"Huh? Not a single Marine in sight?"
Shanks leapt down from the Red Force, his crimson hair swaying as his eyes swept across the ruins. He had expected a battlefield still blazing, an ocean of steel and blood. Instead, there was only silence and the shattered remains of Marineford.
He let his Conqueror's Haki fade, striding deeper into the wreckage.
"This place… Marineford's been reduced to rubble," muttered Benn Beckman, the Red-Haired Pirates' sole first mate, walking at his captain's side. His gray hair framed a face cut with a deep cross-shaped scar. A cigarette smoldered at his lips, his right hand resting cautiously on the long rifle at his waist. Suspicion burned in his eyes. Could this all be some kind of Navy trap?
"Shanks!"
A voice rang out. Both men turned just in time to see a rubbery arm shoot toward them.
Smack!
Shanks laughed, seizing the hand and giving a hearty pull. In a blink, Monkey D. Luffy came flying into his embrace.
"Shanks! Uncle Beckman! You're here too!" Luffy's face lit with excitement. These were the men who had once set him on his pirate path.
"You're still the same reckless brat," Beckman chuckled, finally lowering his hand from the rifle. If Luffy was alive and well, then this wasn't a trap after all.
From the distance, Whitebeard approached with Marco, Ace, and the other division commanders at his side.
"Red-Hair. Been a long time," Whitebeard rumbled, grinning through blood and ash.
"Yeah," Shanks smiled back. "Though if I recall, we met just the other day."
Whitebeard barked a laugh, unfazed by the jab.
The Red-Haired captain pressed on, asking what had transpired here. Why Marineford lay in ruins. Why the Navy itself was nowhere to be seen.
Marco stepped forward, recounting the battle in stark detail.
"A nameless pirate… saved you? More than once?" Beckman's brows lifted, interest flashing in his sharp gaze.
Marco nodded firmly. "That man was powerful. Calm. He pulled me back from the brink time and again."
"Sounds familiar," Shanks quipped, giving Beckman a sidelong look.
The first mate exhaled a cloud of smoke and, despite himself, gave a small nod.
"So the Whitebeard Pirates won an overwhelming victory then?" Shanks' eyes gleamed.
Whitebeard's reply was simple, resolute. "Yes."
Shanks beamed. "Excellent! Bring out the wine and meat. We'll hold a feast worth remembering!"
"AYE!" the Red-Haired crew roared.
Elsewhere, the world reeled.
Every moment of the battle had been broadcast live by the Navy's den den mushi. They had intended to display their supremacy, to show the world the Whitebeard Pirates crushed beneath justice's banner.
Instead, the whole world had watched as the Navy was routed, their headquarters seized, and their admirals broken.
On a great plaza, a massive screen flickered into black. The transmission was cut, but the final image of Sengoku's bitter order to retreat was carved into the memories of all who had seen it.
"Impossible… the Navy lost?"
"This was only one Emperor's crew… and they toppled Marine Headquarters?"
"From the start, the Whitebeard Pirates slipped through their ambush unscathed. That strange pirate even destroyed two of their great cannons outright."
"The Navy had their powerhouses, but Whitebeard's commanders are monsters too. Still… that nameless pirate left the deepest mark on me."
"Same. He looked almost refined, but"
"Are you crazy? He's a pirate! A killer!"
As the crowd argued, one old man leaned back from the screen. Silvers Rayleigh drew out a flask and took a long pull before breaking into booming laughter.
"Hahaha! The Whitebeard Pirates gave me more surprises than I could've asked for."
He had kept his eyes not only on Whitebeard's battle but also on the two brothers, Luffy and Ace. Seeing them survive finally eased his furrowed brow.
And yet, what lingered most in his mind was that other one. That mysterious man who had turned disaster into triumph again and again. Was he a genius strategist? A blessed fool? Rayleigh drained the last of his drink and shook his head.
"Old… I really am getting old."
Far away, fury shook the warship decks of the World Government.
Commander-in-Chief Kong slammed a fist onto the boards. "You let the Navy be humiliated before the entire world. Do you understand the shame you've brought us?!"
Sengoku stood silent, shoulders heavy. This war had been his plan and it had crumbled into ruin.
Kong finally sighed, gesturing to Garp. "Gather the able-bodied. Tend to the wounded. No more lives wasted." Then his eyes pinned Sengoku. "The damage is done. Now you must find a way to salvage the Navy's standing."
Sengoku nodded stiffly and laid out his proposals: the relocation of Marine Headquarters, the appointment of new admirals, and above all, the recovery of Akainu's magma fruit before it fell into pirate hands.
Kong wasted no time, ordering a worldwide search. He also directed Sengoku to reissue the Navy's bounties.
"Edward Newgate, Whitebeard. Raised to 5.5 billion berries still the world's highest."
"Marco, First Division Commander. Raised to 1.5 billion."
"Monkey D. Luffy, captain of the Straw Hat Pirates. Raised to 400 million."
"Portgas D. Ace, Second Division Commander. Raised to 700 million."
Finally, Sengoku's pen lingered. His eyes flashed with the memory of that chilling gaze the nameless man who had frightened even him.
From some angles, that man had been more decisive in the Navy's downfall than Whitebeard himself. And yet, Sengoku still didn't even know his name.
"Unidentified pirate of the Whitebeard Pirates," he wrote at last.
"Bounty: 1.4 billion berries."
The first beneath the Emperors.
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The deeper he goes, the more the truth unravels. Don't wait read ahead and witness Vincent's rise before the world catches up!
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