The year is Marine Era 1522.
With the ascension of the new Fleet Admiral, Sakazuki, a few years prior.
The strategic center had shifted.
The former Marine Branch G-1 in the New World and Marine Headquarters in Marineford swapped positions.
Subsequently, a world-wide recruitment drive commenced, with an unprecedented number of Admirals being added.
The iron-fisted, brutal policies and propaganda not only terrified pirates but also instilled a sense of unease in the general populace.
With pirates being evil and the Marines being ruthless, under such an intensely oppressive environment.
Conflicts between the two escalated. The Admirals alone had engaged in numerous major battles with the Four Emperors.
The shadow of war loomed over the entire world.
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On the eve of total war.
The New World, Marine Headquarters.
Sakazuki stood outside the Fleet Admiral's office, overlooking the entire island.
The entire headquarters was ablaze with lights, with countless soldiers bustling below.
Everything was being prepared for tomorrow's live broadcast to the world, a broadcast that would concern the future fate of the world.
It was… a communication between the current Fleet Admiral and the Four Emperors of the pirates…
Drip, drip, drip…
The crisp sound of leather shoes echoed.
Carol, his aide-de-camp, approached from behind.
"Fleet Admiral."
Sakazuki gave a soft "Mm" in response.
"Has everything been conveyed."
Carol spoke.
"Yes, it has all been passed down."
"I suspect every Marine soldier tonight will be too excited to sleep."
Sakazuki smiled, remaining silent.
Carol walked closer, a hint of trance in his gaze as he looked down at the busy soldiers. He sighed.
"Though it's hard to believe."
"But… the scourge of piracy will truly end with this generation."
"It feels surreal, like a dream."
"To actually have reached this day…"
Sakazuki chuckled softly.
"This is only the first step. There will be a second, a third…"
Carol took a deep breath.
"Yes."
"This is only the first step."
"It just feels a bit unreal…"
"By the way, Fleet Admiral."
"Did you foresee this day long ago? You always seemed to firmly believe in something, as if from the very beginning."
"I never once sensed any form of confusion from you."
Sakazuki narrowed his eyes, gazing into the distance.
"No confusion…"
"It's because I've experienced confusion."
Carol sounded surprised.
"You've been confused too?"
Sakazuki smiled.
"Wandering, fear, change, despair, even evasion."
"These are all things that normal people experience. Everyone does. You do, and I do."
"Life is full of ups and downs. No one is born destined for greatness. Reaching the summit smoothly on a single path is the stuff of novels."
"There was a period of three years where I had no idea what I was supposed to do."
"I holed up in a small town, training every single day."
"I think it was called Gea Town."
"It's been so long… so long that I've almost forgotten."
"Back then, I had talent. I possessed the power of the Magu Magu no Mi. I was destined to be famous across the seas."
"But I didn't know what I wanted to do."
"The rules of this world are suffocating, dark, and primitive."
"Even if I found it displeasing, it had nothing to do with me."
"Because I could become a power that transcended all beings."
"Step outside the rules and enjoy that privilege."
"No one is so noble as to want to save the world."
"I could become a pirate, a Marine, or even the world's strongest? Possess beautiful women? Wealth? Power? Status?"
"I thought about it for a long time, then shook my head. None of these were what I wanted."
"I was still deeply confused."
"This confusion lasted for three years, until one day."
"I happened to flip through a history book. It was quite thin."
"It vaguely recorded major events of that island over the past century."
"There was nothing before that. I asked many people on the island, and they could only remember some legends from their childhood at most."
"And that was over a hundred years ago."
"At that moment… I think I finally knew what I wanted."
"I spent an entire night, understanding everything, and was no longer confused."
"Mortals are like ants, their lives barely lasting a few decades."
"Even if one becomes powerful and possesses everything in the world, what does it matter? Time will erase all traces in this world."
"In a few decades, it will all disappear completely."
"I want to change the heavens and the earth, I want to break through the darkness, I want to burn away all filth with great fire."
"I want my name, Sakazuki, to be remembered by people for centuries to come."
"So I planned, I schemed."
"I want to accomplish a task that requires generations, even tens of generations, to complete."
"What does it matter if I bear the reputation of brutality."
Sakazuki gazed into the distant darkness, his magnetic voice drifting out.
"Ten thousand years is too long. I seize the day."