A gigantic island hung in the sky somewhere. Below it, on the sea, lay a small, barren island composed of bare rocks.
"How's this island?"
Golden Lion Shiki floated in the sky, surveying the island as he asked.
Roa stood atop the highest peak in the center of the small island below. As far as his eyes could see, it was nothing but strange rocks.
"As a gift, I think Roger should like it, right? And it's very environmentally friendly."
"I think so too."
Shiki slowly descended onto the island, bent down, and lightly brushed his hand across the ground. "Then, this is the one."
Rumble!
The entire island began to shake violently. The sea around the island churned with fierce waves. Amidst the earth-shattering commotion, this rocky island was forcibly pulled from the sea by an invisible force, leaving behind a massive crater that the surging seawater rushed to fill.
"No matter how many times I see it, I can only genuinely exclaim, it's truly exaggerated," Roa said, his face full of admiration. "Uncle Shiki, this is the real natural disaster, isn't it?"
If this island were to crash down from the sky, it would be far more impressive than his own puny meteorites.
"Enough talk, let's go. Don't keep Roger waiting impatiently!"
Shiki flew directly into the sky, and the rocky island also leisurely ascended.
Roa watched Shiki's retreating back; his admiration was not feigned in the slightest. Simply throwing massive islands down from the sky was, in the true sense, devastating. Who truly possessed the power to destroy the world?
Gura Gura no Mi (Tremor-Tremor Fruit) ✕
Fuwa Fuwa no Mi (Float-Float Fruit) ✓
Thankfully, this ability wasn't very effective in terms of single-target damage. To deal with true masters, Shiki still had to rely on his swordsmanship.
At the edge of the floating island in the sky, Roa's cadres watched wide-eyed as Shiki brought back another island in a matter of minutes, their hearts surging with emotion. This was the power of the peak powerhouses of the great sea!
"The gift is ready," Shiki waved his hand, and both islands began to drift forward simultaneously. "It's time for a house call!"
Roa's eyes flickered. It was time to discuss with his subordinates how this battle should be 'performed'—no, how it should be fought.
New World, Night, Blaynor Island.
This island was a deserted island. There was once a country here, but decades ago, that ignored non-affiliated nation had been destroyed in a civil war, and its remaining citizens had long since moved away. What was left were only ruins. Because no one regularly maintained it, the entire island was overgrown with weeds and vines, showing no trace of human life.
But at this moment, in the center of this supposedly empty island, within the dim dense forest, a group of people was traversing.
"Damn it! Another information Poneglyph!"
The man wearing a captain's hat and sporting a curly mustache angrily pushed aside the blocking vines. "Red Poneglyphs, where are they all hidden?! We can't find a single one!"
"Seriously, Roger, do red stones even exist?"
Scopper Gaban, a man with long black hair tied into a ponytail and wearing small sunglasses, the third-in-command of the Roger Pirates, who considered himself the second-in-command, casually remarked, "We've been searching for so many years, and we have no clues at all."
In this era, the Great Treasure was still just a vague legend, and few people in the entire sea believed in it. Let alone the rumor, known by even fewer, that finding all four stones would lead to the final island.
"They definitely exist!" Roger replied unequivocally without turning his head. "Although I can't read them, I can hear them. Those stones record something truly magnificent!"
"A long time ago, the people who left those stones must have been waiting for someone to unlock their secrets! So, of course, they would leave clues leading to the final destination!"
"If Captain says they exist, then they definitely exist!" The red-haired boy holding a torch and wearing a straw hat, who was following behind Roger, said with a smile.
"That's right!" Roger turned back, ruffled the boy's head, and laughed loudly. "Just follow behind me, my lads!"
"Wow, this guy is super autocratic!" Gaban said with disdain.
"Haha, that's Roger for you." The second-in-command, Rayleigh, smiled and pushed up his glasses. "No choice, what can we do when we follow a captain like this?"
"You're right," Gaban sighed. "I should have gotten used to it by now."
"This isn't the time for small talk, is it?!" The other child on the ship, the blue-haired boy with the big red nose, said exasperatedly, "Garp isn't chasing us, is he? We can't waste any more time!"
"Buggy is still such a coward, don't worry," his good friend Shanks, the red-haired boy, consoled him with a smile. "Nothing's going to happen."
"Who are you calling a coward?! You bastard, Shanks!" Buggy grabbed Shanks' collar and shook him vigorously. His angry curses didn't provoke Shanks at all; the red-haired boy just thought Buggy was playing with him and laughed in return.
Buggy still didn't realize that if the Captain hadn't been unwilling for Uncle Rayleigh and Uncle Gaban to participate in his solo fight with Garp, the fleet led by that Marine Hero would no longer be a nuisance. Although they always fled in disarray, they never suffered any losses. Shanks smiled. He always felt that the relationship between the Captain and Hero Garp was very subtle, not like true enemies at all.
