> Marineford – Moments After the Collapse
The battlefield lay in ruins.
One-third of the island had vanished into spatial voids. The execution stand was obliterated. Whitebeard was gone. Ace had escaped with Luffy.
And Rael?
He stood on a floating shard of what was once the Admiral's tower, hovering hundreds of feet above the sea, gravity bending beneath his feet, the storm sky swirling around him.
Admirals were down.
Sengoku, unconscious.
Garp, unmoving.
Akainu, buried under molten debris.
Kizaru, his light distorted.
Aokiji, frozen in orbit by warped space.
Rael hadn't killed them.
He had stopped them. Effortlessly. Quietly.
He raised one hand. His voice reached every soul on the island.
---
> "You call yourselves rulers. Admirals. Gods.
But today you couldn't stop a single man."
> "You rely on systems. On thrones. On names.
I need none."
> "The age of fear is over.
The age of order is coming."
He looked skyward.
> "You hid the truth of the world in silence. I am the silence that learns to speak."
And then — with a single twist of his fingers — he vanished, folding space around his body, warping far beyond their reach.
---
🌍 Worldwide Fallout
📰 News Headlines (Morgans' Papers):
> "Trinity Soul Revealed – Government Collapse Inevitable?"
"Rael D. Lior – The King Without a Flag"
"Marineford Broken – A Third Power Emerges?"
"Who Is the Brother of Monkey D. Luffy?"
Reverie, Weeks Later:
Kings and queens across the world argued, afraid, confused.
One kingdom declared allegiance to Rael's ideals — and was erased from the map days later by a mysterious black flame.
Underground:
Warlords vanished. Cipher Pol agents defected.
And pirates everywhere began to ask a new question:
> "If not Pirate King… what is he trying to become?"
---
Inside Mariejois, chaos.
A new bounty was issued:
---
🔥 New Bounty: RAEL D. LIOR
Wanted Dead, Not Alive
Bounty: 4,888,000,000 Berries
Crimes: Unauthorized Possession of Multiple Devil Fruits, Threat to Global Balance, War-Time Interference, and Existential Hazard to the Celestial Order
Threat Level: OMEGA
Code Title: BLACK LAW
---
In the throne room, Imu sat alone.
Only one message was spoken aloud, carried by a whispering Den Den Mushi:
> "He carries the soul of three fruits.
Gravity to destroy, space to command… and a dragon that cannot die."
> "He must be erased."
Imu's command:
> "Initiate the Seraphim Override."
"Activate Project: Saintfall."
A new force was being prepared.
But even they feared… it may be too late.
---
📍 Meanwhile: Obsidian Ark, Rael's Return
Rael sat alone, eyes closed, his body still radiating energy from Marineford.
He could hear their fear, feel the weight of the world shifting.
Vale entered behind him. "You've done it. You broke the myth."
Rael opened his eyes.
> "No. I replaced it."
Lysara asked, "So what now?"
Rael stood. Behind him, the stars swirled, forming a crown of folding space and black flame.
> "Now… we take the world from the inside out."
> "Kingdom by kingdom.
Bloodline by bloodline.
Lie by lie."