NOVEL WEB Chapter 23: A Perfectly Normal Day (I)
It was just another perfectly normal day. The sun shone brightly over villages and vast seas alike, warming fields where farmers toiled and docks where fishermen pulled in their morning catches. The streets bustled with people moving through their daily routines as vendors called out to passersby, selling everything from fruit to strange trinkets. Dogs chased each other down dusty lanes, and the town's children ran alongside, their laughter filling the air. Ships came and went from busy ports, carrying goods, passengers, and news of distant islands and whispered rumors.
In small taverns, travelers swapped stories and raised their drinks, while nearby, Marines patrolled, keeping a close watch for troublemakers. Across islands, everyone seemed to be absorbed in the rhythm of their lives. The Marines worked to capture pirates, and the pirates went about their own affairs. In Marineford, a wanted poster marked for 25 million berries was casually taken down as a new name rose to infamy, another pirate making waves across the Grand Line. The Heart Pirates had earned a reputation, successfully slipping through the grasp of a rear admiral.
The bounty of their captain, Trafalgar Law, rose to a formidable 100 million berries. It was on this same day that the Heart Pirates chose to disband for a time, vowing to regroup after two years in a distant place they'd set aside. Across the sea, a young man in a red top hat made a fateful decision, pledging his loyalty to his father's rival.
The world kept moving forward, as it always did. Parents worked under the bright sun to feed their families, children played without a care, and everything seemed peacefully predictable. Yet, for those in positions of power, a sense of change lingered in the air. They didn't know when or how it would come, but they felt it—an impending shift so massive it would shake the entire world. So, they began to prepare, bracing for the inevitable, readying themselves for whatever might lie ahead.
And, on this perfectly normal day, somewhere far off, two giants faced each other once again in their age-old duel, as they had every day for a hundred years. It was just another perfectly normal day—until they felt it, deep in their bones, a presence coming from the distant edge of the island. A presence they hadn't felt for a very long time.
The presence of a King.