Chapter 2 - Shanks vs Gildarts

🔥 Shanks vs Gildarts — "When Kings Collide"

🌅 Prologue: The Island That Shouldn't Exist

Deep within the Grand Line… where even Log Poses refuse to point…

An island drifts.

Not metaphorically.

Literally.

Chunks of land float in the air like broken glass, orbiting a massive central plateau. The sea below spirals in unnatural currents.

This place has a name whispered by those who've seen it:

"Godfall."

And today…

Two monsters arrive.

A red-haired man steps off a small boat, coat swaying.

Shanks

No crew. No fleet.

Just him.

From the opposite side—

A tall man walks casually through falling debris, hands in pockets, like gravity is just a suggestion.

Gildarts Clive

They stop.

No introductions.

No speeches.

Just a look.

And the air tightens.

A leaf falls between them.

Before it touches the ground—

BOOM.

They're gone.

The collision happens mid-air—

Sword meets fist.

No contact.

Yet the entire island screams.

A shockwave erupts outward, blasting apart floating landmasses.

The sea below splits for miles.

Gildarts lands first, sliding back slightly.

Shanks lands softly.

Both smiling.

Gildarts: "Not bad for a one-armed guy."

Shanks: "Not bad for a guy who looks lost."

They vanish again.

Shanks appears above—

DIVINE DEPARTURE

His blade, Gryphon, glows with advanced Conqueror's Haki.

The slash doesn't travel like a normal attack—

It dominates the space ahead of it.

Everything in its path bows… then breaks.

Gildarts raises one hand.

"Crash."

The slash hits—

—and shatters.

Not deflected.

Not blocked.

Broken into pieces of nothing.

But—

For the first time—

Gildarts' feet dig into the ground.

"Yeah… you're different."

Shanks exhales slowly.

His Observation Haki expands—

Future sight.

The battlefield slows.

He sees it—

Every movement Gildarts will make.

Every crack in space before it happens.

Gildarts steps forward—

—but Shanks is already behind him.

Blade swings—

CRACK.

Shanks freezes.

His body—

splits into fragments.

An illusion?

No.

His position itself was broken.

Gildarts stands where Shanks was supposed to be.

"You're not the only one who reads ahead."

The sky darkens.

Wind stops.

Sound fades.

Shanks lifts his head.

CONQUEROR'S HAKI.

It erupts like a storm.

Black lightning tears through the heavens.

The sky splits open.

Half the floating islands collapse instantly.

Even the sea below trembles like it's alive.

Gildarts…

pauses.

Not out of fear—

but recognition.

"That's not power…"

"That's authority."

For the first time—

Gildarts takes a stance.

Gildarts claps his hands once.

FULL POWER: CRASH.

The world breaks.

Not metaphorically.

Literally.

Space fractures like glass.

Gravity shatters.

Even light bends unnaturally.

Shanks charges forward—

each step cracking reality beneath him.

They meet—

Sword vs both hands.

BOOOOOOM.

Everything within miles—

gone.

The battlefield is no longer an island.

It's debris.

Floating chaos.

Fragments of earth suspended in a void of shattered air.

Shanks stands on a broken slab of land.

Bleeding slightly now.

Still smiling.

Gildarts floats nearby, coat torn.

Laughing.

Gildarts: "Man… this is fun."

Shanks: "Yeah… been a while."

They disappear again.

This time—

No wasted movement.

No testing.

Every strike from Shanks carries Conqueror's coating—

Attacks that don't need to touch to destroy.

Every counter from Gildarts—

erases structure itself.

A slash that splits clouds?

CRASHED.

A punch that shatters dimensions?

DODGED.

A kick that bends space?

COUNTERED.

They adapt.

Faster.

Sharper.

Deadlier.

Shanks closes his eyes.

Everything goes quiet.

When they open—

His Haki spikes to a new level.

Even the air refuses to approach him.

Gildarts grins wider.

"There it is."

Shanks vanishes—

reappears instantly in front of him—

ONE STRIKE.

A slash so condensed, so absolute—

it feels like the world itself is being cut.

Gildarts reacts—

hands forward—

MAXIMUM CRASH.

The two forces collide.

For a moment—

Nothing exists.

…Sound returns slowly.

The ocean crashes back together.

Fragments of land fall like rain.

In the center—

two figures stand.

Shanks… breathing heavier.

Blood running down his arm.

Gildarts… slightly hunched.

Laughing through it.

They stare at each other.

Then—

Gildarts drops his hands.

"Yeah… if we keep going, there won't be an island left."

Shanks smirks.

"Wouldn't be much fun after that."

They turn.

Walk away.

No winner.

No loser.

Just two legends…

who found someone that could match them.