(T/N: This is an additional chapter from the author)
Sea Circle Calendar, Year 1520.
With the appointment of the new Fleet Admiral, Sakazuki, a few years ago, the strategic center began to shift.
The former Navy G-1 Branch in the New World swapped locations with Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
Afterward came a worldwide mass recruitment, breaking precedent by adding several new Admirals.
The iron-blooded and brutal policies, along with propaganda, not only left pirates trembling in fear, but even the ordinary people of the world grew uneasy.
Pirates were evil, the Navy ruthless, and in such a heavily oppressive atmosphere, conflicts between the two sides intensified, with even the Admirals clashing with the Four Emperors multiple times.
The clouds of war loomed over the entire world...
...
The night before the all-out war.
New World, Marine Headquarters.
Sakazuki stood outside the Fleet Admiral's office, overlooking the entire island.
The whole headquarters was brightly lit, countless soldiers bustling about below.
Everything was in preparation for tomorrow's broadcast to the entire world a moment that would decide the future fate of the world.
That was… the call between the current Fleet Admiral and the Four Emperors of the sea...
Tap, tap, tap...
The crisp sound of leather shoes approached.
Karol, serving as adjutant, came from behind:
"Fleet Admiral."
Sakazuki responded with a soft "Hm."
"Everything's been conveyed?"
Karol spoke:
"Yes, everything's been relayed."
"I'm afraid tonight, none of the Marines will be able to sleep from excitement."
Sakazuki smiled faintly but said nothing.
Karol stepped closer, staring at the busy soldiers below, his voice tinged with wonder:
"Hard to believe, really."
"But… the age of pirates is truly about to end in our generation."
"Feels like a dream, almost surreal."
"To think we actually made it to this day…"
Sakazuki chuckled softly:
"This is only the first step. There's still the second, the third…"
Karol took a deep breath:
"Yeah."
"This is only the first step."
"Just feels a bit unreal, that's all…"
"By the way… Fleet Admiral-sama."
"Did you foresee this day long ago? It feels like you've always been certain of something, from beginning to end."
"I've never once sensed even a trace of hesitation from you."
Sakazuki narrowed his eyes slightly, gazing into the distance:
"No hesitation…"
"That's because I've already been lost before."
Karol was a little surprised:
"You've been lost before?"
Sakazuki smiled faintly:
"Confusion, fear, change, decadence, even escape."
"These are things every normal person experiences. You, me, everyone."
"Life is full of ups and downs. No one is born to accomplish great deeds. A smooth path to the top exists only in novels."
"For three whole years, I had no idea what I wanted to do."
"Hiding away in a small town, day after day doing nothing but training."
"It's been so long… long enough that I've almost forgotten."
"Back then, I had talent, I had the power of the Magma-Magma Fruit. I was destined to make my name known across the seas."
"But I didn't know what I wanted to do."
"The rules of this world were oppressive, dark, stagnant."
"Even if I hated it, what did that have to do with me?"
"Because I could become one who transcended all others."
"Step outside the rules, enjoy the privileges."
"No one is so noble as to want to save the world."
"I could have been a pirate, a Marine, even the world's strongest man. Have women, wealth, power, status?"
"But the more I thought about it, the more I realized none of that was what I wanted."
"I was still lost."
"That confusion lasted three years, until one day—"
"By chance, I flipped through a history book, only a thin volume."
"It recorded only the major events of that island for the past hundred years."
"Nothing further back. I asked the people on the island, and at most they only knew a few legends from their childhood."
"Which were also no older than a century."
"At that moment… I think I knew what I wanted."
"I spent the whole night thinking everything through, no longer lost."
"Human lives just a few decades long."
"Even if one becomes the strongest, possesses everything in the world, so what? Time erases all traces left in this world."
"A few decades, and it's all gone."
"I want to change everything, tear through the darkness, burn all filth with great fire."
"So that even hundreds or thousands of years later, people will still remember my name."
"So I planned, I schemed."
"This mission that would normally take several, even dozens of generations to complete—I will finish it myself."
"Even if I must bear the name of a ruthless tyrant, so what?"
Sakazuki gazed into the darkness, his magnetic voice echoing softly:
"Ten thousand years is too long; I fight for every moment."
-----------
The fanfic is Finished on p@treon/tambeerg. 414 chapters in total