"Shanks!!!"
A roar—almost a scream—ripped through the chaos.
Ben Beckman, who had been locked in a tense struggle with Enel, caught sight of that decisive moment out of the corner of his eye.Shanks collapsed, utterly drained. Gryphon slipped from his grasp. And Gern's Eight Desolation blade pointed coldly at the throat of his former companion.
In that instant, the string in Beckman's mind called reason snapped.
Shanks was their captain—the core of the crew.Anyone else could fall. Anyone else could be hurt.But that core could not be allowed to break!!
Beckman no longer cared about Enel. His body exploded into motion as he threw himself forward, ready to charge into the center of the battlefield at any cost.
"Where do you think you're going, mortal?"
Enel's mocking voice rang out as a blinding pillar of lightning crashed down from the heavens.
"Divine Punishment!"
But this time—Beckman did not look back.
"Get out of my way!!"
A deep, furious roar tore from his throat. He didn't dodge. He didn't evade. Instead, he pushed his Armament Haki to its absolute limit, coating his back completely—and tanked the lightning strike head-on, a blow powerful enough to obliterate a hill!
His body staggered. Blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.But his charge never slowed, not even for a heartbeat!
Driven by sheer, ferocious will, he forced his way through the prison of lightning.
"What?!"The mockery on Enel's face froze, replaced by genuine shock.
He hadn't expected this. The man who had fought him with such calm, rational precision—someone defined by composure—had chosen a suicidal, all-or-nothing approach completely out of character.
And within that one ten-thousandth of a second of Enel's hesitation, Beckman moved.
He didn't rush straight toward Shanks. That distance was too great—Gern would never allow it.
So his target was—
Enel.
Whoosh!
Beckman vanished from where he stood.In the next instant, he appeared directly above Enel, who was still frozen in surprise.
That speed far exceeded anything Beckman had shown before.
"Bastard—!"
There was no trace of his usual steadiness now. Only icy, naked killing intent burned in Beckman's eyes.
His waist twisted. His right leg, wrapped in dense, hardened Armament Haki, swept down violently toward Enel's head!
Alarms screamed in Enel's mind. Mantra—his "Heart Net"—caught the trajectory in advance. His Logia activated instantly, his body dissolving into arcs of lightning as he flashed sideways.
"Hmph, foolish—"Having evaded the attack, Enel instinctively prepared to sneer at the miss.
But before the words could leave his mouth, his half-reformed pupils shrank violently.
Because at some point—he didn't even know when—Beckman had already raised the antique-looking rifle in his hands.
The muzzle wasn't aimed at Enel's previous position.It was aimed precisely at the spot where Enel would reappear after his elemental dodge.
That pitch-black barrel locked onto him with merciless precision.
This was Haki that surpassed the level of an Admiral.(Even Beckman's Vivre Card records this.)
Bang!!
The gunshot wasn't loud—but it was heavy, oppressive, and terrifyingly penetrating.
There were no flashy effects.Only a single lead bullet, wrapped in flowing Ryuo Haki, tearing through the air at supersonic speed, crossing the short distance in an instant.
"Damn it! Why is it always me who gets hurt every time?!!"
Enel didn't have time to re-elementalize. He didn't even have time to block.
Pshhk!
The specially crafted bullet struck his left shoulder dead-on. Advanced Armament Haki shredded straight through the golden staff he raised in desperation, delivering a brutal, unmistakably physical penetrating wound!
Enel let out a pained grunt as the massive kinetic force hurled him backward.
His body transformed into an uncontrollable arc of lightning, slamming violently into a distant field of collapsed ruins!
After knocking Enel out of the sky, Beckman maintained his firing stance. His grip on the rifle was steady as bedrock, but his eyes were locked firmly on Gern, killing intent still raging.
At the same time, Kuma—freed by Enel's fall—immediately disengaged and rushed to Enel's side.
And with Kuma gone, the officers of the Red-Haired Pirates converged around Gern.
"Heh… hahahahaha!!!"
Gern's calm gaze swept across the Red-Haired commanders who were barely holding themselves back.
Lucky Roux. Yasopp. Limejuice…Every face was twisted with fury, worry, and a fear they could no longer hide.
