Across the vast spread of the Sabaody Archipelago, Den Den Mushis began ringing one after another.
On rooftops.
In alleys.
Inside lawless bars and under mangrove roots.
The trap that Fleet Admiral Sengoku had assembled was finally being pulled tight.
And the men and women chosen for it all received the same message.
The Red-Haired Pirates had been sighted.
Grove 24
Vice Admiral Gion stood atop a mangrove walkway, one hand resting lightly on the hilt of her golden saber. The wind tugged at her long hair as she looked down over the crowded streets below.
Her Den Den Mushi crackled.
"Vice Admiral Gion! Red-Haired Shanks and his associates have been located in Grove 31! Multiple Marine units are already engaging!"
Gion's expression sharpened immediately.
"So it's finally happening," she murmured.
Then she brought the receiver closer.
"Has Admiral Aokiji been informed?"
"Yes, Vice Admiral!"
"Good."
She lowered the Den Den Mushi, a small smile forming on her face, not amused, but focused.
"Shanks," she said quietly. "Let's see what kind of pirates you kids really are."
With that, she jumped from the walkway, landing on a lower branch with practiced grace before racing toward the connecting groves.
Grove 18
Rear Admiral Momonga stood near a bubble-coated checkpoint, his sword already in hand before the call had even fully come through.
"Confirmed sighting," the Marine on the line said. "Grove 31. Red-Haired Pirates in contact with Marine forces."
Momonga's eyes narrowed.
"Understood."
He hung up immediately and turned.
His coat flared behind him as he began running.
"Giovanni…" he muttered under his breath. "You won't get away."
Grove 9
Rear Admiral Strawberry listened in silence, his heavy frame completely still as the report came through.
"Red-Haired Pirates sighted. Engagement underway."
He said nothing for a moment.
Then:
"Maintain distance. Do not rush them."
His voice was low and controlled.
"I'm on my way."
He hung up and adjusted the grip on his weapon.
"Roger's remnants…" he muttered. "And already causing this much trouble."
Then he started moving.
Grove 41
Rear Admiral T-Bone was in the middle of sternly lecturing a group of lower-ranking Marines on discipline when his Den Den Mushi rang.
He answered at once.
When the message came through, his face became grave.
"The Red-Haired Pirates have surfaced…"
He looked to the trembling Marine soldiers around him.
"Then there is no time to waste!"
He dramatically pointed forward.
"We move at once! Justice must not sleep while pirates rampage through this sacred archipelago!"
The Marines straightened from his intensity alone and rushed after him.
Grove 6
Vice Admiral Tsuru stood at the edge of a dock, one hand folded over the other, as if she had been expecting the call.
When the message came, she sighed softly.
"So the fish have swum into the net."
She turned without hurry, though the sharpness in her eyes betrayed the seriousness of the moment.
"Gather nearby units. Quietly. No unnecessary noise."
Then she added, more to herself than anyone else:
"Shanks… if this is truly the start of your era, let's see how far you can swim before the current turns."
Grove 12
Vice Admiral Tokikake woke up with a snort.
He blinked groggily, a bubble stuck to the side of his cheek, one hand still loosely near his nose.
"…Huh?"
A Marine stood over him, panting, Den Den Mushi trembling in both hands.
"Vice Admiral Tokikake! Emergency! Red-Haired Shanks and his crew have been sighted!"
Tokikake sat up slowly.
"…What?"
The Marine swallowed.
"They're already in the archipelago, sir!"
Tokikake blinked twice.
Then his eyes slowly drifted past the Marine.
Toward the dock.
Toward the empty water.
Toward the very place he had been stationed to monitor.
He stared.
There was a ship there.
A long silence followed.
Then Tokikake's face twisted.
"No way."
He got to his feet so abruptly he nearly tripped over himself.
"No, no, no, no, no!"
He grabbed the poor Marine by both shoulders.
"They went through here?! Through me?!"
The Marine gave a terrified nod.
Tokikake stared at him in horror.
"…Gion is going to kill me."
Then, after a beat—
"No, Sengoku is going to kill me first!"
He dropped the Marine, grabbed his coat properly, and took off at full speed, shouting as he ran.
"I WAS AWAKE IN SPIRIT, DAMN IT!"
Grove 31
Back in the ruined carnival district, the aftermath of battle lay scattered across the streets.
Broken stalls.
Unconscious Marines.
Popped bubbles drifting like soap ghosts in the air.
Shanks, Giovanni, and Limejuice were already moving, not running wildly, but not wasting time either.
Limejuice glanced over his shoulder.
"There are way too many Marines now."
