"Captain, look. That emblem!"
"Emblem?" Captain Lobo turned where his man pointed.
Suspended above Fish-Man Island blazed a giant red cloud, the exact same mark that had been stitched across the clothes of the man who destroyed the World Government.
It matched the look of that world-shrouding meteor.
"Is that not the emblem on Flowing Cloud's robe? Why is it over Fish-Man Island?" the captain breathed, stunned.
"Captain, if that mark is hanging over the island, it has to mean Flowing Cloud is protecting it. This is his territory," a pirate whispered, voice tight with awe and fear.
"Flowing Cloud? Why would he shelter Fish-Man Island?"
"What in the world? The unfathomable Flowing Cloud, here of all places?"
"That is news."
"News that will explode."
"Fish-Man Island just hugged the thickest thigh on the seas. No one will dare touch them now."
The crew could not stop talking, eyes glued to the scarlet cloud.
At a glance, every man remembered the invincible silhouette from days ago.
In these seas, the flag you fly marks who protects you. Invade the island under that flag, and you declare war on the power behind it.
This emblem was a warning. A threat.
This was Flowing Cloud's ground, the man who flattened the World Government and crushed the Five Elders in one strike. The whole world had watched.
Who would provoke that?
Even with a thousand borrowed guts, the Lobo Pirates would not so much as brush against Fish-Man Island.
Because Flowing Cloud watched over it.
"Captain, what do we do?" a pirate asked, trembling.
"What do we do? You want me to die?" the captain snapped. "All hands, reverse course. We are not setting one foot on Fish-Man Island."
A few days later…
The story of Fish-Man Island under Flowing Cloud's protection tore across the world like a storm. Drawn by worship or blind courage, pirate crews coated their ships at Sabaody and plunged into the deep to see for themselves.
In only a few days, hundreds of pirate vessels gathered around the island's outer ring.
None dared to charge in. They hovered at a distance, staring.
"Captain, the red cloud is real."
"Then it is true. Flowing Cloud came here."
"If the emblem is here, the god himself must have set it."
"Do we go in? I want to see him with my own eyes."
Men howled and jostled at the rails. Even death seemed worth it if they could witness a god.
Ryugu Palace.
"Your Majesty, pirate ships on the perimeter. Hundreds of them," a soldier panted, bursting into the hall. "They have surrounded the island."
"What? Surrounded us? How many?" Neptune's eyes went wide.
"More than three hundred, at least."
Neptune sucked in a breath, hands tightening on his trident.
Three hundred ships could turn Fish-Man Island to rubble.
"Inform our guardian."
He paused, then raised a hand. "No. I will go myself. Gather every soldier on the island. This could be a fight to the death."
Even with a guardian whose bounty numbered ten billion, what man did not blanch before three hundred pirate crews?
Neptune hurried to Rakuya's chambers. He lifted a hand to knock, but the door opened on its own.
"Lord Guardian."
Rakuya lifted a hand for silence, eyes still on the plans spread before him. A few heartbeats later he drew the final line, nodded, and looked up.
"I know why you are here. Do not worry. Not one of those three hundred will dare touch you. If any do, I will erase their crew."
He spoke as if stating the weather. Then he stepped out with Neptune. To avoid being recognized, he spent another thousand points to veil his face.
He shrugged on the black robe of red clouds. The air around him sharpened. Cold. Regal. A king who needed no crown.
In an instant, Rakuya stood above Fish-Man Island, a lone figure against the shimmering dome.
Every pirate on every deck stared up at that familiar silhouette.
"The god."
"It is really him."
"Flowing Cloud. My god, take me in. Let me join your crew."
A thunder of voices shook the water. Men shook as if drunk, seeing the one who had shattered Mary Geoise with a falling star.
Rakuya hovered in the air, calm and distant. "You may enter Fish-Man Island. You will not join Flowing Cloud. Once inside, you may look around and spend your coin. If any one of you kills a single person on this island, I will annihilate your entire crew."
His voice was level, but the weight of it pressed down like the deep sea. The uproar stilled.
"He will let us in?"
"Is that a yes?"
"Even if I cannot join, to walk the same island as the god is enough."
"Out of my way. Ladies first."
As three hundred ships erupted into fresh squabbling, Rakuya ignored them and looked up above the dome.
With a flicker he moved a few hundred meters out over the island's crown. Power surged from his right hand, rippling the sea.
"Sea's Overlord. Divine Bulwark."
His shout rang across the depths, locking every gaze upon the figure in the red-clouded robe.
And none of them yet understood what he was about to do.
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