...
With these two key elements combined, in God Valley—aside from the newly arrived Dorry and Brogy, who were still curiously looking around!
Almost everyone else's gazes—Marines, pirates, Five Elders—snapped in unison, filled with indescribable shock and inquiry, toward the same direction.
Over there, held in the arms of Amazon Lily's former-foremer-foremost Empress Gloriosa, the young Shanks—with his eye-catching red hair—was squirming a little restlessly due to the earlier chaos and light, his small body twisting.
It was him! The future "Yonko," "Red-Haired" Shanks!
This time, the protagonist of the light curtain was actually him?!
Even little Shanks himself seemed to sense the countless gazes focusing on him. He stopped wriggling, blinked his big eyes in confusion, looked around, then subconsciously clutched Gloriosa's clothes tighter.
Under everyone's bated-breath stare, the light curtain's scene officially unfolded. A steady yet slightly weathered narrator voice slowly rang out, like a bystander of history recounting calmly.
"The era... of the Great Pirate Age!"
The visuals matched the narration, displaying a magnificent yet undercurrent-turbulent sea.
Countless ships flying all kinds of ferocious or bizarre pirate flags swarmed the ocean like sharks scenting blood, riding the wind and waves!
Among the flashes, even Gol D. Roger's iconic pirate flag appeared!
"In pursuit of endless wealth, supreme fame, and absolute power... generation after generation of ambitious, unwilling-to-be-ordinary people rushed forward one after another, like moths to a flame, toward this ultimate stage called the 'Grand Line'!"
The camera zoomed in, showing the diverse faces on different pirate ships.
Some eyes burned with greed for treasure, some faces were filled with craving for renown, others purely reveled in the pleasure of destruction and plunder...
"For pirates, this is a 'golden age' full of dreams, opportunities, and infinite possibilities."
The scene shifted, showing silhouettes of Luffy raising his straw hat with a bright smile while sailing with his crew,
Roger, Rayleigh, and others toasting and laughing heartily,
Even the heartwarming sight of Whitebeard Pirates' ships assisting each other like family.
"However," the narrator's tone shifted, becoming low and serious,
"Among them, some take pure plunder and destruction as pleasure, treating the cries of the weak as triumphant music.
Others pursue adventure and exploration, attempting to uncover the hidden mysteries of the world."
The visuals darkened, turning cruel.
Villages engulfed in roaring flames, civilians' faces twisted in terror and despair, pirates swinging butcher knives while cackling grotesquely, homes looted clean, families destroyed...
One after another, shocking scenes flashed by. These were not fiction, but bloody slices of reality from the Great Pirate Age!
"The atrocities of plunderers leave countless unarmed civilians, peaceful villages, and even weak nations living every moment in the shadow of fear and oppression, never knowing if tomorrow will come."
In God Valley, many pirates—especially the lower ranks or those whose consciences remained—felt their faces burn hot at these images, their eyes showing shame, reluctance, or complex emotions.
Many of them had perhaps once been among the perpetrators.
Roger, Rocks, Whitebeard, and others watched in silence. They could not deny this was the other side of piracy—the heavy, unavoidable cost behind the "freedom" and "dreams" they represented.
Roger opened his mouth, but it turned into a soft sigh. He had opened this era, yet could not control every branch of its path.
"Even the Marines, enshrined by the World Government nations and striving to maintain order in the name of 'justice'..."
The narration continued, the scene shifting to Marine bases, patrolling warships, and soldiers bravely fighting pirates. "Their power and jurisdiction, facing such a vast world and the endless stream of vicious pirates, always have their limits.
They cannot save every weak soul trapped in fire and water, nor can they spread the light of 'justice' to every corner of the world."
Zephyr stared at the light curtain, fists clenched. From childhood, he had aspired to be a hero who protect everyone in need.
But reality was that the Marines' strength was finite, and the world's dark corners were too many.
Garp, Sengoku, and Tsuru's expressions were also unusually grave.
In their high positions, they understood better than anyone the Marines' powerlessness and the various compromises under the World Government system.
Some tragedies they knew of but could not stop.
Some darkness they saw but could not eradicate.
"So then..."
The narrator's voice carried a heavy questioning, striking every viewer's heart: "Those powerless to resist pirate plunder, unable to receive timely protection from the Marines—the weak...
In this cruel era, who exactly can they rely on? And how... are they to struggle on and survive?"
The visuals gave no answer, instead continuing to switch: the numb eyes of survivors amid the deathly silent ruins of a town looted by pirates,
The dazed fear of refugees toward the future; children trembling and crying in their mothers' arms...
Heavy! Oppressive! Despairing!
From the very start, this light curtain threw out a question pointing straight to the most fundamental contradiction and cruelest reality of this era.
It showed no hot-blooded adventures or heart-pounding battles, but instead turned the lens on the "weakest"—those most powerless and easily overlooked beneath the waves of the era.
In God Valley, many Marines with strong senses of justice had red-rimmed eyes, chests stuffed with unventable frustration and responsibility.
Even quite a few pirates felt discomfort and introspection.
Just as this heavy atmosphere nearly suffocated everyone, the scene switched again.
A remote village that seemed to have just suffered disaster—perhaps attacked by pirates.
Amid broken walls and ruins, surviving villagers gathered, faces still etched with lingering terror, deep sorrow, and helplessness.
They clustered around, seemingly pouring out pleas to a certain figure.
The camera slowly advanced, passing through gaps in the crowd.
A slender female silhouette with soft, flowing long hair appeared at the center.
Her movements were gentle, carrying an indescribable soothing power.
At that moment, she seemed to hear the villagers' pleas and slightly turned her head.
The camera captured her profile outline—and the action of her bringing a small mushroom-like object to her mouth and gently biting it.
Though only a fleeting side view and subtle motion, her calm and gentleness amid despair formed a subtle contrast with the surrounding heavy atmosphere.
Was she the one the villagers, in their desperation, were trying to "rely on"?
Who was she?
Could she bring hope to these weak people? Or was she herself just an ordinary person struggling in the torrent of the era?
"Red-Haired Diva"... What connection did this title have with the person before them, and with Shanks' signature red hair and those claw marks?
All the questions were deeply etched into the hearts of every viewer in God Valley by this fleeting glimpse!
And it temporarily pulled them from the opening's heavy social interrogation into a new story entrance—shrouded in mist yet faintly revealed a trace of glimmer.
...