Difference

The wind was gentle, the sun was bright, and the sea rolled in waves.

If not for the rather unsightly scrap metal littering the beach, this would have been a fine vacation spot.

After arriving, the Uchiha Clan first looked around cautiously to see whether there was any danger.

Then they immediately realized that they were already Lost Souls.

Whether there were living people here no longer mattered to them.

The living could not see Lost Souls.

Perhaps because this beach was a dump, there was not a single living person in sight.

"That building is so tall!"

"It has to be two or three hundred meters high, right?"

As the Uchiha Clan surveyed their surroundings, they turned around and looked behind them, unable to stop themselves from exclaiming in amazement.

A massive building sprawled across the island, towering high and occupying nearly half its space. Looking up at it from so close, they could not see its top at all.

Everyone found its presence incomparably grand.

Whether in the Ninja World or the Soul Society, it was difficult to find such a magnificent man-made structure.

"Let's go. We'll head to the top of this building first. The view should be wide open there."

Kenma headed toward the building.

Seeing this, the Uchiha Clan immediately followed behind him.

Shisui glanced at the enormous structure before him, then looked at Kenma and asked, "My lord, could the purpose of our trip... be similar to what happened to our Uchiha Clan that night?"

Fugaku cast a slight sidelong glance and sighed inwardly.

It seems my lord is going to recruit new subordinates.

Then the importance of us Uchiha to my lord will be greatly diminished as well...

"More or less."

Kenma knew they had questions. After organizing his thoughts, he spoke as they walked.

"Shisui, I remember telling you that this world is covered in seas, with pirates running rampant, right?"

"Yes, my lord did mention it."

"Since pirates are rampant, naturally there are Marines who eliminate pirates."

Kenma pointed at the building ahead.

"This island is the headquarters of all the Marines in this world. It is called Marineford."

"This building is the Marine Headquarters base."

Shisui pondered for a moment, then frowned.

"My lord said that in this world, both pirates and Marines have many powerful figures, some of whom are not much weaker than the Five Kage of the Ninja World."

"Since this is Marine Headquarters, it must be filled with powerful people... Yet my lord intends to gather Lost Souls here. Could it be that an incident similar to the Uchiha Clan Massacre happened here as well?"

As soon as he said that, Fugaku and the dozen or so Uchiha guards following behind them all changed expression, their faces turning extremely unpleasant.

The Uchiha Clan, the strongest clan in the Ninja World, had not died on the battlefield. Instead, they had died at the hands of comrades who had gone through life and death with them. To the proud Uchiha, that was an utterly humiliating irony.

Could such a ridiculous and absurd thing happen again in another world?

Hearing Shisui's analysis, Kenma smiled inwardly.

"It isn't what you think. I came here because a war is about to break out."

"One hundred thousand marine elite against a Pirate fleet of thirty or forty thousand. The scale of this war is no small matter."

Fugaku was startled, and an absurd feeling rose in his heart.

War was commonplace in a Ninja's life, so that itself was nothing unusual.

It was simply that the location of this decisive battle was far too strange.

He had never expected a war against pirates to break out at Marine Headquarters itself.

To Fugaku, it was like a great war erupting in the Ninja World, only for the battlefield to be Konoha.

Or like a massive war against Hollows breaking out in Seireitei, the very heart of the Soul Society.

When even the base had been attacked, it was the most critical moment for any force.

It was not only Fugaku. Shisui and even the other Uchiha clansmen had thought of the same thing.

Shisui hurriedly asked, "Could it be that the Marines in this world have already reached such a dire point of survival?"

Fugaku looked puzzled as he asked as well, "But judging from their numbers, the Marines have one hundred thousand elites, clearly more than twice the pirates' thirty or forty thousand. How could such a crisis arise?"

Kenma turned his face slightly, taking in the expressions on both their faces from the corner of his eye.

After hearing their questions, he immediately understood where their surprise lay.

Clearly, Fugaku and Shisui were thinking according to conventional logic. They had gotten the wrong idea.

He shook his head and explained to the Uchiha Clan, "It differs somewhat from what you think. This is not a crisis, but a deliberate plan by the Marines."

"A deliberate plan?"

Shisui and Fugaku exchanged a glance, and both showed a trace of confusion.

What exactly were the Marines trying to achieve by doing this?

They were even willing to use their critically important headquarters base as a battlefield.

Kenma continued, "There are four pirates in this world who stand at its very peak, ruling the seas like emperors. Thus, people call them the Four Emperors."

"Among the Four Emperors is a Pirate known as the strongest man in the world, Whitebeard. He has a hobby of taking people in as his adopted sons."

"The Marines happened to capture one of Whitebeard's sons, so they decided to hold a Public Execution. The Execution Platform is here in Marineford."

"To save this son, Whitebeard will inevitably wage a great war against Marine Headquarters, which has gathered the elites of the Four Seas."

"According to the information I received, the war will begin within the next couple of days."

Kenma had come to this world before and had long since planned the timing.

It was because of this Summit War that he had come to Marineford at this time.

Once the war began, there would be countless casualties.

Among the dead, there might be Lost Souls qualified to become Shinigami.

Even if there were no Lost Souls with sufficient aptitude, the two people who would die on the battlefield alone were enough to make Kenma come personally.

Whitebeard and Ace!

After hearing Kenma's introduction, Shisui revealed a thoughtful expression.

Even so, he still could not understand the reason for using the headquarters base as a battlefield.

If war broke out at headquarters, how much political turmoil would it cause?

Military morale and public opinion—how much harm would those things cause?

Even if it was to lure the enemy in deep, could they not choose another place, somewhere less important?

Shisui shook his head in confusion.

Perhaps this was the difference in thinking between people of maritime powers and land powers, or perhaps it was simply the difference between two worlds.

Fugaku thought even further ahead and sighed. "No matter the world, war is inescapable."

Even after death, they could not escape conflict and slaughter.

Perhaps that was the nature of humanity and all living things.

Following Kenma, the group soon left the beach and arrived before the building.

Beneath this enormous structure was actually a town where people lived.

Because war was about to arrive, no ordinary people could be seen in the town. There were only marine soldiers standing guard and patrolling.

Kenma's group openly passed through one squad after another of patrolling soldiers.

Yet despite so many people walking past them, the soldiers neither saw nor heard them, continuing to carry out their duties as usual.

"Whoa, these people really can't see us."

"Looks like we... really are dead."

Even when they passed soldiers standing guard, some Uchiha waved their hands less than ten centimeters in front of the soldiers' faces. The soldiers remained completely oblivious, unable to see them even from so close.

This made the Uchiha clansmen sigh one after another.

Only by personally experiencing this profoundly strange scene did they truly understand what it felt like to be Lost Souls.

Life in the Soul Society had been no different from normal. They still drank, ate, and made love as usual, and such daily routines had constantly dulled their nerves and thoughts.

Only now could they personally feel just how vast the difference between life and death truly was.