"Ha ha ha! So it really is you, Burs! I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me! Who would've thought I'd run into you here? Ka ha ha ha! What's this? Are you leading the Eleventh Division back? Not bad, not bad at all—the Eleventh Division's come a long way!"
Gold Lion Shiki grinned wildly, his laughter echoing through the clouds. Then, his smile froze into a shadowed sneer as he pointed toward the warship behind Burs.
"But tell me… what's the meaning of that flag?" he asked coldly.
"I'm sorry, Captain Shiki. When you were captured and sent to Impel Down, I withdrew from the Flying Pirates. Now, I'm the Captain of the Third Division under the Gray Nation," Burs said.
Even as he spoke, his heart was pounding with unease. It wasn't unreasonable for him to have left the Flying Pirates after Shiki's imprisonment—after all, who could've imagined anyone escaping from Impel Down alive?
But the man before him wasn't just anyone—he was the Golden Lion Shiki.
And if there was one thing Burs knew about him, it was that the man had no mercy for betrayal.
"I see… I see…" Shiki nodded slowly, his expression unreadable. For a split second, Burs thought there might be understanding in his captain's eyes—
Then Shiki's face twisted with rage.
"Then you can go to hell!"
Without warning, his twin sword-legs slashed through the air—dozens of golden arcs of death burst forth.
The shockwaves tore through Burs's warship like it was made of paper. The massive ship—one of the largest in the Third Division's fleet—was shredded into pieces with terrifying ease.
Burs was stunned for half a heartbeat, but then fury surged within him. This was his division—his men, his pride. Even knowing he couldn't win, he roared a battle cry and charged straight into the storm of slashes, ordering his crew to call for reinforcements.
As the division stationed in Sky Island, they were equipped with an arsenal of sky-borne weapons—Cloud Dials, Jet Beams, Ice Blades, even the fearsome Weiba.
But against the man who ruled the heavens themselves, those weapons were laughable.
This was the Golden Lion Shiki— the man who had once fought Roger and Whitebeard as an equal, the man who commanded fleets that darkened the skies. Against him, even the air trembled in submission.
"Lion's Domain: Imperial Earth Scroll!" Shiki bellowed.
He swept both hands through the clouds, and the very heavens obeyed. The sky began to churn and twist, forming massive roaring lions of cloud, each hundreds of meters wide, barreling toward Burs's ships like a stampede of storms.
It was as if the sky itself was under Shiki's control.
Burs swung his axe desperately, trying to disperse the roaring cloud beasts—but their strength was overwhelming. His strikes vanished into vapor, and before he could blink, he was engulfed.
The clouds whirled, twisted, and crushed everything in their path. In moments, the entire Third Division was devoured by the storm—warships shattered, the sky dyed with lightning and flame.
Within minutes, the Third Division ceased to exist. Those not slain outright were buried beneath the clouds, their screams silenced.
Shiki descended slowly through the haze, his long golden hair fluttering. He reached out, grabbed Burs by the head—
"I hate betrayal more than anything else," Shiki said coldly. "Did you really think I'd let you walk away?"
With one violent motion, he ripped Burs's head from his shoulders, then vanished into the horizon without a backward glance.
…
Back in the Gray Nation's headquarters, Doflamingo's expression was grim.
"The Golden Lion Shiki… that's a monster who once stood shoulder to shoulder with Roger and Whitebeard. Rosinante, I'll admit you're strong, but against someone like him… are you sure you want to go to war?"
"This battle is inevitable," Rosinante replied calmly, though his eyes burned with cold fury. "If I let one of my captains be decapitated and do nothing, then the Gray Nation is already finished. No one would follow a leader who hides from vengeance. I've already summoned all four main divisions back to Sky Island. This will be a full-scale war—pirate crew versus pirate crew. Only one side will live."
Doflamingo fell silent for a long moment, then smirked. "In that case, count me in."
Rosinante blinked in surprise. "You? But what about the Evernight City at Sabaody? Even if there's a war, that project can't just stop."
"I'll leave Sabaody to Diamante and Trebol for now," Doflamingo said, his grin sharp and dark. "The work might slow down a little, but it'll keep moving. I've been thinking about it—if this is truly a life-and-death war between two major pirate powers, then staying behind would only hurt my standing in the Gray Nation. This is my chance to prove myself—to make sure everyone knows my name."
Rosinante chuckled lightly. "You're not afraid I'll lose? If I fall, you might not live to regret it."
"Oh, I'm terrified," Doflamingo admitted with a crooked smile. "But if you lose, then whether I'm in this war or not, I'm dead either way."
He leaned back in his chair, the light glinting off his sunglasses. "Evernight City might still be under construction, but the design alone has already drawn attention from nobles and tycoons everywhere. Even Celestial Dragons are reserving estates there. The profits are… beyond imagination."
His grin faded into a frown. "Without your victory against the Underworld, without the Gray Nation's reputation keeping predators at bay, Evernight City would've been torn apart long ago. Every day I can feel the sharks circling—pirate crews, nobles, even the big players of the New World. If we lose this war… Sabaody will become our grave."
Rosinante nodded slowly. "Then it's settled. Make your arrangements. We leave soon."
As Doflamingo turned to go, Rosinante called out again.
"Oh, and one more thing—I need a cage. Completely sealed, made entirely of seastone. About the size to hold one person. Can you get it made immediately?"
Doflamingo paused. "A sealed seastone cage? What for?"
"You don't need to know. I need it soon—and I'll need it ready."
Doflamingo grinned. "Heh, I don't have one on hand, but I've got the seastone. Having one built won't take long."
"Good. Then get it done fast," Rosinante said, eyes glinting. "I have a very important use for it."
…