing over Whitebeard’s torso.

I forced the kinetic energy directly into him at cellular level.

I physically jumpstarted his failing heart, forcing it to beat with rhythmic, concussive blasts of Fa-Jin.

The green aura flooded his veins, aggressively accelerating his cellular regeneration, feeding his body the raw stamina it needed to survive Law’s extreme surgical realignment.

The heat radiating from the process was intense.

The Nega-Rings glowed white-hot on my fingers as they regulated the massive output of energy.

I gritted my teeth, holding the Emperor’s life in my hands, refusing to let the flame die out.

“Got it,” Law exhaled sharply.

“Scan.” The blue aura washed over Whitebeard one last time.

Law sheathed his sword with a sharp click, and the Room dissolved into the air.

I pulled my hands back, severing the flow of Fa-Jin, and dropped to one knee, panting heavily.

The sheer stamina drain of keeping an Emperor alive during major surgery was staggering.

A heavy, terrifying silence fell over the deck.

Whitebeard sat completely still in his chair, his eyes closed.

“Pops…?” Ace whispered, stepping forward, his heart in his throat.

Whitebeard’s eyes snapped open.

He didn’t look tired.

The dull, sickly glaze that had clouded his eyes for years was completely gone, replaced by a terrifying, sharp golden clarity.

He looked down at his chest.

The heavy, agonizing rattling in his lungs had vanished.

With a sudden, violent flex of his massive chest and arm muscles, Whitebeard shattered the medical tubes.

The IV lines snapped.

The oxygen tank hissed and broke.

He stood up.

For the first time in a decade, Edward Newgate stood at his absolute full, towering height.

His posture was completely straight, his massive frame radiating an aura of overwhelming, unfathomable vitality.

He reached out and grabbed the haft of his legendary bisento, Murakumogiri.

He slammed the butt of the colossal weapon into the deck of the ship.

BOOOOOOM!

It wasn’t an attack, but the sheer, unfettered release of his restored Conqueror’s Haki hit the ocean like a physical bomb.

The ocean around the fleet violently pushed outward, creating massive tidal waves.

The clouds above the Moby Dick were completely obliterated, leaving a perfectly clear, sunlit sky.

The Strongest Man in the World was back.

“Pops…

you’re…

you’re healed!” Marco choked out, tears of absolute joy streaming down the First Commander’s face.

The deck absolutely erupted.

The Whitebeard Pirates cheered so loudly the sound rivaled cannon fire.

Pirates were weeping, hugging each other, and screaming their captain’s name to the heavens.

Whitebeard looked down at me and Law, a profound, undeniable respect in his eyes.

He reached down and picked up his massive sake barrel.

“Listen to me, my children!” Whitebeard roared, his voice echoing across the entire allied armada.

“These men are no longer just guests on this ship!

The Verdant Abyss Pirates have given me my life back!

From this day until the end of the era, they are brothers in arms of the Whitebeard Fleet!”

The roaring cheers intensified, shaking the very timbers of the ship.

Ace looked at me, completely speechless, overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of what my crew had just accomplished for his father.

I stood up, wiping the sweat from my brow, and offered Whitebeard a tired, but entirely satisfied smirk.

“Drink up, old man.

You’ve got a lot of years left to catch up on.”

The next morning, the hangover on the Moby Dick was legendary, but the Titan’s Glory was already preparing to set sail.

Ace stood on the boarding ramp, his trademark orange hat pulled low, a large rucksack slung over his shoulder.

He had spent the morning saying his temporary goodbyes to Marco, Jozu, and Thatch.

Whitebeard had officially granted his Second Division Commander an open-ended leave of absence.

Ace was going to find his brother, and he was going to meet his bloodline.

“You ready for this, Fire Fist?” I asked, leaning against the railing as he stepped onto our deck.

“I’ve never been more ready for anything in my life,” Ace grinned, his eyes burning with a renewed, unshakeable fire.

“Let’s go find Sabo.”

I nodded, turning toward the bow of the ship.

“Alright, everyone!

Secure the rigging!

We have a long journey ahead, and we’re taking the express route!”

Instead of calling upon the Jade Unicorn to glide over the waves, I reached into the arcane reserves of my magic.

We needed sheer, unadulterated verticality and speed to reach our next destination.

“Summon: Sky-roc.”

The air above the Titan’s Glory violently shimmered and tore open.

A massive, majestic shriek pierced the morning sky.

Descending from the magical rift was a colossal avian construct, its wingspan easily dwarfing our ship.

The Sky-roc was a creature of myth, its feathers glowing with a brilliant, golden-white arcane light, its massive talons crackling with storm energy.

With a beat of its massive wings that kicked up a localized hurricane, the Sky-roc descended.

Ethereal, glowing tethers materialized from its talons, seamlessly latching onto the reinforced mooring points of the Titan’s Glory.

“Hold on to something!” Laura yelled, her feral grin widening as she gripped the mast.

With another deafening shriek, the Sky-roc flapped its wings.

The Titan’s Glory was violently, beautifully ripped from the surface of the ocean.

The Whitebeard Pirates cheered from the deck of the Moby Dick as our black-and-gold ship was hoisted high into the air.

We soared directly into the clouds, pulled by the mythical bird, leaving the Emperor’s armada far below.

The reunion of the Costa bloodline had officially begun, and we were taking the New World by storm.

———————————————————————————————————

For more chapters

Curtis Branscum, Vince, Eric