The names Eternal Divine Kingdom and Ron, carried alongside the earth-shattering news of the Marines' catastrophic defeat, spread across the seas with unstoppable momentum.
Like wildfire racing across dry grass, their fame swept from one end of the world to the other almost overnight.
Every wave seemed to carry their legend, and every gust of sea wind seemed to whisper their names.
At this moment, their reputation had reached an unprecedented peak.
Whether it was an isolated fishing village on some forgotten island or a thriving coastal metropolis, whether among ordinary civilians or the highest ranks of nobility, everyone had heard those two names.
And everyone understood what they now represented.
The war had arrived like a violent storm and ended almost as quickly.
There had been no prolonged stalemate, no room for compromise, and certainly no mercy in its final verdict.
Through the most direct and brutal means possible, it had announced an undeniable truth to the entire world—
the old order was breaking apart.
Rules, traditions, and authorities that had seemed immovable for decades suddenly no longer looked so permanent.
And in their place, a new era dominated by the Eternal Divine Kingdom was beginning to descend upon the seas.
No one yet knew what that era would become.
It was like an enormous blank canvas waiting to be painted, or an undiscovered continent filled with both opportunities and dangers.
But one thing was certain.
The entire sea was already boiling with change.
Waves crashed violently against coastal cliffs.
Seabirds circled overhead, their cries mixing with the roar of the surf.
Even the deepest reaches of the ocean seemed to stir beneath the upheaval taking place above.
Everything pointed toward the same conclusion.
A new era had arrived.
And history had already begun moving forward.
...
Inside a dim ship cabin, a weak kerosene lamp flickered above a rough wooden table.
Its yellow light cast a trembling circle across the cracked surface but barely managed to push back the surrounding darkness.
A crumpled newspaper lay spread across the table.
The bold front-page words—
MARINES SUFFER CATASTROPHIC DEFEAT
—stood out painfully beneath the faint lamplight.
Koala glared at the paper, cheeks flushed red with frustration.
She snatched the hat from her head and slapped it down on the table.
"Again! It happened again today!"
Her voice filled the cramped cabin.
"We fought through hell, took every risk imaginable, and finally helped the Kingdom of Jotun overthrow its tyrannical government. You'd think that after all that, they'd finally feel like they had a chance at a better future."
She threw up her hands.
"But what's the very first thing their new prime minister asks us?"
Koala straightened herself and deliberately adopted an overly polite, suspicious tone.
"'Honored comrades of the Revolutionary Army, may I ask… are you the advance party sent by the Eternal Divine Kingdom?'"
Sabo sighed and rubbed his aching brow.
A bitter smile appeared on his face.
"It's not exactly an isolated incident anymore."
He leaned back in his chair.
"That makes four times this month."
Sabo looked toward Koala.
"Remember what happened on Kam Island?"
Koala's expression darkened further.
"The locals there were even worse."
"They came out waving homemade Divine Kingdom flags to 'welcome' us," Sabo continued helplessly. "They genuinely thought we were working for them."
The frustration in his voice was impossible to miss.
The Revolutionary Army had spent years spreading its ideals, risking lives to overthrow oppressive rulers and undermine the World Government.
Yet now, every time they liberated another country, someone inevitably assumed they were acting on behalf of the Eternal Divine Kingdom.
It was enough to make anyone question whether to laugh or scream.
In the darkest corner of the cabin, beyond the reach of most of the lamplight, Monkey D. Dragon remained silent.
The leader of the Revolutionary Army stood with his arms folded, leaning against the wall beneath his heavy hooded cloak.
The shadow cast by the hood completely obscured his expression.
But his body betrayed him.
The corner of Dragon's mouth twitched faintly.
His hands, hidden beneath the folds of his cloak, repeatedly clenched and relaxed.
Veins stood out along the backs of them.
Whatever he was feeling, it was clearly nowhere near as calm as he appeared.
"Chief?"
Sabo glanced toward him with a slight frown.
There was both uncertainty and concern in his voice.
Dragon had remained silent for so long that he almost seemed like part of the wall.
Finally, he moved.
Slowly, Dragon raised his head.
The weak lamplight illuminated only half of his face, but that was enough to reveal a remarkably complicated expression.
There was resignation.
There was frustration.
And beneath both of those was the unmistakable absurdity of a man who could barely believe this was actually happening.
Dragon opened his mouth.
For a moment, it seemed as though he intended to deliver some powerful speech—to remind everyone of the Revolutionary Army's ideals, restore their confidence, and reaffirm the purpose for which they had struggled all these years.
