"Quiet down, you brats!"
Shiki's overwhelming sword aura erupted, sending cracks snaking through the stone slabs of the city walls. Floating proudly high in the air, he called out, "Go get that little brat Kaido out here! I've got a few things I want to talk to him about!"
Long before Roger rose to become the Pirate King, Shiki the Golden Lion was a figure far more ferocious and fearsome than Roger, and his name was known across every corner of the world even more widely. The only reason he never achieved his greatest ambitions was simply that his strength alone was not enough to make them a reality.
On top of that, his luck was truly abysmal!
But most importantly, his abilities were something to be feared. With a fleet numbering tens of thousands, he could appear and vanish without a trace, conceal his entire crew within the clouds, and travel anywhere he pleased without anyone ever knowing where he might strike next.
However, as Banilla Island now served as the main headquarters of the Kaido Pirates, it was naturally under constant surveillance by both the World Government and the Navy.
And given just how dramatically Shiki had made his entrance, he had been spotted immediately by government agents, who quickly reported the incident straight up the chain of command.
"C-Captain Kaido… he isn't on the island right now!" one of Kaido's subordinates shouted, gathering every ounce of courage he possessed to speak directly to the Golden Lion.
"Is that so…?"
Shiki dragged out his words with a low hum, before suddenly dropping down to hover just above the ground and pressing his palm flat against the surface of the city wall.
BOOM!
With a simple upward flick of his fingers, the hundreds-of-metres-long wall suddenly lifted completely off the ground and rose high into the air. Countless members of the Kaido Pirates who had been standing atop it were sent tumbling down in the chaos.
As if the stonework itself had suddenly come alive, the wall twisted and folded, reshaping itself into countless massive lion heads. Each one bared its fangs with a ferocious, murderous glare, and with earth-shaking roars, they charged straight toward the heart of the city.
The air was filled with the deafening sound of destruction, mixed with Shiki's wild, triumphant laughter. "Gahahahahaha! If you don't want every last one of you to be slaughtered, you'd better tell that good-for-nothing Kaido to get his arse back here! I'm waiting for him to come out and fight me one on one!"
At this point in time, the Kaido Pirates were still in the early stages of their rise to power, far from the vast, formidable organisation they would one day become. Faced with Shiki's overwhelming power, the battle had already turned completely one-sided, even before the rest of the Golden Lion Pirates had even joined the fray.
As everyone watched the roaring stone lions rampage through the streets, a towering figure with disproportionately short legs suddenly came charging out from the ruins deep within the city. He wore a cap shaped like a buffalo's horns, a heavy iron mask covering his face, and a pair of large tusks hung around his neck.
"Shiki… let Jack be the first to entertain you for a while!"
---
"Shiki has declared war on Kaido?!"
Sengoku was sitting in his office when the news came through the Den Den Mushi, and he immediately spat out the mouthful of tea he had just been drinking.
He quickly grabbed a handful of paper towels to wipe his mouth, and shot a sharp glance at Garp, who had turned up unannounced and was currently helping himself to the senbei rice crackers left on his desk. Sengoku spoke in a serious tone as he addressed the snail transmitter. "Are you absolutely certain of this information?"
"Yes! We observed it from the surrounding waters. Massive stone lions and intense sword energy appeared above Banilla Island—those are signature techniques that only the Golden Lion is capable of using!"
The Den Den Mushi on the desk replied with an equally solemn expression. "Admiral Sengoku, what orders should we give now…?"
"Hold your position and do nothing. Don't forget the orders issued by the Government just a short while ago!"
Sengoku wiped the last traces of tea from his chin and continued, "This is actually perfect. Let these two great pirates tear into each other. For now, all we need to do is wait and see how the battle unfolds, and we can decide our next move once we know the outcome!"
"Understood. Our observation units will continue to monitor the entire battle closely and report back with every development!"
Click. The Den Den Mushi closed its eyes and went silent.
"That old rascal Shiki… he's still as energetic and full of life as ever!" Garp said, crunching on a senbei cracker as he walked over to Sengoku's desk. "Whitebeard has been keeping quiet and behaving himself a lot lately. At this point, he's pretty much the only one left among the old generation of pirates who still has this much fire and fight left in him!"
"Garp! Those are my senbei crackers! Get out of my office right now!" Sengoku shouted angrily, pointing straight at the door.
---
Two days later, Banilla Island—formerly the main base of the Kaido Pirates, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say, the former base of the Kaido Pirates.
