The next morning, Shun woke to the warm weight of two women resting against his chest. He had always considered himself shameless, indifferent to others' opinions… but he'd been mistaken. Last night, he had vented his frustrations on them, slipping too easily into the role of a prison warden with them as his captives. Perhaps he had enjoyed his time at Tequila Wolf a little too much; he often asked Robin to play the prisoner, reminiscing about their first time. But this time, he had pulled Nami into the fantasy as well.
I really need to improve my childish behavior, he promised himself with a silent sigh.
He tried to slip out quietly, but the slightest movement stirred them both.
"Mm~" they murmured in unison, still half-asleep.
"Good morning," Shun said, his voice bringing them fully awake. Robin instinctively pulled the blanket around herself, while Nami, already far past such modesty, simply blinked the sleep from her eyes.
"Sorry about last night," Shun said, surprising them both. He had been unusually aggressive. "My behavior was childish."
"You think a simple apology is enough?" Nami retorted, a familiar gleam of opportunity in her eyes. She never let a chance for negotiation slip by, hopefully for treasure.
"Hmm. You're right," Shun conceded, a mischievous grin spreading across his face. In one swift motion, he scooped them both up. "Then I'll apologize with my body!"
"W-Wait, that's not what I meant! It's fine, really!" Nami yelped, her greed instantly turning to regret. But it was far too late.
—
After a long, strenuous "apology" in the bath, followed by actual stretches and washing up, the trio teleported to Orange Town, where Shun had first respawned. For once, he walked through the streets without receiving any pitying glances, simply enjoying the peace. It was a calm that everyone knew wouldn't last—not with the war at Marineford looming.
—
Meanwhile, at Marine Headquarters…
"A grandson?! What in the world are you talking about?!" Fleet Admiral Sengoku's voice boomed through the office. His subordinate was spouting nonsense at the worst possible time. Whitebeard could arrive at any moment! "Weeeell, I met a young man who claimed to be your grandson. Quite strong, too…" Admiral Kizaru's drawl crackled through the Den Den Mushi. I don't even have a wife, you idiot! Sengoku seethed internally, barely containing his frustration.
"You have a grandson?" Vice Admiral Tsuru asked from beside him, one eyebrow arched. "No! I do not have a grandson," Sengoku sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose before addressing the snail again.
"Kizaru, I—" "Weeeell, in that case, there's just some arrogant brat pretending to be your kin on Sabaody. Reported it out of duty. Byeee." The line went dead with a soft click. Sengoku slumped in his chair.
"A strong white-haired kid, claiming to be my grandson… If Borsalino says he's strong, he must be capable. Maybe adopting a promising successor wouldn't be so bad," he mused aloud. Tsuru cleared her throat pointedly.
"We were discussing warship placements, if you recall."
"Ah, yes. Please proceed, Tsuru," Sengoku said, waving a hand. The headaches were coming more frequently these days. He'd been desperately dyeing his hair to maintain a strong image and keep morale high, but every call from the Five Elders made him want to retire on the spot. Sigh… perhaps finding that brat and grooming him to take over wouldn't be the worst idea.
——
Finally, the night before the infamous war arrived.
"Tomorrow, the strongest group in the world will clash—the full might of the Marines against the man called the 'Strongest in the World.' I could go alone and save Luffy and his brother," Shun stated, his tone turning serious after days of easy harmony and debauchery.
"But I'll follow your lead. Do you want to come along?" It was a weighty decision, at least for the two women. Shun expected Nami to be scared, but she was the first to speak up.
"Luffy will be in danger. I have to be there!" she declared, resolute. She would have seemed incredibly cool in that moment, if not for her next words.
"Of course, I'll only be watching from a safe distance! While invisible!" She added a thumbs-up. Robin remained silent, but her intent was clear. They had been nearly wiped out by a single Admiral before when they had their full crew, if they wanted to join the war of the strongest. That would've been laughable. However watching from the best seats in the house? That was a different story. "So, you want a VIP view of history?" Shun asked, a sly smile returning.
