Everything hurt.

His breath was ragged and pain-filled, a distant part of him marveled that he was even able to breathe anymore. He could feel the salt winds blowing across the burned hole in the side of his head, his innards still burned from where that magma brat had gotten a lucky shot in. He had been shot, and stabbed more times than any man should have survived, and kept fighting. But the wound that hurt worst of all, was the stab wound in his chest, where his beloved son, blinded by anger and tricked by his foe had driven his blade through.

Gazing down through blood hazed, tired eyes, he viewed the man who had once called him Father, and who now desperately howled for his death. The gun in the youngster's hands clicked uselessly, it's ammunition spent. The traitor and his cohorts murmured among themselves, sure of their victory.

"It's not you..."

Everyone flinched as his voice rumbled forth, his breath labored and growing weaker by the second. "Y-you're still alive?!"

"The man that Roger is waiting for... at the very least, Teach... it's definitely not you." A flash of confusion echoed across Teach's face. Looking down, to the red bead, so tiny in his massive hand, he continued. "Just as there are those who carry on Roger's will. I'm sure that someone will appear to carry on Ace's will someday. Even if you extinguish his bloodline, there's no way that you could ever snuff out their flame. It has been passed down since ancient times... and someday, someone will appear, carrying the history of all of those decades on his back, and challenge the whole world."

With a massive effort and will, he shifted his gaze up, past his treacherous former son to his old foe, "Sengoku... You and your World Government fear that immense battle engulfing the whole world that will inevitably come." He took another labored breath, May as well give the bastard something to think about before I go... He thought with an inner smirk. "I don't particularly care myself. But as soon as someone finds that great treasure..." He saw the Admiral flinch as though someone had physically punched him, "The whole world will get turned upside-down." Sengoku had turned pale, "And someone will find it. Sooner or later."

He allowed himself one final taunting grin, as his old foe watched helplessly as he undid all of his Government's propaganda with what they both knew were his dying words. And now, this ends. With a final, struggling, pain-filled heave of breath, he let loose one final bellow that echoed across all of Marineford, destroying over twenty years of government coverup attempts with one single sentence. "ONE PIECE... DOSE EXIST!"

Faintly he heard Sengoku curse him, but he no longer cared. He had lived a full, long life, full of adventure and excitement. In his final moments, he only had one, final regret. Somehow, as the rest of the world faded around him, and as his long life flashed beautifully before his eyes, the small red bead in his hand burned like the fires of the young man who once wore it. I'm sorry... Ace... He thought sadly as the last vestiges of his consciousness began to fade. I failed you at the end... I couldn't kill the bastards who killed you... I'm sorry...

Outside of his darkening mind, Edward "Whitebeard" Newgate, the strongest Pirate in the world, died.

It was an odd sensation to die. The pain he had felt from his hundreds of wounds was suddenly gone. He seemed to watch, as though detatched from the rest of the world. So... I guess I'm a spirit now eh? He thought to himself with a chuckle, Make's sense. At least this way, I may be able to apologize properly to Ace.

"Not yet, Shirohige-san." A voice echoed around him. "You need to watch what comes next."

Whitebeard whirled around, looking all around himself for the source of the voice. "It isn't smart to try and sneak up on me." He said with a growl, marveling quietly at how his voice seemed to echo as well. "I've already had a bad enough day, I'd prefer to pass on in peace."

A man seemed to step out of thin air before the massive pirate. "My apologies for startling you, Edward Newgate. My name is Chairon Chronos," He was dressed in a blue suit and a long grey overcoat. "And forgive my presumptuousness, but you should watch what is about to happen."

Looking around himself, Whitebeard saw the battlefield of Marineford. His sons fled, trying desperately to fufill his final orders to survive. The Marines were slowly beginning to rally once again, Probably because I'm dead... And there, at his corpse, which still stood he noted with a small smirk of pride, were gathered the 'Blackbeard Pirates'.

"Teach... What is that treacherous little bastard up to now?"

"Nothing good I'm afraid." Chronos appeared beside him as Teach's crew produced a massive black tarp and draped it over Whitebeard's body like a tent, and the man himself pushed his way inside.

"Eh?" Suddenly a pain unlike anything Whitebeard had ever felt before ripped it's way through his chest, forcing his spirit to it's knees. "W-what... what is that bastard...?" Just as swiftly as it had arrived, the pain vanished, but with it's passing, there was also a strange...emptiness. "W-what the hell...just...happened...?" He demanded, glaring at the strange man beside him.

"Watch." Was the man's only reply, nodding towards the black tarp. Blackbeard was just reemerging, laughing loudly.

"Zeahahaha! Now Navy!" Blackbeard roared, "Let me show you my power! From here on out, we are once again enemies!" Raising his right hand, a massive vortex of shadow erupted around him, "BLACK HOLE!" Slamming his hand down onto the ground, the darkness spread around him, dragging dozens of marines into it as though it were quicksand. "This is the power of the Yami-Yami no Mi." He gloated, "And in this hand..." He raised his left arm, taking a very familiar stance.

Whitebeard felt his eyes widen in shock and horror. "That's...!"