"Since Buggy is so anxious," Roger didn't mind the children's squabble. He smiled and raised his right arm. "Although we returned empty-handed, we still worked hard! Let's go back and feast!"
"Oh!!"
In the gloomy dense forest, laughter echoed.
But the next instant, Roger's expression suddenly changed dramatically. He sharply raised his head, red lightning flickering vividly in his eyes. Roger instantly leaped up. "Rayleigh! Gaban!"
His left and right-hand men, Rayleigh and Gaban, also had red light flickering in their eyes and similarly shot into the sky.
"What's wrong with the Captain and them?!" Buggy looked completely bewildered. Why did they suddenly fly into the sky?
"Looks like... we're in trouble!" Shanks looked up at the sky. He couldn't see anything through the thick clouds, but—
Mid-air.
"Garp didn't come, but someone even more troublesome showed up!" Gaban cursed ill-temperedly, pulling out the twin axes from his lower back. "Can't that bastard tone down his entrance a bit?"
"Good idea. Don't forget to tell him to be more careful next time!" Rayleigh had already drawn the sword from his waist.
"Next time? You think there'll be a next time?" Gaban cursed. "This time, I'm cutting off his cat's head!"
"That won't be easy! He didn't come alone!" Roger looked up at the sky. "Here it comes!"
The thick clouds in the sky suddenly tore apart, and a colossal object suddenly plummeted downwards.
"Ehh!!"
Buggy's tongue and eyeballs flew out of his face simultaneously. His tongue became wavy, and his eyeballs trembled continuously. "What is that?!"
"It looks like an island." Shanks also looked up, then said definitively.
"Who can't see that?!" Buggy clutched his head. "Why is an island falling from the sky?! We're doomed! We're going to be smashed into minced meat!"
"Buggy, you really are a coward." Shanks repeated his earlier assessment with a smile. "Captain and the others have already gone to meet it."
"Right! Captain!" Buggy instantly shrieked at the top of his lungs, "Save me, Captain!"
"Buggy's calling for help, Roger." Rayleigh smiled.
"Don't scare the kids! Destroy it!" Roger's hand suddenly gripped the hilt of the sword at his waist.
An unprecedentedly terrifying Haki lightning surged forth. At the same time, Rayleigh and Gaban also raised their swords and axes, and their axes, too, pulsed with Haki lightning.
"Hah!"
The three roared in unison, and their weapons struck simultaneously.
BOOM!!
The air instantly let out a groan of unbearable strain. Three terrifying forces converged into one, immediately transforming into an all-consuming blinding light that surged upwards, meeting the falling island.
The sky was instantly illuminated, and the dim dense forest below became bright as day.
"Woah!" Buggy even covered his eyes because the light was too strong.
Rumble!
This was the sound of the island shattering. Even an island falling from thousands of meters in the sky was far from enough when facing the combined attack of these monsters. In the blink of an eye, it was pulverized.
The light gradually dissipated, and the clouds in the sky had been completely cleared away. Roger and the two men landed, each on the treetop of a large tree, and they all looked up at the sky.
Very high in the sky, a much larger island floated.
"Gyahahaha!"
And accompanied by wild laughter, a ship slowly descended from the sky. A man stood at the bow, cigar in mouth, looking down at Roger.
"Roger, long time no see? Do you like the gift I specially selected for you?"
"Golden Lion!" Roger raised the corner of his mouth. "You bastard—... Hmm?"
He paused. Because he noticed the young man standing beside Shiki. Wasn't this the kid who had caused a sensation across the sea not long ago?
"Yo, nice to meet you, Roger." Roa politely waved at the future Pirate King as a greeting. "I look forward to learning from you from now on, too?"
"Wahahaha! I said before I wanted to meet you, but kid, now is truly not a good time." Although he said it wasn't a good time, the smile on Roger's face didn't diminish in the slightest.
Then came—
"Roger!!"
On Shiki's other side, the immensely tall and muscular man also roared in excitement.
"Roa the Calamity, Kaido of the Beasts," Rayleigh's expression grew slightly solemn. "And Golden Lion. What, are the remnants of the Rocks Pirates having a reunion here?"
Were the Rocks Pirates truly going to be revived? No one understood how troublesome the Rocks Pirates had been back then better than the Roger Pirates themselves.
"If that's the case, then we won't disturb you." Gaban immediately chimed in, saying earnestly, "It seems we've entered the wrong room. Hey, Roger, quickly hand this place over to them. They might be in a hurry to party."
The enemy lineup seems a bit strong.
"Gyahahaha!" Shiki's laughter echoed through the night sky, completely ignoring Rayleigh and Gaban, and looking only at Roger. "Now, let's have a good chat!"
Roa shook his head. Rules of the game are rules of the game; there must be a chat before the fight. But what was there to chat about? In the end, it was still going to be a fight.