Chapter 247: The Rise of the Adventurer Craze!
These words,
spoken in Shanks' still youthful voice, carried the weight of crashing waves engulfing the world.
It was a declaration to the entire world—
Shanks was demonstrating power, because only a voice capable of rivaling the world's reigning overlords—the Marine Family—would not be ignored.
A cry from a weak nation like Alabasta would be buried beneath the sands.
Only the strength that could etch itself into the hearts of all would pierce through the darkness and reach every soul.
So,
even if cornered, even if targeted as the Navy's top enemy, Shanks would not take a single step back.
At this moment,
Shanks' flesh was melting away.
His body, which had never looked particularly robust compared to most in the One Piece world,
was now wrapped in ice, magma, and golden flames, revealing gleaming white bones beneath.
He looked like a fearsome demon risen from hell.
Crack!
Space continued to shatter.
Countless wave-infused eyes burst into raw wave energy, tearing apart the wave world now reflected into reality.
The Marine Family's territory was swallowed by fractured space.
The world became a giant glass curtain wall, and once shattered, only a chaotic void remained.
The sea surface itself—
as if scooped out by a spoon—now had a massive depression.
The Iron Wall Barrier upheld by 500 Marine Giants vanished.
They lay strewn across the shattered family grounds, many having passed out from the toll of wielding the giant power.
The monument protected by countless Marines was now full of cracks.
Its durability had dropped so low that even an average player could destroy it with a single blow.
Even the golden-tier Demon-Sealing Tower was scarred from spatial tears and would require vast resources and rare materials to restore.
"It can't be real… He tanked the Three Admirals and broke the Marine Family?"
The battlefield was dead silent.
Finally, someone couldn't hold back and voiced what everyone was thinking in disbelief.
Standing on wave energy alone, Shanks' skeletal frame swayed.
He looked like a ghost from hell who had burned away his soul. A gust of wind could knock him into the sea.
But in the eyes of all watching—
this demon who spoke such words felt more like a herald of a new era.
Strangely unfamiliar, yet oddly familiar.
That familiarity came from—
The Pirate King!
How similar it was!
Back then, after completing a journey around the world and reaching Laugh Tale,
Roger was captured and shouted his final words to the world.
Thus began the unprecedented, world-shaking—
Great Pirate Era!
Countless rebels, dreamers, and ordinary people who refused to be enslaved set out to sea because of Roger's cry.
Its ripples continued to shape the world even now.
Even Whitebeard, the so-called strongest, with the massive pirate kingdom of Tottoland,
Kaido the Emperor who ruled Wano and controlled the underworld,
and even the powerful Marine Headquarters with elite forces spanning the seas—
all of them existed under Roger's looming shadow.
No matter what—
be it islands ravaged by pirates, kingdoms seized,
or nations freed, slaves liberated—
the Great Pirate Era brought both agony and hope.
No one could ignore this legendary man.
And now,
a new light pierced the imprint Roger had burned into the pirate world—
a mark long thought indelible.
Adventurer.
Such a simple word—
a term that in any other setting might have been laughed off.
But now, spoken by Shanks under the world's gaze,
it was a blade that cut deep into the hearts of all.
It shattered the mental chains of the Great Pirate Era.
From confusion to disbelief, then realization.
This was how it should be.
Even now, the mainstream pirate mindset was still one of looting and destruction.
In places like Mock Town, pirates mocked dreams.
They laughed at people like Luffy.
That was the pirate world's norm.
But such people should never be mocked.
Freedom, dreams, salvation, friendship—
these noble ideals didn't belong to pirates.
Most people who set out with dreams
were laughed at, then numbed by reality, and finally assimilated into the pirate world.
But from now on—
They were no longer pirates.
They were adventurers.
Shanks had become the one to break the curse,
the man who would redefine what it meant to sail the seas!
"Damn it!"
Vice Admiral Tsuru frowned,
unsure if Shanks' speech was good or bad.
Beside her, Akainu—his energy spent, gasping for breath—growled,
"Such arrogant nonsense… This sea is going to get even more chaotic!"
His words…
They would ignite the entire sea.
Those who once despised pirates would now feel an itch in their hearts to set sail.
It was too powerful, too tempting.
Even Sakazuki, famed for his iron resolve and absolute justice, felt a moment of hesitation.
With Shanks' declaration unstoppable,
Kuzan returned to his usual laziness and said,
"Pirates being divided, a new adventurer class rising—isn't that a good thing?"
"But once the truly violent pirates are separated out,
they'll have no reason to hold back.
They'll turn into mindless beasts."
"They are beasts already.
Even without the adventurers, they should be purged."
The Marine commanders could not agree.
Their ideologies were now in conflict.
Most of them viewed this negatively.
Because the Navy's justice required order, not chaos.
What they defended—law and justice—would now be harder to maintain because of Shanks' words.
The sea was boiling over.
Nothing could stop it now.
All they could do was try to minimize the damage.
At the very least, the family monument hadn't been destroyed—
a small mercy.
"Hehehehe…"
On an island, players from the Flamingo Corps stood guard outside a fortress.
Doflamingo muttered like a man possessed,
"Shanks… Shanks… Shanks… Shanks…"
"What terrifying resolve.
So this is why the God Knights were willing to let you return to Mariejois?"
He'd fled not just out of caution,
but because he wanted to challenge Shanks.
After all—
They were both fallen Celestial Dragons.
Why should Shanks be favored by the Five Elders
while Doflamingo was rejected even after killing his own father?
So that's it.
Doflamingo had feared many pirates—Kaido, Big Mom, Whitebeard.
But for him, it was simple:
Strength was everything.
The weak were prey.
The strong earned his fear.
And only fear.
But Shanks…
Shanks made him feel something he hadn't in years.
He felt it once long ago,
watching Roger's execution.
Back then, he was too young to understand.
Now, he knew what it was.
Admiration.
Respect for a man who could shape a new era.
"Someone like me…
can actually admire another man?"
Doflamingo removed his flamingo glasses,
clutching an unopened bottle of red wine,
lost in thought.
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