"The most special seat comes at a high price. Do you have the courage to pay it?" His mysterious challenge was met, and the trio once again had a happy ending.
——
The Day of the Marineford War. When history was about to be made.
Shun, Nami, and Robin arrived at Impel Down, invisible. They flew to a point high above Marineford, just enough to avoid the keen senses of Observation Haki users below, and observed the scene.
The Marine preparations were staggering. A hundred thousand elite soldiers stood in perfect formation. Fifty massive battleships formed an impenetrable blockade. And at the front, the three Marine Admirals sat like statues of absolute power.
"One Admiral was enough to wipe out everyone on Sabaody a few days ago…" Nami whispered, her voice trembling. "And they have three."
"There are also the Warlords of the Sea," Robin added, her analytical mind cataloging the threats. "And Luffy's grandfather, Monkey D. Garp, is on the execution platform itself."
"Will Whitebeard even show up?" Nami fretted, her knuckles white. "What if he doesn't? What if they just… execute Ace?"
"He will show up," Shun said, his usual casual tone replaced by a rare, steely seriousness. "That's what it means to be called the 'Strongest Man in the World.' In fact… he's already here."
Before Nami and Robin could question him, the world below erupted. Fleet Admiral Sengoku's voice, magnified by a Den Den Mushi, announced Ace's true bloodline to the entire world. The shockwave of that revelation rippled even through the sky. Then, the sea within the bay itself boiled, and the full might of the Whitebeard Pirates erupted from the depths, having coated their ships to bypass the outer walls.
Edward Newgate, Whitebeard, strode to the prow of the Moby Dick. He stood, unflinching, before the assembled might of the World Government.
"Sengoku!" his voice boomed. "You better tell me my beloved son is safe?" With a fierce grin, he clenched his fists and struck the air. The very atmosphere splintered, and twin tsunamis rose to dwarf Marineford. The war had begun.
Watching from their celestial vantage point, Nami swallowed hard. "Which side do you think will win?"
Shun's answer was immediate and devoid of all doubt. "The Marines. The Whitebeard Pirates' chance of victory is zero percent."
"W-What? But he's Whitebeard!" Nami protested.
"They're in enemy territory, completely surrounded. The Marines hold the ultimate hostage. And Whitebeard, for all his world-ending power, cannot fight at his fullest. He must protect his sons, not just destroy." Shun's analysis was cold, laying bare the despairing reality. "Conversely, the Marines are also restrained. The Admirals could likely end this faster, but they hold back. Out of caution for Whitebeard, perhaps… or out of deference to Garp, whose adopted grandson is on that platform."
The war unfolded with a brutal, predictable logic. They watched Squardo's tragic betrayal, met with Whitebeard's heartbreaking embrace and declaration, "You are all my beloved sons!" They saw the Admirals display their terrifying power—Aokiji freezing the very ocean. Shun answered their whispered questions patiently, a grim commentator on the carnage below.
He had no intention of intervening. His mission was to save only two specific individuals.
Then, a familiar face fell from the sky.
"Luffy!" Nami gasped. Her expression cycled through shock, relief, and bewilderment as she recognized Crocodile, Buggy, and others tumbling down with him. "He's safe!"
"When will you act?" Robin asked, her eyes fixed on their captain's desperate charge. "With your speed, you could extract them now."
"Not yet," Shun said, his gaze following Luffy's progress. "Let them experience the war. It will force them to grow."
They watched Luffy's chaotic influence shift the battle's momentum. When Crocodile attacked Whitebeard only to be slammed aside by a rubber fist, Nami and Robin couldn't help but giggle.
"That's so like him," Nami said, a fond smile breaking through her anxiety.
Shun simply watched, a silent sentinel. More time passed. The Admirals began to move in earnest, becoming blurs of lethal light, ice, and magma. The battle reached a fever pitch.
And then—it happened. Against all odds, Luffy, with Mr. 3's unexpected aid, unlocked the seastone cuffs. Ace was free.
"He did it!" Nami and Robin clutched each other, ecstatic.
