MARIEJOIS — ROOM OF THE FIVE ELDERS
"How much longer will he remain in denial?" asked the bald elder with the sword resting across his knees.
"Not much," replied the shadow-eyed elder, fingers laced behind his back as he stared into the fireplace. "Shawn Newman is different. Too different."
"He does not belong here," the elder with the thick mustache said coldly. "The Void Century texts warned of spirits not aligned with this world's rhythm. He is an intruder in this reality."
"And the experiment?" the elder with the crescent scar asked.
"Prepared," said the one with glasses. "We activated Null Eye in Sabaody under the guise of a marine field test. Its true function: detect metaphysical foreignness and stress-test dimensional resilience under exposure to high-density spiritual energy."
A pause.
"Roger will likely intervene," said the bald one.
"We accounted for that."
"If it succeeds…?" the elder with the scar asked, voice quieter.
"Then the world will repair itself," came the answer. "And he will be where he belongs."
SABAODY ARCHIPELAGO – GROVE 34
The sun filtered through the canopies of the giant soap trees, illuminating the tension in the air.
Shawn Newman stood before Admiral Hekros, the Iron Omen. Cloaked in a mantle of dark blue lined with gold, Hekros exuded pressure without lifting a hand. His boots cracked the stone beneath him just by standing.
"You're late," Hekros said, monotone. "The test is already underway."
"I wasn't told what kind of test it was," Shawn answered, eyes scanning the massive silver sphere floating behind the Admiral — Null Eye.
A low hum came from it, as if it were breathing.
"That," Hekros said, turning slightly, "is a window into possibility. Your Haki will show us what the future fears."
There was no smile on his face.
Without warning, a pulse rippled from Null Eye — invisible to civilians, but Shawn felt it. It tickled the edges of his Haki. He looked down at his hand, already beginning to flicker with spiritual feedback.
"You're using me," Shawn growled.
"No," Hekros replied calmly. "We're studying you."
MEANWHILE — ROGER APPROACHES
From the northern groves, Roger D. Gol made his way through a group of collapsed Marines, laughing.
He could feel the tension in the air. The kind of pressure that made even his skin crawl. A weight not caused by power, but by destiny shifting.
"Ohhh, something interesting's about to happen…" he grinned, cape fluttering as he walked toward Grove 34.
BACK AT THE EXPERIMENT SITE
Shawn clenched his fists, spirit flaring to life. His gauntlets — black and silver masses of Haki — formed around his arms in seconds, trailing sparks of energy.
Hekros didn't move.
BOOM!
Shawn launched forward, feet cracking the earth beneath him. Hekros raised a single palm.
A wall of crushing force — gravity itself — slammed into Shawn mid-air. The gauntlets resisted, spiraling energy around his arms to absorb the pressure, but it slowed him enough for Hekros to sidestep and launch him into a tree with a gravitational pulse.
CRASH!
Shawn wiped blood from his mouth, smiling.
"You're strong."
"I'm focused," Hekros answered.
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK
The air began fracturing.
Shawn's gauntlets — Spirit Projection at nearly full output — glowed brighter, unnaturally bright. Null Eye began to hum violently, now responding in sync with Shawn's frequency.
Hekros paused.
The sphere's surface distorted, pulling in light like a dying star.
"It's reacting," he muttered. "He's destabilizing it."
Shawn didn't hear him. He focused inward.
Haki was never meant to be divided, he thought. It is the soul made manifest. The true self given shape.
He pushed more power into the gauntlets.
CRACK!
A rift tore through the space directly above the sphere — thin at first, then widening like a mouth screaming without sound. Purple-black tendrils of anti-light flickered from the edges.
ROGER ARRIVES
Roger burst through the foliage, blade slung across his back, laughter halting the moment he saw the sky above them.
"What in the hells is that?"
He saw Shawn — gauntlets fully formed, body steaming with effort. Hekros standing firm, manipulating the atmosphere to contain the anomaly. The air vibrated like a struck bell.
"Don't interfere," Hekros warned Roger.
"Too late," Roger said, stepping forward.
Then everything broke.
THE FRACTURE
Null Eye imploded.
From the center of the experiment came silence — then an explosive inhale like the universe itself was gasping.
A black sphere formed in the air, twisting and pulsing.
Roger staggered back. "That's not a Devil Fruit effect… That's something else."
Shawn felt the pull immediately.
His spirit flared — but the more he fought it, the harder the vortex pulled.
His gauntlets cracked. His skin split. Not from impact — from the pressure of the world being torn open.
The rift surged forward like a tidal wave made of stars. Shawn tried to jump, to fly, to will himself out.
It didn't work.
Roger reached forward — for a moment, their hands nearly touched.
"Shawn!!"
Then light.
Then nothing.
3RD POV — SEVERANCE
The hole collapsed in on itself, the sky resealed, the wind died.
Silence returned to Sabaody.
Hekros fell to one knee, sweating. "Seal completed," he murmured. "Target… displaced."
Roger stared for a long moment.
"That wasn't right," he whispered.
He could feel it — not just power, but a departure. A consciousness leaving this reality, like a flame blown into a void.
MARINEFORD, HOURS LATER
A single sentence was transmitted from Hekros's personal den-den mushi:
"Subject lost. Rift repaired. Data archived."
The Five Elders read it in silence.
"So… it worked," one said.
"For now," another replied.
MEANWHILE — THE OTHER SIDE
???
It was dark. Not black. Not empty.
Just… wrong.
Shawn gasped as he slammed into cold, wet earth.
Air burned his lungs — thicker, heavier, fouler than any sea he'd known. His Spirit Projection sparked faintly — just a flicker over his palm.
His gauntlets… gone.
He tried again.
Only a small blade of Haki flickered into existence. Barely a knife.
His soul… it was here, but fractured. Reality itself rejected him.
Yet somehow… he was alive.
Above, storm clouds green and grey rumbled like ancient engines. The sky bled static. Explosions rumbled in the far distance.
And the ground shook with the rhythm of boots. Heavy. Fast.
Voices. Shouting.
"WAAAGH!!"
Then they appeared.
Massive, armored green monsters — dozens of them, charging toward him with cleavers, rusted guns, and madness in their eyes.
Shawn stood slowly, breathing ragged.
He couldn't summon the gauntlets.
He couldn't see clearly through this world's atmosphere.
But his instincts were intact.
As the first Ork screamed and swung its blade, Shawn ducked under it — and drove a crude Haki dagger straight into its chest.
The creature stopped — then convulsed.
Not like death.
Like it had been erased.
Gone.
His Haki… worked here.
Differently. Violently.
A wave of realization crawled down his spine.
This world didn't know Haki.
It feared it.
The rest of the Orks screamed louder.
And Shawn — weaponless, breathless, alone — stood to face them.
TO BE CONTINUED