Wano Country, Hakumai.
A thin sea fog covered the hidden port in the early morning.
In the past, the scent of freshly made red bean soup would have drifted across the docks at this hour. It was the sweet dish the people of Hakumai took the greatest pride in. In recent years, however, that comforting aroma had grown fainter, replaced by the sharp smell of rust and stone dust.
"Hey! Genta, stop slacking off! This batch of Seastone nails bound for the front lines must be polished today! The supply ships are already demanding them!"
An anxious, rough shout broke the silence of the docks.
The young stonemason apprentice, Genta, jumped in fright and nearly dropped his hammer on his foot. He rubbed his bloodshot eyes and looked at the incredibly hard piece of black stone in his hand before complaining under his breath,
"Master, this is too rushed... We've been working nonstop for half a month. We haven't even had one full night of sleep.
"If we keep going like this, we'll die from exhaustion at our workbenches before the war even ends."
Genta continued polishing the Seastone with a special emery cloth. He glanced at the empty rice bucket nearby, and his stomach growled loudly.
"Besides, the food has become terrible. We used to have thick red bean soup and rice cakes in the morning. Now all we get is watery porridge. Even a piece of pickled radish has become rare."
The old stonemason tapped his pipe. Instead of good tobacco, it was filled with dried leaves that produced harsh, choking smoke.
He sighed. Unlike usual, he did not scold his apprentice for being lazy. Instead, he looked at the thin, pale workers around him with tired eyes.
"Just endure it a little longer, Genta. We're lucky to have anything warm to drink."
"Haven't you seen the other side of the docks? Another group of refugees arrived yesterday. I heard another region has completely fallen to the enemy."
Genta stopped working and followed his master's gaze.
The corners of the port were crowded with outsiders wearing ragged clothes. Some had wings, while others had arms with two joints. These people had once lived under the protection of the Great Kingdom. Now, they had lost their homes, and their eyes were filled with fear and confusion.
Wano Country, the isolated nation of samurai, seemed to have become the last refuge in these waters.
"Master... is the war on the front lines really going that badly?"
Genta's voice trembled.
"I heard the man from the blacksmith shop next door say that our ally—the invincible Great Kingdom—has been pulling back its defensive lines lately."
"Everyone used to say they had indestructible steel warships. They said they possessed incredible powers that could control the wind and rain. They were supposed to be unbeatable... How did things become like this?"
The old stonemason remained silent for a moment. He knocked the ash from his pipe and stared into the distance.
"Who knows... This war has been going on since my grandfather's generation. After fighting for so long, I can barely remember who the people on the other side even are."
"I only know that the seas are filled with enemies. We can't kill them all. We simply can't. Those so-called allied forces are like an endless swarm of locusts. No matter how powerful the weapons we build are, the enemy can always send more lives into battle."
He pointed toward the other side of the port, where several allied warships had recently docked.
Those once-majestic warships now looked thoroughly defeated. Their black hulls were covered in scorched holes and enormous claw marks. Their masts were broken, and their sails hung in tatters.
"Do you see those ships? They all retreated from the front lines."
The old stonemason lowered his voice, unable to hide his fear.
Several wounded soldiers wrapped in bandages were being carried down on stretchers. Their cries of pain cut through the quiet morning docks.
"In the past, returning ships were covered in colorful flags celebrating victory. They brought back spoils of war and laughter. But now... they return carrying only bodies and wreckage."
The old stonemason sighed, his face filled with worry.
"Those ships aren't only bringing back the wounded. They're taking away our confidence in this war."
Unease spread between the master and apprentice, then throughout the entire port, lingering like the morning fog that refused to clear.
Wano Country was the Great Kingdom's strongest ally. It had always supplied them with the finest traditional weapons and Seastone craftsmanship. If even the powerful Great Kingdom fell, how long could isolated Wano survive the war consuming the world?
"Enough. There's no point thinking about it... Let's get back to work."
Genta sighed and forced himself to concentrate. He picked up his chisel, trying to keep his hands busy so he would not think about his fear.
"I just hope this damned war ends soon. I still want to save enough money to get married..."
Before he could finish speaking,
the workbench beneath his hands suddenly began to vibrate.
Buzz...
Genta felt the wood shake beneath his palms.
"Huh?"
He stopped for a moment, thinking hunger had made him dizzy.
But immediately afterward, the still water inside the nearby quenching bucket began to ripple violently. The vibration traveled through the ground and up his entire body. The pile of stones beside him began clattering together.
"An earthquake?"
Earthquakes were not unusual in Wano Country. Genta prepared to take cover as he had been taught during previous drills.
But he quickly realized that something was wrong.
The seagulls around the docks erupted into frightened cries and flew high into the sky in large flocks. They circled overhead without landing.
Inside the usually calm harbor, the seawater began to recede, exposing a broad stretch of wet mud and sharp reefs.
"What... what's happening?"
Genta turned toward the sea in panic.
Far out on the horizon, the once-clear sky suddenly seemed to darken.
No, the sky had not grown dark.
An enormous black shadow was breaking through the morning fog. It slowly approached Wano Country like a moving continent.
With every step it took, the sea sank and surged. The tsunamis it created rolled forward like towering white walls.
"What... kind of monster is that...?"
The chisel slipped from Genta's hand and struck the ground with a clank. His strength left him, and he collapsed onto the floor with his mouth hanging open.
He had grown up on the island and had never seen much of the outside world. Nothing he knew could explain the sight before him.
It was an elephant.
An ancient giant elephant whose back rose into the clouds and whose legs towered above the sea!
BOOM—!
With an immense footstep, the giant elephant stopped in the deep water some distance from the coastline. The force of its halt made countless ships inside the port shake violently and crash into one another, their wooden hulls cracking loudly.
