One Piece: New Order

Chapter 400: Isaac’s Death (The Death of a Soldier) (2)

Aria suddenly reacted the moment she heard her husband speak.

"Right, right. Hurry! Go quickly!"

After watching him leave, she turned and walked into her mother’s room.

Her mother, who had remained lost in dementia for so long, gradually stopped muttering to herself as Aria read the newspaper aloud.

At some unknown moment, tears slowly slid down her cheeks...

Her gaze slowly shifted toward the photograph placed at the center of the room. It was a family photo taken over twenty years ago.

Their only family photo.

The foolish-looking old woman now sitting there was the young woman in the picture. The baby in her arms was Aria.

Standing beside the young woman was a man wearing the uniform of the kingdom’s military. Next to him stood a little boy holding a wooden sword and pretending to swing it around.

And that little boy was Isaac...

Aria, who was focused on reading, did not notice the change in her mother. She even took out the letter Isaac had sent back from the New World and complained softly.

"And there’s also a letter from Isaac. Seriously, even though Den Den Mushi are so convenient, he refuses to make even a single call.

"He insists on sending letters all the time. By the time they arrive, so much time has already passed.

"But now that the Four Emperors are dead, the war should be ending soon. Isaac will probably be coming home soon too. Today’s even his birthday.

"In a little while, I—"

As she spoke, she raised her head and suddenly froze.

Her mother was staring at the family photograph with clear and lucid eyes.

Aria’s voice trembled uncertainly. "Mom..."

The once vacant old woman slowly regained her senses and opened her mouth.

That gentle voice from childhood memories echoed out once more.

"Aria..."

* * *

New World, the attacked fleet.

The battle had already ended, and the pirates were now frantically cleaning up the battlefield. One Marine corpse after another was thrown into the sea.

At the center of the battlefield, the warship where the commanding Vice Admiral had died had already been shattered in half after its keel was broken and now sat half-submerged beneath the ocean.

On the second deck, Isaac, who had been thrown unconscious into a corner of the deck, seemed to once again receive protection from his father’s medal as he struggled to push away the object pinning him down.

Thud.

Elton’s corpse rolled off to the side.

Isaac felt dizzy while his mind remained completely blank. He looked around in confusion, unable to understand what had happened.

He desperately tried to remember, but splitting pain exploded through his head...

Everything around him looked so familiar.

Warships, corpses... but what exactly had happened?

Only then did he notice Elton’s body at his feet. Looking at the familiar face, Isaac’s mind still remained entirely empty.

His gaze swept around aimlessly before suddenly locking onto a flashing Den Den Mushi. It had apparently been thrown out from inside the cabin.

Without even realizing it, Isaac staggered toward the Den Den Mushi. But he failed to notice the gap ahead and stepped into empty air, crashing down onto the lower deck.

Crack!

A faint sound of bones cracking echoed out, but Isaac could no longer hear it.

Blood flowed from all seven openings of his face while his mind remained empty. The sudden fall made it feel as though his entire body had shattered apart as he twisted in agony.

Yet his eyes still stared toward the Den Den Mushi.

Struggling to rise again, he instinctively felt that reaching it was something extremely important.

Meanwhile, the noise on the warship attracted the attention of several pirates nearby who had been transporting corpses from neighboring ships. After exchanging glances, they grabbed their weapons and rushed toward the vessel.

On the warship, Isaac painfully crawled over to the Den Den Mushi. Staring at the flashing snail, he picked up the receiver.

An anxious voice immediately came from the other side.

"Finally connected. This is the extermination command center. What exactly happened? Respond immediately."

There was no way they could stay calm.

The communications from Fleet 57 had suddenly disappeared from the channel. Contact had been completely lost, and even the Den Den Mushi could no longer be reached. There was a very high chance something terrible had happened.

But Isaac, whose seven orifices were bleeding from the shockwaves, could not hear anything at all.

His mouth opened slightly while his mind remained blank as he unconsciously stammered, "5... 7... flee... cough... cough... Und... under atta... 57... fle—"

"OVER THERE!!!!"

A sharp scream suddenly rang out.

Several pirates carrying blades discovered Isaac using the Den Den Mushi. There was only crazed brutality in their eyes as they rushed over swinging their swords without mercy.

The sound of blades piercing flesh echoed repeatedly.

And this time, even his father’s medal could no longer protect him...

Isaac’s life rapidly faded away.

At the edge of death, his mind suddenly became clear again and everything returned to him.

The corpse beneath his feet earlier had been Elton. Just moments ago, he had invited him to visit his hometown. Looks like he would not be able to keep that promise...

And his mother... she was the person he had wronged the most in his life...

He had been a bastard ever since childhood. Just when he finally came to his senses, instead of staying by her side, he had run off to join the Marines and kill pirates.

He had wanted to return home and let her see that her son had finally grown up, but now that would never happen...

And Aria...

’I’m really sorry...’

BOOM!!!

BOOM!!!

BOOM!!!

One warship after another began exploding violently. The pirates who had been seizing the ships had nowhere to run and were instantly blasted into pieces.

Oven and Daifuku shot into the sky with furious expressions.

"Damn it!"

"What the hell is going on?!"

On the warship, as Isaac slowly lost consciousness, he felt the violent shaking around him.

He knew it was the command center remotely triggering the explosions.

Every warship had high explosives installed beneath it precisely to prevent pirates from seizing the ships or to be used in mutual destruction situations like this.

A faint smile unconsciously appeared at the corner of his mouth.

Using the very last of his strength, he slowly reached toward his chest and tightly grabbed his father’s medal.

What a shame... he could not go home after all...

BOOM!!!!!

Amid the endless flames, a severed arm was torn free from someone’s corpse and sent flying through the air.

Inside the hand of that severed arm, a torn piece of cloth and a scar-covered medal were still tightly clenched...

Before finally falling into the endless dark ocean below...

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