"Retreat!" Whitebeard's order thundered. "Back them with everything you have!"
For a glorious, fleeting moment, victory seemed possible. Then, it shattered.
Admiral Akainu's taunt, a calculated insult to Whitebeard found its mark. Ace stopped. He turned back.
Above, Shun's expression hardened into visible irritation. 'You have pride, fine. But your brother, your family, crossed hell to save you. People died for you. And you get ragebaited by "your mom", the most basic of them all?!
The result was catastrophic. Ace was defeated, and a moment later, Luffy stumbled, his body at its limit. Akainu seized the chance, his molten fist aimed to obliterate Garp's grandson. A body intervened. Ace took the blow, a fist of magma erupting through his chest.
"ACE!" The scream from below was mirrored by Nami and Robin's gasp.
"Shun!" Nami whirled on him, her eyes pleading. But Shun remained still, a statue of withheld power.
They watched, horrified, as Ace spoke his last words to a broken Luffy, a smile on his face. "Thank you… for loving me…" Whitebeard's roar of anguish shook the sky. As Ace's life flickered, his eyes starting to dim, Shun finally moved.
He sighed, a sound of profound weariness. Step. Step.
In the sudden, heavy silence that followed Ace's "death," a new sound echoed—casual, unhurried footsteps on the cracked plaza. Every eye, Marine and pirate, turned to the stranger walking leisurely across the epicenter of the war.
Akainu, fury undimmed, reacted instantly. "Great Eruption!" A torrent of magma surged toward the interloper.
POP!
With a sound like a bursting bubble, the magma mass and Admiral Akainu himself were violently repelled, hurtling across the battlefield to crater a distant wall. The silence deepened, now charged with utter shock.
Shun walked to the fallen Ace. He first ensured a traumatized Luffy was gently knocked unconscious. Then, with a touch, he drew out all of Luffy's damage, fatigue, and negative energy into a large, glowing paw-bubble. With a flick of his wrist and another soft 'POP,' he sent the bubble and Luffy away.
He then looked directly at a nearby visual Den Den Mushi, its lens glinting. "Hey! The old scammer couple! I know you're watching! I sent him to your shop!" His shout was met with stunned silence across the globe.
'Good. He keeps the trauma for growth, but survives. A considerate compromise,' Shun thought, inwardly pleased with his own rationale.
He finally knelt by Ace. The injury was mortal, beyond simple healing. Shun placed a hand over the charred hole in Ace's chest. "Arc of Time."
Concentration etched his features. While Ultear, the original user, could reverse time by one minute at the cost of her life, Shun wielded the magic with boundless power. He focused it solely on Ace. The impossible happened before the world's eyes: Ace's body rewound. Muscle, bone, and skin knitted together seamlessly, color returning to his face. The Donut of Death was undone.
"What… what kind of power is this?!" someone screamed. The battlefield was paralyzed by disbelief.
In the sky, Nami and Robin wept, their earlier doubt replaced by overwhelming guilt and relief.
Ace gasped, his eyes flying open. He looked at his healed chest, then at Shun, confusion and dawning horror in his eyes.
"Your whole family came for you," Shun said, his voice cold and clear in the silence. "Countless people died. More will die now. And you threw it all away for a few stupid words." To the crowd's utter bewilderment, Shun then swatted Ace away like a bothersome insect, sending him tumbling across the ice.
"Wasn't he trying to save him? Is he a madman? Fufufufu~!" Doflamingo's laugh rang out, tinged with genuine confusion.
Seeing the crushing guilt and understanding dawn on Ace's face, Shun moved again. In a flash, he was before Ace. "You can't be here yet." Another POP, and Ace vanished, teleported to the safety of Orange Town—far from Luffy's immediate future.
"Oooooh~" a slow, drawn-out voice cut through the tension. Admiral Kizaru pointed a languid finger at Shun. "You're Sengoku's grandson, aren't you?"
The revelation hit like a second quake.
"That weirdo is the Fleet Admiral's grandson?!" a Marine screamed.
