When the Sage of Six Paths first met Shanks, he was stunned. In his worldview, someone like Shanks simply shouldn't exist.
How to put it… When Shanks first broke in, the Sage was stunned, and Shanks was stunned too.
It took the Sage a long time afterward to finally make sense of it.
Why so long? Because he had to rethink it from every angle—his life view, values, experience, and wisdom—before he could even begin to understand.
In the end, he still couldn't figure out what was going on with Shanks.
So he came to one answer: Shanks wasn't normal. There's only a thin line between genius and madness.
He, Rikudou Sennin, was the genius of the ninja world. Shanks was also a "genius," only he walked the path of a madman.
Because Shanks's strength was right there in front of everyone. Someone at that level of power couldn't be an idiot. So the title of madman fit Shanks perfectly.
At least, that's how Rikudou Sennin saw it. And this madman's power was outrageous—despite the world's will pressing down on him, Shanks still managed to beat it down.
It was the first time Rikudou Sennin had seen a monster that wasn't afraid of death like this.
So when he looked at the state of the entire Red Earth Continent, even he felt his scalp go numb. He didn't dare release even a bit of power.
"What's Shanks doing using that much power for no reason? Doesn't he know the world's will is still lingering on him?"
Rikudou Sennin couldn't understand.
He had gone through this himself. Back when he became the strongest sage, the world's will had its eyes on him too.
At that time, Rikudou Sennin had already broken past the limits of ninja sages. He wasn't as terrifying as Shanks, but he had definitely broken the ceiling.
That was when the world's will came. On him, it basically worked by using him as the center, pulling the world's power level upward.
It was a slow process. And because of that, Rikudou Sennin had the chance to study the world's will.
As for the final result? Well, why do you think some people, even though they were great contributors, still ended up hunted by the world's will?
You could say Rikudou Sennin's morals weren't bad.
But he never treated the world's will as a person. If he could steal from it, he would. If not, he'd trick it. Rikudou Sennin had plenty of methods.
Most importantly, he had many ways to escape. As long as he wanted to hide, the world's will couldn't find him.
And Shanks? Needless to say.
But when Rikudou Sennin reached the battlefield of Shanks and Jigen, he didn't dare go in.
"Shanks!!"
"Golden Lion!!!"
Under the twisted world's will, Shanks was pinned to the ground, his face distorted. But even then, he held tightly onto Jigen's hair.
"Damn it."
Shanks's slash had cut deep into Jigen's chest, nearly killing him. Even Jigen's sword had been broken by that strike.
That blow was enough to take Jigen's life. But Shanks's attack was too insane—the world's will descended.
It blocked part of the attack for Jigen, but at the same time, it dragged him down along with it.
"What the hell did you do!!"
Jigen's face turned pale. His own face was also pressed into the ground by the twisted world's will. Even so, there wasn't a drop of blood left in his face.
It was only thanks to his strong will that, even with such heavy injuries, he could still act like nothing had happened.
"Give up, Golden Lion, you…"
"Crack!!"
Before Shanks could finish speaking, the stone under his head shattered, smashing his whole face down.
Under the world's will, both of them were in terrible shape.
Only Rikudou Sennin, standing on the outside, looked at the now materialized world's will and felt his scalp tingling.
Normally, the world's will's suppression was just an all-around, unconscious pressure.
Like the atmosphere—spread evenly everywhere.
Of course, breaking through this atmosphere is extremely hard, only the very strongest can do it.
But right now, the world's will was gathering and pressing down directly on Shanks. That was very unusual.
Even when facing an outside invasion, the world's will always suppressed everything equally, not like this, where it seemed to be targeting him on purpose.
"Strange… way too strange."
Rikudou Sennin was still waiting. His clone hadn't disappeared, but he had no way of knowing what was happening on that side. He had to figure out what exactly was going on in this world.
At this moment, in the middle of the battlefield, Jigen truly witnessed how terrifying Shanks was.
Damn it, why didn't you say you had this kind of power earlier?
He knew Shanks was strong, but not this strong.
Jigen had knowledge of the Otsutsuki clan, and among them there were also beings stronger than the world's will itself.
These beings used the same method as him—slowly letting their will seep beyond the world's will, and once it went past it while using the world's will as a base, it could gradually break free.
This was the Otsutsuki clan's defining trait—quantity.
Their training methods were full of skill and intelligence.
Even the God Tree was part of this method, a core step that absorbed power from other worlds and pulled their own power outward.
They always took shortcuts.
At the same time, it was also proof of the Otsutsuki clan's wisdom and heritage.
