Marineford War: I Will Stand in the Sky

As the blade was withdrawn, Shanks' body collapsed limply to the ground. The light in his eyes, which had been filled with resentment, gradually faded, and he saw Yann walking towards him, while a sentence slowly entered his ears...

"So what if you're 'at the pinnacle of piracy'?"

[Chapter 787. Why?]

"Clang..."

With a crisp sound, Shanks' fingers, which had been gripping the "Famous Sword Griffin," loosened weakly and fell to the ground.

Just as Yann was about to reach Shanks' side, he suddenly stopped.

"boom!"

The next moment, a figure crashed down not far behind Yann, and it was none other than Ben Beckman, who had been blasted away by the air.

"That brat really showed no mercy..."

Ben Beckman stood up cursing, his gaze inadvertently glancing at Shanks lying on the ground, before his voice abruptly stopped.

"Wha...what happened..."

Ben Beckman's tone revealed utter horror; he had never expected Shanks to fall.

More importantly, Ben Beckman's instinctive use of Observation Haki failed to detect even the slightest trace of life in Shanks.

This means Shanks... is dead?!

Ben Beckman's eyes shrank, as if the whole world had collapsed in front of him.

Just then, Yann, who had his back to Ben Beckman, slowly turned around, his face cold and his eyes icy as he looked at Ben Beckman and spoke.

"Honestly, why did you have to stumble upon this scene? Now it seems I'll have no choice but to deal with you as well."

As Ben Beckman recognized Yann's identity, he broke out in a cold sweat and, despite his usual composure, lost his composure and questioned him.

"What did you do to Shanks, you bastard?"

"It's nothing. Since Shanks has lost his value, we naturally can't let him get in the way on this ocean any longer."

Yann answered calmly, his cold gaze sending chills down Ben Beckman's spine, completely devoid of the gentleness and justice he had previously perceived.

At this moment, although Ben Beckman was filled with doubt about the appearance of this supposedly dead man, his intelligent intuition had already sensed something.

Just then...

"boom!"

A thud sounded behind Ben Beckman, and it was Kong who had been chasing after him.

Seeing this, Ben Beckman's gloomy and tense expression relaxed slightly.

During his time fighting Kong, Ben Beckman had come to fully understand the level of Kong's strength...

Very strong!

Moreover, it is so powerful that it has almost no obvious flaws. Its strength is in no way inferior to that of Ben Beckman, who is the vice-president of the royal family. On the contrary, it is definitely superior to Ben Beckman!

More importantly, Kong's fighting style is different from that of Shanks, Luffy, and Luminous, who rely on their fighting talent and become stronger with each battle. Instead, Kong is more like Ben Beckman, a calm type who is constantly calculating during the battle.

'With the two first mates working together... no problem! As long as we stall until our other comrades realize the situation and Mihawk and Luminosity come to our aid, even if this Marine bastard is incredibly strong, we'll be fine!'

With this thought in mind, Ben Beckman focused almost all his attention on Yann in front of him and spoke hastily.

"Hey, something's wrong! Our captain seems to have been attacked by that bastard. We need to pause the battle for now and try to hold him off together, then quickly notify all our crew to come and help..."

As they were talking, Ben Beckman suddenly noticed a subtle, sarcastic expression on Yann's face.

What is this bastard mocking?

Ben Beckman subconsciously had this question in his mind.

However, the next moment...

"Pfft..."

A sharp blade pierced through Ben Beckman's back, and the overwhelming pain caused his face to twitch.

With unwavering determination, Ben Beckman turned his head to look behind him, only to find someone with their head slightly lowered, their eyes obscured by reflective glasses.

Sora, expressionless, pulled out the "Famous Sword: Withered Wood" that had pierced Ben Beckman.

"Whoosh..."

In an instant, a large amount of blood gushed out, and Ben Beckman collapsed to his knees, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

Although the stab from behind did not pierce Ben Beckman's heart, it precisely severed his kidney, causing severe internal bleeding and leaving him feeling as if all his strength had been drained away instantly.

Ben Beckman, both angry and bewildered, questioned the empty space behind him, shouting, "Why...?"

Kong didn't answer Ben Beckman, or even glance at him. Instead, he slowly walked up to Yann and whispered something that made Ben Beckman shrink back.

"Father."

Father...Father...Sir?!

Sora, no, Sora and Ying are both descendants of that naval hero, Vice Admiral Yann?

At that moment, Ben Beckman felt a chill run through his body, realizing that Luffy's every action from beginning to end was likely under Arn's surveillance and guidance, and that Arn had even discovered some secrets.

'Damn it...'

Ben Beckman, panting heavily to alleviate the excruciating pain, glared at Yann through gritted teeth, while secretly pulling a specially made bullet from his pocket and loading it into his flintlock pistol.

