MARINE FORTRESS REDUCED TO RUINS! HERO OF THE MARINES GARP AND FORMER FLEET ADMIRAL SENGOKU BARELY DRIVE BACK THE ENEMY!
The headline alone was enough to make countless readers tense.
Garp and Sengoku were legends of the Marines, men who had fought some of the most terrifying figures on the seas throughout the previous era. Yet according to the report, even the two of them working together had only barely managed to force the attackers away.
Just how powerful had the enemy become?
Another headline was even more explosive.
ETERNAL DIVINE KINGDOM OPENLY DECLARES WAR ON THE WORLD GOVERNMENT?! THE ULTIMATE CONFRONTATION OF THE NEW ERA BEGINS!
Those words immediately ignited endless speculation.
If the Eternal Divine Kingdom truly intended to wage open war against the World Government, then the conflict would be unlike anything the world had seen in generations.
No one could predict where such a confrontation would lead.
All anyone could do was watch as the storm continued to gather.
Several blurry yet shocking photographs accompanied the article.
One showed Kaido's enormous Azure Dragon body coiling through the sky above Marineford, so massive that it seemed to blot out the heavens.
Another captured Bullet's colossal magma giant rampaging through a sea of flames, its towering form surrounded by burning ruins.
A third froze the moment Garp's blackened fist collided with Kaido, the shock wave visibly distorting the air around them.
And Morgans made full use of every photograph.
His writing described Kaido and Bullet rampaging through Marine Headquarters almost as though no one had been capable of stopping them.
Buildings were sent flying beneath Kaido's claws.
Bullet's magma giant shook the ground with every step, tearing open the battlefield as molten rock poured through the ruins.
Compared with those monstrous figures, the ordinary Marines looked pitifully small.
Then Morgans turned to the final confrontation.
According to his account, Garp's iron fists repeatedly collided with Kaido's attacks in earth-shaking exchanges, each impact sending thunderous explosions across Marineford.
Sengoku fought beside him in his golden Buddha form, releasing wave after wave of shock force to contain Bullet and protect what remained of Headquarters.
The article repeatedly emphasized just how difficult the battle had supposedly been.
Two Marine legends had fought with everything they had merely to force the attackers to withdraw.
And Morgans drove home the same conclusion again and again.
The Eternal Divine Kingdom had crossed a line.
Its forces had directly attacked Marine Headquarters, the single most important military institution beneath the World Government.
This could no longer be dismissed as a territorial dispute.
It could no longer be called a clash of competing interests.
In Morgans's telling, it was an open challenge.
A declaration of war.
The Eternal Divine Kingdom had supposedly abandoned any pretense of restraint and was now openly positioning itself as the World Government's greatest enemy.
Marineford, once a symbol of Justice and authority, had been left smoking and shattered.
To countless readers, the message seemed obvious.
The Eternal Divine Kingdom was no longer content to grow quietly in the shadows.
It was stepping onto the world stage.
And the assault on Marine Headquarters was merely the first time it had openly bared its fangs.
The shock created by this report far surpassed even the earlier news of the Marines' catastrophic defeat at the Eternal Divine Kingdom.
"There's no way this is real! Kaido actually attacked Marineford?!"
"Of course it's real! My nephew heard about it directly!"
"Damn…"
Across the world, ordinary people stared at the newspapers in disbelief.
Governments urgently convened meetings.
Merchants reconsidered routes.
Kingdoms began calculating what might happen if the balance of power collapsed completely.
Previously, the Marines' defeat could at least be explained away as a failed expedition into hostile territory.
They had attacked an enemy stronghold and lost.
That was humiliating, but understandable.
This time was different.
The enemy had come directly to Marine Headquarters.
That distinction changed everything.
In the eyes of civilians and kingdoms throughout the Four Blues, the authority of the World Government—an authority maintained for eight hundred years—had just been challenged in the most direct way imaginable.
For generations, the World Government had seemed immovable.
Something vast and permanent.
A mountain no ordinary power could hope to shake.
Yet now a newly risen force had openly struck at its military heart.
Fear spread quickly.
So did uncertainty.
Many people who had never before questioned the stability of the existing world order suddenly found themselves wondering what would happen next.
Among underground organizations and ambitious powers, however, the reaction was very different.
The name Eternal Divine Kingdom rose to an entirely new level.
Any force bold enough to challenge the World Government this openly had to possess terrifying confidence in its own strength.
