Chapter 46: The World Shock
The world trembled.
Not from mere earthquakes or tidal waves alone — but from something deeper, more primordial. It was the kind of disturbance that whispered across continents, slithered through the ocean currents, and roared silently into the hearts of those who could feel the rhythm of the world change.
Across hundreds of islands, the ground shook, waves swelled, and the sky itself flickered. Seafarers fell to their knees. Fishermen dropped their nets. Even hardened pirates stood still on their decks, gazing at the sea as if it had just spoken in a voice only they could understand.
Far across the Grand Line, on the mighty and legendary warrior island of Elbaf, the skies grew eerily quiet. The air was thick, tense — as if it too were holding its breath.
On a cliff overlooking the sea, Red-Haired Shanks, one of the Four Emperors of the Sea, stood silently. His cloak fluttered in the wind, his scarred face turned to the west. The massive Tree of Elbaf loomed in the background, ancient and unmoved, but the sea itself... was shifting.
The waves lapped strangely at the shores. Not violently. Just wrong. A rhythm unfit for nature.
"Captain," murmured Ben Beckman, walking up beside him. "What was that? The earth shook... and the sea is rising ever so slightly."
Shanks didn't speak for a long moment. His one good eye narrowed as he stared across the ocean — past the clouds, past the red lands, past even Mary Geoise. His haki stretched far, brushing across chaos itself.
"I felt it," Shanks said quietly. "Something ancient has stirred. And someone powerful... someone new... stood in its way."
On the other side of the sea, in a chaotic base belonging to the Cross Guild, the bombastic Buggy the Clown was pacing frantically, his body parts detaching in panic as tremors rocked the floor.
"What the hell was THAT?!" Buggy yelped. "Don't tell me another admiral's dropped a meteor!!"