Sea Star Homeworld, Mary Geoise.
"Whew—"
"It's time!"
Within the Figarland Family district of the Land of the Gods.
Inside a luxurious villa with an estate covered in sprawling greenery.
A red-haired young man nearly two meters tall rested a hand on the pommel of the long sword at his waist.
His sharp eyes gazed through the enormous floor-to-ceiling window at the azure sky outside.
He was a former apprentice of the Roger Pirates.
Shanks.
Figarland Shanks!
He had already lived here for five years and had just turned twenty this year.
At first, Mihawk would occasionally come over to spar with him in swordsmanship.
But ever since Mihawk had been ordered to the Wano Country of those days, he had never returned.
So Shanks could only face those excessively respectful butlers and servants every day.
As well as the Celestial Dragons, whose every gesture and word filled him with heartfelt disgust.
At the beginning, he had been in unbearable pain and had even tried to escape.
But each time, he had been brought back by the outer guardians—the knights of the Holy Land Garrison and the black-clad men of Cipher Pol-5.
For a time, this had filled him with despair.
But Shanks was Shanks, after all.
His experiences traveling the Four Seas with the Roger Pirates had kept temporary despair from crushing him.
He began forcing himself to adapt to this place while thinking of ways to leave it.
Shanks believed that he was too young and too weak, making it impossible for him to escape no matter what.
So even after Mihawk stopped coming.
He continued training desperately in swordsmanship and Physical Arts within the estate, rain or shine.
He paid no heed to the strange looks around him, or even the mockery and ridicule from some Celestial