Chapter 237

—

The two severed necks belonging to Kong and Kizaru collapsed and rolled on the ground beside their bodies.

Amon breathed in and out, sweating even – for the first 2 seconds before his sweat vaporized and the grin returned to his face. There was no sign of tiredness left in his expression. 

‘Stamina isn't something I need to worry about.’

Amon's natural stamina was higher than most, only below Kaido. But overall, his stamina was technically limitless. That’s because of his devil-fruit, again.

Devil Fruit abilities are based on stamina, and vice-versa. 

Wyper would be able to continuously spew fire for a day, in a normal environment, before his stamina would run out. But in a hot place, such as an island where a volcano had recently erupted, or within a forest fire, he would be able to absorb the fire and heat around him to keep his reserves filled, thus also keeping his stamina full.

That's the same with Amon.

But the advantage he had was – he didn't need to be in a special environment to recharge his stamina. He could be anywhere and yet get this privilege. Because electrons were everywhere, as long as something existed, there were atoms, and in those atoms, electrons were present. Even in the air. 

He just had to take in a breath of electrons in, by either his nose or logia body before he was back to top stamina and reserves. 

‘Choosing Goro-Goro no Mi was one of my most successful decisions to date.’

That was enough thinking at lightning speed. He instead looked around the gazes surrounding him. Garp, Sengoku, Five Elders and thousands of marines stared at him with horrified expressions. 

"...Impossible."

Sengoku gulped in terror and fear. Kong was a beast of a man, he could rival anyone in the pre-Xebec Era. That man who stomped on the grandline, capturing Pirates daily, was now laying limp, his body severed in two.

'Just… how?'

Sengoku wasn't the only one with that question. Each marine who has heard about the legends of Kong had the same question. 

Amidst all this, Sengoku's eyes widened further, almost leaving their sockets this time. 

'Oh lord, why.'

It wasn't a question, it was a plea. Looking at Kizaru's dead body, his head severed the same way as Kong, Sengoku paled. 

Since a year ago, Kizaru wasn't just any Admiral. He was a killing machine prepared especially for Amon. He had one single job, to kill Amon, but there he was, lying limp, dead as a rock.

‘No.’

Sengoku straightened himself. This wasn't time to be intimidated. Things have come too far already, he has to make things a bit less destructive, at least.

Just then Amon moved from his spot. Sengoku braced himself, expecting him to rush here, but instead, Amon rushed to the blonde Celestial Dragon, Doflamingo.

'Dammit!'

Sengoku cursed just as Amon unsheathed his sword, deliberately at a slow enough speed for Doffy to see, his eyes terrified. Doffy tried to back off, but he tripped on his legs. 

Before his back could hit the ground, Amon's sword flashed by his neck, severing it into… millions of threads. Strings.

Sengoku gasped out a breath. Of course, Doflamingo had sent a clone to fight in his stead. Normally, he would have been angry, but this at least saved his life-

Amon vanished from his spot.

4 seconds passed in a blink, everything silent in Sengoku's ears, and at the 5th second he reappeared.

His hand clutched on the severed blonde head as if it was a rag doll. The severed head of Donquixote Doflamingo dripped blood on the floor, his frozen expression that of a man who was staring at the reaper.

"Kwahaha!" Amon laughed.

He kicked the head at Sengoku, luckily light enough that the head didn't just burst open. Sengoku stepped to the right to avoid the head from spilling blood on his coat as the head fell and rolled on the platform where he was standing. 

"Keep it as a gift," Amon said. "As a reminder of what happens when you touch my people."

Sengoku's cold blood turned hot as he grumbled, his hand clenching into a fist. A young man was threatening the Fleet Admiral in front of everyone. Sengoku wasn't a prideful man, for sure, but he was still a Conqueror. 

For a second, he took back his Observation Haki's perception away from the fight of Kaido vs Big Mom, and Whitebeard vs Kuzan and Vice Admirals. 

"You think you can get out of here?" Sengoku glared at Amon instead, his body slowly starting to enlarge, a golden hue covering his size. "Inside the marine base, where I and Garp reside, even the Pirate King would think twice before stepping in here."

That was true. Roger wouldn't want to fight both of them head-on. But will they be able to stop Roger though…? That's a question for another time.

Amon crackled up at this, a type of laugh that he didn't have before, Sengoku realised. Halfway through his laugh, he vanished again. Sengoku couldn't turn around before a hand fell on his shoulder.

"Was the Pirate King as fast as lightning?" He muttered in his ears. "That's why he would think twice before coming here."

Sengoku swung his arm back, but it went through nothing just as Amon appeared in front of him in the air.

"I don't need to do that, because guess what..?"

Now he was just flexing.

—★—

Ace's eyes were locked in this scene since it was happening just a few ten meters ahead of him. But his mind was somewhere else.

"Fool… where were you before?"

He held his voice back from quivering, asking the man behind him.

"Why did you not try to contact me before?"

That was something he was interested in. Fool clearly came to this war to save him, he still cared about their friendship, then why did he never try to contact him?

"Ace…" Fool sighed. "We can talk about that later. First, we need to get out of here no matter what, you agree?"

Ace nodded reluctantly. That was true. It was joyous news that Mr Fool was alive, but if Ace couldn't escape from here, what would that joy be worth?

"Do you have a plan?" He added a second later. "Just… not a plan that risks your life."

He pleaded to his reliable old friend. This fool was always there for him, he didn't hesitate to fight Kaido head-on just for him. He somehow survived, but Ace hoped Fool wouldn't have to take everything on his shoulders again. 

