"VROOOOOM—!"
It wasn't a roar; it was a physical force.
A deep, bone-rattling thrum that shook the very foundations of Marineford, churning the bay into a frothy white.
At the command of their supreme leader Mike, the entire, terrifying might of the New Marine sprang to life.
One by one, colossal warships, mountains of steel and ironwood, coughed black smoke as their engines roared to full power.
These weren't the old, familiar vessels of the past.
They were new, sleek, and bristling with cannons that looked large enough to level an island.
They slowly pulled away from the newly-built harbors, their scale dwarfing the fortress itself.
A river of blue and white flowed up the gangplanks.
Tens of thousands of soldiers, their faces set in grim, resolute lines, boarded the ships.
They moved not with the panic of a scramble, but with the cold, orderly precision of an executioner.
On the command decks, the elite Vice Admirals—figures of legend in their own right—and high-ranking officers stood at the ready, their white coats snapping in the wind.
Their respective missions had been assigned long before the broadcast, long before the execution.
They had only been waiting for the signal.
They had been waiting for this moment.
"..."
....
Meanwhile, the rest of the world watched, their knuckles white as they gripped whatever was nearby, their eyes glued to the Den Den Mushi projections.
In a smokey bar in the West Blue, a grizzled bounty hunter let out a low whistle.
"Damn... Someone's about to get erased."
"The New Marine is gathering that much power... This ain't over," muttered a woman in a town square in the North Blue, huddling with her neighbors.
"This definitely isn't the end..."
Every sign, every movement, every resolute face pointed to one, terrifying conclusion.
The public execution of the Beasts Pirates and the symbolic cleansing of the old era's legends... that wasn't the main event.
That was just the prelude.
The real spectacle, the grand performance the New Marine was about to stage, had only just begun.
"Wait... you all heard what that Mike fella said, right?" a man in Loguetown shouted, his voice trembling with a mix of fear and... excitement?
"His exact words! 'To utterly eradicate all that is corrupt, sinful, and obstructs the progress of our era!'"
"..."
A heavy silence fell over the crowd.
"Corrupt...?"
"Sinful...?"
"Obstructs... progress...?"
"That... that means the New Marine's real target is—"
No one needed to finish the sentence.
After a brief, loaded silence, people all across the world, as if pulled by a single invisible string, slowly turned their heads.
They all stared in the same direction.
Up.
Toward the Red Line. Toward the "Holy Land" of Mary Geoise.
If there was one single, festering boil on the face of the planet that everyone—pirates, civilians, even some Marines—considered corrupt, sinful, and deserving of being scoured from history...
Who else could it be but the Celestial Dragons?
"Heh... heh hehe..." A low chuckle started in a crowded tavern, then grew into a roar of manic laughter.
"Oh, this is gonna be good!"
"The Tenryuubito? Those pig-disguised-as-human scum who think they're gods? They're finally getting what's coming to them!"
"Get 'em, Mike! Drown 'em just like you drowned Kaido!"
The world was practically vibrating with anticipation, ready to watch the "unassailable" fortress of the gods be torn down, brick by bloody brick.
And just as people were eagerly waiting for the fleet to aim its cannons at the Red Line...
"Clack—"
The live Den Den Mushi feed suddenly changed.
The image of the imposing fleet at Marineford vanished.
The tension... poof.
Gone.
In its place was a bright, resplendent palace, shining under a warm, clear-blue sky.
Above the palace, a flag fluttered in the breeze.
Not a national flag, but the flag of the New Marine.
'Wait... this wasn't Mary Geoise. This was...'
On the screen, King Cobra of Alabasta, looking healthier and more vibrant than anyone had ever seen him, sat upright.
He nervously adjusted his collar, cleared his throat, and looked directly into the camera.
"Greetings, everyone. I am Cobra, King of the Alabasta Kingdom."
"A short time ago, with the help of the New Marine, led by Mike-san, Alabasta has... completely, and totally, overcome centuries of poverty, drought, and war."
"It has... well, it has become a prosperous, strong, and truly free nation."
The footage then cut from Cobra's face and began to pan across his "new" kingdom.
The world gasped.
This wasn't the Alabasta they knew.
The endless, choking desert was... green.
Oasis, massive and lush, dotted the landscape.
But more than that... skyscrapers, built of shining white stone and glass, pierced the sky.
Clean, wide streets bustled not just with camels, but with trams and strange, horseless carriages.
The footage zoomed in.
People on the streets wore bright, clean clothes.
They weren't just "not starving"—they were smiling.
They were laughing.
Children, fat and happy, played tag in public parks with working water fountains.
Vendors shouted, hawking fresh fruits and steaming foods. It was a scene of impossible, thriving prosperity.
"All of this... all of it... is the result of the New Marine's 'Civilian Welfare' initiative," Cobra's voice-over continued, thick with emotion.
"Here, the nation truly belongs to the people. Our law is just and impartial. There are no slaves. There is no oppression. There is no discrimination."
"Alabasta welcomes all who love peace and yearn for freedom—to visit, to trade... or to settle!"
With that, the feed cut back to Cobra.
He stood up and performed a deep, profound bow, a bow of a king not to other kings, but to the world.
Then, the screen went dark for a second.
Witnessing this, people across the globe were... stunned.
Confused.
"..."
Countless individuals, through the Den Den Mushi scattered in every town, saw this earth-shaking transformation.
"Is... is that really Alabasta?"
