š„ Shanks vs Gildarts ā "When Kings Collide"
š Prologue: The Island That Shouldn't Exist
Deep within the Grand Lineā¦ where even Log Poses refuse to pointā¦
An island drifts.
Not metaphorically.
Literally.
Chunks of land float in the air like broken glass, orbiting a massive central plateau. The sea below spirals in unnatural currents.
This place has a name whispered by those who've seen it:
"Godfall."
And todayā¦
Two monsters arrive.
A red-haired man steps off a small boat, coat swaying.
Shanks
No crew. No fleet.
Just him.
From the opposite sideā
A tall man walks casually through falling debris, hands in pockets, like gravity is just a suggestion.
Gildarts Clive
They stop.
No introductions.
No speeches.
Just a look.
And the air tightens.
A leaf falls between them.
Before it touches the groundā
BOOM.
They're gone.
The collision happens mid-airā
Sword meets fist.
No contact.
Yet the entire island screams.
A shockwave erupts outward, blasting apart floating landmasses.
The sea below splits for miles.
Gildarts lands first, sliding back slightly.
Shanks lands softly.
Both smiling.
Gildarts: "Not bad for a one-armed guy."
Shanks: "Not bad for a guy who looks lost."
They vanish again.
Shanks appears aboveā
DIVINE DEPARTURE
His blade, Gryphon, glows with advanced Conqueror's Haki.
The slash doesn't travel like a normal attackā
It dominates the space ahead of it.
Everything in its path bowsā¦ then breaks.
Gildarts raises one hand.
"Crash."
The slash hitsā
āand shatters.
Not deflected.
Not blocked.
Broken into pieces of nothing.
Butā
For the first timeā
Gildarts' feet dig into the ground.
"Yeahā¦ you're different."
Shanks exhales slowly.
His Observation Haki expandsā
Future sight.
The battlefield slows.
He sees itā
Every movement Gildarts will make.
Every crack in space before it happens.
Gildarts steps forwardā
ābut Shanks is already behind him.
Blade swingsā
CRACK.
Shanks freezes.
His bodyā
splits into fragments.
An illusion?
No.
His position itself was broken.
Gildarts stands where Shanks was supposed to be.
"You're not the only one who reads ahead."
The sky darkens.
Wind stops.
Sound fades.
Shanks lifts his head.
CONQUEROR'S HAKI.
It erupts like a storm.
Black lightning tears through the heavens.
The sky splits open.
Half the floating islands collapse instantly.
Even the sea below trembles like it's alive.
Gildartsā¦
pauses.
Not out of fearā
but recognition.
"That's not powerā¦"
"That's authority."
For the first timeā
Gildarts takes a stance.
Gildarts claps his hands once.
FULL POWER: CRASH.
The world breaks.
Not metaphorically.
Literally.
Space fractures like glass.
Gravity shatters.
Even light bends unnaturally.
Shanks charges forwardā
each step cracking reality beneath him.
They meetā
Sword vs both hands.
BOOOOOOM.
Everything within milesā
gone.
The battlefield is no longer an island.
It's debris.
Floating chaos.
Fragments of earth suspended in a void of shattered air.
Shanks stands on a broken slab of land.
Bleeding slightly now.
Still smiling.
Gildarts floats nearby, coat torn.
Laughing.
Gildarts: "Manā¦ this is fun."
Shanks: "Yeahā¦ been a while."
They disappear again.
This timeā
No wasted movement.
No testing.
Every strike from Shanks carries Conqueror's coatingā
Attacks that don't need to touch to destroy.
Every counter from Gildartsā
erases structure itself.
A slash that splits clouds?
CRASHED.
A punch that shatters dimensions?
DODGED.
A kick that bends space?
COUNTERED.
They adapt.
Faster.
Sharper.
Deadlier.
Shanks closes his eyes.
Everything goes quiet.
When they openā
His Haki spikes to a new level.
Even the air refuses to approach him.
Gildarts grins wider.
"There it is."
Shanks vanishesā
reappears instantly in front of himā
ONE STRIKE.
A slash so condensed, so absoluteā
it feels like the world itself is being cut.
Gildarts reactsā
hands forwardā
MAXIMUM CRASH.
The two forces collide.
For a momentā
Nothing exists.
ā¦Sound returns slowly.
The ocean crashes back together.
Fragments of land fall like rain.
In the centerā
two figures stand.
Shanksā¦ breathing heavier.
Blood running down his arm.
Gildartsā¦ slightly hunched.
Laughing through it.
They stare at each other.
Thenā
Gildarts drops his hands.
"Yeahā¦ if we keep going, there won't be an island left."
Shanks smirks.
"Wouldn't be much fun after that."
They turn.
Walk away.
No winner.
No loser.
Just two legendsā¦
who found someone that could match them.