One Piece: Starting at the War of the Best

Tich, do you have anything left to say?"

At this moment, Whitebeard's voice was hoarse and low.

In an instant, cold sweat poured from Teach's forehead. After all, he had followed Whitebeard for over twenty years and was all too familiar with his temper. And right now, he was clearly at the peak of his fury.

"Dad, Dad, I was wrong! Please forgive me! Forgive my moment of foolishness!"

Faced with the threat of death, Teach completely abandoned his pride, groveling before Whitebeard and begging for forgiveness, without a trace of the arrogance or dominance he had shown moments earlier.

However, Whitebeard remained unmoved. A massive hand gripped Teach's head as the power of his Devil Fruit slowly gathered.

Seeing this, Teach trembled all over — it was fear pushed to the extreme. At such close range, once the attack exploded, he had no hope of surviving. His head would be blown to dust!

"Dad, I'm your son!"

Just as Whitebeard was about to unleash his power, that sentence from Teach froze him in place, a flicker of hesitation showing in his eyes.

"Dad, I really know I was wrong. For the sake of our twenty-some years together, can't you forgive me just this once? Didn't you also forgive Squad for his offense? Please, Dad."

Teach could clearly see the hesitation in Whitebeard's eyes and began calling him "Dad" again and again, oozing warmth and affection.

If not for the fact that everyone had witnessed the whole event, they might really have been fooled by Teach's performance and called him a good son.

"Dad! You can't let him go!"

Not far away, Marco, realizing what was happening, shouted anxiously. Though Blackbeard had been Whitebeard's son for over twenty years, his motives from the start had never been pure — and worse, he killed the 4th division commander, another one of Whitebeard's sons. His actions were utterly unforgivable!

Marco's voice snapped Whitebeard out of his hesitation. In an instant, his eyes turned razor-sharp again.

The attack that had paused surged back with renewed killing intent — no longer any doubt.

"Damn it, attack! Kill this old man!"

Knowing that begging was now useless, Teach threw caution to the wind and ordered his subordinates to launch a full assault on Whitebeard.

"Charge! Stop them!"

Marco would never let that happen. Along with the other division commanders, he charged forward and intercepted all of Teach's subordinates.

"Sword Judgment: Shatter!"

However, just as Kaido thought that Blackbeard was about to be finished, things changed again.

A brilliant sword light suddenly descended — so fast it even exceeded Kaido's perception. What was once a distant sword aura appeared in the next second right in front of Whitebeard.

At that moment, no one had time to react. They only saw a sudden blinding light, followed by a splash of crimson — a dazzling red.

"Dad!"

A heart-wrenching scream rang out. Seeing the severed arm flying high in the sky, Ace felt his heart bleeding — that was Whitebeard's right arm!

Without hesitation, he rushed toward Whitebeard, but a firm hand pressed down on his shoulder to stop him.

"Kaido, let me go! Or don't blame me for not holding back!"

Ace, red-eyed and on the verge of losing control, didn't even spare Kaido a shred of respect.

"Think carefully. Everything Whitebeard's doing is for your sake. If you go now and fall into the enemy's hands again, wouldn't all his efforts be in vain?"

"My dear nephew, we've got this."

Before Ace could respond, another voice chimed in, leaving him stunned — nephew?

He turned to look and saw two figures approaching. One of them, a powerfully built man, was smiling at him.

While Ace was sizing up the man, the man was also examining Ace. For a moment, his expression went blank — so alike, too alike. He was momentarily dazed.

"Hey hey, Barrett, plenty of time to stare later. Can we focus on the job first?"

The other person beside him interrupted their moment and immediately charged into the battlefield.

"Wait for me," Barrett said, then quickly followed after him.

Kaido patted Ace on the shoulder before leaping off, leaving a stunned Ace rooted in place.

"Impressive, Sengoku... to think you even managed to bring him out."

Though the newcomer's identity hadn't been revealed yet, Rayleigh knew exactly who he was. Only two people in the world could unleash a sword strike of that magnitude — the one beside him and that bald puppet master behind the scenes.

Bogart didn't say anything. The appearance of this man had caught even him off guard. And that entrance — sneaky and swift — made him frown. He couldn't believe that someone on that level would actually launch a sneak attack.

In that moment, Bogart felt fortunate for his past decision. Good thing he chose to follow Vice Admiral Garp — only then could he live peacefully and do what he truly wanted.

"You bald old dog, still love sneak attacks like always! Why didn't you bring those four old fossils with you too!?"

Before the person arrived, their voice rang out. Barrett didn't hold back at all, directly cursing the man out.

"If you're going to show your face, then appreciate the value of freedom — otherwise, we can always toss you back into prison!" came the reply, full of imposing dominance.

But Barrett wasn't one to be intimidated. He snapped right back. "Try it if you've got the guts, you hairless monk!"

Finally, the figures of the newcomers became visible — not one, but three.

"Who are those two?"

As people got a better look, this question formed in almost everyone's mind. They realized they only recognized Sengoku, and shockingly, he was walking at the rear.

Those among the crowd who did recognize the other two nearly fainted from fear.

"The one even more muscular than Sengoku is named Kong — the former Fleet Admiral of the Navy and current Supreme Commander of the World Government's military forces! As for the one with the sword... let me tell you — he's one of the few people with the highest authority in the world, holding the fates of countless others in his hands!"

But the shocking revelations didn't stop there.

"You see those two beside Kaido? The older one is Baroric Redfield — back when Kong was in charge, the two of them once fought. And Redfield was the one who won."

"The other is Douglas Bullet, a former member of the Roger Pirates and the third strongest man on Roger's ship. The Navy even launched a Buster Call just to capture him!"

After hearing this barrage of introductions, the onlookers were dumbfounded. Never in their wildest dreams did they think a battle between Whitebeard and the Navy would escalate to this — with so many powerhouses appearing all at once.

And little did they know — yet another heavyweight was about to make their entrance.