Every pirate crew active in these waters experienced the same thing without exception—
A shock unlike anything they had ever known, one that sank deep into their bones.
"Has… has the sea god been angered?!"
The terrified, confused cry burst from the mouth of a rookie pirate who had only recently stepped into these brutal waters.
His face instantly turned as pale as paper, and his legs seemed to lose all strength as he collapsed straight onto the deck.
The curved blade he had been gripping so tightly, the very thing that symbolized his courage and resolve, slipped from his hand under that overwhelming fear and fell heavily onto the deck with a sharp clang.
The sound was clear and piercing, almost like the echo of the panic in his heart.
The ship he was on was suffering terribly as well.
Its hull shook violently, as if an invisible pair of giant hands were tossing it around for fun.
The once-calm sea had completely vanished. Nine enormous dragons swept across the sky with terrifying momentum, and the wind pressure they brought howled like a pack of savage beasts.
Under that crushing force, the once-gentle waves were instantly stirred into towering water walls dozens of meters high, crashing again and again against both sides of the ship.
Seawater poured onto the deck in sheets, leaving the already terrified crew even more miserable.
At that moment, an experienced old helmsman suddenly reacted with extreme tension.
He grabbed the side of the ship tightly, his tattoo-covered arms trembling violently from the force.
His eyes were wide open, filled with deep awe and fear, and he roared in a hoarse yet firm voice,
"Shut up! That's… the Nine Dragons Pulling the Ship!"
As he spoke, he suddenly tore open the front of his shirt, revealing an ancient tattoo on his chest.
The design was delicate and complex, its lines smooth and filled with a mysterious sense of power.
What shocked everyone was that the pattern looked astonishingly similar to the runes on the bodies of the dragons in the sky, as if some ancient, hidden connection existed between them.
A strange light flickered in the old helmsman's eyes as he slowly said,
"My grandfather's grandfather once said… when the Nine Dragons return to the world, the sea will become one."
His voice was not loud, but it struck every crew member's heart like a heavy hammer, making them feel fear and unease from the depths of their souls.
...
On another stretch of sea covered in thick mist, an old pirate wearing a horned helmet—"Blood Axe" Morgan—knelt trembling on the deck.
His hunched body looked frail, and time had carved deep ravines across his face. Even his worn-out clothes could not fully hide the traces of his past as a fierce pirate.
He slowly pulled out a bounty poster that had long been crumpled beyond recognition.
His cloudy, bloodshot old eyes darted back and forth like panicked rats, moving between the bounty poster and the mysterious black-robed figure standing on the distant bridge.
His cracked lips trembled slightly as he forced out a few words.
"Five billion berries… Ron, Lord of the Divine Kingdom…"
His voice was full of awe and terror.
In the next instant, as though driven by some invisible force, he suddenly began kowtowing like a madman, slamming his forehead heavily against the hard deck again and again.
Dull thuds rang out one after another, as if he were trying to vent all his fear through that violent motion.
He shouted until his voice nearly tore apart,
"He's more terrifying than the Four Emperors! He's a living legend! That power, that majesty… it's beyond human imagination!"
Nearby, a newly risen Supernova, "Axe-Splitter" Bakir, was completely panic-stricken. He shouted at the top of his lungs,
"Lower the flags! Lower every pirate flag right now! Don't waste a second!"
With that, he personally grabbed the razor-sharp axe in his hand and rushed toward the main mast like a madman.
One clean swing later, the pirate flag hanging high above was cut down.
The flag drifted down in the wind, just like the chaos in his heart.
He turned toward his stunned crew and roared wildly,
"This is the most basic respect you show to the strong! Do you want to be treated as ants who dared disrespect divine might and get crushed into dust in an instant?! Move faster!"
Even more astonishing was the drastic reaction of a nearby fleet of over a hundred ships.
The captain's face changed sharply, his eyes filled with extreme fear and resolve. He suddenly drew the long sword at his waist and pointed the tip straight at his vice-captain, barking the order,
"Quick! Bring out every piece of tribute we stole from the Celestial Dragons last year! Don't leave a single thing behind! Throw it all into the sea as an offering!"
The crew did not dare delay.
They frantically moved piles of precious treasure, each piece shining with dazzling luster, to the side of the ship before dumping everything into the deep, endless sea.
The captain knelt devoutly at the bow and shouted toward the sky,
"May the Divine Kingdom witness our sincerity! Please forgive our offense!"
Under that suffocating atmosphere of fear, some cowardly pirates completely lost their fighting spirit and chose to jump into the sea without hesitation.
Among them, "White Wolf" Wilson threw himself miserably toward the lifeboat while letting out a wretched cry.
"Forget the treasure! A battle at this level isn't something we can stand around and watch! Stay here any longer and we're dead!"
Seeing him do this, his crew immediately followed suit.
They scrambled to kneel and pray, their bodies trembling nonstop, afraid that even the slightest brush from the tail flames of those dragons would turn them to ash.
Yet amid all the panic and fear, only a very small number of weathered, experienced veteran pirates managed to suppress the shock in their hearts and barely remain standing.
Their eyes were filled with awe as well, but mixed into that awe was curiosity and a desire to understand this unknown power.
When Pluton's enormous shadow, like a moving fortress, finally drifted away and gradually vanished at the edge of the horizon, the sea was left with a miserable yet spectacular sight.
Ship after ship leaned crookedly in the water, as if kneeling.
Pirate flags that had once flown proudly now floated weakly on the surface of the sea.
The surviving pirates were still trembling, as though they had just lived through a nightmare.
On this day, every pirate in the New World came to understand one truth deeply.
The once-untouchable era of the Four Emperors was about to come to an end.
And a brand-new era—the divine age of the Eternal Divine Kingdom—was descending with unstoppable force.