When Doflamingo stormed into Rosinante's villa, ready to unleash his fury, he froze. The air inside was heavy, grim—every single person wore the same serious, tense expression.
The sight made Doflamingo's heart jolt. A bad feeling crept up his spine.
"Doffy, you're here," Rosinante said quietly, gesturing for him to sit. "I knew you'd come."
"I'm not like you," Doflamingo snapped, pacing forward. "You just sit here sipping tea and practicing swordsmanship while I'm out there working myself to the bone! I finally get a helper who actually knows what she's doing—and now you call her back? You're doing this on purpose, aren't you? Trying to make sure I can't even get a proper meal in peace?"
His anger wasn't unjustified. For weeks, Doflamingo had been burning through his energy at both ends. Managing a trillion-Berry construction project meant countless decisions, endless calculations, and not a second to rest. He felt as though he had aged ten years in a month.
And Rosinante, that infuriatingly calm brother of his, sat there looking as relaxed as ever.
When Rosinante sent Laki to help him, Doflamingo had finally started to breathe easier. He'd even thought, for a brief moment, that maybe his brother wasn't completely indifferent to his struggles. But now Rosinante had abruptly recalled her—and Doflamingo was ready to explode.
"I get that you're angry, Doffy," Rosinante said evenly, "and I understand why. But I had to call Laki back. War is coming. As one of the core members of the BloodSworn Guard, she can't be absent. The City That Never Sleeps… I'll have to trouble you to handle that on your own for now."
"War?" Doflamingo's face darkened. "What, with the World Government? That can't be right. I've heard nothing of the sort. And the Gorōsei just invested two hundred billion Berries into the project—they wouldn't launch a war right now."
"It's not the World Government," Rosinante said, his tone suddenly turning cold. "This time, our enemy… is the Golden Lion."
"The Golden Lion… Shiki?!" Doflamingo's voice rose in disbelief.
That name alone carried weight that could shake the seas. Shiki the Golden Lion—once the captain of the Flying Pirates, the world's largest aerial fleet. A man of legendary might, once mentioned in the same breath as Gol D. Roger and Whitebeard Edward Newgate. The only pirate in history to ever escape from Impel Down.
If it weren't for the storm that shattered half his fleet during his battle against Roger—and his capture afterward when he single-handedly stormed Marineford and was subdued by Sengoku and Garp—Shiki would have remained one of the dominant rulers of the seas. Even now, his legend endured.
"How the hell did you manage to provoke that monster?" Doflamingo demanded, genuinely shocked.
"I didn't provoke him," Rosinante said coldly. "He provoked me. One of my division captains on Skypiea—he took his head. So now, war has begun."
Rosinante's face was darker than a thundercloud. Moments ago, he had received Bins' report: the life card of the Third Division Captain, Burs, had burned completely to ash. The entire Third Division—almost wiped out.
It had happened so fast. From the moment Bins noticed Burs's life card flicker to the moment it turned to dust, less than three minutes had passed. Before Bins could react, the other cards of the Third Division had begun to burn as well. By the time he reached them, it was too late—the enemy had already taken Burs's severed head and vanished.
According to the few survivors, the attacker was none other than Shiki the Golden Lion himself.
A single man.
Three minutes.
That was all it took for the legendary pirate to annihilate the entire division, decapitate their captain, and send their warships crashing down into the Blue Sea below. It had been so sudden, so overwhelming, they hadn't even had time to send a distress signal.
When Rosinante had assigned divisions to Sky Island, the Third Division had drawn the short straw—they were stationed there as the long-term garrison.
The Sky Island campaign had already been completed. The Third, Sixth, and Seventh Divisions were simply there to patrol trade routes and suppress small uprisings among the islands.
After all, the Gray Domain had only ruled the skies for two years. Many islanders still resisted their authority, clinging to the old ways. Rebellions flared up occasionally, but they were never serious enough to warrant full military mobilization. Normally, the officers could deal with them without needing their captains to lift a finger.
Captain Burs, in particular, was a veteran—one of the oldest stationed there. He rarely had to take the field himself.
But boredom is a dangerous thing.
Hearing rumors of mysterious "hidden islands" floating even higher above, untouched and isolated from the rest of the world, Burs's curiosity had been piqued.
He ordered an investigation into these elusive islands and eventually focused on one—an island said to be called Halle.
He gathered part of his division and set sail to explore the region where Halle Island was rumored to exist.
Neither Bins nor Rosinante paid much attention to it. For the Gray Domain's divisions, expeditions like this were routine—almost trivial.
Burs himself never imagined that this would be his final voyage.
After several days of searching, he found nothing resembling an island. He was just about to order a return trip when the lookout suddenly shouted a warning.
"Captain! There's something—an unidentified object—flying toward us at incredible speed! It's glowing… yellow!"
Burs's brow furrowed. "A yellow light? Unidentified? What in the world—"
A cold chill ran through him. A familiar, dreadful silhouette flashed in his mind—one he had hoped never to see.
And then—
"Well, well… if it isn't Burs. What brings you here?"
A voice came from above.
Burs looked up—and his face went white.
Descending slowly from the clouds was a man with flowing golden hair, his head pierced by half of a ship's rudder, his legs replaced by twin long swords gleaming like fangs of steel.
"C-Captain Shiki… the Golden Lion!" Burs gasped.
There was no mistaking him.
The Flying Pirate himself.
The man who ruled the skies.
The terror of the seas.
The Golden Lion—Shiki!