Mouad_ML

Five years before Monkey D. Luffy sets sail to become the King of the Pirates, another name stirs the seas with fear and ambition.

Born on the brutal Noctis Island, Raizen D. Crow witnessed firsthand the cruelty of a lawless world. While others dreamed of freedom, Raizen dreamed of domination. Armed with the forbidden Kuro Kuro no Mi — granting him the power to control living darkness — he vowed to unite the seas under a single iron rule.

Gathering a fleet of the most dangerous outcasts, assassins, and fallen marines, Raizen wages a silent war against the corrupt forces of the world. His mission is clear: seize the ancient weapons, crush the chaotic pirate era, and forge an empire where peace is enforced by absolute power.

As he clashes with rising heroes, secret government agents, and even future legends like a young Crocodile, Raizen’s ambition casts a long shadow across the seas — one that even the World Government cannot ignore.

But far away, a boy with a straw hat is preparing to set sail… and the age of dreams is about to challenge the age of control.

Before the dawn of a new era... there was a storm.

One Piece: Shadows Before Dawn

The throne was not what he imagined.

It wasn't gilded in celestial gold or suspended in light. It wasn't carved from the bones of gods or crowned by the stars. It was a ruin — fractured, splintered, broken. Stone cracked down the middle. Vines growing through the gaps. Dust coated every surface like forgotten time.

Not with power. Not anymore. But with memory — with the weight of what had once been and what could still become.

Raizen stood alone in the chamber of echoes. His crew had remained outside the threshold, sensing that whatever this moment was, it belonged to him alone.

Behind him, the war had ended. The gods were gone. The Celestial Court shattered. The Crown of Shadows unmade.

But ahead… lay something deeper. A confrontation not of sword or flame, but of self.

As he stepped toward the Hollow Throne, images flickered around him — phantoms of the past, woven into the air by the broken throne's lingering will. They whispered his journey, playing it back in broken shards:

A boy stealing bread in the slums of Windspire.A young fighter bleeding in the Ring of Iron.A captain standing tall beneath storm-torn sails.A friend holding a dying comrade's hand.A warrior screaming in the dark as gods bled from the sky.

And then… a king who never asked to wear a crown.

Raizen touched the throne's jagged edge.

The moment he made contact, the room vanished — consumed in white light.

He stood within a vision, vast and formless, a sea of stars and memory.

There, Raizen met not a god… but himself.

Not a previous life, but a mirror of who he could have become — or might still become — if he gave in to destiny's call. This Raizen wore a flawless crown and eyes like starlight. He looked regal. Calm. Omniscient.

"You could rebuild the world in perfect symmetry," the mirror-Raizen said. "Shape every kingdom into peace. Silence suffering. Rewrite death itself. You could be the shepherd of fate."

Raizen shook his head slowly. "I've seen what perfection demands. And what it destroys."

"You would let the world break again?" the other pressed. "Let war return? Let tyrants rise? Chaos flood the lands?"

"I would let it be free," Raizen replied. "Even if it means failure. Even if it means pain."

The mirror-Raizen's face began to crack — like glass under pressure. He snarled, not in rage, but in sorrow.

"You are the last hope of order."

Raizen stepped forward. "Then let order fall. Let choice rise."

With those words, the vision shattered.

Raizen was back in the ruined chamber.

The Hollow Throne — pulsing, waiting.

He could sit. Claim it. Restore its power.

He walked slowly from the dais, each footstep echoing like the fall of empires.

And then he did what no king, no god, no warlord had ever dared:

He walked away from the throne.

Refused it.Abandoned it.Broke the last chain of legacy.

The air shifted. The chamber groaned. And the Hollow Throne — long corrupted, long coveted — collapsed under its own emptiness.

Raizen stood among the ruins, eyes closed, the wind on his face.

Outside, Zuri approached. Kora and Jin followed, cautious but steady.

Raizen nodded. "There's nothing left to rule."

Raizen looked to the horizon. The sun had risen fully now. No more twilight. No more gods. No more shadows.

He smiled — not with triumph, but with peace.

And so ended the story of the Crown of Shadows.

But with the rejection of power — and the birth of a world no longer bound by fate.

…but by free souls walking toward the light.

END OF THE CHAPTER15

Chapter 15: The Broken Throne