"Ah..."

Sengoku slowly set down the Den Den Mushi in his hand, sitting on a crumbling rock as he let out a weary sigh, not bothering to wipe the rain running down his face.

Rainwater streamed down his cheeks, gradually washing away the dried blood at the corners of his mouth.

Miracle Island remained shrouded in relentless rain. The sky loomed dark and heavy, like an enormous hood drawn over the land.

Sheets of rain poured down, casting a hazy veil over the world. Cold droplets pelted the shattered ground, fallen trees, and every Marine's face.

Scattered across the island were countless pirate corpses. Their rain-soaked, pale faces were filled with gloom.

They ran.

All of them ran.

The captains, core officers, and elite fighters of the three great pirate crews—nearly everyone who could escape had escaped.

As for the pirate corpses that blanketed the battlefield, what looked like a grand victory was, in truth, a silent defeat.

"The results of the battle were quite good?"

Borsalino, squatting nearby with a cigarette between his fingers, asked with a smirking expression full of mockery.

Sengoku's mouth twitched as he glared at the freeloader.

Earlier, when Kaidou and Big Mom unleashed their combined technique, this bastard had been the first to slip away!

Sakazuki and Kuzan had both stepped forward without hesitation... yet this irritating bastard Borsalino had subtly positioned himself to shield all three of them without making a sound!

...

Swish, swish, swish...

Sakazuki stepped out from the ruined jungle, his expression dark. His breathing was uneven, and blood was seeping through his uniform from his arm.

The rain cloaked his figure, making him appear even colder and more imposing.

"Everything's basically been dealt with, Admiral Sengoku," he said flatly.

"Except for the core officers and key members of the two Yonkō crews, the rest of the small fry have been eliminated."

He deliberately paused when saying "small fry."

Sengoku felt irritation welling in his chest as he picked up on the dissatisfaction laced in Sakazuki's tone.

"In the end, we accomplished nothing... If I'd known, I would've gone with Daren to intercept Whitebeard."

A grumbling voice came from behind.

Kuzan was sprawled in a patch of weeds, chewing on a blade of grass, arms folded behind his head.

He stared listlessly up at the gray, rain-speckled sky and pouted, sounding genuinely wronged.

Sengoku: "..."

"Enough!"

He ground his teeth and sprang to his feet, his face flushing red with rage as he glared at the three "brats" in front of him and practically roared,

"How the hell was I supposed to know Kaidou and Big Mom had some freakish combined technique!?"

He swung his arm furiously, pointing toward the distant horizon, his hand trembling with anger.

His palm was torn open, bleeding heavily.

"Those two bastards nearly flattened the entire island!! Mountain ranges and forests across hundreds of kilometers were obliterated in a flash!"

He jabbed his finger toward the coastline, where several massive warships lay capsized, and the sea was littered with broken wreckage and debris.

"Yes! The four of us barely held the line with our combined Haki, but we all ended up wounded, didn't we?"

"That attack—Hakai... Just the shockwave alone almost destroyed the entire fleet from headquarters. How the hell were we supposed to stop them from escaping!?"

"Tell me that!!"

Sengoku's sudden outburst startled the surrounding Marines cleaning up the battlefield. Not daring to make a sound, they quietly backed away.

Peeking out from behind fallen trees, heads popped up one after another, their faces full of curiosity and gossip.

Borsalino's smirk froze.

Sakazuki fell silent.

Kuzan shrank his head like a turtle.

Seeing the three of them say nothing, Sengoku's fury only grew.

The failure of this war weighed most heavily on him.

Two battlefields. Two commanders.

Daren, with just a ragtag group of Shichibukai, had effortlessly blocked the Whitebeard Pirates, keeping them completely out of the battle. His speed and execution were flawless.

According to the intel relayed back, they even managed to seriously wound Whitebeard!

And on Sengoku's side?

The full elite force of Marine Headquarters had been deployed. Sengoku prided himself on the planning, strategy, and execution—none of which, in his mind, had been flawed.

But who could've predicted that Kaidou and Big Mom would unleash such a terrifying joint technique?

The moment he faced "Hakai," Sengoku swore he could smell death.

He was certain that if he alone had taken the brunt of that move, he'd be dead or at least gravely wounded.

It was a completely unforeseen, incalculable disaster.

What was he supposed to do?

The four of them had barely managed to block "Hakai," and all sustained injuries of varying severity.

Add to that the chaos of the battlefield, the brutal weather, and most of their warships being destroyed...

Even with a slight edge in fighting strength, how were the Marines supposed to stop Kaidou and Big Mom from breaking through in a desperate charge?

Sure, Sakazuki, Borsalino, and Kuzan had grown stronger, but they'd only just reached the threshold of Admiral-level power.

They still weren't a match for natural monsters like Kaidou and Big Mom.

And in the end, didn't all the pressure fall squarely on him?

The more Sengoku thought about it, the angrier he got. His chest rose and fell rapidly as he stomped his foot and shouted furiously,

"If this keeps up, I'll hand over the title of Marine Admiral to you brats instead!"

Silence.

Utter, deathly silence.

The Marines gossiping in the distance froze, all of them trembling where they stood.

None of them had ever seen Admiral Sengoku—usually known for his calm and composed demeanor—explode like this.

"I was just saying... no need to take it so seriously..."

Borsalino scratched his head with a hint of regret and muttered under his breath.

But to Sengoku's ears, it might as well have been shouted through a megaphone.

His face darkened instantly.

"I'm naturally interested in the position of Marine Admiral," Sakazuki said flatly, "just not right now."

Then he turned and walked off toward the warship without looking back.

"..."

Sengoku's molars ground together with an audible crunch.

Kuzan got up, gave a lazy chuckle, and said,

"I'm not taking the fall for this one."

Clack, clack, clack...

Sengoku stumbled back a few steps, clutching his chest with a pained expression.

Before he could explode again, the three of them had already vanished.

"You little punks..."

He was practically grinding his teeth into dust—

Just then, the Den Den Mushi in his coat rang again.

Still seething with anger, Sengoku didn't even look before answering.

"I'm in a terrible mood right now, so if you've got something to say, spit it out!"

A brief silence came from the other end.

Then a cold, hoarse, elderly voice drifted through.

"Sengoku... you've gotten bold."

The moment the words landed, Sengoku stiffened as if struck by lightning.

His face froze.

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