In the year 1500 of the Sea Circle Calendar, the Pirate King Roger — who had obtained the greatest fortune and fame in the entire world — turned himself in.
The Marines arranged his public execution in Loguetown, East Blue. It was the place of his birth, and now it would serve as the Pirate King's final resting place. There couldn't have been a more fitting location.
The Marines wanted to use this event to declare to the entire world that an era had come to an end.
It was nothing special.
Naturally, the Marines had no intention of revealing that the Pirate King had surrendered voluntarily.
The official line the Marines spread was that the hero who had captured the Pirate King was a legendary Marine — Monkey D. Garp, the man who had pushed the Pirate King to the brink time and time again!
The general public believed this without question. Those who truly understood Roger's strength, however, scoffed at the claim.
Garp and Roger were evenly matched in combat. If Garp had truly been the one to arrest him, he must have resorted to underhanded tactics — like overwhelming numerical superiority, for instance.
In reality, shortly after the Pirate King's surrender, the Marines broadcast the news to the world. Different people reacted to the announcement in very different ways.
Figures like Kaido and Big Mom were naturally overjoyed. Word had it that Kaido threw an enormous banquet on Onigashima that very day and drained three entire wine cellars dry.
Shiki the Golden Lion, on the other hand, refused to believe that his lifelong rival had simply been captured by the Marines. With an antenna sticking out of his head and his judgment not always the sharpest, he actually went and single-handedly stormed Marineford a week before Roger's execution.
You had to hand it to the old man — he had guts.
Not just guts, but not much in the way of brains either.
So while the entire world was captivated by the headline of the Pirate King's impending execution, the Marines dropped a second bombshell out of nowhere.
— The other legendary pirate, Shiki the Golden Lion, had also been arrested! He was taken down by the combined efforts of Marine Admiral Sengoku and the hero Garp!
This second piece of news sent shockwaves across the globe. Morale within the Marines surged, and their prestige rose considerably.
Capturing two legendary pirates in such rapid succession was a massive boost to the Marines' reputation. Many Marines felt an immense swell of pride.
But Ren didn't have time to care about any of that right now.
Compared to Roger's execution and Shiki's arrest, Wano Country was also in the midst of a major event of its own.
The five-year agreement between Kozuki Oden and Kurozumi Orochi was only months away from its deadline.
But Kaido had lost the patience to wait any longer. Especially after confirming that Shiki's imprisonment was genuine, he grew even more restless.
The key difference was that Shiki and Roger were nothing alike.
Roger may have been the Pirate King, but he held no fixed territory in the New World. His death wouldn't significantly impact Kaido one way or another.
But Shiki? That old man controlled at least twenty percent of the New World's waters. The number of islands under his dominion exceeded fifty.
Now that he'd been locked up by the Marines, those territories would inevitably descend into chaos.
The first time the New World had been carved up, Kaido hadn't yet come into his own power, so he'd only managed to snatch a few scraps. Now that a second opportunity had landed right in front of him, there was no way he was going to let it slip by.
But first, he had to deal with the internal threat in Wano Country.
In other words, he couldn't wait any longer to eliminate Kozuki Oden.
By the time Ren returned to Kuri, he ran straight into Ayame.
"Lord Ren, I was just about to contact you."
Ayame wasn't particularly surprised to see Ren appear. Given the convenience of the Door-Door Fruit, it was no issue for him to spend his days overseas and return to Kuri each night.
"What is it?"
Ren noticed that Ayame was carrying a sword in her arms, the blade cradled against her chest.
"This was sent over by Shimotsuki Ushimaru — the Black Blade, Shusui!"
Even Ayame's expression turned solemn at the mention of Shusui.
Ayame was originally from Ringo herself, so she naturally held a special reverence for Shusui — the blade that had been enshrined for centuries at Ryuma's Shrine in the Northern Graveyard.
But in her eyes now, the sword had found its truest home the moment it came into Ren's possession.
"The Black Blade Shusui?"
Ren reached out and took the sword, examining it carefully.
Shusui was remarkably heavy. Its length was comparable to Ame no Habakiri and Enma, but it weighed almost as much as both of those swords combined.
The black blade possessed a distinctive luster. It didn't look like steel — it resembled black gemstone, with crimson flame-like patterns seemingly flowing across the surface as if alive.
The hamon pattern was an irregular choji-midare in a large reverse zigzag. It was a blade of extraordinary toughness and beauty.
Ren studied it for a moment, then sheathed it.
"Besides this sword, there's also a letter."
Ayame handed over the letter. It was a plea — asking Ren to destroy Kaido and Orochi on their behalf if their rebellion failed.
This was already part of Ren's plan.
But as for Shusui itself...
"Keep Shusui with you for now."
Ren handed the blade back to Ayame, leaving her both surprised and flustered.
"My lord, I couldn't possibly wield a sword like—"
Ayame quickly tried to decline. In her view, there was no one in this world more suited to this blade than Ren.
The legendary Sword God's personal weapon — wasn't it a perfect match for someone of Ren's stature?
"It's just a Black Blade. If I want one, I'll forge it myself with my Haki."
Ren couldn't care less about it. At the end of the day, Shusui was a Great Grade Sword. Strip away the mythology, and it wasn't anything especially remarkable.
Between swordsmen, skill and power were what truly determined the outcome.
With Brook's level of swordsmanship, even wielding Shusui alongside Ryuma's corpse wouldn't be enough to beat Zoro.
Besides, the Ame no Habakiri that Ren currently used had already begun developing the characteristics of a Black Blade. What had once been a pale crimson edge had deepened to an increasingly dark black.
"Then... I'll accept it."
Ayame's cheeks flushed slightly. Her hands tightened around the scabbard as she lowered her voice.
She intended to treat such a precious treasure as a family heirloom to be passed down through the generations.
In truth, Ren wasn't particularly attached to Great Grade Swords. He already had one himself, and Moli held another as well. Once Kozuki Oden kicked the bucket, Ame no Murakumo and Enma would naturally fall into his hands too.
Add the Nidai Kitetsu to the collection. He could give one to Yayoi, who also used a sword. And two more for Kakitsubata, who wielded a dual-sword style. The numbers worked out perfectly.
Wait — giving Oden's swords to Kakitsubata might be a bit much, wouldn't it?
What? The two swords could change size on their own? Never mind then!
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