when one looks back to their childhood, one remembers the vivid springs of laughter, climbing trees and reaching out for the stars, and making flower crowns in fields of flowers. but when [name] looked back at her youth, it was void of those colorfu...
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chapter 048. what it means to be a pillar
[ a pillar...never falls ]
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the air was thick with smoke and blood.
erza charged into the heart of the war like a blade through storm-tossed waves, her white hair streaming behind her, her greatsword catching the firelight of the battlefield. beside her, the giant of a man—whitebeard—stood like a fortress, unmoved by the chaos, surrounded by his sons who howled like wild things and threw themselves into the fray with reckless loyalty.
cannonfire split the sky overhead. marineford was in flames. it was a hellscape.
but erza... she thrived in it.
she fought with the fury of a woman reborn. her sword struck with no mercy, dancing through flesh and steel alike. the shrieks of marines fell behind her like autumn leaves, one by one, trailing after every swing of her weapon. she didn't pause. not once.
the glint in her eyes was madness, and freedom, and something old—something cracked and dangerous that hadn't seen the light since she left the admiral's coat behind.
[name]'s guild master... still as wild and terrifying as the day they first clashed. it felt like centuries ago, but erza had waited for this moment. plotted it. dreamed of this war. to feel it—no, to survive it—meant something primal. it meant she was still worthy.
she pressed on.
chaos reigned around her like a storm turned inside out.
"what the hell are they doing?!" a voice cracked through the confusion, panicked. "they're staying behind whitebeard!?"
"you don't need to understand it," jinbei's voice came low and clear through the noise, like the calm at the center of a whirlwind. "we're here to defend pop's pride."
"you're too blasted loyal, you little fools," whitebeard muttered, shaking the ground with his voice.
erza just laughed—a hollow, ragged sound that cut deeper than her blade. "haha! but that's what i always liked about them!" and she drove her sword clean through a marine's chest, not even sparing a glance as he dropped.
then—his voice boomed across the battlefield.
"if it's the future you want to see, i'll give you a glimpse of it right now!" sengoku, standing above them all like some god of judgment, his robes billowing in the wind, snarled the order. "whitebeard! erza!"
the executioners moved as one.
steel caught the sun. two swords rising, poised above fire fist ace's bowed head.
