There were many names that rang across the seas. Shanks, the Red-Haired Yonko; and Shamrock, the Celestial Dragon. Few knew their long, bitter history—fewer still knew that it was not a story of camaraderie, but of rivalry and humiliation.
Twelve Years Ago The New World
It was Shamrock's first official deployment as a God's Knight Commander. The Five Elders, ever wary of the growing power of the Yonko, had ordered him to confront Red Hair Shanks, a Yonko who had, by then, firmly cemented his authority in the New World.
Shamrock arrived in grandeur, aboard ships gilded with the banners of Mary Geoise, escorted by elite soldiers and two other God's Knights.
He left in silence.
His fleet was reduced to driftwood.
The Red Hair Pirates did not kill him, Shanks let him leave. That mercy cut deeper than any sword.
Eight Years Ago Near the Ruins of Thriller Bark
He tried again.
Shamrock had grown stronger. He wielded Cerberus by then, a blade that was enhanced via Vegapunk's technology. The blade was infused with a mythical devil fruit. Dog dog fruit model Cerberus. It could either be the sharpest sword in his hand or instantly become a loyal three-headed guard dog burning with hell flames. His Conqueror's Haki had matured to a level where even seasoned Vice Admirals would fall unconscious in his presence.
But Shanks… was Shanks.
Their Haki clashed for an entire day, splitting the skies and reducing islands to dust. Mountains were flattened. The sea boiled. Dozens of Shamrock's elite were turned to ash in the collateral shockwaves.
In the end, Shamrock was once again defeated.
Four Years Ago Uncharted Territory, South of Wano
The third attempt.
This time, the confrontation never escalated. As Shamrock prepared to strike, his father Figarland Garling sent orders from Mary Geoise to abort the mission.
The cost of another loss, political and personal, was too great.
That order wounded Shamrock more than Shanks ever had.
According to the fate laid out in the original story, Shamrock would be defeated by Shanks a final time during the fall of Mary Geoise. Stripped of his rank, his sword, and his dignity, he would be abandoned by the Five Elders, deemed a failed weapon.
Even his father, Garling, would disown him publicly, shattering what little pride remained.
Shamrock would die days later, wounded and hunted, collapsing in a stinking ditch behind a brothel in a lawless port.
His body was never recovered.
A warrior born of heaven, dead in filth.
Now — Aboard the Flagship, Cerberus in Hand
Shamrock stood at the prow, the night wind cold on his face. Lightning rolled across the sea behind him, crackling over shattered remnants of ships still drifting from the recent battle.
He whispered to the wind.
"You were supposed to win, weren't you? Shanks. The Hero. The Peerless Yonko."
He raised Cerberus. The blade hummed—not with hunger, but satisfaction.
"But I rewrote the tale."
[System Entry: "Paradox Override — Historical Fate Denied"] [Achievement Unlocked: 'Red Star Erased']
For the first time in his life, Shamrock had defied prophecy.
He had killed the man fated to defeat him.