"The desert kingdom? The one that was always having famines and civil wars?"
"I... I was in Yuba a few years back..." a short, stout merchant in a tavern widened his eyes, his voice trembling so hard his beer sloshed.
"Back then... it was nothing but yellow sand. Sand as far as you could see. Refugees... refugees everywhere. The smell of death..."
"But... but now... skyscrapers? Parks?"
"My god..."
"The change... it's... it's just too drastic! It's impossible!"
"..."
"Alabasta... Alabasta..." A middle-aged man in a different bar stroked his chin, a dim light of recognition in his eyes.
"Wait... I remember now!!!"
He slammed his fist on the table, making everyone jump.
"I remember! My cousin was a trader there! He told me about Alabasta's 'Three Wonders'!"
His friends leaned in, curious.
"He said their new hot springs have some kind of miraculous healing water! Cures all kinds of old ailments!"
"And the casinos! He said they're fair and just—no tricks, no scams! Totally clean! Getting rich overnight isn't just a dream!"
"And then... then there's the nightlife..." His voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. "He said the dark-skinned dancers there are... passionate and wild... unforgettable..."
"This..."
The men in the bar exchanged glances, a new kind of fire in their eyes.
Alabasta...
Wasn't this... a paradise for men?!
"Go?"
"We... we go!"
"Hahaha, I'm booking passage! Let's all go together!"
Before the laughter could even die down, the Den Den Mushi screen switched again.
Click—
Fish-Man Island.
The palace of the Ryugu Kingdom.
"Hello, everyone! I am Neptune, King of the Ryugu Kingdom!"
The image was breathtaking.
The once-dark, gloomy underwater world was now bathed in a soft, brilliant glow from the roots of the Sun-Tree Eve.
Massive coral reefs, vibrant and dazzling, stretched as far as the eye could see. Schools of exotic fish darted freely.
"Thanks to Mike-san and the New Marine, Fish-Man Island has completely rid itself of the threat of slavers and pirates!" Neptune boomed, his voice full of joy. "Fish-Men and Merfolk can finally live freely under the true sun!"
"Now, Fish-Man Island has established booming trade relations with nations like Alabasta and Dressrosa! Our pearls and coral-crafts are beloved by all!"
"Everyone is welcome to visit Fish-Man Island and experience the unique charm of the underwater world!"
Click—
The screen switched once more.
The palace of Dressrosa.
"Hello, everyone. I am King Riku of Dressrosa..."
Click—
"Hello, everyone. I am Gan Fall, the Governor of Skypiea..."
One nation after another appeared.
Each nation shared one, single, common trait—they all proudly flew the flag of the New Marine.
They had been reborn.
They had broken free from suffering, from tyranny, from poverty.
One leader after another stepped forward.
Each expressed a heartfelt, almost tearful gratitude to Mike and the New Marine.
Each extended a warm, genuine invitation to people across the world.
More and more liberated nations emerged.
The New Marine's flag was spreading across the globe, not as a conqueror, but as a brand.
A brand of prosperity.
"..."
Silence.
A deep, deafening, global silence.
The entire world seemed to have hit the pause button.
All sound, all movement, all thought—frozen.
Those still oppressed... still exploited... still starving... fell silent.
They stared blankly at the Den Den Mushi projections.
Their eyes clearly reflected nations once steeped in misery, now brimming with a vitality they had never seen in their own lands.
Alabasta. Fish-Man Island. Dressrosa. Skypiea.
Places they once dismissed as "failures," "slums," or "dumps" now boasted towering buildings, bustling streets, and wealth beyond imagination.
People who once starved and shivered in rags now wore broad smiles of genuine, unforced happiness.
It struck them all, in that same moment, like a physical hammer to the heart.
Something deep inside, something they had suppressed for far too long just to survive...
Began to awaken.
Began to stir.
Began to fight.
If before, when the New Marine executed Kaido's crew, people had just been watching a show... this was different. This wasn't entertainment.
This was an advertisement for a better life.
Those nations and people who once needed their aid, who relied on their charity...
Had prospered.
Those impoverished relatives they once looked down on and scorned—under the New Marine's guidance—had risen up.
And what about themselves?
Their eyes were locked onto the projection, as if chained, unblinking.
A man in a slum in a kingdom allied with the World Government... his gaze slowly drifted from the happy children on the screen, to his own children, sitting in the dirt, their bellies swollen from hunger.
His gaze lifted, past his crumbling shack, toward the royal palace of his own country.
That resplendent palace.
That lofty, golden throne.
The king, his king, still sat there, indulging in a life of luxury, wallowing in supreme authority, all while his children starved.
Could they tolerate this?
No.
"NO!!!"
A single voice, a scream of pure, unfiltered rage from a nameless man in a nameless slum, like a spark, instantly ignited the tinder of a billion suppressed souls.
Then came a second.
A third. A fourth.
"He's right!"
"Look at what they have!"
"Why... why not us?!"
More and more voices converged, not into a tide, but into a tsunami of human will.
"FUCK THE KING!"
"RISE UP!"
"FUCK THE CELESTIAL DRAGONS!"
"OVERTHROW THE WORLD GOVERNMENT!"
And then, the loudest, most terrifying cry of all, the one that confirmed the World Government's greatest fear had finally come to pass:
"LONG LIVE THE NEW MARINE!!!"
The will of the people... had awakened.
And it was a will forged not by a call to arms, but by a promise of peace.
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