Chapter 7: The New World Bleeds
The seas did not mourn.
They howled.
Waves like living titans battered blood-drenched shores, and the crimson skies wept rain thick with ash and salt. The death of Whitebeard was a seismic wound upon the world — but the coronation of Mihawk, the Ruin King, was something worse.
It was prophecy fulfilled.
It was the promise of extinction.
---
In the heart of Wano, Kaido drank.
The Beast Emperor sprawled upon a throne of shattered skulls, his monstrous bulk framed by flickering braziers. The storm winds shrieked through the shattered walls of Onigashima.
A bloodied scout, limbs trembling, knelt before him.
"He's done it… Whitebeard is dead. Sengoku… gone. Garp fled."
Kaido's laughter was a deep, splintering boom that shook the rafters.
"At last," he growled, draining a colossal jug. "The world breaks… and now, I'll see who's left to rule its bones."
He rose, Kanabo in hand, eyes gleaming.
"Oniwabanshu — sharpen your blades. Call the calamities. Tell them… we hunt a king."
---
In Totto Land, Charlotte Linlin's scream shattered every mirror in the hall.
"Mama… Whitebeard… Whitebeard's dead!"
Homies cowered. Her children wept. The air turned thick with the scent of ozone and death.
Big Mom's eyes burned.
"Find him. FIND HIM! Or I'll feast on your bones!"
The shadows scattered.
---
On an uncharted island, Shanks stared into the storm-wracked sea.
His face was a ghost's mask.
"It wasn't supposed to be him," he murmured.
Benn Beckman lit a cigarette with trembling fingers.
"Captain… what do we do?"
Shanks gripped Gryphon, his knuckles bone white.
"We sail. Now. Before the world drowns."
---
In the depths of Impel Down, the abyssal dark hummed.
Blackbeard lounged upon a makeshift throne of broken corpses, eyes gleaming with fevered anticipation.
"Ze… ha… ha… ha… I told 'em. The king would fall… and I'd rise."
His fingers twitched.
"Time to carve my piece from this dying world."
---
Atop the highest spire of Marineford's corpse-city, Mihawk stood, a sovereign made of storm and death.
Yoru hummed, thirsty for more.
The crimson haze of his Ruins Domain pulsed like a living heart.
[Shock Points: 7100] [Conquest Events Initiated: 4]
Lightning danced above, storms screaming his name.
A voice spoke behind him.
A whisper, brittle, defiant.
"Monster."
It was Ace.
Bloodied, kneeling in the wreckage.
"I'll kill you."
Mihawk turned.
The world held its breath.
"You'll try," the Ruin King said.
Yoru gleamed.
The storm cracked open.
And the New World bled.
---
Elsewhere, word spread like wildfire on dead winds.
In Mary Geoise, the Five Elders stood before the Empty Throne.
"He's broken the balance," one hissed.
"Summon Imu-sama."
A ripple in the dark.
And something ancient, buried since the Void Century, stirred.
---
In the New World, monsters roused from ancient slumber.
Kaido roared.
Big Mom shrieked.
Shanks sailed.
Blackbeard plotted.
And Mihawk, crowned in flame and storm, raised his blade.
"The world belongs to ruin."
The storm howled its approval.
---
A little short chapter