"Huh? Reed, Reed, where did Eneru and the others go? I haven't seen them."
"Everyone… look outside."
Silence.
A suffocating, deathlike silence seed to crush the air itself.
The once-blue sea had turned faintly red. Countless fragnts of ships floated across the surface. From simple single-masted sailboats to heavily ard three-masted warships, none had escaped. Every vessel had been shattered into wreckage.
Where there was blood, there were Sea Kings.
Many enormous Sea King corpses drifted among the broken ships, their massive bodies slowly rocking on the waves.
This blood-dyed ocean was the clearest boundary drawn by Reed, the Mist Lord.
This feast was not ant for just anyone.
Those who had overestimated themselves, those who tried to fish in troubled waters, and those who simply wanted to get close enough to witness legends with their own eyes. Small pirate fleets, opportunists, and desperate gamblers.
Their fate had beco nourishnt for this crimson sea.
A warning to everyone who ca after them.
At the edge of this silent "decoration zone," atop an unusually tall golden spire, a lone figure sat quietly.
Eneru.
He sat with his back to the dazzling lights of the Golden City. His long golden earlobes swayed gently. His upper body was bare, one arm resting casually on his bent knee while the other held a half-eaten apple that he bit into lazily.
Beneath his feet stretched the blood-red ocean and the wreckage of countless ships.
Behind him lay the ultimate carnival, a dazzling dream made of gold.
"No choice," Eneru muttered around a mouthful of apple. "Who else could serve as large-scale firepower for the Crimson Dawn Pirates?"
Reed once said, "When you call soone a powerhouse, there are usually many prefixes in front of that word."
"Tch. What a noisy bunch."
Eneru took another bite of the apple and spoke vaguely while chewing.
"Fighting over a few yellow rocks and pieces of paper. How unbelievably boring."
His Observation Haki, which he liked to call Mantra, had already spread across the sea.
Within the city, emotions surged wildly. Greed. Frenzy. Fear. And here and there, a small trace of genuine happiness.
As his Mantra expanded, those emotional waves beca louder and more chaotic.
Compared to that, the silence outside the city felt cleaner.
Out here, the quiet was built from fear and death.
Soft footsteps approached from behind him.
Lina appeared carrying a tray with several pieces of fresh fruit and a glass of clear water. She walked quietly to his side and sat down beside him.
She said nothing.
She simply placed the tray aside, hugged her knees, and looked out at the blood-stained sea in the sa direction as Eneru.
"This god dislikes the noise of feasts," Eneru said without looking back. "Have you eaten enough inside? Now you co out here?"
I ca to keep you company.
"Ah. This god does not need company. But if you insist on sitting here, I have no objection."
Lina looked at him as if she had discovered a new continent.
"Wow."
Under her gaze, Eneru shifted slightly, clearly uncomfortable.
"Why are you looking at this god like that? Is there sothing improper about my appearance?"
Lina shook her head with a smile.
"You just said 'I' instead of 'this god.'"
Eneru froze for a mont.
"That… that was a matter of life and death."
She could see the wreckage below and sll the blood drifting on the wind.
Yet there was not the slightest hint of fear in her eyes.
"I brought you so food," Lina said softly after a while. Her voice was gentle. "The food inside the city is too sweet and too greasy. I thought you might not like it."
Eneru glanced sideways at the fruit on the tray and gave a vague snort.
He neither refused nor accepted it imdiately. Instead, he continued chewing his apple while staring into the distance.
Out at sea, more pirate ships floated on the horizon. Many different kinds.
Yet not a single one dared approach.
Anyone without an invitation had no right to attend this feast.
At this mont, Eneru could be considered the security guard of the Golden City.
Reed once joked tearfully, "Eneru, you've suffered too much."
Far out at sea, no ship dared move forward.
After all, if they crossed that red line…
BOOM!
A massive bolt of lightning split the sky.
Eneru said nothing.
Yet it felt as if everything had already been said.
Everyone understood.
That lightning was the divine judgnt of the Thunder God who served under the Mist Lord.
He was the most direct interpreter of this bloody boundary.
Any creature that dared cross this sea, whether human or Sea King, already had its fate sealed.
Eneru finished the last bite of his apple and casually tossed the core into the sea below.
He clapped his hands lightly, finally picked up one of the fruits Lina had brought, and leaned lazily against the golden spire behind him, closing his eyes.
Inside the city, the carnival continued.
The noise was deafening.
Outside the city, the sea of blood remained silent.
A silent warning.
And he, the Thunder God Eneru, rested exactly on the line between chaos and silence.
Wow. The words I just put together sound pretty cool.
Is "nap" more stylish than "rest"?
At the edge of the plaza, the shadows twisted.
A tall, thin figure wearing a Gothic formal suit stepped out of the darkness, yawning as he staggered toward the golden spire atop the city wall.
Gecko Moria.
"Hehehe… so noisy. These people have way too much energy."
He had just finished another round of manipulating public opinion.
"It should be ti to switch shifts. That kid Eneru must be getting impatient."
He climbed the highest golden spire and imdiately saw Eneru sitting there with his back turned.
And beside him sat Lina quietly.
"Hey, Eneru," Moria said slowly. "I ca to take over your shift. Go have so fun in the city. I'll watch things here."
Eneru did not even open his eyes.
"Hmph. No need. The silence in this area has finally reached a level satisfactory to this god. Bringing your noisy shadows here would only disturb the balance."
Moria froze.
What?
When did this guy start talking so elegantly?
Then he noticed Lina sitting beside Eneru.
And the plate of fresh fruit beside them that clearly had not been prepared by Eneru himself.
Moria's tiny eyes slowly widened into a ridiculous expression.
He looked at Eneru.
Then at Lina.
Lina politely nodded.
Moria looked at himself.
What a clown.
In an instant, the confusion on his face vanished.
"Ooooooh," he dragged out the sound with a teasing grin. "So that's how it is. 'No need.' 'The silence standard.' I see now. I see everything."
He nodded vigorously, wearing an exaggerated expression of enlightennt. He even winked at Eneru.
"How reckless of to disturb soone's 'two-person world' and their 'quiet life standard.' Hehehe."
"That little Perona asked to prepare so zombies for the kids to practice with, so I'll be leaving now. I'll be leaving now."
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