The sudden deadlock left Ace staring down at the tense standoff below, momentarily dazed.
Bartholomew Kuma had several of the Red Hair Pirates' officers completely locked down, forcing them to hold back—afraid to move recklessly for fear of triggering catastrophe.
On the other side, Enel stood alone, golden staff in hand, arrogant and unrestrained. By himself, he had forced Ben Beckman—the Red Hair Pirates' vice-captain, second only to Shanks in strength—to a complete standstill, unable to advance even a single step.
"Th-This… is G-10's strength?"A storm surged through Ace's heart."Just two people… and they're already almost suppressing the entire core officer class of the Red Hair Pirates?"
That realization shook him to his core.
After all, the Red Hair Pirates were renowned across the seas as the most balanced and stable of the Four Emperors' crews—every officer a famous name, every member boasting an exceptionally high average bounty.
And yet now—
Just as Ace struggled to comprehend what he was seeing, a large hand suddenly came down on the top of his head, gently ruffling his hair and snapping him out of his thoughts.
"Can't make sense of it?"Gern's voice carried a playful edge as he leaned closer to Ace's ear."You really think it's just Kuma and Enel keeping these guys in line?"
"Too bad," he continued softly, amusement laced with cruelty."You guessed wrong~"
"What they're afraid of… was never just Kuma or Enel."
A brief pause.
Then Gern's tone shifted abruptly. His smile widened, and within that laughter was an absolute confidence that sent chills straight into the marrow.
"The one they're afraid of…"He enunciated every word with deliberate clarity, announcing a merciless truth.
"…is me."
"Because…"Gern's lips curled upward as his gaze swept across every Red Hair Pirate below, each one braced as if facing execution.
"If I really felt like it… at least half of them would never leave this island alive."
The instant those words fell, an oppressive presence far deeper and more terrifying than before began to spread silently outward from Gern.
It wasn't the active release of Haki.
It was the killing intent of a man long accustomed to standing above all others—someone who held life and death in his grasp.
Below, Shanks tightened his grip on Gryphon, his expression darkening to its lowest point.
A bead of cold sweat slid down Beckman's temple. Enel's golden staff still hovered menacingly in front of him, yet Beckman could feel it clearly—
The truly fatal threat wasn't Enel.
It was the man with his hand resting casually on Ace's head.
The other officers restrained by Kuma felt a chill surge up their spines, straight to the back of their skulls.
None of them doubted the truth of Gern's words.
This wasn't a threat.
It was a statement of fact—one everyone in the New World understood all too well.
Before the man known as "Heaven-Shaker," the one who had ended the previous era…
So-called Four Emperor crews.So-called balance and stability.
All of it was fragile.
Because this man—Truly, genuinely—possessed the absolute power to force at least half of them to die here, even in the chaos of an all-out clash.
That was the real reason Kuma and Enel could so effortlessly hold the entire battlefield in check.
The true monster hadn't even lifted a finger.
His mere existence was enough to make one of the strongest pirate crews in the New World hesitate, afraid to take a single reckless step.
Ace felt the warmth of the hand on his head… and the icy words whispered near his ear.
His entire body stiffened.
Only now did he truly begin to understand what Gern represented in the latter half of the Grand Line—
What kind of absolute level of power he stood on.
"Gern, I didn't provoke anything at G-10."
At that moment, Shanks stepped forward, his face grim, eyes sharp and fixed on Gern as he spoke in a low, steady voice.
"You came charging into my territory like this… what exactly are you trying to do?"
As he spoke, there was a crisp click as he decisively sheathed Gryphon, clearly trying to de-escalate the tension and cut to the point.
"Don't use territorial disputes as an excuse. This place is nowhere near your G-10."
Seeing Shanks adopt a deliberately relaxed posture, Gern's lips curved upward.
He leapt lightly down from the rooftop, landing squarely in front of Shanks.
That unreadable smile still rested on his face as he spread his hands casually.
"Hey, relax~ Shanks.""The last time we met was… what, a few years ago at Sabaody, right?"
"It's been so long. Can't old friends catch up a little?"
"Catch up?"Shanks snorted coldly."You expect me to believe you'd stir up this much trouble in my territory just to reminisce?"
"Really?"Gern frowned slightly, turning sideways as he rubbed his chin, looking genuinely puzzled—as if he were seriously considering the question.
Then, suddenly, his expression changed.
As though something amusing had just occurred to him, he tilted his head and locked eyes with Shanks, his tone turning probing.
"Wait… something's off.""You're awfully tense. Awfully scared of me showing up like this…"
He deliberately dragged out his words, leaning in closer, lowering his voice.
"Don't tell me… you've been doing something behind my back that you really don't want me to know about?"
"!!!"
That single sentence exploded in Shanks' mind.
In an instant, he realized it—
Those calculations.Those quiet moves against G-10.
They'd been discovered.
Gern hadn't come by accident.
He was here to settle accounts.
Almost the moment Gern finished speaking, Shanks' pupils contracted sharply.
The right hand that had never truly left Gryphon's hilt surged with power as he moved to draw—
To strike first!
However—
"Smack!"
A hand arrived faster.
Gern's hand slammed down, seizing Shanks' grip and pinning Gryphon—along with the motion of drawing it—firmly inside its sheath.
Immovable.
Their arms trembled under the sudden clash of strength, muscles bulging with exertion.
Their eyes met—mere inches apart.
No more words were necessary.
BOOOOM!!!!!!!
Two overwhelming torrents of Conqueror's Haki—each standing at the absolute pinnacle of the era—erupted without restraint!
One was a dark crimson flood, wild and domineering, carrying the madness of a king who ruled the seas.
The other was a deep, abyssal violet, crushing and absolute, as if it would pulverize everything beneath it.
The instant those two supreme wills collided—
The sky above them split open.
The clouds were violently torn apart, scattered, revealing a twisted, dim firmament beneath.
Light across the entirety of Palta Island dimmed.The wind howled.The ground trembled.
Red and violet arcs of Haki crackled wildly through the air, tearing at one another.
With nothing but the collision of their presence—
Heaven and earth lost their color.The winds and clouds were torn asunder.
This was the power that stood at the summit of the sea.
Among all the monsters ruling the oceans today, even Gern himself found it difficult to understand—but reality was undeniable…
Only Shanks possessed a Conqueror's Haki capable of clashing with his at full power.