"ZEAHA!" Blackbeard smashed his left fist forward, shattering the air in front of him and sending an extremely powerful shockwave across the battlefield, demolishing the already heavily damaged Navy Headquarters further. "The Power of Darkness that reduces all else to nothingness in my right hand..." Teach's eyes were wild, drunk with the euphoria of the power in his veins, "And the Power that destroys everything in my left hand... I've done it! NOW NOBODY CAN MATCH ME! ZEAHAHAHAHA!"

"Teach!" Whitebeard roared in fury, his eyes still unwilling to believe what he was witnessing.

"Calm yourself, Edward Newgate-san." Chronos's hand came to rest gently on the kneeling spirit's shoulder.

"YOU!" Whitebeard's hand closed around the smaller man's throat. "You had something to do with this!"

Oddly, Chronos's expression remained passive, despite the giant before him preparing to snap his neck. "Wrong." He said, his eyes never leaving the sight of Blackbeard roaring with delight. "But I showed you this, because you needed to see."

"WHY?" Whitebeard felt grief beginning to well up within him, mingling with his rage. "Why show me this?! That treacherous shit is going to kill my sons! With my own power!"

"No. Most of your 'Family' will survive this day. But their future without their Father is a dark one indeed." Chronos finally turned his gaze on Whitebeard, "I showed you this, because you are not yet actually dead."

"Wha-?" Whitebeard felt his eyes widen in surprise.

"Your body is dead. That is true." The suited man continued, calmly peeling Whitebeard's hand from it's hold on him, "But I have pulled your mind from the proper passage of time."

"How...?"

"Many years from now... I, as a young man will eat a devil fruit. One that in all honesty should not exist... One that the World Government insisted was nothing more than a myth. The Jikan-Jikan no Mi." Whitebeard's eyes widened once again in shock, he had heard legends of that fruit, but had never once actually believed them to be true. "I am Chairon Chronos. I am the Time Man."

Slowly, Whitebeard rose back to his full height, gazing down at a man that he knew shouldn't exist. "So... What does one of the most legendarily powerful devil fruit wielder's in the history of the world want with a dead man...?"

Chronos turned back to gaze at Blackbeard, silent. The silence stretched out, for what felt like an eternity, and for all Whitebeard knew, may well have been. At long last, the man answered. "I want to change the future."

Whitebeard blinked for a moment. "Exscuse me?"

"I want to change the course of history." He repeated, "I wish to eliminate the darkness and pain that is come. Blackbeard's rampage that began here, at Marineford, will last for years. So many lives will be lost needlessly... So many islands completely annihilated by the powers of the Gura-Gura no Mi. My family..." Whitebeard glimpsed briefly a fire of hatred flare within the man's eyes, before they once again calmed.

"But, if you change history... wouldn't you...?"

"I would cease to be. Yes. I am the product of the Dark Era of Piracy, ushered in by Marshal D. 'Blackbeard' Teach. And if that era were to never exist, I would never exist. But..." He took a deep breath, as though preparing himself mentally for what was to come, "I am willing to pay that price to see that monster dead long before he could do any real damage." He turned to Whitebeard once more, "However, I cannot do it myself. Even with my Devil Fruit... I am not powerful enough. Not in the ways that would be effective. So I need you."

"Me?" Whitebeard chuckled lightly. "What can I do? I'm literally a dead man walking."

"You'll see." Chronos said with an odd smile. "But I want your promise. You will kill Marshal D. Teach."

"Gurararara..." He laughed coldly. "I had been planning on it. Just wasn't able too..."

"I know." Again Chronos smiled oddly. "But this time, you will." Stepping forward, he placed a hand on Whitebeard's bare chest. There was an odd flash, but nothing seemed to happen. "There." He said, "That should help." Whitebeard looked at him oddly, "Now then. It has been a short meeting... But I was honored to meet you Edward Newgate-sama."

Chronos stepped back, raising his hands. "I hope that the future you build now will be brighter than my past." Suddenly the face of a massive, glowing clock appeared beneath Whitebeard, "Good luck..."

The area was engulfed in a blinding flash of light, bright enough that Whitebeard was forced to throw up his arm to shield his eyes.

"Remember..." Chronos's voice echoed faintly, "This is the only chance we both have..."

Whitebeard's eyes snapped open. Gazing around, he stood on the prow of the Moby Dick, the sun shone brightly, gulls flapped through the sky, and all around him, the air was so thick with tension that it could be cut with a knife.

Looking forward, he felt his eyes widen in shock. Ace... His gaze trailed over ten thousand marines gathered at the Marineford bay.

"This time..." The words of Chronos echoed through his mind again as realization slowly began to dawn.

Edward Newgate's lips spread into the widest, most singularly predatory grin he had ever smiled, and a laugh unlike any he had laughed in decades rumbled through his mighty frame like thunder. He had been given a gift unlike any ever given, he would not waste it. "GURARARARARARA! Yo, Sengoku... How long has it been?" He locked eyes with his old foe across the distance, "I trust that my beloved son is doing well?"

Ok, so holy shit it has been a long time since I have written anything. I am so sorry my friends. I started school a few months back, and life just kinda went crazy.

Anyways, this is (hopefully) the start of my big comeback... I hope to have a new chapter for the Hollow King up sometime in July as well, so I am so sorry for the wait on that my many friends.