But Shanks was different. At this moment, Jigen seemed to understand Shanks' situation.
Jigen wasn't the same as Rikudou Sennin, but he wasn't stupid. Thanks to the Otsutsuki clan's accumulated knowledge, he knew a lot more.
"How could there be such a monster…"
Jigen gritted his teeth. Shanks still had a firm grip on his hair, twisting his whole head.
"Damn it, Shanks!!"
"I'll get my revenge sooner or later."
Jigen roared in anger. When had he ever suffered this kind of humiliation? This was even harder to bear than being cut down.
But if this kept going, he might really die here.
In the next moment, Jigen's long ponytail snapped off.
With his body bent in a twisted posture, he crawled out of the area the world's will was targeting. His face dragged along the ground, and the wound on his chest was still gushing blood.
At this moment, Jigen felt unbearably humiliated inside, but… he had to live. The man in front of him—he would defeat him one day.
"So what if you're carrying the whole world upward, old man… I won't lose."
Jigen finally managed to crawl out, then gasped for breath as he looked up at the sky.
He had never seen such a terrifying sight before. Even the Otsutsuki clan had no such record of anything like this.
Looking at the dreadful sword wound on his body, Jigen forced himself to stay standing and slowly backed away.
"To think I survived… good. My will is strong enough. Shanks, no wonder I chose you as my rival."
"So strong that even the world itself has to step in and suppress you… only someone like you is worth everything I've given up."
"It seems my gamble with the Otsutsuki God… I've won."
Jigen endured the sharp pain and weakness. His great sword had been broken down to only the hilt. He lifted his head and looked into the distance, thinking he saw an old man hiding in the sand.
He looked again, but there was nothing there.
"Damn it, already…"
"Am I seeing things?"
As he spoke, Jigen's vision started to blur and slowly sank into darkness.
Even so, his body forced itself to move under that terrifying will, step by step toward the other side.
By now, Jigen had completely lost consciousness. His body was on the edge of death, and the wound on his chest had stopped bleeding.
But under that crushing will, his body still kept moving.
His heartbeat grew louder and louder.
Bang!!
Bang!!
Bang bang!
On the quiet red earth, a "corpse" kept walking forward, gripping a broken blade tightly in its hand.
When the last drop of blood left his body, he finally fell onto the red sand.
Far away, the Sage of Six Paths looked over but didn't get closer. Instead, he vanished on the spot.
"So that's how it is? Shanks… truly terrifying."
The Sage understood now.
Shanks really started a new era and opened a new world.
But for this world, Shanks moved too fast. Normally, the ninja world could slowly catch up to his pace.
But when Shanks unleashed his full power, it was like hitting fast-forward. The ninja world hadn't even boarded the train, and he was already running ahead.
They were already being forced to move forward by Shanks, which was hard enough—and this wasn't even his limit.
But with this outburst, he ended up being taught a lesson by the will of the world itself.
Your will might be strong, very strong.
But how can one person's will fight against the will of the world?
It's like a rock on the shore. Sure, it's harder than the water, but when a giant wave a hundred meters high crashes down, that rock will still break.
And Shanks… he took steps that were way too big. It was insane.
And the worst part? It wasn't just his own problem. So he got punished.
To be honest, even the Sage of Six Paths never imagined such a crazy monster—someone strong enough to drag the entire ninja world toward the path he wanted.
But…
"This era sure has a lot of monsters."
He sighed, clearly thinking about the "Golden Lion" Jigen.
Under the starry sky, on the barren land of the Red Continent, the sound of the wind roared, mixing with Jigen's heartbeat as it echoed across the wilderness.
With every beat of his heart, Jigen's will became more solid… That twisted will forcefully bent the natural chakra tied to the will of the world.
Every heartbeat gave birth to new life force out of nowhere. Fresh blood flowed from Jigen's heart through his whole body.
The body that had fallen stood up once again, moving step by step toward the other side of the battlefield with that steady heartbeat.
By the time the sun rose, Jigen's figure appeared on the battlefield where Dark and the Sage's clone had met. His shadow stretched long under the sunlight.
Jigen lifted his head toward the battlefield. On the edge of death, all he could see under the bright sun was a sea of blood-red, with countless figures standing up.
"Dark, let's go!"
As soon as Jigen said that, his tall body fell straight to the ground.
Someone caught Jigen, but no one answered him—because Dark was already gone.
Many people had vanished beneath this red earth.
Even as Jigen lost consciousness, his left hand was still raised. It stayed that way until much later, when a pirate ship slowly descended from the clouds.
"We should go now!"
"Where to?"
"To find Dark. Find that old man."
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