Watching these legendary figures of the New World—men who once shook the seas—now standing on edge, furious yet restrained, Gern's smile slowly faded.
Then, under everyone's gaze, he bent down and reached out.
He grabbed Shanks by his blood-soaked red hair and roughly yanked his face upward, forcing his unconscious eyes toward his crew.
Shanks let out a muffled groan. His eyes had already rolled back. He didn't even have the strength to struggle—only to let his battered, humiliating state be fully displayed before his companions.
"Damn," Gern said flatly, his voice carrying clearly across the battlefield, cutting through the crackle of distant lightning."Even with your eyes rolled back, you still look like you're glaring at me. Terrifying."
"Don't push it too far, Gern!!!"
"'Too far'?" Gern tilted his head slightly, his gaze coldly scraping across each Red-Haired officer."I wouldn't call it that, pirate."
He gave Shanks' head a casual shake, disdain seeping into his tone.
"I merely defeated a loud-mouthed, one-armed brat…""And me?" His lips curled faintly."I'm just an 'old man' who hasn't quite recovered from the exhaustion of ending the previous era."
"You lot acting like this—ready to die at a moment's notice…"
His voice dropped sharply. He slammed Shanks' head back into the blood-soaked ground with a wet thud, looking down on them with naked contempt.
"Isn't it a little…"His gaze settled on Beckman—the man radiating murderous intent after blasting Enel away."Tactless?"
Then, slowly, deliberately, he asked the question meant to stab straight into their hearts.
"Or is it that…"
"The Red-Haired Pirates…"
"Are just that afraid…"
"Of the Old Era?!"
The words Old Era fell like a sledgehammer, smashing into every member of the Red-Haired Pirates.
Something about it felt wrong—but at this moment…
Gern's posture.His words.Everything about him reinforced one cruel truth.
No matter how glorious they were now, no matter how they were hailed as one of the Four Emperors—Before the "Old Era" that had personally buried the Pirate King Roger and stood toe-to-toe with Whitebeard and Kaido—
They were still immature.And they were afraid.
(At this point, Gern truly could be called a man of the "Old Era." The generational gap places him among those who rose just after Whitebeard.)
"Gern…"Beckman forced the name out through clenched teeth.
His hand trembled around the rifle. His chest heaved violently. That killing intent was nearly tangible.
Their captain was being treated like a rag doll—dragged by the hair, trampled underfoot.
The tension snapped tight.
A battle could erupt at any second.
Yet Gern merely looked at them calmly.
Even when Enel and Kuma appeared behind him, his foot never left Shanks' hair. He even shifted it slightly, dragging Shanks' head across the ground.
"You want him?""Then come take him!!"
"The loser doesn't get to choose."
...…
The next day, at dawn, Gern stood atop the shattered island, watching the Red-Haired Pirates retreat into the distance. He let out a cold chuckle.
"Didn't expect Beckman to be that strong. That level of explosive power…"
"Still, pirates are pirates in the end."His gaze turned toward the southeastern shore of Palta Island—the place where he had gathered the townspeople before the Red-Haired Pirates arrived."When it comes down to survival, they won't hesitate to go after civilians—even while preaching righteousness."
"Hey, Gern, let's keep chasing them!""If you hadn't been busy protecting those ant-like mortals, you could've taken Beckman's head in one swing. They wouldn't have—"
Before Enel could finish, Gern shot him a sharp look.
"Enough. The two of you are beat up too—don't act tough."He glanced at Kuma, then frowned."Wait… where's Ace? Where'd my little flame go?"
"He probably ran," Enel muttered irritably. "In that mess, no one was paying attention to him."
"Is that so?"Gern frowned, extended his Observation Haki—and indeed, Ace's presence was gone.
He scratched his head, looking mildly regretful."In that case, let's go too. Kuma, I'm counting on you."
...…
Later that night, after Gern and the others had left—
From a pile of rubble, Ace crawled out, looking utterly confused. He had passed out at the very beginning from the clash of Haki between Shanks and Gern.
He didn't know what had happened.
But judging by the situation…
It seemed like—
He was free again.
And far away, under Beckman's full effort, the Red-Haired Pirates retreated in disgrace.