Akainu no longer had any chance to wait or prepare. All he knew was that he had to put everything he had into every attack from now on.
Ever since Shane returned from the City of Heaven, countless people had wondered whether he was still the same man who had fallen asleep thirty-five years ago.
Blackbeard had doubted him, and Robin had questioned him too.
Akainu had worried as well. He always remembered how Shane had walked alone in that era.
To carry out his will and change the age-old world, Shane would grow stronger through one pursuit after another, until he became King of the World.
Just when everyone thought Shane would reign above Mary Geoise as a god, he had instead chosen to sleep.
Some said Shane had been so weakened at the time that he needed to recover, while others believed he intended to seize Imu's power and gain further control over the world.
But Akainu felt that whatever will a person sought to uphold, whether justice or freedom, all that mattered was seeing it through to the end.
Before awakening, Shane could have been called a lone wanderer his entire life.
Now.
Akainu could no longer be certain whether the Shane of old still existed.
He had spent half his life watching the world change, watching generation after generation fall into depravity. Even his former teachers and friends had ultimately taken opposing paths, while he alone still shouldered the word "justice."
"The man I've always believed in and followed is the one who single-handedly stopped the Five Elders at Marineford over thirty years ago."
"He was so alone back then. Almost miraculously, he defeated every powerful fighter in the world at the time. Neither pirates nor Marines could match him."
"In private, we called Shane the