"In the blink of an eye, so many years have passed. Navy Headquarters still looks about the same as before~"
The white-haired old man wore a red captain's coat, looking around with great curiosity.
"It's been wrecked into this sorry state. How did you even tell…"
Buggy couldn't help but complain.
"Here~"
Orin handed Ace over. It was caught in Roger's hand.
"My saber… it actually ended up being inherited by you, huh~"
Roger took the black blade Ace, a familiar feeling surging into his heart, his face breaking into a broad smile.
Orin showed not the slightest reluctance. After all, he wasn't a swordsman, but a sniper.
He lit himself a cigarette and walked calmly at Captain Roger's side.
Some things weren't really appropriate for him to say, but since it had come to this point…
"Captain Roger, you should be well aware that Ace doesn't exactly have good feelings toward you, right…"
Roger froze, then looked at Orin, who was smoking against the wind, and heard him continue,
"Stop pretending. From a long time ago, you were already in love with Shakky-san. Then, only right before your death, you found Lady Rouge, hastily left behind a child, and then turned yourself in and died…"
Orin's pupils shifted, the cigarette held between his lips.
Then he calmly looked at Captain Roger's aged appearance.
As someone who had personally witnessed Roger from before the God Valley battle all the way to his surrender—nearly the entirety of his journey at sea—Orin naturally understood him very well.
"With someone like you, it's already good enough if Ace doesn't hate you. You don't seriously think there'd be some touching reunion of loving father and filial son, do you?"
If he were Ace,
Not beating Roger half to death would already count as having a good temper.
"Rayleigh-san told you all this, didn't he?!"
Even in old age, Roger was still as unrestrained as ever. With only memories up to his execution, he clearly didn't know much about the later Orin.
He thought that after his death, Rayleigh had told all the stories of Roger's youth.
"No… it's not Rayleigh-san's business. I went back and learned it myself."
Explaining it in detail would be too troublesome, so Orin only mentioned it in passing.
But he really had, without exaggeration, witnessed that era firsthand. (Once the manga has full content, this can be written as a more detailed side story.)
He admitted that when Shakky-san was young, she truly was so beautiful she bewitched everyone.
But among all those powerful figures, only Roger was genuinely obsessed.
Everyone else would get heart-eyes, then go back to doing whatever they were doing. Only Captain Roger was completely off the rails—he even wanted to snatch a woman from his own vice-captain.
Back then, when Orin traveled back and beat Captain Roger up, he really hadn't beaten him for nothing.
Hearing this, Roger also fell silent on the spot.
Clearly, he understood that what Orin said did make sense—including that final period of time in Impel Down.
From the bottom of his heart, he was grateful that Orin could make amends for the mistakes he had committed.
"Orin… the me from my younger days really did a lot of bastard things…"
"So now, let me try my best to make up for them. And yet, the chance to make amends was given by you, of all people. Hahahahaha…"
The laughter was still hearty, and Roger's eyes carried seriousness.
Then they gradually dimmed.
"Thank you, Orin."
...
Accompanied by earth-shaking tremors,
"Puh—"
A mouthful of old blood was spat out. Shiki had ultimately aged too severely; he couldn't even use Haki anymore.
The ship's wheel embedded in his head, the missing legs, his advanced age—
This old lion had already entered his twilight years.
"Hahahahaha!!! Shiki, you should just keep staying in Impel Down!!!"
By contrast, Garp was only somewhat disheveled. With his strength not having declined too badly, he was completely at ease facing the Golden Lion now.
Victory was close at hand.
"Like hell you can take me down! Keep dreaming, Garp!!!"
The Golden Lion swung his legs, and a massive slashing attack instantly formed.
But right at that moment, a figure appeared in the sky.
"If the curtain falls on a strong man in some prison cell corner, wouldn't that be far too insulting~"
"What?!!!" ×2
The suddenly appearing black figure stood straight between the two attacks.
It was Orin, having appeared instantly via the Warp-Warp Fruit.
The enormous cross-shaped slash, carrying the sound of air being cleaved apart, was crushed into nothingness by Orin with a single hand.
And facing the terrifying Conqueror's Haki Infusion on Garp's fist, Orin was just as relaxed. He instantly clenched his fist with one hand.
Clusters of black-and-red lightning storms gathered within it.
"It's not the same as twenty years ago, Vice Admiral Garp!!!"
The current Orin was no longer that immature young man who had to rely on running away and using the Golden Lion to stall, barely dodging Garp's iron fist.
Now,
He had long since become a king of the seas.
"Stop talking big!!!"
Garp bared his teeth in a grin. The Armament Haki and Conqueror's Haki Infusion on his fist condensed to the extreme, even radiating a cross-shaped light source like the sun.
"Navy Headquarters isn't something pirates get to destroy!!!"
Facing the terrifying punch, Orin loosened his tie with one hand, the corner of his cigarette-clenched mouth lifting slightly.
"Even if your destined rival isn't me, giving the remnants of the old era a dignified send-off is something I can't refuse!!!"
He likewise clenched his fist with one hand, not inferior to Garp in the slightest—if anything, an even more terrifying red light flickered atop his fist.
With the Golden Lion's current strength, he could no longer ignore shockwaves of this level.
Even though unwilling, he was still blasted away, smashing through countless boulders and the ground.
The aftershock, terrifying enough to nearly destroy half an island, slowly dissipated after a short while.
Garp's figure flew out from the center of the clashing fists, landing on the ground and skidding several meters.
Orin, on the other hand, instantly appeared beside the Golden Lion.
"Vice Admiral Garp, instead of wasting time here, wouldn't it be better to go take a look at the main battlefield at Marineford right now~"
"If you don't go, you'll definitely regret it. I guarantee~"
Orin curled his lips and spoke lightly, immediately making Garp's heart pound.
Could there be other experts?
Then Marineford would be in danger. The three Admirals were facing countless legendary pirates, with only Sengoku still fighting Whitebeard. If there were other top-tier fighters…
Watching Garp retreat unwillingly, Orin saw him off with his gaze, then turned his eyes toward the Golden Lion.
At this moment, Shiki lay dying among the rubble, sitting cross-legged, a completely unpanicked smile on his face.
"You're here to kill me, right?"
"Yeah~"
Orin nodded. Seeing this, Shiki seemed quite pleased.
"Jahahahaha!!!"
"Not bad at all—this way of dying, even in my weakened state!!!"
Shiki spread his arms wide, facing the Den Den Mushi camera, as if bidding a final farewell to the world.
"Not dying of old age in some corner, or at the hands of some rookie pirate crew…"
"But instead dying at the hands of the world's strongest!!!"
"Jahahahaha!!!"
"Perfectly befitting my status and ambition!!!!"
...
I recommend checking out my new Pokémon fanfic, "Pokémon System: Me, the Strongest Champion of the League"! It features a system that isn't overpowered, keeping the story balanced and engaging. The main character isn't Ash, but an original, cool MC, which makes it even more enjoyable to read. I'd love to hear your feedback!