Marine Headquarters, outer defense perimeter.
Beneath the gloom of a dark, oppressive sky, a man with wild golden hair like a lion stood high above in the heavens.
Look closely, and you'd see—
The so-called "clouds" above weren't clouds at all, but shadows cast by countless floating objects.
Jagged boulders.
Massive spheres of seawater.
Scraps of iron and twisted steel.
Shattered ships—and even a whole island!
Everything hovered weightlessly in the air, as if gravity had been turned off.
Blotting out the sky.
And the man responsible...
Was none other than the Golden Lion.
A Paramecia-type Devil Fruit user, master of the Float-Float Fruit.
A man who stood on equal footing with Whitebeard—one who could bring about natural disasters at will!
"I can't believe it—I won't believe it! Roger, a man like you… giving up your life!?"
"Damn you, Roger! How could you surrender!?"
"Didn't you say… the Pirate King is the freest man on the sea!?"
"...If you surrender, then what freedom is left!?"
What started as muttered disbelief exploded into a roar of raw fury.
The Golden Lion raged like a madman, veins bulging on his face.
Once again, he bellowed that man's name:
"Gol D. Roger!!"
...
On the nearby coast, Garp had just arrived.
He heard the furious cries from the sky above and his expression darkened.
"Shiki! You damn pirate! Roger's already turned himself in—why aren't you off claiming territory somewhere? Why are you here at Marine Headquarters going crazy instead?"
"Garp?"
Golden Lion Shiki seemed to only just register Garp's voice after all his screaming.
It wasn't that he underestimated Garp—he just had all his focus locked on maintaining control of his Devil Fruit powers.
Behind him, the "ammo" he had gathered using the Float-Float Fruit was already approaching the limits of what he could handle.
"Perfect timing! Try and stop me if you dare! Hahahahaha!" Shiki burst into wild laughter. "Just a pitiful Marine Headquarters! Today I'll bury this island as a tribute to Gol D. Roger!"
With that, Shiki drew the two swords at his waist.
He crossed his arms, then dove from the sky like a meteor!
"Wave Slash!"
Two devastating aerial slashes tore through the sea, heading straight for Garp.
At the same time, all the floating objects began launching like cannonballs toward Marine Headquarters.
Garp exhaled deeply.
This was the Golden Lion Shiki at full power—peak Shiki.
One of the most dangerous men on the entire sea.
Garp wasn't afraid of him. But...
Behind him were Marine Headquarters, and countless soldiers and civilians who weren't strong enough to protect themselves.
There was no time to think.
The flying slashes were already upon him.
Just punch first!
Ask questions while punching!
In an instant, black Armament Haki surged over both his arms.
He leapt forward, smashing apart the two slashes with nothing more than ordinary punches.
But as he looked up, he saw the rain of debris—falling like a meteor shower—hurtling down toward Marine Headquarters.
"Damn it!"
He cursed and leapt into the air without hesitation. Armament Haki compressed, stored, and—
A streak of black lightning tore through the sky!
A single punch. The sheer force blasted out an enormous shockwave!
Wherever it struck, the rocks and metal Shiki had weaponized were pulverized into dust.
But... it wasn't enough!
Seeing Garp go all out, Shiki stopped holding back.
That earlier barrage? Barely a tenth of his ammunition.
Now, he unleashed everything floating behind him—pouring it all down on Marine Headquarters!
In an instant… it was like a calamity from the heavens.
"Shiki! You really want to die together with Marine Headquarters!?" Garp shouted through clenched teeth. "Maybe I can't stop your attack completely, but I'll still—"
"Kill you!!"
As he yelled, another Galaxy Impact launched into the air!
But it wasn't aimed at Shiki.
It was aimed at the sky—trying to reduce the force of the incoming bombardment.
"Shock of the Buddha!"
Garp turned his head as a massive golden shockwave swept over him.
It cleared a vacuum through the sky.
It was Sengoku, who had just arrived and activated his Buddha form without delay.
Together, Garp and Sengoku unleashed two massive AOE attacks.
The floating stones and steel were shattered and dropped harmlessly into the sea.
But...
It wasn't enough.
The most destructive part of the payload remained—
Seawater.
A massive volume of it.
Rushing down on Marine Headquarters.
The impact would be like a colossal tsunami.
Sengoku's face turned green.
There was no time to fire off another Shock of the Buddha.
He could only watch as the facilities of Marine Headquarters were about to be swallowed whole by the flood.
The buildings? Secondary.
Inside those buildings were countless people who hadn't had time to evacuate.
The death toll would be unimaginable.
But just then, a figure with brilliant white wings streaked down like lightning from the sky!
"Holy shit!"
"Garp, old man! Sengoku-san! What the hell is going on here!?"
"This is insane! I'm starting to regret coming to help!"
Sengoku was stunned.
Michael had appeared—right between Marine Headquarters and the oncoming flood!
"Mi-Michael! What are you doing!? Why aren't you running!? This isn't your fight!"
"Cut the crap, old man!" Michael snapped, baring his teeth. "They're tearing my house down! If I could just sit back and take it, I'd be a goddamn turtle!"
As he spoke, countless white holy flames began to spread outward from his body.
Maybe it was his mood, but the flames—normally pure and cleansing—were flickering violently, tinged faintly red.
The holy flames quickly multiplied, expanding in all directions, then transformed under Michael's control into massive circular shields.
They rose up between Marine Headquarters and the devastating wall of seawater.
As soon as the seawater touched the flames, thick white steam erupted.
Holy flames incinerated all—whether combustible or not.
Mere seawater wasn't worth mentioning.
But…
"Isn't this way too much water!?"
"Is Shiki trying to flood the whole damn Navy!?"
Michael had to stay within the shield formation and maintain full output.
This kind of overloaded holy flame output placed a massive drain on his stamina.
Even with near-infinite reserves, he was beginning to feel fatigued.
And inside that seawater—
Were more than a dozen sailing ships!
Riding the surge, they smashed through two layers of holy flame shields!
Though they took serious damage, they still kept coming.
The rest of the ships and seawater slammed violently into the final layer of shields.
"Hisssshh!!"
The sounds of steam and fire filled the air.
An overwhelming cloud of vapor blanketed all of Marine Headquarters...
But as the saying goes—
Where there's smoke, there's no fire.
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