The entire island had been reduced to nothing but ruins, and the flag of the Golden Lion Pirates now fluttered proudly above what remained of the city. The Drought, Jack, lay sprawled out on the ground, remaining perfectly still and pretending to be dead.
Grimm sat perched on top of a pile of rubble, reading the latest newspaper.
> The Kaido Pirates' main base, Banilla Island, was raided and attacked by the Golden Lion Pirates. The battle was brought to an end within three hours. With Captain Kaido absent from the island, Shiki the Golden Lion held an overwhelming advantage. The fate of the Kaido Pirates' top commander, the Drought Jack, remains unknown—he may be either dead or gravely wounded.
"Kaido is definitely going to come charging here at full speed the moment he hears this news," Grimm said to himself.
He turned the page of the newspaper, and at that exact moment, he noticed several thick ropes being thrown over the battlements of the city wall some distance away. Dozens of Kaido Pirates officers had been tied up and strung up along the ropes, hanging suspended in mid-air more than ten metres above the ground.
These men were all high-ranking commanders of the Kaido Pirates, aside from Jack himself, and right now they were being brutally tormented and humiliated by the crew of the Golden Lion Pirates.
"Hyahaha! And here I thought the commanders of the great Kaido Pirates would be something special—turns out you're all just as weak and pathetic as everyone else!"
Members of the Golden Lion Pirates stood around, using handguns to shoot at the bound men for their own amusement. Some fired wide on purpose just to taunt them, while others deliberately aimed just close enough to draw blood without striking any vital organs. Others had brought bows, spears, and javelins to join in the cruel sport.
"S-Stop this! Have you all gone mad?!"
"You bastards! Captain Kaido will never let you get away with this!"
"Just kill me already, you low-life scum! Do it if you've got the guts!"
The dozen or so men hanging there shouted insults and curses, mixed with cries of pain whenever they were struck—but not a single one of them begged for mercy. In the end, they were still officers serving under Kaido, and they had enough pride and backbone not to surrender or grovel.
"Is it really wise to be doing things this way?"
Indigo had come to sit beside Shiki on another pile of ruins, letting out a series of odd popping sounds as he moved. He glanced sideways at the group of suspended pirates in the distance and spoke up. "Aren't you practically guaranteed to enrage Kaido beyond all reason by acting like this?"
"Hmph. That man never listens to reason or words anyway. This is far more direct and effective," Shiki replied.
He then turned and shouted across the distance toward Grimm. "Hey, what do you say we try injecting that plague of yours into these men? They are far stronger and more capable than those mindless beasts we tested it on before—wouldn't they make for much better test subjects…?"
ROARRRRR!
Before Shiki could finish speaking, a thunderous roar that sounded just like a dragon echoed through the air. Grimm immediately closed the newspaper he had been reading and spoke in his usual calm, unhurried tone. "He's here. Coming in from the coastline on the southeast side of the island."
"Huh?"
Shiki frowned in confusion. Ever since that massive ship's helm had been driven deep into his skull, the damage it had caused had severely weakened his Observation Haki, making it far less sharp and responsive than it had been in his prime.
Hearing Grimm's words, Shiki immediately lifted off into the air and shot straight toward the southeast horizon. It did not take him long to spot an enormous figure cutting through the clouds and speeding rapidly toward the island.
It was none other than the man he had been waiting for—Kaido of the Beasts!
Gahahahahaha! "Perfect timing! Let's send that little brat a welcome gift! Take this!"
Shiki activated his powers instantly. Lion's Might: Rolling Landslide!
BOOM!
Every piece of rubble and broken stone beneath their feet suddenly rose up into the air, including the remains of the city walls. Naturally, the Kaido Pirates officers who had been tied to those walls were swept up along with everything else, becoming part of the swirling mass of floating debris and stone.
"Captain is unleashing his full power! Retreat back to the ship, everyone, retreat!"
"Couldn't you have warned us before you did something like this?!"
"Shut your damn mouth and hurry up! Get back on board now, move it!"
The members of the Golden Lion Pirates scattered in panic, scrambling back toward their ships as fast as their legs could carry them.
The fierce winds created by Shiki's powers whipped through the air, sending Grimm's hair and coat fluttering wildly all around him, yet his expression remained completely unchanged, as calm and steady as ever. "You flew all the way here alone? You really are far too impatient, you rabid dog…"
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