Due to Maude's butterfly effect, the Summit War escalated beyond the scale of the original events.
This led Kaido, who had long dreamed of waging a war of the highest caliber, to become dead set on joining the battlefield at Marineford.
Kaido didn't care about the consequences of the war, nor did he concern himself with who would emerge victorious or who might profit from the chaos.
What he desired was a battle so intense, so grand, that it would push him to the brink of death.
For that, he would stop at nothing to participate.
However—
To prevent the situation from spiraling further out of control, Shanks made a decisive move, leading his entire crew to intercept Kaido's fully mobilized Beasts Pirates en route to the battlefield.
Clashes between Emperors of the Sea were nothing unusual.
But at most, they would only spark minor skirmishes—never an all-out war.
Kaido assumed this would be the same, believing he could simply brush Shanks aside and make haste toward Marineford.
However—
The moment they engaged, Kaido immediately realized something was off.
The Red-Haired Pirates were prepared.
Shanks didn't bother hiding his intentions; he stated his purpose outright.
But Kaido was never one for compromise. His temper flared instantly, and without another word, he launched into battle against Shanks.
Determined to keep Kaido at bay, Shanks fought with everything he had.
The more resolute Shanks' stance became, the more furious Kaido grew.
The battle raged on—for three entire days!
Kaido soon grasped that Shanks was prepared to go to any lengths to hold him back.
And the more Shanks tried to hinder him, the more it infuriated him.
He despised nothing more than having his fun ruined.
However—
As time passed, the prolonged fight began to cool the bloodlust surging within Kaido.
By the time the Summit War neared its end, their battle remained unresolved.
The result—
Kaido ultimately failed to reach Marineford, missing out on the ultimate war he had so desperately longed for.
And as a consequence of exhausting himself to restrain Kaido, Shanks also failed to arrive at Marineford in time, unlike in the original timeline.
A battle between the Four Emperors was no small matter.
Normally, the Marines would have caught wind of it immediately and tracked its developments closely.
But with the war against Whitebeard's forces in full swing, they lacked the resources to pay it much attention.
Instead, the one keeping a close eye on Kaido and Shanks' clash was none other than Charlotte Linlin.
She would decide her next move based on their actions.
Now, both Kaido and Shanks had suffered losses.
Added to that, Whitebeard had fallen, and the Whitebeard Pirates were in shambles.
Charlotte Linlin understood exactly what that meant.
The Whitebeard Pirates, devastated and leaderless, no longer had the strength to dominate the New World.
And that meant—
It was the perfect time for her to expand her territory and influence.
The images of war had already spread across the world.
Countless pirates, while awestruck by Maude's overwhelming power, also witnessed the downfall of Whitebeard and Golden Lion, as well as the catastrophic losses suffered by the Whitebeard Pirates.
Bloodthirsty pirates, who had spent years living by the blade, instantly set their sights on Whitebeard's former territories.
To them, the moment Whitebeard fell, the lands once bearing his flag had become ripe for the taking.
Even those lacking the strength to claim territory could still pillage what they could before the other Emperors swooped in.
Even if they couldn't carve out a large share, they could at least drink from the overflowing spoils of war.
With that thought in mind, countless pirates turned their attention toward Whitebeard's domain.
And among them, the most lucrative target was the island beneath the sea—Fish-Man Island.
A single captured mermaid could fetch tens of millions of berries.
Thus—
Even before the war had fully ended, waves of pirate ships had already set sail toward Fish-Man Island.
A bloodstained era was beginning to take shape.
At that moment, Maude and Law were soaring through the sky.
Instead of heading to Sabaody Archipelago, which was close to Marineford, Maude chose to travel to the Devil's Triangle—where the Thriller Bark resided—at least a week's journey from Sabaody.
His plan was to regroup with Lafitte and the others before venturing into the New World.
By the time Maude and Law had spent half a day in the air, newspapers reporting on the Summit War had already spread across the globe.
And on the front page of nearly every issue, one name stood out—
Maude.
The most striking headline, penned by none other than Turkey Dada, read:
"The Ender of the Old Era—Bacardi Maude."
Under normal circumstances, people would scoff at such grandiose headlines, dismissing them as sensationalist journalism.
At best, they would laugh it off.
At worst, they would lash out in outrage.
But this time—
No one refuted it.
No one had the words to deny it.
The Ender of the Old Era—Bacardi Maude.
A man who, during that war, had slain infamous figures such as Donquixote Doflamingo and Diamond Jozu.
A man who severed the arm of the Marines' legendary hero.
A man who personally ended the lives of Whitebeard and Golden Lion—two titans of the old era.
To call him the one who ended the old era was no exaggeration—it was a title well deserved.
In the wake of the war, Maude became the most sought-after figure among journalists.
Even though the World Government exerted pressure on the World Economic News, they could only suppress the narrative of the Marines' failures.
As for the deaths of Whitebeard and Golden Lion, and the man responsible for them—the newspapers reported it all in painstaking detail.
This time,
They didn't need to exaggerate.
Simply recounting the events as they happened was enough to leave those who missed the live broadcast utterly speechless.
And enough to make them truly grasp the magnitude of the man who had shaken the world overnight—
Bacardi Maude.
After this battle, Maude's many previous titles—"Phantom Sniper," "Gatekeeper of the New World," "Founder of the Usopp Style," "Master of Both Blade and Gun"—
Became widely recognized.
But the day after the war ended, two new titles were bestowed upon him.
One was The Ender of the Old Era.
The other—The Sovereign of Shadow.
Anyone who had witnessed the war firsthand had seen the power of Maude's shadow-based abilities.
Bizarre. Terrifying. Overwhelming.
The sheer impact of his abilities, combined with certain individuals fanning the flames, allowed the title Shadow Sovereign to overshadow even his Ender of the Old Era moniker—becoming the most widely known name associated with him.
Yet—
Still soaring through the sky, Maude remained completely unaware.
He had no way of perceiving the turbulent tides of an era he had single-handedly set into motion.
Within a single day—
Whitebeard's territory became a sea of blood.
And that was only the beginning.
From this moment, the balance of power in the New World had undergone an irreversible shift.
Would the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates rise from the ashes and reclaim their glory?
Or—would a new Emperor take the throne?
No one could predict what lay ahead.
But one thing was certain—
Everyone could feel it.
The era set into motion by Maude—
An era on the brink of madness.
—————————
TL/N:
The raw originally says Lord of Shadow Flow or Master of Shadow Stream, but I just can't contain myself and translated his title into Shadow Sovereign. Haha. I am a fan of Solo Leveling, so using Sung Jinwoo's title as Maude's title is definitely to my liking.
Even though the word 'sovereign' can also imply as 'emperor', depending on the contexts, and might be exaggerated since there were the Emperors of the Sea, I will still use this title since I am the translator, haha.
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NOTE: This fanfic has been fully translated and is available on my Patreon!