The drums stopped.
For a moment, Loguetown held its breath. Even the gulls circling overhead seemed to vanish into silence. Then, the sound of boots striking wood echoed from the platform stairs. Slow, steady, unhurried.
Magnus's sharp eyes locked onto the figure as he emerged into the sunlight.
Gol D. Roger.
Chains clinked with every step, but his walk was strong, shoulders broad, head high.His black mustache curled upward in defiance, and his grin was impossibly wide, impossibly calm shone as though the world weren't about to watch him die. His red captain's coat was tattered, his frame worn with battle scars, but there was no weakness in him.
Only presence.
Magnus's chest tightened, breath caught in his throat. He had read this scene. Watched it animated. But standing here, seeing Roger alive, real and feeling the weight of his aura crash through the square like a wave was something no panel, no screen, could capture.
The crowd erupted, a storm breaking loose.
"Roger!"
"Monster!"
"Pirate King!"
"Kill him!"
Some screamed in rage, others in awe. Pirates roared their approval, Marines barked for order, civilians pressed against each other with terror shining in their eyes.
Roger climbed the final step, chains rattling as he turned to face them all. And he laughed.
A booming, joyous sound that rolled across the square like thunder.
Even bound, even moments from death, he owned the stage.
The executioners stepped forward, halberds glinting in the sun. They stood at his sides, faceless under black hoods.
Magnus's pulse hammered in his ears. His fists clenched so tightly his nails bit into his palms. This is it. The words that will change everything.
From somewhere in the crowd, a man shouted, "Now just WHERE exactly did you leave those riches?!".
The executioners stiffened, blades poised.
The air quivered.
Roger's grin widened. His eyes burned with life. He threw back his head and bellowed, his voice echoing so powerfully it seemed to shake the sky itself:
"My treasure? If you want it, you can have it! You'll have to go find it yourselves! I left it all in one place!"
The square exploded.
Magnus felt it hit like a shockwave, the cries of thousands crashing into him all at once. Pirates screamed in ecstasy, nobles in fury, civilians in disbelief. Marines shouted for control, but their voices were drowned beneath the roar of a world unchained.
And through it all, Roger laughed. A deep, fearless laugh that carried over the chaos, over the clashing wills, over the storm he had unleashed with a single sentence.
The executioners moved. Two blades crossed, steel flashing
And Gol D. Roger, the Pirate King, was no more.
But his words lived, ringing in the marrow of every soul in the square.
Magnus stood frozen, silver-white hair whipping in the wind, sharp eyes wide. His heart pounded, not in fear, but in awe. He knew this moment. He had always known.
But to stand in its shadow… to hear the words himself…
He whispered, voice trembling, "It's begun."
The Great Pirate Era.