Moreover, Ace was now strong. He could help Fool even if a bit. 

"I do."

Fool answered. 

"It doesn't concern my life, but it does yours."

Ace wondered what that meant, but shrugged in the end.

"Roll it in, doesn't matter."

After a grunt of nod, Ace suddenly felt Fool grabbing him by the back of his neck. It was a bit uncomfortable and it confused him why Fool was doing it, but he trusted the man. It must be according to his plan.

The next second, he felt his body starting to float upwards. Fool's hand enlarged a bit, enough to grab his neck like a straw. Maybe he was using that Lightning Dragon devil fruit of his? 

Soon Ace found him in the sky, hanging from Fool's hand. To lessen the pain, he coated his neck with Haki.

"Everyone!"

Fool's called, his voice louder than any speaker. Sengoku who was about to brawl with Amon turned his head at the sky, along with Garp, Whitebeard, Kaido and the other Admirals. 

In an instant, all the fighting happening on the ground stopped. Some frowned and some looked relieved at a chance for breath. 

Confusing Ace greatly, 'Fool' raised Ace in the air like a trophy, starting to laugh. Sengoku immediately recognised that laugh as his heart dropped.

"Gol D. Ace, the son of the Pirate King.” Fool said. “His execution is coming very grand, isn’t it?" 

Garp, who was sitting on a throne on top of a tower, clenched his fist. 

'Fool' then raised his free hand to his red hat which had a veil attached to it that fell and covered his face. He took off his hat and two small red horns poked out of his head, revealing his face. 

Everyone on the ground froze in their spot just as the Amon beside Sengoku started laughing. 

Feeling something wrong, Ace slowly turned his head back and slowly his expression froze. His eyes trembled as all his memories with Mr Fool surfaced in his mind. 

Under the mask, Ace was expecting many faces, but Amon’s face wasn't one of them. He had blue hair, yes, but he had horns and his face undeniably belonged to the Sky Emperor. Questions popped up in his mind.

Did this mean Fool was actually dead and Amon was pretending to be him? 

Or… was Mr Fool always Amon?

"Fool-"

Fool, no, Amon interrupted him, his eyes locked below.

"Ace's capture was a sight to behold. He struggled hard. Fought hard. But in the end, because of a small misstep, he lost and got captured." He laughed with a grin. "Oh? Some of you look curious about how I know that?"

Whitebeard clenched his fist. He knew whatever Amon was going to say wouldn't suit his taste.

"This war, War of the Bests,” Amon’s grin stretched to his ears. “...Was all part of my plan." 

Another Amon with a camera in his hand simply visualised in the air, out of nowhere. His camera captured the other Amon's grinning face. 

"From Blackbeard stealing the Yami-Yami no Mi, to Yamato intervening in Ace's fight, to Kaido's arrival here."

Amon clenched his large hand around Ace's neck, choking him. But Ace was busy staring at Amon in disbelief.

"Everything, from start to end, was part of my plan."

A chattering started amongst the people below.

Amon wasn't flexing, no, not at all. Except for Blackbeard stealing the fruit part, he was indeed behind the War of the Best. If not for him pulling strings, in this timeline no War would have happened. 

But the people under him, every godly figure present, believed Amon's words from start to end. They simply didn't have any reason not to. 

When Whitebeard thought about how to Teach, one of his sons who's been with him for decades, being manipulated by Amon, everything made sense to him.

When Garp and Sengoku thought about how someone like Blackbeard defeated Ace and brought him back to impel down, it didn’t make sense. But when they inserted Amon in the middle, everything made sense.

When Kaido looked back at the scene a few hours back where Amon made a place for him to escape, he was also forced to believe his words.

"Now!" Amon shouted. "Do any of you realise why I did all this? Yes, it was to bring all of you here, together, in one place. So that I can do what I did to Kizaru and Kong." A mad grin was in his face. "But then again, I don't need to move a single muscle. You all are killing yourselves without me, right? Kwahaha!"

Leaving all the people below in a state of confusion, disbelief, and rage, then turned to Ace. "And Ace, it's been a while. How dumb are you exactly to not connect a 'Thunder Dragon' with a 'Thunder God'? In my name, you're stupid."

This caught thr attention of everyone from Ace's previous crew who were present on the battlefield, to stare at Amon in disbelief.

"But then again." Anon raised his free hand in the air, and next Kiyu, his sword, flew to his palm. "A deadman can't not be dumb, can he?"

Ace's wide eyes stared at Amon's grin with shaky, teary eyes as his body trembled in great… what should he call this emotion? He couldn't tell. It was a mixture of a great many emotions. 

"Why?"

A spiteful tone left him as he bit his lips. Why was he doing all this...?

Amon smiled softly at him. "Ask the guys in the afterlife."

Amon's sword flashed red and orange, shining in extreme heat. He swung the sword through the middle of Ace's legs. The hot blade went through Ace's flesh like a knife through butter and severed his body in half. 

Amon's hand released Ace as the two severed sides of his body, splattering his stomach and kidneys down, started to fall. A betrayed shock in his eyes as he fell on his back, in front of Whitebeard.

Silence engulfed the whole place just before Marine Hero Garp and Edward Newgate plunged into the air, at the laughing monster.

"Come at me!"

The people all over the world watching this knew, whatever was going to happen in the next 5 minutes, will end the war, the war that was planned by the monster in human skin.

 

**

**

**

Author’s Note: Little Oars, Kizaru, Kong, Doflamingo, and now Ace - killed.