On the platform, Sengoku twitched. "Kizaru, you bastard… I don't have a grandson," he muttered through gritted teeth.
Beside him, Garp, who had been a monument of conflicted silence, suddenly erupted. "HAHAHAHA! YOUR GRANDSON IS EXCEPTIONAL, SENGO-OOPS!" His booming laughter, born of sheer, delirious relief that both his grandsons were now miraculously safe, was profoundly inappropriate and infuriated Sengoku further.
The man who benefited most from this chaos was undoubtedly Garp.
"Kizaru, you bastard, revealing my cover so soon," Shun muttered with theatrical annoyance, his shameless act so convincing it even made Sengoku briefly doubt his own memory.
"Hey, Sengoku's grandson!" Whitebeard's voice, deep and resonant despite his wounds, carried across the plaza. A genuine smile touched his lips. "You have my gratitude."
He then bellowed, "Whitebeard Pirates! Final order! All crews, retreat to the New World!"
Joy erupted among the pirates. They had won! Ace was saved! But the joy turned to ash as they realized their father was not moving. He planted his bisento firmly, a final bastion.
They begged. Marco pleaded with Shun. "Please, heal him!"
Whitebeard refused, his resolve absolute. "My era… ends here." As his sons retreated with torn hearts, only Whitebeard and Shun remained on the pirate side.
Reinvigorated by the salvation of his son, Whitebeard fought with radiant, devastating glory, holding off the entire Marine force. As his immense body neared its limit, a new shadow fell.
"Zehahahaha! Long time no see, Pops!"
Blackbeard and his vile crew arrived, slithering onto the stage. The Marines held back, willing to let pirates kill each other. But Shun stepped forward, placing himself between Teach and the fading legend.
"Sengoku's grandson. This is a battle among pirates. Move," Teach said, his tone mockingly troubled. Then, without warning, he acted. "Kurozu!" Darkness swirled, and a terrifying gravitational pull yanked Shun forward. Teach grabbed his shoulder and landed a solid punch, sending Shun skidding back.
'Interesting. The darkness still disrupts abilities, even after I've negated other weaknesses,' Shun mused, analyzing the sensation.
Teach tried again. "Kurozu!"
"Enough playing," Shun stated. He took a breath, then spoke calmly. "Roar of the Poison Dragon." Then, almost as an afterthought, he added, "More, more… times one hundred."
The next moment defied comprehension. From Shun's mouth erupted not a stream, but a cataclysmic tide of purple poison. It was a tsunami of venom, hundreds of times larger than any Dragon's roar, vast and utterly inescapable. It crashed over the entire Blackbeard Pirates, swallowing them in a corrosive, churning wave.
The collective jaw of the Marines dropped. Just what secrets was their Fleet Admiral hiding?!
Amidst the chaos, Whitebeard watched, a proud grin on his face. 'He'd have made a fine son…' But his time was up. Sensing the end, he gathered his last breath. Thanks to Buggy's meddling broadcast, the world heard his final, earth-shaking declaration:
"THE ONE PIECE… IS REAL!"
He then looked at Shun, his voice softening. "Sengoku's grandson… Thank you." And with that, Edward Newgate, the Strongest Man in the World, died on his feet, a smile upon his face.
A respectful silence held for a beat. Then Shun walked to the colossal body. He placed his paws on Whitebeard's chest. A giant, shimmering paw-bubble enveloped the fallen emperor.
"STOP HIM!" Sengoku roared, finally breaking, his order merciless even towards his alleged "grandson."
It was too late. Shun stepped into the bubble. There was no flashy light, only a profound, quiet absorption. He devoured it all: a lifetime of supreme Haki proficiency, decades of unparalleled battle experience, and the very essence of the Gura Gura no Mi, the power to shake the world.
As the bubble dissolved, Shun stood alone where the giant had fallen. The previous era had ended not just with a death, but with a transference. All eyes, filled with terror, awe, and utter disbelief, were locked on him.
The world now knew one thing for certain: Sengoku's grandson was here. And nothing would ever be the same.