According to the agreement within the Red-Haired Pirates, as soon as this special bullet explodes in the air, all members of the Red-Haired Pirates must evacuate immediately.

'At least... at least get my comrades out... take the Road Poneglyphs with them...'

However, just as Ben Beckman was about to pull the trigger...

"puff……"

Ben Beckman's chest was suddenly pierced through by the "Godkiller Gun".

At that moment, Ben Beckman couldn't hide anymore. He instinctively roared and used his last bit of strength to pull the trigger, but the numb and cold feeling spread from his chest almost instantly, causing Ben Beckman's body to completely lose control, and his will was also being rapidly pulled away.

"Clang..."

In the end, Ben Beckman's flintlock pistol fell limply to the ground, unable to pull the trigger.

Seeing this, Yaen withdrew the extended blade of the "Godslayer Spear," but his gaze fell on Kong, whose face seemed to show some reluctance and hesitation, and he asked.

"Kong, you can't bear it? You've developed a sense of camaraderie with Ben Beckman?"

"No, Father..."

Kong shook his head, hesitated for a moment, and replied, "But what if Luffy finds out you killed Shanks?"

Yone stared into the air for a few seconds, then asked, "So, you consider Luffy a true comrade?"

Sora glanced at Luffy, who was lying unconscious on the ground, and slowly nodded.

Under Kong's somewhat tense and hesitant gaze, the coldness on Yann's face suddenly vanished, replaced by a gentle smile.

"Don't worry, I won't make things difficult for you."

[Chapter 788. Three days until the public execution]

"Ok?"

Kong looked at Ya'en with some surprise, his expression somewhat bewildered.

To this, Yann simply smiled without explanation, then lifted his toe and kicked Luffy directly into Kong's arms, and then said.

"The last piece of the Road Poneglyph is on the bottom of the Red-Haired Pirates' flagship. Go there."

Sora caught the unconscious Luffy in his arms, nodded, and was about to turn and leave when...

"null……"

Just then, Yann's voice suddenly rang out again. "You shouldn't have allowed Ying to fool around and duel with Mihawk."

Kong paused, then replied, "Father, this is Ying's will, and I have no reason to stop her from proving herself."

"Do not……"

Yann shook his head, a gentle look in his eyes as he spoke.

"What I mean is, neither you nor Ying need any proof. In any case, I will be proud of you, and you don't need to carry too much burden. I'll take care of everything. Just enjoy the voyage and try to find Laugh Tale and uncover the greatest secret of this era."

After a pause, Yann looked at Kong's retreating figure and continued speaking.

"Don't worry, Sora. Even if you ultimately fail to find the secret of Laugh Tale, I can still complete the plan. Your father is very strong!"

Sora nodded, then hurriedly carried Luffy away.

After all... there wasn't much time left for Sora, and there wasn't any extra space for Arn and Sora to talk slowly.

After the battle between Shanks and Luffy subsided for a while, some pirates realized something was wrong. They used their Observation Haki to sense the situation, but instead of Shanks, they sensed an unfamiliar presence.

This led to the Straw Hat crew, Shanks' crew, and even Mihawk and Luminous gradually ceasing their fighting and beginning to move towards Yann.

Kong, feigning distress, carried the unconscious Luffy away, shouting a warning that "there is a powerful enemy," before leading the Straw Hat crew to evacuate the deserted island.

However, the Straw Hat crew chose to retreat directly under Sora's authority, while the Red-Haired crew could not escape directly and instead rushed to surround Yann.

Soon, the Straw Hat crew obtained the Road Poneglyphs and left the deserted island. At some point, the island was shrouded in a thick thundercloud, and countless bolts of lightning seemed to be pouring down as if to completely destroy the entire island.

This scene also brought back some unpleasant memories for many of the Straw Hat crew.

"I don't know why, but I suddenly thought of that arrogant man who called himself 'God'."

"That's right, it's somewhat like Enel's Raikou."

"It should be...it must be a special climate, right? Wasn't Enel supposed to have been arrested by the Navy and sent to Impel Down? There's no way he could be here."

……

While the Straw Hat crew whispered amongst themselves and Chopper was giving Luffy emergency treatment, Sanji asked Sora a question with some confusion.

"Kong, who exactly attacked Luffy and Shanks? Why did you choose to run away without hesitation?"

After a pause, Sanji hesitated before speaking.

"Besides, wouldn't it be a bit unethical to abandon the Red-Haired Pirates like this? But there aren't any ladies in the Red-Haired Pirates who need special treatment."

"I don't know, that guy was wearing a mask..."

Sora shook his head and said, "But that guy took down Shanks in an instant. He's terrifying. He's not an enemy we can handle at this stage. Running away is the only option. As for Shanks and his crew..."