The crew: "???"
Luffy panted heavily. "It'd be a shame if someone that strong died."
"Don't be ridiculous!"
Nami exclaimed. "He's the legendary pirate, Golden Lion!"
From the look of things, Luffy genuinely seemed to want to invite Shiki to join their crew.
"I'm not joking."
What Luffy really wanted to say was that he'd enjoyed that fight with Shiki—it carried the same pure exhilaration as those childhood battles with Ace and Sabo on Mt. Colubo.
For a fighter who had pushed him to his absolute limits like that, meeting his end here would truly be a pity.
Suddenly, a flash of crimson flickered in his eyes. Even in his severely wounded state, his powerful Kenbunshoku Haki still caught a subtle shift in the distant sky.
He stared at that patch of sky, frowning in confusion. "That's weird... someone took him."
A presence had appeared.
And then, together with Shiki's presence, it vanished.
"Is there another enemy?!"
Nami and the others tensed up immediately, quickly calling for everyone to prepare for departure.
Luffy was gravely wounded. Zoro, Sanji, and the others had also expended considerable energy. They were in no condition to fight.
Besides, the battle between Luffy and Shiki had left the surrounding climate in utter chaos.
Energy currents, thunderstorms, hurricanes—all raged unchecked. One wrong move and they'd be swept away, leaving no trace behind.
Luffy's stamina was also depleted. He could only lie there and watch the others scramble.
"Vivi, Merry—let's get back to the sea. Get us out of this airspace!" Nami commanded decisively.
Not long earlier.
When Luffy's final Raijin Hakoku clashed with Shiki's Realm of Emptiness: Demise, Shiki's stamina had been utterly drained. Nothing remained.
His body was hurled away by the explosion's shockwave. The ship's wheel lodged in his head seemed to groan under the strain. His consciousness rapidly faded.
Defeated?
...I suppose so.
How infuriating.
"Tch... if only I were a few years younger!"
Shiki bared his teeth in a fierce grin. "Fine. At least now I can say I only lost to time."
The Straw Hat brat had comrades willing to risk their lives to retrieve him. But his own so-called subordinates under Shiki—in the wake of such a cataclysmic clash—could barely save themselves, let alone muster the ability or the loyalty to risk their lives for him.
His strength was spent. He didn't even have the basic energy left to maintain his own buoyancy with the Fuwa Fuwa no Mi.
As his consciousness blurred, Shiki felt himself falling alongside the crumbling island fragments—down toward the endless sea, that graveyard of Devil Fruit users.
Dying from the fall, or drowning in the sea.
Was this the final destination of Golden Lion Shiki, the Flying Pirate?
What an undignified end.
But just as he was about to lose consciousness entirely, a massive figure appeared on his downward trajectory like a phantom—silent, imposing.
The figure was unnaturally tall, wearing a hooded robe reminiscent of a missionary. In its hands, it seemed to hold a thick book.
"If you were to go on a journey, where would you go?"
The newcomer's voice was deep and steady, as if inquiring of a wayward traveler.
Shiki's fading gaze struggled to focus. Recognizing the face before him, he tried to grin, but only managed to spit out a mouthful of blood foam.
His voice was weak, yet still carried that legendary defiance:
"So it's you...the brat from God Valley!"
Before the words had fully faded, Shiki's battered body along with several large island fragments near him—vanished from where they had been, as if they had never existed.
The tall figure was Bartholomew Kuma!
He looked up calmly, his gaze beneath the hood traveling across the distance to the Thousand Sunny, which was struggling to escape this airspace.
"Mr. Dragon... he's reached this level already? As expected of your child."
Kuma's gaze lingered for a moment, then his figure slowly dissolved into the air like a fading mirage.
Soon after.
Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
In Fleet Admiral Sengoku's office, a Den Den Mushi rang urgently.
Sengoku picked up the receiver. As he listened to the report, his expression shifted from grave to stunned, finally settling into a long, weary sigh.
"I understand. Confirm the identity. Re-imprison Golden Lion Shiki in Impel Down, Level Six. Prepare a report for the World Government and arrange for a press release at an appropriate time."
He issued the orders in a measured tone. After setting down the Den Den Mushi, he massaged his temples with a pained expression, unable to suppress a sigh.
"What could trouble our great strategist Fleet Admiral so much?"
Vice Admiral Tsuru, carrying a cup of hot tea, entered through the doorway. She spoke calmly, "You're about to retire. What's with the sighing?"
"I am still the Fleet Admiral!"
Sengoku snapped back irritably. After a moment of silence, he continued, "Intelligence just came in. Golden Lion Shiki has been defeated."
Tsuru's hand paused slightly as she held her tea. "Who did it?"
"The one who defeated Shiki was Straw Hat Luffy—Monkey D. Luffy."