Shanks adjusted his sword over his shoulder and smiled lightly.
"Then we just keep moving."
Giovanni, still riding the thrill of battle, cracked his neck.
"Good."
Limejuice looked at him like he was insane.
"You enjoy this too much."
Giovanni smirked.
"Don't act like you don't enjoy it as well."
"No I don't."
A burst of panicked shouting came from behind them.
"Don't let them escape!"
"Cut them off through Grove 29!"
"Vice Admirals are moving into position!"
Shanks' smile faded just a little at that.
"Oh," he said. "That's a bigger problem."
Giovanni glanced sideways.
"What's bigger than a Marine mob?"
Shanks answered casually.
"Vice Admirals."
Limejuice groaned.
"Wonderful."
The three of them leaped over a collapsed food cart and cut into a connecting path between mangrove roots.
For a brief moment, the street ahead looked clear.
Then the air changed.
Cold, sharp and heavy.
It wasn't just strength.
It was presence.
The kind that made even experienced fighters instinctively slow down.
Shanks stopped first.
Giovanni a half-step behind him.
Limejuice immediately felt his skin crawl.
At the far end of the path, beneath the filtered light of drifting bubbles, a tall man stood with his hands in his coat pockets.
Lazy posture.
Curly dark hair.
Sleepy eyes.
Marine coat draped over his shoulders.
Admiral Kuzan.
The temperature around them seemed to drop without him doing anything at all.
Limejuice' grip tightened on his staff.
"…That's bad," he said quietly.
Shanks stared.
"Yeah," he agreed. "That's pretty bad."
Giovanni's eyes widened.
He knew that face.
And then Kuzan looked at him and, despite the chaos around them, gave a small, almost amused smile.
"Well now," Kuzan said. "If it isn't Giovanni."
Giovanni froze for just a moment.
Shanks glanced at him.
"You know him?"
Giovanni didn't look away from Kuzan.
"…Yeah."
Kuzan tilted his head slightly.
"It's been a while."
Limejuice blinked.
"You know an Admiral?"
Giovanni ignored him.
The path between them was silent for a moment, Marines beginning to gather far behind Kuzan but not daring to step too close yet.
Then Kuzan spoke again.
"So," he said, voice lazy as ever, "you really chose being a pirate over becoming a Marine."
Giovanni's jaw tightened.
Kuzan remembered.
Of course he remembered.
Years ago, on a small island in the North Blue, Kuzan had come looking for a child with terrifying potential. A boy who had knocked out dozens of pirates with Conqueror's Haki at an age when most children still played with wooden toys.
Giovanni took a slow breath.
"You came to recruit me," he said.
Kuzan nodded.
"I did."
Shanks' eyes moved between them, curious now rather than tense.
Kuzan went on, "I thought it'd be a waste to leave someone like you in a place that small. I figured if you grew under the Marines, you might turn into someone useful."
Giovanni snorted.
"Useful to who?"
Kuzan shrugged.
"To the world, maybe."
Giovanni's expression hardened.
"That's not what I want."
Kuzan studied him quietly.
Then he said, "And now you're here. Sailing under a former Roger Pirate. Picking fights with World Nobles."
Shanks chuckled.
"That last one sounds fun."
But Kuzan didn't look at him. His eyes stayed on Giovanni.
"So tell me," Kuzan said, "do you regret it?"
Giovanni thought about it.
Bellé-mer.
Kushina.
Yami.
The village.
Shanks.
The sea.
Mihawk.
Smoker.
The thrill of moving forward.
The freedom of finally beginning.
He smiled.
"No."
Kuzan said nothing.
Giovanni lifted his saber.
"I know what I chose."
His voice grew firmer.
"And I'm going to keep choosing it."
Kuzan's sleepy expression shifted into something more serious.
Then he nodded once.
"I see."
There was no mockery in his tone now.
No laziness either.
Just acknowledgment.
"Then you really do have resolve."
Giovanni didn't answer with words.
He moved.
A flash step forward.
His blade swung in a clean, aggressive arc straight for Kuzan.
Kuzan's body shifted to ice instinctively, the slash passing through frozen vapor—
But Giovanni didn't stop.
He had already committed.
And Kuzan, eyes narrowing slightly, lifted a hand.
Cold rushed outward.
He moved to freeze Giovanni at close range
Only for a sword to intercept his hand.
Clang.
Shanks stood between them now, his saber locked against Kuzan's palm before the ice could spread.
His expression was no longer playful.
"Don't touch my best friend," Shanks said.
The air between pirate and admiral tightened instantly.
---
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