Hakumai Port was already tense because of the terrible news from the war. After a brief, stunned silence, panic erupted.
"An enemy attack? Have the allied forces arrived?!"
"Run! There's a monster taller than a mountain!"
The craftsmen threw down their tools, and the crowd was about to break into chaos when a roar thundered across the docks.
"Shut up, all of you! What are you panicking for?!"
The furious voice made the air tremble and briefly drowned out the waves crashing against the reefs.
Then another deafening impact shook the port.
BOOM!
An enormous figure jumped down from a tall watchtower like a falling meteor and struck the ground. The hard stone floor cracked beneath him, sending a cloud of dust several meters into the air.
When the dust settled, a massive man slowly straightened.
He stood more than three meters tall and had dark skin. His huge, solid muscles shone beneath the morning light.
His bare upper body was covered with scars of every size and fragments of stone. They were marks left by years of battling stubborn rock and proof of his life as a samurai craftsman.
He held a finely forged steel stone-cutting hammer taller than an adult man. The hammerhead was coated in black Armament Haki and radiated a heavy pressure.
Kozuki Ishishin.
The current ruler of Wano Country, head of the Kozuki clan, and the strongest warrior in Wano of this era.
His bloodshot eyes swept across the port. Under his commanding gaze, the panicked crowd gradually fell silent. His presence made them believe that the situation was still under control.
After calming the crowd, Kozuki Ishishin turned and stared at the enormous creature approaching across the sea.
Unlike the civilians, he did not panic. Although the creature's size shocked him, he quickly recognized it.
It was an ally.
It was Zunesha, the companion of the legendary Joy Boy.
"It's not an enemy! All samurai, maintain order! No one is to run!"
Kozuki Ishishin raised one large hand, and his orders brought the frightened crowd under control.
However, the hand gripping his enormous stone-cutting hammer trembled slightly.
It was not fear. As Zunesha drew closer, Ishishin could finally see the ancient ally's terrible condition.
Its skin, once as hard as stone, was now covered in horrifying wounds. Even its usually raised head hung weakly.
A terrible feeling settled inside Ishishin.
Zunesha was indeed an ally.
But why did it look like this? Why had it appeared in Wano Country, which was supposed to be a safe rear base, looking as though it had barely escaped with its life?
What in the world had happened on the front lines?
While Kozuki Ishishin struggled with those questions, his eyes moved toward Zunesha's long trunk, which normally hung and swung freely.
Now, the trunk was unnaturally stiff. It was stretched tightly behind Zunesha and disappeared into the lingering morning fog.
Several pitch-black iron chains, each thicker than a house, dug deeply into the massive trunk. They had cut wounds so deep that bone was visible. Blood streamed down the trunk and stained the seawater below red. Even so, the ancient elephant continued pulling with all its remaining strength.
ROAR—!
Zunesha released a long, exhausted cry as it finally reached the designated deep-water area.
It slowly relaxed its trunk and stopped pulling.
RUMBLE—!
The black iron chains crashed into the sea. The impact sent enormous waves into the air and immediately overturned several small boats inside the port.
As the tension disappeared, the morning fog behind Zunesha rolled violently.
The massive object it had dragged all the way there continued moving under its own momentum and slowly emerged from the fog, revealing only part of its enormous shape.
The calm sea was pushed apart.
A black mountain of steel slid into view, its sheer mass leaving everyone on shore struggling to breathe.
Only after confirming that the cargo behind it had stopped safely did Zunesha slowly turn its head.
Its heavily wounded trunk swept through the air with a deep whistle. The wind created by the movement sent loose rocks tumbling across the shore.
Finally, the trunk descended from the sky and landed heavily on the shallow beach outside the port, forming a living bridge with a thunderous crash.
The ground shook violently. Dust and seawater rose dozens of meters into the air, as though a small earthquake had struck.
However, even after the bridge was in place, no one appeared on it immediately.
Zunesha was simply too tall.
Kozuki Ishishin raised his head and narrowed his eyes. After waiting for some time, he finally saw several tiny black dots appear high above, near the base of the trunk hidden among the clouds.
The black dots slid down the steep trunk at great speed, gradually becoming clearer and larger.
Thud, thud, thud...
After a long descent, several agile figures used their momentum to land heavily on the wet shore, splashing seawater around them.
At the front was a tall goat Mink wrapped in bloodstained bandages. His left horn had been broken in half, and his once-pure white fur was covered in gunpowder residue and dried blood.
"Hitsugiskan..."
Kozuki Ishishin recognized his old friend, the bold warrior who had always laughed and asked for roasted meat even on the battlefield.
But there was no smile on Hitsugiskan's face now.
The two stood facing each other.
There were no greetings after their long separation and no welcoming embrace.
A heavy silence remained between them.
The surrounding stonemasons and citizens also fell quiet. Unease spread through the crowd. Genta hid behind his master and barely dared to breathe.
Hitsugiskan reached inside his clothing with a trembling hand and pulled out a torn, bloodstained piece of cloth. It was a fragment of the Great Kingdom's battle flag.
"Ishishin..."
This hardened warrior, who had bled countless times without shedding a tear, now spoke in a hoarse, breaking voice:
"Joy Boy asked me to tell you..."
He lowered his head, unable to meet Kozuki Ishishin's eyes. With great difficulty, he forced out the words that would change the entire era:
"This war... we lost."
Clank.
The chisel slipped from Genta's hand and struck the ground again.
This time, no one scolded him.
Kozuki Ishishin staggered, and all color drained from his usually unshakable face.
Lost?
The Great Kingdom, with its advanced technology, Joy Boy, and its dream of freedom for the entire sea... had lost?