Chapter 513: The Fall of the Skypiea and the Gathering at Marineford

On the distant horizon, an enormous floating island drifted across the sky.

Slowly, it hovered over Impel Down and began floating toward Navy Headquarters.

This was none other than Karl’s personal flying vessel.

“So it’s been 800 years already…”

“These people have held onto our hard-won prize for eight whole centuries.”

A white-haired elder slammed his fist in outrage after reading a headline in the newspaper.

All twenty or so of these old men were members of the D Clan. Even Im had once been part of the D Clan.

But ever since Im was a child, he’d suffered humiliation in the clan. The D Clan itself was highly stratified with strict hierarchies.

That childhood trauma twisted his heart, much like Enel from the original story.

During a great war, Im stole the D Clan’s most treasured possession—six god-tier Devil Fruits from the Devil Fruit Tree.

After the final battle, he stood on the opposite side, launching a secret massacre that nearly wiped out the entire D Clan.

On the ruins of the old dynasty, he founded the World Government.

From then on, he was known as Lord Im. Of the six fruits, five were gifted to loyal followers who became the Five Elders—a tradition passed down ever since.

“The show is about to begin.”

Karl, meanwhile, couldn’t care less about those old men arguing about ancient grudges.

He was far more interested in what was happening below at Navy Headquarters.

Just moments ago, as the ocean currents surged violently toward Marineford, Luffy and his crew were pulled along for the ride.

Their ships were on the verge of plummeting when they were frozen mid-fall on the mountainside. Now, Luffy’s group was working to hack away the ice trapping their ship so they could join the battle.

“Almost there! Just a little more.”

Behind them, freed prisoners pounded away at the ice with weapons scavenged from the Navy warships, hoping to break their vessel loose—though it was grueling, time-consuming work.

“Don’t rush. Ace’s execution isn’t happening just yet. Once we finish with the ice, we’ll all go save him together.”

“Yeah! Count on us!”

Perched at the bow, Luffy looked down at Ace, who was kneeling helplessly below. Luffy was desperate to help, even if Ace couldn’t hear him from so far away.

“Alright—one last hit!”

With Ye Fan’s secret help, two more Navy warships broke free from the ice. Thanks to Sanji and Zoro, the Thousand Sunny was finally released as well.

Crack!

“Sit tight—it’s about to drop!”

“Grab onto something and don’t let yourself get thrown off!”

Crack, crack, crack!

“Here we go!”

The last few chunks of ice holding the ships together snapped apart, and a moment later everyone felt the unmistakable lurch downward.

Ships plummeted off the ice cliffs. Luckily, Jozu had gouged out a massive circular hole in the ice below—otherwise, Luffy’s group would have been doomed.

“Aaaah!”

“Help! Somebody help!”

Hundreds of voices screamed at once—a deafening roar that made pirates and Navy alike stop and look skyward.

“What’s that up there?”

“Ships! Navy ships—and one of them’s a pirate ship!”

“Why are the Navy and pirates together?”

“Wait, what’s going on?”

Sengoku spotted Luffy and the others on the Sunny instantly and shot a furious glare down at them.

Garp felt his skin crawl. One grandson showing up was bad enough, but now both grandsons were here, making trouble. He bellowed, “Luffy!”

“Garp, this is on you.”

“Ace!”

“L-Luffy?!”

When Ace heard that familiar voice, he looked up in disbelief. Luffy’s grinning face made him cringe in shame.

For a battle of this scale, Luffy’s arrival could only spell disaster. Ace didn’t dare imagine the consequences.

He bitterly regretted not taking Ye Fan’s advice before—now even Whitebeard was in danger, and so was his best friend, Luffy.

“Luffy, you shouldn’t have come.”

“Ace, I’ll rescue you. I promise!”

Splash!

No sooner had those words left his mouth than all three ships crashed into the gaping hole Jozu had made in the ice.

“What just happened? Didn’t a bunch of warships drop out of the sky just now?”

“Look! A Navy ship just fell right where Jozu cleared the ice!”

“Are they enemies?”

“No—they look like Navy ships.”

“Climb up! Hurry, climb! Compared to hell, this ocean’s nothing!”

After falling, Luffy found himself on a battlefield where pirates and sailors clashed in utter chaos. The fog of war clouded everything, making it nearly impossible for him to spot Ace.

“Ace!”

Finally reaching the side of a ship, he saw two giant characters: NAVY.

Looking down, he saw the execution platform with Ace kneeling at its center. To Ace’s left stood his grandpa Garp; on the right, the Navy Admiral Sengoku.

“Ace!”

“Hang on! I’m coming for you!”

Ivankov, Crocodile, Jinbei, and others gathered at Luffy’s side.

“Who’s that?”

“Crocodile?”

“And who’s the guy with the giant face?”

Ivankov said, “No wonder they call this the total war—what a spectacle!”

Buggy shouted, “Witness this moment, world! Your judgment is at hand!”

“Ace, I’m here to save you!”

“And look! Behind them—it’s nothing but infamous pirates. Those are all prisoners from Impel Down!”

Hawk Eyes wasn’t surprised to see Luffy, just puzzled that Luffy always managed to wind up at the center of everything: “Straw Hat is always in the eye of the storm.”

Koby clung to the wall and called out, “Look, Bellamy, it’s…”

“Nothing could surprise me at this point—Straw Hat!”

Bellamy sounded calm at first, but his tone grew frantic as he yelled out.

If it hadn’t been for Luffy, Bellamy might never have joined the Navy.

“I heard they threw him in Impel Down, but he’s just too tough.”

Koby deeply admired Luffy. Without Luffy’s help, he’d never have joined the Navy or become Garp’s disciple.

Now he was a full-fledged sailor.

“Another wave of terrifying heavyweights has arrived!”

“Isn’t that Ace’s little brother he always talked about?”

“Both the old and new Warlords are here, too… And that’s the legendary rookie, Straw Hat himself?”

“Mr. Smoker, look over here!”

“What?!”

Smoker knocked out a pirate, then followed Tashigi’s gaze to spot Straw Hat and Crocodile. “What kind of team is that?”

“That’s him! Garp’s grandson, son of the revolutionary Dragon. We have to wipe him out, no matter what.”

Udyr, ever the champion of brute force, was steadily overpowering Jozu in their brawl.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Luffy standing nearby, and a brief, sharp thought flashed through his mind.