Countless eyes turned toward the New World.
Pirates.
Underworld brokers.
Mercenaries.
Kings.
Revolutionaries.
Opportunists of every kind.
They all began wondering the same thing.
Just how powerful was this mysterious kingdom?
And if the balance of the world truly was beginning to shift—
what opportunities might emerge from the chaos?
Within the World Government itself, however, the attack was nothing less than a public slap across the face.
And when news of the incident reached the Five Elders—
their fury was easy to imagine.
...
The Five Elders had always stood at the pinnacle of the World Government, overseeing an order that had endured for eight hundred years.
Now, a newly risen power had openly challenged that authority.
Of course they were furious.
But anger alone was no longer enough.
The Eternal Divine Kingdom had demonstrated strength and resolve far beyond their original expectations, and if the World Government continued to underestimate it, the consequences could easily spiral beyond anyone's control.
Morgans's report only made matters worse.
With a few explosive headlines and carefully chosen photographs, he had successfully pushed the Eternal Divine Kingdom and the World Government into the eyes of the public as irreconcilable enemies.
The label of mortal enemies had been firmly attached to Ron's kingdom.
Across the seas, people were beginning to realize that the storm capable of reshaping the entire world was no longer some distant possibility.
It had already begun.
At the center of it stood two powers.
The World Government, which had ruled for eight centuries—
and the rapidly rising Eternal Divine Kingdom.
...
Somewhere in a peaceful stretch of the New World, the sea lay calm beneath the sunlight.
Gentle waves rolled beneath the Red Force, rocking the ship lazily as a warm breeze swept across the deck.
Until moments ago, the atmosphere aboard had been completely relaxed.
Some crew members were sunbathing.
Others were joking with one another.
Several were eating and drinking without a care in the world.
Then the newspaper arrived.
"PFFFFT—!"
Lucky Roux spat out the mouthful of meat juices he had just swallowed.
He stared at the paper with bulging eyes, the piece of meat in his hand completely forgotten.
"What the hell?!"
Nearby, Yasopp had been calmly cleaning his rifle.
His hands stopped.
The barrel remained frozen halfway through the motion as he stared at the headline, disbelief and unease slowly replacing his usual confidence.
Benn Beckman's cigar continued burning between his fingers.
Ash fell unnoticed onto the deck.
He had not even taken a drag.
His brows were tightly furrowed as he read, already considering what the news could mean for the balance of the world.
Shanks reacted most strongly of all.
Sitting on a barrel, he snatched the newspaper from Beckman's hand and immediately scanned the front page.
The moment he saw the headlines and photographs, the easy warmth normally present in his eyes vanished.
His gaze sharpened.
"Hey, hey…"
Shanks stared at the paper.
"You've got to be kidding me."
He read faster.
The more he saw, the more serious his expression became.
"Kaido… and that battle-crazed bastard Bullet…"
Shanks slowly raised his head.
"They actually teamed up and smashed Marineford?"
He looked directly at Beckman, almost as though hoping the man would tell him he had somehow misunderstood the report.
"Sengoku and Garp both had to step in just to drive them off?"
Shanks let out a slow breath.
"That's insane."
Few people on the seas understood the significance of such an attack better than he did.
Shanks stood among the strongest pirates in the world.
He had seen countless battles, met monsters from every corner of the Grand Line, and understood better than most how much power Marine Headquarters represented.
Attacking Marineford was not merely a demonstration of strength.
It was a statement.
A direct challenge to the authority of the Marines.
And beyond them—
to the World Government itself.
The consequences of an action like that could spread far beyond the battlefield.
It could change alliances.
Push neutral powers into choosing sides.
Encourage enemies of the World Government.
And, if handled badly, accelerate the collapse of the balance that had held the seas together for decades.
Shanks slapped the newspaper against his thigh.
His expression remained deeply troubled.
The sea breeze stirred his red hair, but did nothing to ease the tension in his face.
One figure had already appeared in his thoughts.
A young man he had encountered during the Summit War.
At the time, Ron had been little more than one unusual figure among many caught in the upheaval surrounding Marineford.
Now?
That same young man had become the center of a force powerful enough to shake the entire world.
His name was being discussed in kingdoms, pirate crews, underworld organizations, and the halls of the World Government itself.
"Ron…"
Shanks spoke the name quietly.
There was no amusement in his voice now.
Only caution.
And curiosity.
He stared out across the sea.
"What exactly are you trying to do?"
---------
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