New World, somewhere across the boundless sea.
The sun blazed like molten gold over waters as clear and blue as crystal. A pirate ship sailed smoothly across the waves, its skull-marked flag snapping proudly in the wind. From the deck erupted wild, unrestrained laughter.
"Hahaha! Captain! We've struck it rich this time! Who would've thought that treasure map was actually real?!"
The deck was buried beneath chests spilling over with gold and silver, the treasure glittering so fiercely that the sunlight stabbed at the eye.
Dozens of pirates circled the glittering heap, their faces flushed with greed. They tossed handfuls of coins into the air, shrieking with glee like madmen drunk on fortune.
"Hahaha! Well done, lads!" roared the burly, thick-bearded captain from the bow. He spread his arms wide, drunk on triumph. "And this is just the beginning!"
"Stick with me, and gold, women, fame, power—everything you've ever dreamed of will be yours!"
"Hahahahaha!!"
The laughter swelled across the sea like rolling thunder.
Then the helmsman's voice cracked through it. "Huh? What's that?"
The pirates turned.
Something was falling out of the sky.
"A… a person?!"
They froze. How could a human possibly be flying?
But their eyes widened as a blood-red figure tore free of the clouds, hurtling toward the sea at breathtaking speed.
"What the hell is that?!"
"Looks like… a Marine?!"
"He's coming right at us!"
"Damn it! Man the cannons!"
Panic spread, pirates stumbling into position. But their hands shook, their cannons too slow, too clumsy.
"He's too fast—!"
"He's already here!"
And then he was.
Darren.
Blood-soaked, his figure streaked across the surface of the sea, ripping the waves into a frenzy of spray and wind. His aura, suffocating and violent, pressed against the pirates like a mountain. Their breath caught in their throats.
Not one dared move.
And then, in a fleeting exhale of relief, they realized—he hadn't even spared them a glance.
But the relief shattered a heartbeat later.
"Darren, you little brat! You can't escape me!!"
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Golden blades split the sky, tearing down like divine punishment.
The pirates had only a moment to see them, their reflections caught in terrified eyes.
It's over…
BOOM!!
The ship split apart in a roar of fire and thunder. The blast consumed it whole, treasure and men alike vanishing in a storm of smoke and flame.
From the wreckage, Golden Lion surged, his bloodshot eyes locked on Darren's fleeing back. His snarl was venomous, feral.
"I'll never let you go!"
He accelerated, the sea quaking beneath his speed.
Two streaks—one crimson, one gold—shot across the sky, faster than the eye could follow.
The hunt had begun.
Moments later, as they tore past a barren island, Golden Lion roared, "Lion's Thousand-Cut Valley!!"
Dozens of crescent slashes tore through the sky in a storm, engulfing the fleeing Marine.
Darren couldn't escape them all. One strike landed, ripping into his back. A groan slipped from his throat as blood sprayed, painting the air crimson.
The rest of the slashes ripped across the island, cleaving mountain peaks clean in half. The shattered summits tilted, then toppled with a thunderous crash that shook the island to its roots.
Rumble…
Golden Lion threw back his head and howled with manic laughter. "Jihahahaha!! Let's see how much farther you can run!"
He could see it—the brat's speed waning, his breath ragged, his face pale, his uniform drenched in blood. The end was near.
But Shiki didn't intend to end it quickly. Not yet.
His lips twisted into a predator's smile. The pain burning in his skull, the madness rising in his blood, all of it vanished beneath one obsession:
To break this Marine brat piece by piece before crushing him entirely.
"Jihahahaha! Run! Run!" His laughter split the heavens. "Let's see where you think you can hide!"
Edd War Sea.
"Mr. Rayleigh! Repairs are done!"
Buggy's wailing head tumbled across the Oro Jackson's deck, narrowly avoiding a Marine blade.
Rayleigh, still locked in battle with Sengoku, narrowed his eyes. His aura spiked.
Crack!
Black-red lightning coiled down his longsword. He gripped it with both hands and slashed with everything he had.
"Great Buddha Fist!"
Sengoku, glowing as a golden Buddha, answered with a punch infused with Conqueror's Haki.
Boom!
Sword and fist collided without touching, energy writhing and compressing between them until it erupted in a shockwave that ripped the frozen sea apart.
The ice fractured and heaved like glass under a hammer.
Rayleigh rode the recoil, flipping back onto the Oro Jackson's deck. In a blur he was at Borsalino's side, blade flashing in a vicious sweep.
"Dark King Rayleigh… how troublesome," Borsalino muttered lazily, dissolving into light before reforming on Sengoku's battleship.
"Roger! Time to go!" Rayleigh barked, voice sharp with urgency.
"But I'm not done yet!" Roger called back, dissatisfied.
"If you don't move now, we all die here!" Rayleigh snapped, veins throbbing on his forehead.
"Tch!" Roger cursed, biting down hard.
Then his aura erupted, a tidal wave of Conqueror's Haki so overwhelming it made even Sengoku falter. His blood-red cloak snapped in the storm. His sword crackled with black and crimson lightning, radiating ferocious power.
"Come on, Garp!" Roger roared. "Let's finish this in one blow!"
His stomp shattered the ice beneath him. He raised his sword high, lightning weaving around the blade.
"Divine Departure!"
Garp's eyes widened in recognition. That strike—unblockable, infamous. His body tensed, retreating fast.
But then—
Roger's blade swung.
Not at Garp.
Toward Sengoku's battleship.
"You bastard—!" Garp's jaw dropped as Roger stuck out his tongue with a mocking grin, swaggering back toward the Oro Jackson. "You're cheating!"
The slash howled toward the battleship, its aura suffocating, suffused with death.
"Sengoku!"
"Borsalino!"
"Got it…"
Golden light burst.
BOOM!!
The slash met a barrier of light and detonated, the shockwave ripping the sea apart. Kuzan's ice shattered, Marines plunging into the waves as the battleship buckled beneath the force.
Amid the chaos, Roger raised his cutlass high, laughter booming defiantly.
"Hahahaha! Farewell, Marines! You won't take me here!"
"My voyage isn't over yet!!!"
From the stern of the Oro Jackson, a massive, pitch-black cannon emerged. Blinding white light surged within its barrel.
BOOM!!
The air cannon fired, tearing apart the sea, smashing the ice, throwing up titanic waves.
Under Garp's bloodshot glare, under Sakazuki's seething silence, under the helpless fury of thousands of Marines—
The battered Oro Jackson lifted into the storming sky, riding a wall of seawater.
Like a seabird breaking free of the tempest, it soared toward the horizon.
To be continued...