Yet when he tried to speak, none of those words came.
In the end, all that escaped his dry throat was a long, weary sigh.
"Haah…"
...
Dragon's sigh seemed to carry the weight of all the years of hardship that had brought him this far.
"I'm done…"
The words came out so quietly that only he could barely hear them, little more than a mutter under his breath.
"I really am… completely done with this."
His voice carried a weariness and resignation that would have been almost comical if the situation itself weren't so frustrating.
For years, the Revolutionary Army had thrown itself into an impossibly difficult struggle with unwavering conviction. They had fought day and night against overwhelmingly powerful enemies, determined to overthrow the corrupt World Government and free the countless people suffering beneath its rule.
They had endured countless hardships and brushed against death more times than anyone could remember, yet they had never backed down.
Now, after all that effort, they had finally begun making genuine progress. For the first time, it felt as though the dawn they had spent so long fighting toward was truly within reach.
And what happened?
Everyone they met kept asking the exact same ridiculous question—
Were you sent here by Ron?
Dragon could hardly describe how that felt.
It was like an old farmer who had spent years working the same patch of land, painstakingly nurturing every sapling and waiting for the day his orchard would finally bear fruit. Then, just as the branches began filling with fruit, an enormous tree suddenly sprang up overnight in the neighboring field.
Everyone immediately gathered around that towering tree, marveling at its height and praising its magnificence.
Then they turned to the old farmer and asked whether he had helped loosen the soil around its roots.
After all those years of effort, his own work had somehow been reduced to an afterthought.
Dragon slowly lowered his gaze and closed his eyes.
His face remained half-hidden beneath the shadow of his hood, weighed down by thoughts he had no easy way to express.
Then he drew a long, deep breath.
The cabin fell completely silent.
Only the kerosene lamp continued burning stubbornly, its wick occasionally giving a soft crackle, while outside, the waves struck the hull in a steady rhythm.
Somehow, even those sounds seemed to emphasize the Revolutionary Army's increasingly awkward position.
After a moment, Dragon straightened from the shadows.
Under the dim, wavering lamplight, his tall figure seemed heavier and more imposing than before.
He reached out and lightly tapped his knuckles against the newspaper lying on the table.
Thump. Thump.
The front page still prominently displayed the news of the Marines' disastrous defeat.
Dragon's deep gaze moved from Sabo to Koala.
"What has always been our goal?"
His voice was low and steady, but carried enough weight to silence any lingering frustration.
Koala immediately straightened.
Without the slightest hesitation, she answered firmly, "To overthrow the World Government's corrupt rule and bring freedom and a new dawn to oppressed people everywhere!"
"Exactly."
Dragon gave a small nod.
Then his eyes returned to the words Eternal Divine Kingdom printed across the newspaper.
His brow furrowed slightly.
"So tell me this. To achieve that goal, should we stubbornly insist on doing everything our own way? Should we continue fighting alone, watching opportunity after opportunity slip through our fingers while even more people remain trapped under oppression simply because we refuse to change our approach?"
He paused.
Then Dragon slowly lifted his eyes.
The exhaustion from moments before had disappeared, replaced by a sharp light.
"Or should we seize the power that has appeared right in front of us—a force strong enough to shake the foundations of the entire world—even if that power isn't entirely under our control?"
His gaze settled firmly on Sabo and Koala.
Sabo frowned in thought.
He raised a hand and adjusted his goggles slightly before asking with measured caution, "Chief… are you saying that we should…?"
Dragon swept one large hand through the air.
"Look at the situation."
His voice grew firmer.
"The entire sea now knows the name of the Eternal Divine Kingdom. It's being spoken everywhere, from the greatest nations to the smallest islands."
"More importantly, ordinary people have begun seeing it as a symbol of hope. Whether we like it or not, that name has already taken root in their minds."
Dragon's expression became increasingly serious.
"And us? The Revolutionary Army exists to overthrow a rotten regime and reshape the world."
His eyes narrowed.
"Conveniently enough, the Eternal Divine Kingdom shares the same irreconcilable enemy we do—the World Government."
Dragon paused again.
His brows drew together as he carefully weighed what he was about to say.
This was not a casual decision.
It concerned the future of the entire Revolutionary Army.
After several seconds of silence, he drew a deep breath and spoke clearly, one word at a time.
"Since things have already reached this point, instead of standing here and watching ourselves disappear beneath their brilliance…"