Summary:
Whitebeard aims to destroy all of Marineford and orders his crew and other pirates to flee. Ace gives his last, grateful goodbye to his captain before trying to escape as well. However, Akainu mocks Whitebeard and Ace, feeling angry and insulted by Whitebeard, tries to take him on. But it quickly becomes apparent that Ace is defeated, and when Akainu tries to land the death blow on the now exhausted Luffy, Ace hits his younger brother instead.
Marineford begins to collapse around the marines. As the island approaches, much of Whitebeard’s crew does not want to leave their captain behind. Angry at their disobedience, Whitebeard tells his crew to evacuate. The marines continue to rapidly fire bullets at the large pirate, who slams his spear down, blowing several marines away. Some of Whitebeard’s crew despair, but Fossa says that evacuating is what Whitebeard wants his crew to do. As the pirate crew leaves, Luffy calls out to Ace, who is standing by. Marco also despairs over Whitebeard’s situation. Laughing confidently at saving Ace, Galdino is about to be beheaded by some marines, but uses a wax turtle shell to protect himself. Galdino tells the soldiers that his skills are still proficient and he is almost shot but escapes.
As Whitebeard continues to thrash Marineford, Sengoku realizes that the Whitebeard pirate wants to sink the entire island and take every marine with him. Meanwhile, Garp recovers and believes that the old era is coming to an end. In the Sabaody Archipelago, people are concerned about Whitebeard’s condition and think he may have betrayed his allies. They look back at how Buggy was blocking their view of the fight. Buggy is upset that the Den Den Mushi he’s been staring at is still in his shell as he wants to take down Whitebeard and announce his victory. With the snail too scared to come out, Buggy believes he just wants to do his job. Suddenly a snail comes out crying. The former prisoners suggest that Buggy announce his intention to conquer the world. Buggy soon decides to start his speech.
At that moment, the Sabaody monitors connect to the internet and Buggy greets the people on their side. As the pirates rush back to their ships, Whitebeard is still holding his own against the marines. Jozu is still frozen, making him too heavy to carry. That’s Blenheim’s name. Ivankov urges Luffy to leave while Ace remains standing still. As the marines approach, Ace shoots fire at the marines. Ace kneels before his captain, exhausted. With time for words, Whitebeard asks Ace one last thing, if he is happy to be his father. After looking back on his meetings with Whitebeard, Ace tearfully says that he is happy that Whitebeard is his father. Whitebeard Laughs With the scaffolding destroyed, Buggy announces to the people of Sabaody that he will become a legend, but is beaten up for screwing it up.
As the pirates near freedom, Jinbe tells Ace and Luffy to stay ahead as the marines want to target them. After pirates steal a navy ship, Akainu knows escape is futile and fires a lava fist at some of the pirates. Jinbe tells his two allies not to look back. Sakazuki gloats that after rescuing Ace, the pirates would be cowards. Kingdew senses that Sakazuki is trying to send the pirates over the edge. The Marine admiral then insults Whitebeard as a “washed up failure”, driving Ace off the deep end. Ace turns to face Akainu in a fit of rage, ignoring the pleas of his friends. Sakazuki recounts how Ace’s biological father, Gol D. Roger, conquered the Great Line and ushered in the Great Pirate Era by sacrificing himself. He also says that Whitebeard failed due to a lack of ambition and thinks he is a coward.
With Whitebeard soon to be forgotten, Ace marches forward covered by fire while Akainu thinks the crew has been tricked. An angry Ace says that there is nothing fake about Whitebeard’s pirates, while Sakazuki wants the pirates dead as failures. Determined to protect his father’s era, Ace fires a fire fist while Akainu fires a magma fist; His magma easily pierces through Ace and knocks him back. Sakazuki rejoices that even though Ace is created from fire, his own magma can burn several times the effect. Luffy tries to intervene but falls to his knees as does the Vivre Card. Seeing that he has the opportunity to end Gol D. Roger and Monkey D. Dragon’s bloodlines, Akainu targets Luffy, who is trying to reach Ace’s Vivre Card. Seconds later, Ace’s beads fell to the ground as Ace shielded Luffy from Sakazuki’s fist. The pirates and Garp are shocked when the Vivre card starts burning again.