[A Destiny Singularity has appeared — a new Devil Fruit choice opens]
[Choice 1: Go to the southern land Bika and seize the Rumble Fruit — Reward: Fish-Man Jujutsu]
[Choice 2: Dominate God Island, then go to the southern land Bika to seize the Rumble Fruit — Reward: Ancient Lunarian trait: Flame, and Fish-Man Karate]
"Option 2! The flame is more direct, and Fish-Man Karate works on land too."
Fish-Man Jujutsu requires fighting in the sea and manipulating seawater — option 1 feels pointless by comparison.
Sharn's memory of the Lunarians (the old godlike people) contains two things: when their flame ignites their defense increases; when the flame fades their speed surges. And the flame itself carries offensive power — Lunarians adapted to harsh environments and had extremely high resilience. Even such a mighty people eventually were replaced by a new godhood, the Celestial Dragons.
"If I gain the Lunarian trait, I'll have flame, thunder, and water attributes at once," Sharn thought. "That covers sky, land, and sea — the three special races of the world." He dove from high above, thrilled. What if he grew wings? "If they look ugly, I'll eat them with the Tasty–Tasty Fruit and grow them back when I want," he mused. Wings are merely a tool, not an obstacle.
Boom! As the crew touched down on land, the cloud-ladder collapsed. Kaido glided briefly; Sharn leapt down. Even suicide as a last resort would be premature for the strongest beings.
"Golden City!" Moria shouted. His tiny wings and forehead horn fluttered; his shadow-bats beat their wings in celebration. Molly treated the scene like a hide-and-seek playground, using her Push–Push powers to tunnel into the golden vaults. Everything here is forged of gold — dazzling and opulent, a stark contrast to the simpler material culture of the Shandia people.
"Legends are true. What about the little people in the book?" Olivia marveled. The discovery overturned countless assumptions: Norland's tales, the so-called lies and myths, and even pieces of ancient script — the Golden Bell and the Golden City corroborated it all. Olivia's mind raced with the recovered historical texts: what truly happened eight hundred years ago? Who were the men powerful enough to command the Sea Kings — and why did they fall? She studied Sharn's back and wondered if it was deliberate or a coincidence.
Sharn was, in truth, rather foolish about the exact mechanics — he simply wanted to ring the Golden Bell. Lighting Shandora's lamp was entertaining, and maybe it would give the Five Elders nightmares. When he sensed Olivia's gaze he turned; a golden pillar rested on his shoulder. She tried to cover her curiosity with a denial — "Nothing happened," — but she was clearly stunned.
When the Shandia people arrived and saw Sharn's party descending like gods from the sky, their scalps prickled. The ones who looked "normal" were actually smeared with dirt. The Shandia chief asked urgently, "Did you ring the Shandora Bell? Where is it?" Four hundred years had passed since the great warrior's time; they'd been waiting for this moment.
"Let our navigator explain! Everyone move the gold — once it's at sea we can buy supplies and build a better ship!" Sharn had no desire to waste words. He teleported the big ship into the Golden City and stopped only after crashing into a warehouse full of gold. The Shandia people didn't care about such cargo — the city's gold dwarfed any amount they could imagine.
Olivia asked about the Golden Bell and the old texts. The middle-aged elders wept. "Our mission is fulfilled!" they cried. A giant hand scooped the ship up — it was the Wolf, lifting the hull high and glaring at the deck. "Hungry!" he growled; his stomach gurgled. Molly fed half of the homemade ice cream to the Wolf. He liked it. To him, Molly's fork wasn't a weapon but a utensil; size and scale mean different things to giants.
"Prepare for battle! Drive the Sky Islanders out!" the Shandia leader ordered, wiping his tears and raising his spear. The Sky Islanders who came along were awed by the glitter of the Golden City; it burned in their throats like heat. Their leader Gandel For rode the winged steed Pierre and led the charge. "Kill! Seize the gods' gift!"
War, it turned out, never truly stopped — unless a stronger force emerged. Sharn looked at the Sky Islanders who'd seized land centuries ago and oppressed the Shandia. They intended to cleanse and claim the place as their own. "This island is mine because I am a god," a Sky Islander said — as if past crimes could be erased.
Sharn strode onto the battlefield and the pirate crew assembled. The Sky Islanders and the Shandia were cowed — not even with spears or cannon could they hope to match Sharn's crew. "Hana Country and Ohara — where do you want to go?" Sharn demanded of a Sky Islander. "I don't know those places," the man replied. Sharn slapped him once and sent him flying. "Then be random — land or sea." One palm was enough for terror.
"From now on, neither Sky Islanders nor Shandia have any other god," Sharn declared. "I, Sharn, am your god. Who objects?" No one answered. The Shandia still had their sky-lord Norland (a descendant of the snake god), but Norland trembled. "A snake is a god?" Sharn scoffed. "Then I am a dragon." He swelled with arrogance; the crew — all villains in their eyes — rallied: Wolf held the ship aloft, Molly built golden walls, dragons circled the sky, shadow-bats flitted through the woods. Olivia stood dumbfounded.
Gandel For, leader of the Sky Islanders, who'd spent centuries waiting for someone to decipher the ancient script, recognized that the mission had been achieved. Instead of fighting to death, he bowed to the fact that the people he'd waited for had finally come. "Stand down," he said. "We will remember Sharn's name." The Shandia chief raised a cup and the Cloud Village feast began.
Sharn, full and content, pulled out a record compass and said, "I want to know where the southern land Bika is." The chief produced a leather map, centuries old — it marked Bika. That night the pirate ship, loaded with Sky Island coins, set course for the southern land Bika. The Sky Islanders were forced to flee the island — and for years afterward a legend spread: a god named Sharn who could make people vanish from the world.
Meanwhile, a Sky Island guard who'd been carried to the surface by one of Sharn's random slaps woke in the North Blue after months. He heard whispers about a winged man who could fly. A young man wearing pale lenses sat bandaged and asked if Sharn wasn't a North Blue native. A seventeen-year-old with a sword said, "All the pirates are getting worse." The bandaged youth read a paper and froze — headlines told of a new gang of West Blue pirates:
"Sharn Pirate Crew commits atrocities, destroys the Flower Country's Eighth Navy port; leader Pepper's whereabouts unknown!"
"Ohara's knowledge sanctuary was damaged; the crew mysteriously disappeared from Vice Admiral Sengoku's grasp!"
"Legendary Pirate Roger returns to the Grand Line; Golden Lion crosses the Red Line— the world reels under pirate havoc!"
The guard spat blood onto a poster of Sharn's wanted notice. He'd been unconscious for months; when he awoke, his rescuers had joined the navy. The rising storm of events spurred new recruits into naval service. The tide never ceases — it only swells.
Far out in the White Sea, the Ohara research ship sailed to the first island where it could restock. A nine-year-old boy at the port bought items for his temple — a small figure who stood at 1.8 meters tall in later years.
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(Interlude note from the author: The transitional chapters will wrap up by tomorrow night — apologies if this stretch feels slow. Readers can speculate about the future landing site and the first person the crew will meet. Expect three new members to board soon; each will become terrifyingly strong in the future — including an admiral-level figure, a Seven Warlord, and a fleet commander appearing in the same sea!)
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