Meanwhile, Shanks...
Although he was in the Calm Belt, isolated from the world and cut off from news...
Sanji, Usopp, and the others had chosen to stay rather than leave, accompanying him and Luffy through their special training, so the news reached him almost immediately.
When he received the news, Shanks said nothing.
He simply walked to the shore alone in silence and sat there, motionless.
The waves struck the reefs over and over, their sound monotonous and eternal.
The sea breeze stirred his signature red hair and his black coat.
He sat there blankly, gazing out at the windless sea stretching endlessly before him, and remained there for an entire day.
From sunrise to sunset.
From day to night.
No one knew how many thoughts had surged through Shanks's mind during that long, lonely day.
No one knew whether he was grieving his lost companions, wavering over his choices, or feeling profoundly lost on a path that grew narrower and lonelier with every step.
He had once had a band of brothers who shared life and death with him, men who trusted one another completely.
Beckman, Lucky Roux, Yasopp... Ben Beckman, Snake...
But now, some had died in battle, and others had left.
Even though he knew in his heart that Lucky Roux and the others had not truly betrayed him.
Ever since his last conversation with Beckman, he had known the man had changed.
The Beckman he saw then no longer yearned for freedom. All that remained in his heart was the deathly stillness of resignation.
Perhaps having Beckman and the others in the World Government would give him somewhere to retreat to in the future.
But what did that amount to?
A fallback?
Did he need one?
He had been born with the surname Figarland, a member