Sabaody Archipelago.
A man wearing a captain's hat with a scar on his face looked proudly at his ship, which had just finished being coated.
"Captain, when do we set sail?"
Two small-time pirates carried a wooden crate up the gangplank, asking excitedly about their departure time as they walked.
"Listen up, men! Once we finish restocking, we're heading to the New World!"
The captain laughed, using a confident tone to hype up his crew, who were busy moving supplies.
Sabaody Archipelago, the final stop before entering the New World.
Every pirate crew that arrived here was filled with ambition to find the great treasure.
He was no exception.
At that moment, the waves gradually grew stronger.
The pirate ship rocked with the waves, and the panicked pirates dropped food, water, and other supplies, scrambling to hold onto the nearest fixed object to avoid being thrown overboard.
"What's going on?"
The captain, who hadn't boarded yet, had a clearer view.
The sea was churning, waves crashing against the shore one after another, growing increasingly violent.
"Earthquake? Tsunami?"
The captain was a seasoned veteran of Paradise, and his mind quickly conjured up two of the deadliest natural disasters in seafaring.
Splash!
A massive wave, over ten meters high, slammed into the shore, sending spray flying everywhere.
The captain's face turned pale, his legs gave way, and he collapsed onto the ground.
"Th-that... what is that?"
Someone on the ship suddenly screamed.
The others quickly widened their eyes and looked toward the distant sea.
The horizon seemed to be lifted by an invisible hand, bulging upward.
"It's... it's a tsunami!"
The captain's face was deathly white. Without a second thought for his ship or the crew still aboard, he scrambled away in terror toward the island.
"Captain!"
The pirates on the ship were filled with despair.
By now, the waves had grown enormous. Each one crashing against the shore sounded like a thousand stampeding horses, roaring deafeningly.
The pirate ship docked at the shore was tossed around like a toy in the hands of a giant, swaying violently and on the verge of capsizing.
The pirates were pale, too frightened to even speak.
Every one of them stared dumbfounded as the bulge on the horizon grew higher and higher.
Soon, a glimmer of light appeared amidst the waves.
The next moment.
The seawater cascaded down, revealing the truth beneath.
"Coating... coating?"
The pirates were even more stunned.
What emerged from the sea was unmistakably a coating.
They instinctively looked at their own ship's deck.
Well, it wasn't just similar—it was identical.
The only difference was that the thing appearing on the horizon was far larger in scale.
Judging by the size of the waves, it was probably even bigger than Sabaody Archipelago.
As the submerged object rose, the waves grew increasingly violent, reaching a staggering hundred meters by the time they hit Sabaody.
The already overwhelmed pirate ship was instantly swallowed by the towering wave.
After the wave passed, a single barrel floated to the surface, followed by more and more debris.
...
Marineford.
After hearing his subordinate's report, Sengoku stood up in shock. "Fish-Man Island has risen to the surface?"
"Y-yes."
The Marine rear admiral delivering the report was equally dazed.
Fish-Man Island was the only route from Paradise to the New World, and its architectural style was too distinctive to mistake.
No one could misidentify it.
When he first received the emergency communication from the Marine base at Sabaody, he hadn't believed it either. But as more and more reports flooded into Marineford in a short time, he rushed to inform Sengoku.
"Damn it!"
Once Sengoku confirmed the report's accuracy, the first person that came to mind was Reddy.
After Golden Lion Shiki was defeated by Garp at Loguetown, he had disappeared. The only one capable of lifting Fish-Man Island into the sky now was the unrestrained Reddy.
"I didn't expect that brat to target Fish-Man Island so quickly."
Sengoku calmed down, sat back in his chair, and frowned as he pondered Reddy's motives.
Fish-Man Island held a unique position.
Most humans discriminated against fish-men, yet Fish-Man Island was a member of the World Government, eligible to participate in the Reverie and under the protection of the Marines.
However, due to various reasons, the Marines had never established a branch on Fish-Man Island.
Now that Fish-Man Island had risen, Sengoku's first thought was that Reddy wanted to control the only transit point between Paradise and the New World.
After all, controlling Fish-Man Island meant both pirate ships and merchant vessels would lose a crucial stopover, forcing them to travel directly from Paradise through the depths of the sea into the New World.
Losing this stopover would drastically increase the risks of the journey.
Pirate ships aside, merchant ships would be in a tough spot.
There were only two routes from Paradise to the New World.
One was through Fish-Man Island, the most cost-effective route. The other was by land, crossing the Red Line and reloading ships at the docks on the New World side.
This second route was low-risk but prohibitively expensive.
Merchant ships rarely took this route unless absolutely necessary.
As Sengoku thought about this, he grew even more confused. "Why is he taking Fish-Man Island?"
Suddenly, a possibility struck him, shocking him to the core.
Had King Neptune defected to that brat?
Sengoku was startled by his own outrageous speculation.
Among the member nations of the World Government, Fish-Man Island held a low status. During the Reverie, King Neptune was practically a clown, mocked and ridiculed by the other kings.
Logically speaking, it wouldn't be strange if King Neptune abandoned the World Government and sided with Reddy.
Sengoku immediately grabbed his Den Den Mushi and urgently contacted Tsuru, who was on her way to the East Blue to negotiate with Reddy.
The call connected.
Sengoku immediately asked, "Have you reached the East Blue yet?"
"What happened?"
Tsuru's comprehension was razor-sharp. From Sengoku's tone, she instantly realized something major had occurred.
"Fish-Man Island has just risen to the surface."
That single sentence left the other end of the line silent for a long time.
Sengoku was patient, waiting quietly as Tsuru processed this world-shaking news.
"The 4 billion berry bounty was too low."
After digesting the shocking news, Tsuru's first words seemed abrupt.
But Sengoku understood.
Reddy's 4 billion berry bounty had only been set to cover up the Marines' crushing defeat.
Tsuru knew this all too well.
Her implication was that Reddy's threat to the World Government had skyrocketed, even surpassing that of Dragon, the leader of the Revolutionary Army.
First, it was Punk Hazard.
That wasn't too impactful—after all, Punk Hazard was just a research facility.
Then Loguetown fell under Reddy's control.
Loguetown was no Punk Hazard. With hundreds of thousands of people, a key transportation hub in the East Blue... it was a strategic stronghold in every sense.
That wasn't even counting Loguetown's inherent political significance.
Thus, the Marines had to respond.
Unfortunately, the Marines suffered a crushing defeat.
And now, even Fish-Man Island had fallen under Reddy's control.
This meant Reddy's ambitions weren't limited to the East Blue—they spanned the entire world.
Today, one island is lifted. Tomorrow, another rises into the sky.
If this continued, what would the World Government even rule over?
The ocean?
This was far more destructive than anything the Revolutionary Army could achieve.
The more Sengoku thought about it, the more agitated he became. Yet, he was powerless to stop Reddy's actions.
"Prepare for war. Conflict is coming."
Tsuru's tone was laced with resignation, which only deepened Sengoku's frustration.
Ending the call.
Sengoku pressed his hands against the desk, staring coldly at the rear admiral as he issued his orders. "Pass down the command. All Marines... prepare for war."
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📖 Like the story? Read 120 chapters ahead!
🔗 patreon.com/atomelectron
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━