Sengoku's jaw tightened as he spoke the name. "And the one who delivered him back to Impel Down was the Seven Warlord of the Sea, Bartholomew Kuma—the Tyrant."
Tsuru was silent for a moment. She set her teacup down gently and let out a sigh of her own.
"Kuma and Straw Hat... it seems Garp's grandson truly is going to cement his position as the Fifth Emperor of the Sea."
"Regardless, having Shiki—that major threat—back behind bars is ultimately a good thing." Sengoku leaned back in his chair, gazing out the window at the harbor below, a symbol of absolute justice. "Otherwise, we wouldn't have any spare resources to deal with that damned old man right now."
"Indeed."
Tsuru turned as well, looking through the window at the vast, deep blue sea, her gaze seeming to pierce through to the turbulent undercurrents of the New World. "Storms are gathering. Besides Shiki, Impel Down may soon be receiving other guests, I suspect. What will happen to Garp then?"
Silence filled the office.
The two elderly leaders of the Marines exchanged glances, both seeing the same unease about the future reflected in each other's eyes.
Meanwhile.
The Great Underwater Prison.
Impel Down.
Within its walls were the most heinous criminals—those whose names had shaken the world, whose infamy could silence crying children.
A figure had appeared abruptly within Impel Down, triggering an immediate high-level security alert.
The only way to reach Impel Down was through the Gates of Justice—yet this person had appeared without them ever opening.
The guards on duty, upon recognizing Golden Lion, went straight to maximum alert. They feared the legend who had successfully escaped twenty years prior had returned for another assault.
But by the time Warden Magellan arrived, he found Shiki in a state little better than a puddle of flesh—barely conscious.
He had been through a major battle.
And he had lost.
"Golden Lion Shiki. You've finally returned."
Magellan stood nearly five meters tall, with demonic wing-like decorations on his back and horns on his head. Dressed in his black warden's uniform, his expression was severe, carrying an innate authority.
He stared down at the legendary pirate who had once brought shame upon Impel Down, his voice low and commanding:
"You won't escape this time."
"Jihahaha..." Shiki seemed to regain a sliver of awareness. "It's been a while, Magellan brat. You're the warden now?"
Even reduced to this state, the dominance of a king had not left him.
"Naturally."
Magellan glanced at Shiki's pitiful state, then remarked with a hint of emotion, "It seems you've grown old after all."
"I have to admit it now. You people were right."
Shiki's voice came in fragments. "The circumstances I wanted to meet you under... these aren't them."
Shiki was bitter.
His ambition, his IQ Project, his dream of ruling the world once more—all had been crushed by some rookie wearing a straw hat.
He had wanted to break into Impel Down.
Not be delivered here.
"Who did this to you?" Magellan asked gravely.
It was a routine inquiry, but there was also a glimmer of curiosity. Whoever had wounded Shiki to this extent—nearly crippling his fighting ability entirely—was no ordinary fighter.
Shiki's grin faltered.
The look of bitter resentment was written plainly across his face.
"That damned Garp's grandson! It's infuriating! My whole life, I've been brought down by that family! And that bastard Kuma—out of all the places he could have sent me, he sent me back to Impel Down? Has he become the World Government's lapdog now?!"
Shiki ranted and cursed.
He'd even have accepted being sent to Hachinosu.
Or to Kaido or Linlin in the New World, for that matter.
Even a Yonko would have owed him some respect—mostly the connections from his Rocks days. But any other pirate he encountered would likely just finish him off.
From his tirade, Magellan quickly extracted the key information.
Garp's grandson and the Seven Warlord of the Sea, Kuma the Tyrant.
So it was Kuma's ability?
The ability to bypass the Gates of Justice... that will need to be guarded against.
Even if Kuma was a Warlord of the Sea, Magellan would treat any threat to Impel Down with the utmost caution.
"We'll follow procedure. You should be familiar with it by now," Magellan said flatly.
He would, of course, report these details to Marine Headquarters.
Then, he personally oversaw the transfer, escorting Shiki to the deepest depths of Level Six, Infinite Hell.
Even with Shiki gravely wounded, Magellan would not allow himself to underestimate the situation.
Impel Down was called an iron fortress, boasting that no prisoner had ever escaped. But the reality wasn't quite so absolute.
Twenty years ago, when he was still the vice warden, it was this very man before him—
Golden Lion Shiki, who had severed his own legs in a desperate act, became the first and only successful escapee in Impel Down's history.
It was the greatest shame Impel Down had ever known.
But aside from Shiki, no one had ever escaped from here.
Especially since Magellan had become warden—escape was not even a possibility. Even large-scale riots were a distant hope.
Because he was the strongest man in this prison. The absolute force of Impel Down, one of the three great institutions of the World Government.
***
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