The first thing Ren noticed was the silence.
The port town was intact—no smoke, no screams, no running civilians—but the air felt wrong. Conversations were muted. Doors closed too quickly. People avoided eye contact as he walked down the dock, coat pulled low, sword wrapped and unassuming at his side.
This wasn't peace.
This was fear that had learned how to behave.
Ren stopped near a vendor's stall, pretending to inspect dried fish while listening.
"—they took him at dawn."
"Cipher Pol."
"Don't say it so loud."
Ren's fingers tightened slightly.
So the World Government had decided to move quietly.
He left the docks and followed the tension inland, toward a warehouse district that smelled of oil and old wood. Two figures stood near the entrance of a sealed building, dressed plainly—but too plainly. Their posture was wrong for civilians. Too balanced. Too alert.
One of them turned.
Their eyes met.
The man smiled.
"Unfortunate," he said calmly. "You weren't supposed to be here."
Ren sighed.
"Yeah," he replied. "I get that a lot."
The fight was immediate.
No warning. No shouting.
The first agent moved faster than a normal man should, finger jabbing toward Ren's throat. Ren twisted aside, feeling the wind of it graze his skin, and countered with the hilt of his sword. The blow landed—but the man rolled with it, skidding back with minimal damage.
The second agent struck low, leg sweeping in with brutal precision.
Ren jumped, pain blooming as a third strike he hadn't seen clipped his ribs midair.
They were good.
Cipher Pol.
Ren landed hard, boots scraping across stone. He drew his sword fully now, steel flashing once in the dim light.
The agent tilted his head.
"A swordsman," he observed. "And controlled. That narrows it down."
Ren smiled thinly.
"Yeah," he said. "I'm tired of being subtle."
They clashed.
The warehouse wall cracked under the force of their movements. Ren felt pressure build with every exchange—not exhaustion, but awareness. Every mistake was punished instantly. Every opening closed just as fast.
This wasn't a fight he could finish cleanly.
So he didn't try to.
Ren feinted high, then slammed his foot into the ground, shattering a stack of crates and filling the space with dust and splinters. He turned with the chaos, cutting through a side window and rolling into the alley beyond as steel struck air behind him.
He didn't stop running until the sea was back in front of him.
His boat rocked gently as he leapt aboard, shoving off just as a figure appeared at the end of the pier, watching him go with unsettling calm.
A voice carried over the water.
"Run while you can, Ren D. Vale."
Ren didn't answer.
He adjusted the sail and let the wind take him.
Hours later, as night settled in, Ren sat alone at the bow, breathing slow, controlled. Blood seeped through his bandages. His body ached in places he knew he'd feel for days.
The pressure came again.
Sharper this time.
Refinement recorded.
Ren closed his eyes briefly.
"So that's how it is now," he murmured. "You push back."
A transponder snail crackled softly behind him, tuned to an open channel. Voices bled through—excited, frantic, disbelieving.
"—Enies Lobby is burning—"
"—Straw Hat Luffy—"
"—declared war on the World Government—"
Ren's eyes snapped open.
He turned slowly toward the snail, listening as reports overlapped, disbelief turning into fear.
A boy in a straw hat. A broken symbol of justice. A fortress in flames.
Ren laughed.
Not loud.
Not wild.
Certain.
"So you picked a side," he said quietly. "Good."
He stood, turning the wheel as the log pose needle began to spin faster than before, pulled by something heavier than magnetism.
"This just got simple."
End of Chapter Four
The moon reflected off the sea like shattered glass as Ren's boat cut forward through the dark.
Behind him, the World Government had noticed.
Ahead of him, a captain had crossed a line that couldn't be erased.
Ren D. Vale sailed toward the sound of laughter and war.
Author's Note:
We're officially on a collision course with canon now. Cipher Pol has taken notice, Enies Lobby has fallen, and Ren is moving fast. If you're enjoying the story and want daily or faster updates, please leave a comment and drop some Power Stones — your support genuinely keeps the chapters coming. See you in Chapter Five.