One Piece: The user of the Nen-Nen Fruit, who overturned the sea.

Squard.

Captain of the Whirlpool Spider Pirates, a branch of the Whitebeard Pirates, with a bounty of 210 million Berries.

He had served Whitebeard for over a decade and was one of Whitebeard's most trusted captains.

He stood behind the white-bearded man, holding a long sword that was now slightly unsheathed.

"Dad."

Squard spoke, his voice so soft it was almost inaudible amidst the roar of artillery fire.

The white-bearded man turned his head and looked at his son, who had been with him for over a decade.

Then Squard thrust his blade forward.

The long sword pierced through the white-bearded man's chest.

When the knife tip emerged from the white-bearded man's back, everyone on the deck was stunned.

For a moment, the entire deck of the Moby Dick was eerily quiet.

The sounds of cannon fire, battle cries, and clashing swords—

All sounds seemed to have been sucked away by something, leaving only the muffled thud of a blade piercing flesh echoing in everyone's ears.

Whitebeard looked down at the blade that had pierced his chest.

His expression was calm, without anger or surprise, only a deep, indescribable complexity.

"Dad—!!!"

Marco's roar shattered the silence on the deck.

Marco instantly dodged and pinned Squard down.

Having landed a successful blow, Squard had no intention of resisting and was thus controlled by Marco.

"stop."

The white-bearded man's voice wasn't loud, but every word sounded like a hammer pounding on the deck.

"Dad!"

The white-bearded man slowly turned around.

The blade was still embedded in his chest, and blood seeped from the wound, flowing down the blade and dripping onto the deck, forming a small dark red pool.

But he seemed completely oblivious to the pain, looking down at Squard, who was being controlled by Marco.

"Squard".

The white-bearded man's voice was very soft, so soft that it didn't sound like he was speaking to someone who had pierced his chest.

Why?

Squard's hand holding the knife trembled violently.

His lips were trembling, his eyes were bloodshot, and his face was contorted beyond recognition.

"Dad—you lied to me—!!!"

Squard's voice was squeezed out from deep in his throat, with a sob on the verge of collapse.

"You made a deal with the Navy long ago—to trade the lives of us affiliated pirate crews for Ace's life—right?!!!!"

The white-bearded man didn't speak, but simply watched him quietly.

Squard's emotions completely collapsed.

His tears streamed from his bloodshot eyes, mingling with the blood on his face, making him look like a madman.

"Roger—Roger killed my comrade!"

My entire pirate crew died at Roger's hands!

And Ace—Ace is Roger's son—!

"But you want us to risk our lives to save Roger's son—!!!"

"If Akainu hadn't told me—I would still be completely in the dark!!!"

The pirates on the deck were all stunned.

Akainu?

When did Akainu make contact with Squard?

Marco's brow furrowed into a tight knot.

He looked at Squard, then at the knife in his father's chest, and finally at the lava figure raging on the distant battlefield.

Akainu.

That bastard.

The white-bearded man remained silent for a long time.

Then he reached out and hugged Squard tightly.

Squard froze.

Whitebeard's embrace was so large that it could envelop Squard entirely.

His palm pressed on Squard's back, not with much force, but Squard felt as if he were being crushed by a mountain and couldn't move.

"Squard".

Whitebeard's voice was hoarse and deep.

"You're an idiot."

Squard's tears fell even harder.

"But—you are also my most beloved son."

Whitebeard loosened Squard's hair and turned to look at Marco.

"Marco, pull out the knife."

Marco gritted his teeth and stepped forward, placing his hand on the hilt of his knife.

"Dad, just bear with it."

Marco pulled hard.

The long sword, trailing a spray of blood, was pulled from the white-bearded man's chest.

The white-bearded man swayed slightly, but quickly regained his balance.

He looked down at the wound on his chest, wiped the blood off his hand, and then, looking at the bloodstains on his palm, a slow smile spread across his face.

"You think you can kill me with this little injury?"

He turned around and faced everyone on the deck.

"Listen up, everyone—I have never betrayed any of my sons."

"You believe a few words from that bastard Akainu?"

I'm Whitebeard!

Whitebeard's greatest pride in this life is you sons!

"What kind of bullshit agreement, what kind of bullshit deal—if I were that kind of person, would you guys have followed me for so many years!"

The pirates on deck all had tears in their eyes.

Squard knelt on the deck, his whole body slumped down as if all his strength had been drained.

"Dad... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..."

He cried like a child.

Whitebeard didn't look at him again.

He turned around and picked up the naginata that was leaning against the ship's side again.

The hilt of the knife spun in his hand, and the blade reflected a dazzling, cold light in the sunlight.

"However—that brat Akainu actually dared to lie to my son."

Whitebeard's voice suddenly turned cold.

"I have to settle this score with him myself."

Marco's expression changed: "Dad, your injury—"

"Minor injury."

The white-bearded man interrupted him, his voice leaving no room for argument.

He then jumped off the bow of the Moby Dick.

The moment the white-bearded man landed, the entire ice surface trembled.

The naginata spun in his hand, its tip carving a deep groove in the ice.

He stood on the ice, blood still seeping from the wound in his chest, but his aura was more terrifying than ever.

On the execution platform, the Warring States' expression changed.

His worst fears came true.

The Navy's divisive tactics did hurt Whitebeard, but they also thoroughly enraged the monster.

An angry white beard is a hundred times more terrifying than a calm one.

"Akainu!"

The Whitebeard's roar shook the entire battlefield.

He held the naginata in one hand, slowly raising the tip of the blade in front of him, pointing it at the magma figure in the distance who was fighting the pirates.

"Come here and prepare to die—!!!"

All the naval personnel on the ice felt a terrifying sense of oppression.

That sense of oppression wasn't Conqueror's Haki, but something more direct—pure, unadulterated rage.

A rear admiral attempted a sneak attack from the side, but before he could even raise his sword, the white-bearded man casually cleaved him away with a single stroke.

The sound of the blade colliding with the human body was muffled like thunder. The major general tumbled dozens of times in the air before crashing onto the ice, his body no longer recognizable as human.

A second vice admiral rushed up and swung his axe down at the white-bearded man's head.

The white-bearded man didn't even look, and punched the air with his backhand.

The power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit was activated with a roar.

The atmosphere shattered, and cracks spread outwards from his fist.

The lieutenant general was thrown back, weapon and all, spitting out a mouthful of blood in mid-air before crashing into a distant pile of ice, his fate unknown.

The third, the fourth, the fifth—one after another, the charging navy soldiers were knocked away by Whitebeard.

Some were cleaved away by the naginata, some were sent flying by the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, and some were picked up and thrown away by Whitebeard with one hand.

Whitebeard walked step by step toward Akainu.

Each step on the ice created a crack, and each step left a deep footprint.

His chest was still bleeding, but his eyes were sharper than ever.

The pirates on the ice automatically made way for them.

As they watched their father's retreating figure, their eyes shone brightly.